ChemE

Recipes 

While it is true that the specific gravity of a mL of wort is higher than that of pure water the water boils and the sugar doesn't so it doesn't make any difference. We still need to boil 1 gram of pure water to dissipate 2,270J. 1 gram of water (with or without sugar) is going to occupy less than 1 mL of volume at 212F. And thanks, this is definitely the first time I've used the Boltzman constant since P-Chem II.

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My Super Efficient 5-Gallon Mash Lauter Tun • Graduating Carboys • Leaf Hop Absorption Measured
Primary - Bemused Bitter, Munich Saaz SMaSH
Secondary - Air
Bottled - Oatmeal Stout 2011, Apfelwein, Withdrawn Wheat, Bourbon Barrel Barleywine SMaSH, Christmas Ale 2010, Perplexed Pale Ale

slouch

Recipes 

For my 7 gallon turkey fryer I have a single 1500w element that works fine. It take about 30-40 minutes to reach boiling and then I just leave it on at full power to maintain the boil.

The element was $8, the switch box ~$5 with the mount, box, gasket, faceplate and switch. The insulation was $12. I used a cord I already had, and the jb weld I already had. The bulkhead fitting and ball valve were about $10-13.

When I use it as an hlt it holds enough strike water for the mash, and will heat enough for the sparge by the time the mash is done.

It runs fine on a 15 amp circut. No upgrade required.

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Secondary - Imperial Stout
Secondary - Pilsner
Secondary - Bourbon Stout
Secondary - Mead
Bottling - Pilsner
Bottling - Viking Sky
Bottling - Root beer
Drinking - Pucker Butt, Tomahawk, Thor's Hammer
Cellar - 2004 Clover Mead, 2009 Blackberry Mead, Blonde Biasa, Kaptin Kölsh

ScubaSteve

Recipes 

Great thread, hate to dig it up...but something occured to me about the radiative heat loss.....I'm no mathematician, but you need to take into account the evaporative and conductive heat losses....convection and radiation ARE occuring but all these processes are happening at the same time. My bet is that the majority of heat is being lost through the steam (wort/water changing phase and leaving the kettle...taking heat with it into the atmosphere) and by putting a cowl over the top you're actually slowing this process down. Sure, the cowl reflects heat back, but I think the steam leaving has a greater effect. Conductive heat loss is easy....just put something under the electric kettle to stop the stand from acting like a heat sink.

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UNIBREW 5500 SINGLE VESSEL BREWERY
WOODEN SINGLE TIER

dmfa200

Recipes 

Didn't want to read through all these pages, but has anyone suggested using an electric stove burner controller.
That's what I use. I have a 4500 watt element to heat my water. The connections to the element and stove controller are housed in a Radio Shack project box attached to the side of my keggle.
Of course I maintain my heat manually but I have a thermometer installed.
So I just watch my temp when it gets close to target I start to turn in down.

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I don't know what you said, but your wrong.

rod734

Recipes 

Iv been searching the forums for days to find someone that has tried an electric stove burner controller on their element. This is what I thought about doing. How is it working out. Do you use it for a boil or just to heat your mash water. I even thought about using an oven temp controller to heat and keep my mash and sparg water at desired temp.

dmfa200

Recipes 

Right now I'm using my keggle as a boil kettle as well as a mlt.
I heat my water for the mash. Then I transfer to my cooler and mix with grain.
When the mash is done I transfer the wort back into the keggle for the boil.
I use a couple of buckets with spigots to for the collection and transfer.
It works pretty good for me.

I have a link somewhere on my computer with info on how to build a infinite switch controlled hot water element.

I'll try to find it.

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I don't know what you said, but your wrong.