greenandgold

Recipes 

Just picked up the 28 qt one for use as a HLT. Seems like from my test run that it is going to work well and cut down on the propane use. Can't imagine using it as the brew kettle though. It does take longer to heat things up.

jpc

Recipes 

I use mine for my HLT. A few random thoughts:

As a previous poster noted, temp reads about 20 degrees F high. I set it to 200 for the strike water, dump it into my unheated 10 gallon Rubbermaid cooler mash tun and hit almost perfectly at 152-153 as a mash temp (sometimes need a quart of hot or cold to adjust temp). I then set it to 225 for the sparge (I do batch), which puts the water at about 200. I turn it off about 10 minutes before sparge to drop the temp a little. I have also stopped adding salts to the HLT, since they tended to build up on the heating element; I now add them directly to the mash.

Oh, and don't try to turn on your toaster oven to warm your Bavarian-style pretzels if the HLT is on the same circuit as your toaster oven. You will pop the breaker. I "test" mine weekly.

DZzero15

Recipes 

Very timely post. I picked up this electric Turkey Fryer last night at Academy for $99:

Cajun Injector Electric Gourmet Turkey Fryer - Bruce Foods Online Store

I did a test boil with a full five gallons of water starting around ~100 degrees. It looks as though max capacity is ~6 gallons, giving me plenty of room in my five gallon boil. I imagine my wort will be warmer when I finally use it. That being said, it took about 1 hour to boil the water without the lid. Not bad in my mind... should be much quicker with the preheated wort. This is going to be my first all grain brew so I'll report back later how it goes. I think I will end up preferring the electric model. While not as powerful, I can:

a) Use it indoors--very big plus being in Houston with 100+ degree weather.

b) Avoid having to buy a propane tank.

c) Eventually use it for parts when I eventually go the DIY route to make a better set-up.

d) Pre-heat water to a set temperature given that it has an electronic temperature control.

For those who have a nice patio / already have a propane tank, propane may be best.

Cheers

(PS One more thought--while most electric turkey fryers say only fill to 1.5 gallons... thats because they don't want some idiot dropping a 14 pound turkey into a vat full to the brim of 400 degree peanut oil. These things are a bane to redneck thanksgivings... every year I read about someone burning down there house this exact way. That being said, I've enjoyed fried turkey myself for several of my Thanksgivings... one taste and you'll agree its worth the risk.)

Duster72

Recipes 

I have been wanting to switch over to electric and this feels like it makes a lot of sense.

If you look at the original owner's manual posted, you see three part numbers:
902060015 Control Panel and Element
902060016 Breakaway Cord
990060175 Element Bracket Kit

Does anybody know what the "Element Bracket Kit" is? Is it possible that I could order that as a functional bracket to help me mount the element to my existing stock pots?

Couldn't you rewire the thermostat on this to work with a Love controller to get better temp control?


Based on the MacGyver stuff you guys do on here, this seems like a pretty simple mod to make this a lot more functional.

jpc

Recipes 

If it's what I think it is, it's the heating element assembly itself. The heating element is built into the controller, and there are two slots on the back of the black outer vessel that the controller slides into. This is a built-in safety [sic] device, to prevent using the coil in other setups. There is probably a simple way to bypass this.

As far as putting a Love controller on it, I was considering doing this, but haven't gotten around to opening up the controller yet. In it's unmodified state, when I set it to 200 degrees F, it heats the water to about 176, which is very close to the temp I need for strike (without preheating my cooler MLT). When I set it to 225, it reaches around 200, which is close to the temp I use for my batch sparge (I actually let it cool off a bit, or add a little more cold water, before sparging).

One thing you CAN'T do is use a plug-in controller; once the power is removed from the heater unit, it resets to an "off" state.

bmckee56

Recipes 

I pre-used my Turkey Fryer last night and added 4 gallons of 70+ water to it. Cranked up the controller and let it heat up. I have a lid for this which has 3 holes in it and I placed my Thermometer into one of them and it fits nicely. It took about 50 minutes to bring the water up to 169 degrees, but it maintained that temperature within 2 degrees for over 1 hour during my test.

I then raised the temperature to obtain a boiol and after about another 30 minutes, I had a good roiling boil. This fryer is designed to fry turkeys and the temperature control is marked for up to and beyond 375 degrees. I have made several turkeys in it and it works quite well.

I am not using the original pot as it was used for poultry, and I do not want to contaminate my beer. I also lined the inside of the outer plastic housing with a fire retardant material which aids in getting the temps up and maintaining it. I have the propane setup and all the other material and equipment to do AG and wanted to start one yesterday, but did not get to it.

I think the fryer (electric) could be used as a MLT and could be used to hold sparge water. It will boil water, but I think I will stick with the propane setup for that.

Salute!

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greenandgold

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Just picked up a second one (brand new) off of CL for $35. Will try to cut the slots to bypass the safety control and add the heating element to my 10 gallon stainless steel bk. Hopefully that works and I can supplement the heating with a $35 bucket heater and save $4 a batch over using propane.

crawford

Recipes 

Stupid question : The pot has a removable aluminum liner, and you lined the inside of the outer pot - with this duct insulation?

rhamilton

Recipes 

I hate to necro but this insulation tip is the best $15 upgrade ever. I also ran insulated tape under the rim of the kettle so when it sits in the cradle, it seals.

With a 5.75g boil volume:

Starting from 135° tap water, only took ~10 minutes to reach mash temp (155°), ~10 minutes to reach mashout (170°), and 14 minutes to reach boil (212°)

Not too shabby for a free 1650w fryer. The insulation also fixed the issue where my temp dial was 15° off from actual!

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