I LOVE waking up to hot strike water. Easy as 1-2-3.

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eyedoctodd

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Ok, I know I'm probably not the first to do this, but i thought I'd share my system for heating my strike water while I sleep. There are calculators online that will let you figure out how long the water takes to heat, but I found I still needed to do some math in converting units, etc, then I ALSO had to count back from when I wanted to mash in. So I whipped up a spreadsheet to let me know when to set my timer for.

First, get yourself this bucket heater.
It's also available at Amazon, but right now the price is higher.

There are more powerful units which can heat the water faster, but then you have to worry about the amperage of your breakers and any extension cords you're using, not to mention the timer below. This one is cheap, safe, and does the job while playing nicely with standard circuits and cords.

612T2XSVZyL._AA1280_.jpg


Second, grab this Intermatic DT-620 Timer.
It's also available from Amazon.
41cvGEnUbJL._SL500_AA300_.jpg



Finally, grab my spreadsheet file and calculate what time to set your timer to kick on. It is pretty self-explanatory, except for the thermal loss cell. In real life, while you're heating your strike water, you're also losing some heat due to the imperfect insulation of the vessel. This box gives you the chance to use an adjustment factor if you are finding you're not quite at target temp at the expected mash-in time. (Note there are imperial and metric sheets)

{example: if you start with 45F water and want 170F, but you're finding the heater only got you to 160F; that means instead of a rise of 125F, you got a rise of 115F. 125/115 = 1.086. I would punch in 1.086 to adjust for the future if I did nothing different to insulate the vessel.}

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bz4y1a_lwt2yVV9NX1ZPMmdOVm8/edit
is the location of the file in case the link above does not work.

It's a good idea to plug all this into a GFCI outlet or an external GFCI adapter. Check any cords etc that you use to be rated for 120V, 1000W, at least 8.33A (most household circuits are 15A so you're golden as long as you don't try to power this through a crappy thin extension cord.) As always, read all warning labels and don't run that heater dry!!

Enjoy! I hope others find this useful, I have saved a ton of time crushing my grains the night before and having my strike water heat while I sleep. Now I wake and mash and SWMBO is happier about shorter brew days.
Not to mention I'm saving a ton of propane. The electricity for me to heat 12 gallons of water (some of it I save for my sparge) costs about 40-50 cents! Normally that would have my Top Tier burner running for a good 45 minutes minimum!! Cheers :mug:


Todd
 
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How fast will that heat a 5 gallon hlt to 180 F? I'm wondering if it might be worth using for mashing.
 
This is a really good idea. What's different from that water heater, and say, a 1000 W $10 element from Home Depot, other than missing a wire?

Since I mash in a cooler, this sounds like a brilliant way to target a strike temp and avoid trying to account for preheating the tun or accounting from heat loss when pouring in. Gonna give this some thought.
 
@LABrewer - you would need to know the starting temp of the water. But if you punch all that into the spreadsheet, it will tell you.
 
@Lockwom - Yes, you can build your own heatstick - google "heatstick build" and you'll find lots of results explaining how to do it with sink pipe and JB-weld. Personally, I don't like to tinker with electricity and water and wanted something pre-built that was made for this. Building your own would allow you to go with a higher wattage to shorten the time to heat (and the spreadsheet will allow you to change the wattage), but for me I the 1000W is plenty to do it while I'm in dreamland as it will do 12 gallons in well under 4 hours. I did look at building a higher wattage heatstick (thinking I could maybe heat sparge water this way while the mash proceeded) but then I would need to figure out something different with my circuit breaker. What I do now is heat the 12 gallons to 175-ish, even though I'm only going to mash in with 6-7 gallons. The remaining water is added to with 6 or so more gallons out of the faucet to get back to 12 gallons in the HLT and I usually end up with it being about 110-120F. This still saves me time and propane getting sparge water up to mashout temp.

@Revvy - in reading the Amazon reviews before buying the bucket heater, I believe there were several who stated it did not work well for sous vide. Just an FYI.
 
@JohnnyJumpUp - True, however the cheapest temp controller build I've seen with a heating stage is roughly $59 just for the controller (I think I put another $15-20 into the build to wire it all up), and this timer is $23. Also, I'm not sure of the amperage one of the temp controllers will handle, I think I read on at least one of them that it was limited to ~3A. Not sure, that was a few months ago.
 
eyedoctodd said:
Also, I'm not sure of the amperage one of the temp controllers will handle, I think I read on at least one of them that it was limited to ~3A. Not sure, that was a few months ago.

Just checked and that controller will handle 30A, not 3A. My mistake.
 
@JohnnyJumpUp - True, however the cheapest temp controller build I've seen with a heating stage is roughly $59 just for the controller (I think I put another $15-20 into the build to wire it all up), and this timer is $23. Also, I'm not sure of the amperage one of the temp controllers will handle, I think I read on at least one of them that it was limited to ~3A. Not sure, that was a few months ago.

