Coffee urn for HLT?

HairyDogBrewing · 11-22-2008, 01:24 PM

Has anyone tried this?
I've been heating 10-11 qts of strike water on the stovetop.
But it takes about 45 min to go from 120 to 170.
I'd like to be able to get the mash going sooner.

Coffee is brewed at about 190 and served at about 160.
Plug into a timer and presto - hot water when I wake up on Saturday morning.

Maybe it would be more fun to MacGyver something,
but I'm saving duct tape for my bamboo hang glider.

ScubaSteve · 11-22-2008, 01:31 PM

This has been looked at, but the challenge is finding something that will heat a large volume. You'll need about 7 gallons to make it worthwhile. You're better off looking into a heat element and a cooler; The Pol has a nice thread on making an electric HLT with 115VAC.

**ChshreCat** · 11-22-2008, 01:39 PM

I was thinking about that myself. I used to work at a place that had this huge coffee maker that held at least 5 gallons... maybe closer to 10. It was freakin' huge and got it piping hot.

My other thought was one of those in-line water heaters.

HairyDogBrewing · 11-22-2008, 01:47 PM

I don't mind the time it takes to heat sparge water.
That can be done during the mash.

A 50 cup (9.4 qts) or 60 cup (11.3 qts) would do for strike water.
They might have larger ones at the restaurant store.

Are there any other show stoppers?

ScubaSteve · 11-22-2008, 03:12 PM

I wonder what the price is for something like that....you might be able to find it cheap at a restaurant supply, but seriously...you could get a large SS pot and heating element and just build one yourself.

**Revvy** · 11-22-2008, 03:24 PM

As a proponent of experimentation, I think it would be just plain "skiffy" if this would work.

I've seen old large coffee urns even really cheap at goodwill and other second hand stores, even flea markets sometimes have them cheaper than even restaurant supply stores.

**ChshreCat** · 11-22-2008, 03:43 PM

I was reading another thread on here where a member was experimenting with the boiler from a home espresso machine. Didn't turn out to be doable because of the limited supply in them.

Then I was at the espresso stand at work and noticed that they feed their steam machine from corny kegs full of water.

Got me wondering...

ScubaSteve · 11-23-2008, 02:42 AM

Um....is "skiffy" good...or is it bad?

eriktlupus · 01-04-2009, 12:12 AM

i just found a 84 cup (@4g) commercial style maker for 10 bucks at a habitat restore. gets water to 200 in @30min, will be putting it into practice on a brew tomorrow.

**Revvy** · 01-04-2009, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eriktlupus

i just found a 84 cup (@4g) commercial style maker for 10 bucks at a habitat restore. gets water to 200 in @30min, will be putting it into practice on a brew tomorrow.

Cool deal Buddy!!!

Can't wait to hear how it works in your system!!!

Talking to the British Brewer that was on here briefly, British homebrewers use large coffee urns in their setups quite often...I wish I could remember the thread..