Plastic e-kettle?

Hi,
I have been thinking about going electric, but in a rather very cost effective way. I am almost decided to go in the heatstick direction, when I saw this video:



Is it really ok to use a fermentation bucket as a kettle??!!

Thanks!

http://brewery.org/library/ElectBrKS0396.html

I have done it, as have others. Opinions vary. If you do, a thicker HDPE container is best IMO.

Interesting, it's cheap and easier to do than drilling a SS or aluminium kettle, welding etc... And the capacity is huge for the price of course...
As usual opinions in brewing world vary, but what is yours? Is it reliable on the long term or the bins will stand just a couple of boils? Any dramatic off flavours?
Thank you!

around 200 post on this thread using plastic vessels...knock youreself out

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/i-decided-start-building-brewing-system-106668/

Great! Thanks a lot!

After making some research, I must disagree about the HDPE. True it is that usually those containers have thicker walls than fermentation bins, but the melting point of HDPE is 130ºC and of PP is around 160ºC, and wikipedia says it can withstand "autoclaving conditions", but HDPE can't.

people have done a lot of dumb things in the past, it doesnt mean that you should start.

plastic container not rated for the application + heat + large volume of liquid + large amount of electricity = recipe for disaster.

if you are an engineer and actually want to do the math, im sure that there is a safe way to do this that would work, but as a general rule i wouldnt suggest that anyone try to boil a large amount of water in any random plastic container. for the regular person without the knowledge required to understand the structural limits of any random container and different plastic types, there is just too much risk.

I don't know if I done this right but if the link don't work search firebird400, it's a good thread on using plastic to boil in.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/my-new-homemade-micro-brewery-241691/

Good to see that I am not the only crazy guy to think about it, and actually lot of people did it before me... Of course I had to do some research to convince myself that this is not dangerous. Anyway I already use polypropylene for boiling water and microwaving my lunch every day...
By the way, this firebird400 system looks really nice! I think I am going in this direction.
Cheers!

Jalahu said:

Good to see that I am not the only crazy guy to think about it, and actually lot of people did it before me... Of course I had to do some research to convince myself that this is not dangerous. Anyway I already use polypropylene for boiling water and microwaving my lunch every day...
By the way, this firebird400 system looks really nice! I think I am going in this direction.
Cheers!

Click to expand...

Yea, I'm building my system about like his only using an 80qt alum pot with a steamer basket for biab. I got an ice cream freezer motor I'm going to use to stir the mash. I'm going to have continuous re-circulation and stop stirring at the last part of the mash to let the grain bed settle and filter the wart.

I've been doing this for the past 2 years and it's perfectly fine. Just don't move the bucket when it's full of hot liquid. Stainless is of course better, and I intend to move to stainless soon, but plastic is orders of magnitude cheaper here in Iceland. A 50qt kettle would cost me about $500 here, without a lid, valves or any accessories.

Here's a writeup I did a while ago:
http://brew.is/blog/2011/03/diy-plastic-boil-kettle/

hrafnkell said:

I've been doing this for the past 2 years and it's perfectly fine. Just don't move the bucket when it's full of hot liquid. Stainless is of course better, and I intend to move to stainless soon, but plastic is orders of magnitude cheaper here in Iceland. A 50qt kettle would cost me about $500 here, without a lid, valves or any accessories.

Here's a writeup I did a while ago:
http://brew.is/blog/2011/03/diy-plastic-boil-kettle/

Click to expand...

Yes of course stainless is better option but out of my tiny budget. I will be following your instructions. I hope I can have it ready in a couple of weeks.
Thank you all!!

So I had a while to check your system bit more, hrafnkell, and I just have one question:
You are really not using any pump, right? You can make BIAB directly witout problems? Just stirring while the elements are on to make sure heat is distributed evenly...

You don't really need to stir. Just stir during mash in, make sure the temperature is correct. Then insulate the kettle with blankets, towels or something like that and give the mash 50-60 minutes before mashout (raising the temp to 77°C). I raise the bag off the elements when they are on.