The stc 1000 is about 25 bucks, and free shipping from ebay, about the same price as the timer. BUT I think for what you're doing with a timer is more practical, for this. It's more than likely turning on at just the right time, sometime in the middle of the night, for the right amount of time, to get to where you need it, rather than a temp controller which you'd turn on before you go to bed, and it would pretty much be running on and off all night to hold the temp til morning. Seems much more practical this way.
 
I've posted that I use those in sous-vide as well.

Oh yeah, I have to give credit to Revvy. He is the one that came up with the coffee cup heater Sous Vide idea. Works better than I could have imagined.
I have enjoyed many perfectly medium rare steaks with this outfit.

That is the beauty of this is you can heat strike water and Sous Vide with it. My HLT is a 5 gallon Rubbermaid cooler so it is perfect for either task.
 
Why don't you take hot tapwater? That would be somewthing like 50 - 60 ˚Celsius, so you only have to heat up the last 20 - 30 ˚Celsius ?
 
Why don't you take hot tapwater? That would be somewthing like 50 - 60 ˚Celsius, so you only have to heat up the last 20 - 30 ˚Celsius ?

You shouldn't use your hot water from your tap to brew, or to cook with IMO because over time water heaters build up deposits of various minerals (and bacteria, but that's another issue) which are significantly higher in concentration out of the tap than using cold water.
 
You shouldn't use your hot water from your tap to brew, or to cook with IMO because over time water heaters build up deposits of various minerals (and bacteria, but that's another issue) which are significantly higher in concentration out of the tap than using cold water.

Also, many homes have water softeners that feed the heaters, so heated water is softened water and high in sodium, which not good for brewing.
 
OK, perhaps the taptwater system in USA is deifferent from what whe have here in the Netherlands.
 
OK, perhaps the taptwater system in USA is deifferent from what whe have here in the Netherlands.

The United States is big with many different environments and climates that results in different water conditions.
There isn't anyone using a water softener in my area.
I also try to flush my hot water heater at least once a year. If you do get sediment, it can shorten the life of the water heater.

Great thread. I'm intrigued.
 
Excellent idea! I just happen to have an Amazon gift card I need to use up, and couldn't decide what to get. May have to use it on these, make my day a little easier!
 
Well I gave this a shot this morning. Set the timer to heat my water for 2:15 (according to spreadsheet) and shut off right at 7:00am when I went out to dough in. And....my strike water was a bit higher than expected. Like, >200F instead of the ~165F I was planning for. Not a huge problem, as it gave me some time to resolve some other stuff I had going on (I was baking a loaf of bread simultaneously) while I recirculated the strike water and cooled it down. Finally mashed in around 7:30am.

I guess I need to look at the numbers in the spreadsheet again and figure out exactly how I overshot by so much. Maybe the initial water temp was higher by as much as 5F or so, and I suppose the heat loss could have been lower, but that seems kind of strange. I could do a design of experiments to get those parameters dialed in, but more likely I am just going to keep adjusting a little bit at a time until I hit my intended targets.
 
I just ordered a 1 kW heater and timer. I got a simpler 15A analog timer for $10 cheaper since I don't need the complicated programming of the digital one.

Once I get a hang of the timer, I'll probably inline a Ranco controller in case I sleep in, and to avoid overshoots.

Thanks for posting this! Apparently a common solution, but the simple DIY made me aware.
 
Weirdboy - What are all your parameters? Volume, starting temp, insulation will all have an impact. What did you use for the thermal loss value?
The calcs on the spreadsheet are all exact and based on the amount of energy to raise 1L of water by 1 degree C (4186 Joules). The only place I see for any need to experiment at all is the thermal loss.

It sounds like your timer went on a lot earlier than I would expect. Please hit me back with all your numbers and I'll see what I can figure out.
For me this has been bang on once I corrected for thermal loss (prior to that I was coming up 5-10 degrees cool).

Cheers
 
Lockwom - I tried an analog lamp timer I had a few times and kept waking up to cold water. It very well could have been my timer not triggering right, but I decided it was worth the $10-15 extra to know for sure it would kick on when needed. Let us know how it works out!
 
Weirdboy - What are all your parameters? Volume, starting temp, insulation will all have an impact. What did you use for the thermal loss value?
The calcs on the spreadsheet are all exact and based on the amount of energy to raise 1L of water by 1 degree C (4186 Joules). The only place I see for any need to experiment at all is the thermal loss.

It sounds like your timer went on a lot earlier than I would expect. Please hit me back with all your numbers and I'll see what I can figure out.
For me this has been bang on once I corrected for thermal loss (prior to that I was coming up 5-10 degrees cool).

