Few questions for you guys

I have been thinking about getting a heating element to heat my mash/sparge water. However i don't want to drill a hole in my kettles. Can i put one in my bottling bucket? The idea is to measure out what water i need and plug in the heating element to my temp controller. In theory it would keep my water at perfect temp while i grind grain. But idk about the plastic. The hottest (sparge) the water would get is around 180-190. Can a bucket handle this without leeching chemicals?

Also i would need a small element. How would i wire up a 220v element to work in my 110v outlet?


Thanks ahead of time and im sorry if my questions are dumb.

Why not just make a heat stick, and stick it in a kettle. That way your not committed or potential ruining your kettle?


Chris

Or buy a cheap aluminum pot to use as an HLT just for your strike/sparge water

Just lay it in the kettle?

I used a 10 gallon round Igloo cooler for my HLT for a long time, with a 1500 w element in it. It took like 90 minutes to heat up to 180, but it worked just fine! The only thing was, due to the way it's made, I had to go up through the bottom so I had to keep three gallons of water in it (or more) or risk dryfiring the element. It wasn't an issue, since I knew that, and just flipped it off when I was draining.

My element was 110v, and it was the biggest I could use on 110v. You will need a 110v element if that is your power source.

Yooper said:

I used a 10 gallon round Igloo cooler for my HLT for a long time, with a 1500 w element in it. It took like 90 minutes to heat up to 180, but it worked just fine! The only thing was, due to the way it's made, I had to go up through the bottom so I had to keep three gallons of water in it (or more) or risk dryfiring the element. It wasn't an issue, since I knew that, and just flipped it off when I was draining.

My element was 110v, and it was the biggest I could use on 110v. You will need a 110v element if that is your power source.

Click to expand...

I thought about this. But I do a lot of 2.5 gal batches (even though its a 10g cooler) and mash with only 2 gal. Maybe I could just put it lower?

Still that would leave the sparge water to direct heat again..... I was hoping not to buy more equipment (have too much already!) and use what I got with slight modifications. But if I cant, I cant.

Mojzis said:

I thought about this. But I do a lot of 2.5 gal batches (even though its a 10g cooler) and mash with only 2 gal. Maybe I could just put it lower?

Still that would leave the sparge water to direct heat again..... I was hoping not to buy more equipment (have too much already!) and use what I got with slight modifications. But if I cant, I cant.

Click to expand...

The element had to go through the bottom, and stand up, because it couldn't go through the side (there is nothing to "mount" it on). But I always had my mash water and sparge water in there, so that's at least 5 gallons or so.