Boiling wort w/ heat stick

Can I use a heat stick (the one I plan to build: http://lovebrewingcompany.com/brewing/diy/heatstick/) in wort?

I am seeing eBIAB systems that appear to use similar elements in their pots that cost $600+, my heat stick will only be about $60. Am I missing something?

I built my own heatstick using that tutorial for around $60 bucks using a 1500 watt element and it works great for boiling wort. It maintains a good rolling boil in my 2.5 gallon batches with about 3.5-4 gallon to start, though I do normally use my stove to help get it to boiling quicker, I turn it off and let the heatstick maintain the boil without any issues.

Steve

Just out of curiosity, where are you seeing people spend $600 on a heating element installation?

eBIAB setup is electronic temperature control circuitry whereas the the heat stick is just a heating element on or off, no control. The heat stick is very handy though.

MalFet said:

Just out of curiosity, where are you seeing people spend $600 on a heating element installation?

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Check the Electric Brewing forum on this site.

HomebrewMTB said:

Check the Electric Brewing forum on this site.

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I have a very elaborate electric brewing system myself, and I'm familiar with the forum. I have never seen anyone spend $600 on an element.

MalFet said:

Just out of curiosity, where are you seeing people spend $600 on a heating element installation?

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I wasn't referring specifically to the element. Just reading about people building there own eBIAB systems and spending that money confused me considering the heat stick was a reasonably priced alternative. Although I brew as much as 8 gallon batches so I am guessing 1 1500 watt heat stick won't cut it for me afterall.

theCougfan97 said:

I wasn't referring specifically to the element. Just reading about people building there own eBIAB systems and spending that money confused me considering the heat stick was a reasonably priced alternative. Although I brew as much as 8 gallon batches so I am guessing 1 1500 watt heat stick won't cut it for me afterall.

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Hmm...I guess I don't follow the comparison then. In any case glad you found something you enjoy.

MalFet said:

Hmm...I guess I don't follow the comparison then. In any case glad you found something you enjoy.

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I saw pots with elements built in, my heat stick is just the removable version. That was the whole premise for my question, what am I missing? What's the difference between an electrical kettle and a heat stick?

A 600 dollar electric vessel usually includes 240 volt GFCI power with "smart" controls and perhaps also a pump and valves to recirculate the wort. A heatstick is merely a $10 element fashioned in a housing. Yes you can brew with heatsticks, for anything larger than say a 4 gallon batch, you will likely need two heatsticks.

I can buy a bag of charcoal for 3-4 bucks and cook a fine meal, why are people spending 6 grand on commercial stoves?

wilserbrewer said:

A 600 dollar electric vessel usually includes 240 volt GFCI power with "smart" controls and perhaps also a pump and valves to recirculate the wort. A heatstick is merely a $10 element fashioned in a housing. Yes you can brew with heatsticks, for anything larger than say a 4 gallon batch, you will likely need two heatsticks.

I can buy a bag of charcoal for 3-4 bucks and cook a fine meal, why are people spending 6 grand on commercial stoves?

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Thanks, that's what I was wondering. I can see the value in indoor brewing (also indoor meal preparation)

theCougfan97 said:

I saw pots with elements built in, my heat stick is just the removable version. That was the whole premise for my question, what am I missing? What's the difference between an electrical kettle and a heat stick?

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Nothing, perhaps. I was just confused about where the $600 came in. Certainly it doesn't cost $600 to build a kettle with heat-stick level functionality.

theCougfan97 said:

Thanks, that's what I was wondering. I can see the value in indoor brewing (also indoor meal preparation)

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IMHO heatsticks work well and are an effective cost efficient approach to electric indoor brewing...on GFCI of course....cheers

Is 1500 watts the most I can get out of a heat stick? Sounds like a temp controller would be handy too.

You can run 2000w IF you have a 20 amp circuit. With the low wattage of heatsicks, I don't see the value in controlling them...typically you desire to turn them up, not down.

wilserbrewer said:

You can run 2000w IF you have a 20 amp circuit. With the low wattage of heatsicks, I don't see the value in controlling them...typically you desire to turn them up, not down.

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My thought there was holding the temp for sparge water. I guess that's where the propane comes back into play.

I made two 2000w heat sticks. I put on/off switches in line. I use my propane and two heat sticks to get my wort quickly to a boil and then turn off the propane and boil with one or two sticks-depending on how I hard of a boil I want.

I heat my sparge water in a cooler with my heat sticks and while I mash. When I fly sparge, I sometimes turn one on to maintain temp. If I batch sparge I just get the water up to temp and turn off the heat stick and put the lid on the cooler.

I like the heat sticks because there is less residual heat and maybe even more importantly they arequiet

They work great but tend to get some wort stuck to them through the boil and don't give off as much heat. I monitor it with the on/off switches.

theCougfan97 said:

My thought there was holding the temp for sparge water. I guess that's where the propane comes back into play.