Cheers


Here's what I used:

Volume: 7.5 gallons
Starting water temp: 55F
Desired Temp: 165F
Thermal Loss: 1.11 (Blichmann 15 gallon pot, with cover on)
Heating Element: 1000W (same as in your link)
Mash-In Time: 7:00am

It showed 2:14 hours needed to heat, making the power-on time 4:45am. I programmed it to turn on at 4:45am and turn off at 7:00am. Admittedly, I may have screwed something up programming the timer, but it seemed pretty straightforward. Using the calculator, it looks like I'd have to be off by an hour to get the temps I saw.

It's possible my starting water temp was a bit higher, maybe as high as 60F or so. It came out of the tap at about 61F when I prepped it last night, but then the temp dropped to low 50's for several hours overnight before it turned on.
 
I use one of my STC 1000 fermentation temp controllers and two of these NORPRO 559 Immersion Heaters for Sous Vide cooking. I know for a fact they will heat water to 170°.
Going to use it in my HLT this weekend.

How much water are you heating with those two? They look pretty small?

This definitely sounds like something I'm interested in...
 
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That's strange.. First time I read your post, I thought you meant for the timer to come on at 2:15 AM, which would be way too long. Now I realize you meant for it to heat for 2:15 hours:minutes.

Is there a chance you set the timer wrong (I.E. to come on at 2:15 AM)? I will admit, I needed to follow along with the directions to set mine.

One other thing to consider would be that 7.5 Gallons of 61F tap water is not likely going to cool that much that quickly sitting there in your garage in the 50's, I would think you'd need a much bigger temp differential for that mass of water to cool off that quick.. I don't know if there's a way to measure that, but I would say the safest thing is start with the coldest tap water you can (assuming the ambient temp is lower). If I had to guess, I'd say your water was in the high 50s before the heater kicked on.

I have tested mine out in a 5-gallon bucket, and in my 15-gallon boilermaker and while each has a different thermal mass, they are consistent.

At worst, you're in a position where you experiment a couple of nights and keep close records of it, then figure out your thermal mass for each vessel (remember that will change if your volume is dramatically different also, since a larger mass of liquid holds its temp better than a smaller mass of liquid). The beauty of that fudge factor is that it's a straight percentage. IE a thermal mass of 1.11 implies you lost 11% of the heat that went into the vessel, and you only got 89% of your expected rise in temp. This is independent of celsius versus fahrenheit and gallons/litres. Let us know how you're doing with it... Anyone else prepared to chime in with their results? Remember, first time may be off a bit until you nail your thermal mass. In any event, for me running my burner for 5 minutes to make up a 10-degree shortfall is far better than 45 minutes!
 
Hmmm. This totally beats my wake up early, put the heat on low, and go back to bed, technique.
 
Lockwom - I tried an analog lamp timer I had a few times and kept waking up to cold water. It very well could have been my timer not triggering right, but I decided it was worth the $10-15 extra to know for sure it would kick on when needed. Let us know how it works out!

Indeed I will! With work, I can't brew for at least a week despite the timer arriving today.

Fat-fingering the pins for "on" times seems more reliable than accidentally setting the digital timer for the wrong day of the week, but then again, I wouldn't be surprised if this one is just as prone to operator error. I figured $12 can't hurt to try:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0020ML730/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I'm actually excited for it. I already start yeast, RO filter water and add minerals the night before. Measuring and milling grain while I'm at it doesn't add much time.
 
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OK well this morning I gave it another shot with the same beer. As an experiment, I shortened the "power on" time by 30 minutes...only to find the strike water had settled in at around 132F after recirculating a bit when I went to dough in. Now I'm thinking that when I checked it before, maybe what I was getting was stratification...the water on top was 190F~200F, but perhaps the aggregate mean temperature was closer to my target. In any case, I managed to completely screw up this beer as well...I'm starting to think that making beer 10 minutes after I wake up is a terrible idea, because I keep making really stupid mistakes early in the morning that I have never made before on many previous batches.
 
You do realize, if you only wake up at noon, you can still use this method to have hot strike water at 1PM? You can brew at midnight if you work third shift.:rockin:
 
I said that wrong... you can DREAM of brewing at midnight if you work third shift. You can only brew at midnight if you work second (or, first, or no) shift.
 
When I know that I am going to brew the next morning, I just crank up the hot water tank the night before. Generally that will put me about 5 degrees +/- of my strike temp.

Good enough for me
 
I use one of my STC 1000 fermentation temp controllers and two of these NORPRO 559 Immersion Heaters for Sous Vide cooking. I know for a fact they will heat water to 170°.
Going to use it in my HLT this weekend.

So how did it work out? I am looking to use this exact setup to heat 10-11 gallons of strike/sparge water. (170ish degrees)

Also, is the probe on the STC1000 okay to submerge in water this hot?
 
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