Portable induction hob advice

I am thinking of buying the hob below.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Digital-Electric-Induction/dp/B004BM749S

It looks really good but it fits up to 26cm pots and mine is 30cm. Its only 16l as I will be making 10-12l batches but as I don't have any experience with induction hobs I am wondering if this will still work ok or will the larger pot damage the hob.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

For 28£ / $44 I don't think you can go wrong. 2000W should be enough power for a 16l boil. I use this one: http://www.amazon.com/Avantco-IC3500-Countertop-Induction-Cooker/dp/B00514BTJ6 to do 7 G (26.5l) boils. Works great if a little slower than gas.

Mine says 10.25" (26cm) max bottom pan diameter however I use it with a 13.6" (34.5cm) 10 gallon pot and it works great. The boil kettle I use is a tri-ply type but my sparge and mash tun are single.

I scored a second hob for free, the in-laws gave my wife this "NuWave" 1300W unit. I heat sparge water with it. It also is a bit small for the pot I use (9 US gallon) but 5 gallons ~19L works fine. I start it heating while heating mash water and it will hit sparge temp before the time its needed.

Thank you for your reply.

I am wanting to do BIAB so from what you are saying it should work well. My only other concern is that it goes up in 20c increments. Does yours have better temp control?

AJT said:

Thank you for your reply.

I am wanting to do BIAB so from what you are saying it should work well. My only other concern is that it goes up in 20c increments. Does yours have better temp control?

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The 3500 one does 10F increments or various power levels. I don't use it to maintain temps after I've mashed in. Before I found the NuWave I would remove the mash tun from the hob and then use it to heat sparge water.

Those temp settings are highly inaccurate. How can the unit possibly know the temp inside the pot? It is just a gauge of power that's being delivered. BTW, those units regulate power by switching the coil ON for x seconds OFF for y. ON is always full blast.

If you have aspirations for doing larger batches in the foreseeable future, the IC3500 will be able to boil 10+ gallons, maxing out at around 13 gallons. In the UK you have 240V, so as long as the outlet and plug have at least 16A fuses (20A is best) it will be ready to go.