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Holding temp involves way more than heatsticks....you will need temp control and circulating and or mixing the sparge water...it is not as simple as a heat stick and a "dial" FWIW...cheers

theCougfan97 said:

My thought there was holding the temp for sparge water. I guess that's where the propane comes back into play.

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wilserbrewer said:

Holding temp involves way more than heatsticks....you will need temp control and circulating and or mixing the sparge water...it is not as simple as a heat stick and a "dial" FWIW...cheers

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If you get a cooler it is as simple as keeping an eye on the temperature and turning the heat sticks on and off.

I can keep my sparge water "close enough" by monitoring the temp and flipping the switch on and off as needed.

Sure, you could get a lot more complicated, but you don't have too.

Someday when I get some pumps and set up a herms system I'll get some temp probes and controllers, but right now using a 10 gal igloo cooler for a HLT with a heat stick works just fine. I'm sure any cooler would work.

I'm sure you will find that it is doable.

Seems risky to be putting the heat stick in a cooler would it not instantly melt any plastic that comes in contact with the element?

Not at all. I have rested the element on the side of the cooler with out any problems. One of my heat sticks has a 90* elbow at the top so I can hang it on the edge of the cooler or kettle and a 90* bend at the bottom so the element is parallel to the bottom. The other is straight. I try to keep them from touching just in case, but I have found that there isn't a problem if it hits the side.

One of the heat stick builds that I saw said to put silicone on the end of the element to protect the plastic of coolers and buckets, but I didn't do that.

You can see the one with the 90 in my pot



and in my HLT ($.50 garage sale cooler)

Here are my two 2000w heat sticks boiling about 8 gals of wort. I have to run them off of two separate GFI circuits so I don't trip a breaker.

(click on the picture to see the video)

I use a crappy ceramic/glass top stove, with my 10 gal aluminum boil kettle over two burners that are cranked to high. I could barely boil 4 gallons of water that way so I built a 1500 watt heatstick for about $60. Two stove burners + heatstick works for boiling at least 8 gallons. I heat my mash water in my kettle, dump it into my cooler mash tun, then start to heat sparge water with another 4 gallon kettle. No need to risk the heatstick in the cooler that way. I drain the mash tun back into the 10 gal boil kettle and begin the boil. It takes about 20-30 minutes to heat up to boiling. My stove has a temperature sensor built into it that ends up turning the burners on for maybe 5 seconds, then powering down, then turning back on. It sucks, but with the heatstick, it works. I have purchased most of the materials for mounting an element into the kettle, which I hope will allow me to bring my boil outside, when combined with the heatstick. My kitchen vent hood is a piece of crap and will drip condensation back into the boil kettle if I don't wipe it often. I have a $13 plug-in GFCI adapter from home depot and I just unplug the stick when I need to move the kettle or stop the heating/boiling.

CGVT


Do you just plug it into regular gf outlet? You did not run 240 and put in a special plug?

DerrangedPOJO said:

CGVT


Do you just plug it into regular gf outlet? You did not run 240 and put in a special plug?

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Mine are 110 and I use two at a time, but have to run them from different circuits. I plug one into a GFCI outlet in my garage and then run an extension cord to a CFCI outlet in my kitchen or bathroom.

Eventually I would like to go with an all electric 240 system so that I can use the ULD elements but I am not set up for that yet.

I just ran 240 to my brew area. Using a 4500 W heat stick. Have not used yet. Swmbo was not happy with the electric bill. Took over hour n a half to bring 7g of water to a boil n not very rolling lol. So after some math figured 4500 should save me on electricity n b more effective n cut times down. May even go bigger when plans to do larger batches. Also u know ab extension cord isn't what id call safe! Gf outlets r not made for ext chords. but can b used with caution. is it possible to install the element to the pot? Also u seem to haver used for a while do u have to replace quickly?

DerrangedPOJO said:

I just ran 240 to my brew area. Using a 4500 W heat stick. Have not used yet. Swmbo was not happy with the electric bill. Took over hour n a half to bring 7g of water to a boil n not very rolling lol. So after some math figured 4500 should save me on electricity n b more effective n cut times down. May even go bigger when plans to do larger batches. Also u know ab extension cord isn't what id call safe! Gf outlets r not made for ext chords. but can b used with caution. is it possible to install the element to the pot? Also u seem to haver used for a while do u have to replace quickly?

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No. I made them both at the same time and have been using them ever since. i have not had to replace the elements although they tend to get a coating on them over the length of a boil (that's why I want to go to ULD elements) but it has never scorched the wort or the mash when I use one to adjust temperature. I did not use JB weld on my build, just silicone. I have one that is straight and one that has an elbow at the top to hang on the kettle and an elbow at the bottom. It gives me some flexibility.

I put on/off switches in-line so that I can turn them on and off and not have to worry about fumbling for a plug as the hot break forms.