Brewing with a 1800 W Induction Cooktop

ercousin said:

Only one brew day so far (Brooklyn Brew Shop kit), but I'm stocking up on equipment to brew more regularly.

Anyone here have much experience with induction brewing? I live in a condo and was hoping to do something along these lines:


Planning on using the Max Burton 6200 (1800 W) and the Bayou Classic 1040 10 gallon brewpot.

Has anyone successfully replicated the northern brewer process, or similar?

Any tips?

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ercousin said:

Only one brew day so far (Brooklyn Brew Shop kit), but I'm stocking up on equipment to brew more regularly.

Anyone here have much experience with induction brewing? I live in a condo and was hoping to do something along these lines:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/2011/07/induction-brewing/

Planning on using the Max Burton 6200 (1800 W) and the Bayou Classic 1040 10 gallon brewpot.

Has anyone successfully replicated the northern brewer process, or similar?

Any tips?

Click to expand...

uberg33k said:

I have no idea how they got 5.75 gal to boil on that plate alone.

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AnOldUR said:

I did a bit of experimenting with electric brewing on plates. Pot geometry has a lot to do with success. Look for something that taller than it is wide. The Bayou pots are good for this. Although the Northern Brewer video doesn't use it, the other thing that is important is insulation. My current setup is a 3500 watt induction cooktop with a Keg Koozy for insulation. Depending on starting temperature it takes a half hour or more to get to a boil, but I often boil in the 12 gallon volume range and get a good rolling boil. Based on this, I don't think 6 gallon or more on a 1800 watt cooktop would be a problem.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/attachments/f11/51045d1330895948-keg-koozy-kegkoozy2.jpg.jpg[/IM][/quote]
I'd think the element makes as much difference as pot geometry. I agree that insulating the pot would help a lot in getting you closer to being able to use it in a boil. That Max Burton was exactly what I was using. It looks like you're using some kind of plate meant for the catering industry, meaning its more heavy duty. I'd trust your unit to hold a lot of weight and perform as you describe. I wouldn't say the same about the Max Burton. It might work if you insulate the kettle and build some kind of frame around it to help support the weight of the kettle, but I wouldn't call it a guaranteed solution.

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uberg33k said:

Also keep in mind, you will be putting 70+ pounds (kettle plus 6 gal of wort) on something designed around normal cooking conditions. I can't remember, but I think the manual stated something about 10L vessels being the maximum. Another thing to keep in mind is the plate has a timer and shuts down. Max time on that is 60 minutes.
My advice: that unit maxed out can do a 2.5 gal batch, but no more. If you have 2 like gwjames47, 5 gal batches are doable.

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gwjames47 said:

I started out with a single MaxBurton doing 5 ga. all grain. I was using a 22 quart clad bottom pot. So I was only able to fill to about 19 quarts. It would come to a rolling boil after nearly an hour. And then I would have to top off with a little water to get a little over 5 ga. into the fermenter. As far as weight capacity goes for these units, I have had over 45# on them without breaking anything. Today I was brewing with my sauce pan duel plate setup and one of the MaxBurtons ceased to function. I had run over half of my mash runnings, I lifted up the pot which was over half full and slipped out the defective unit I know the total weight had to be near 50#(the 30 quart sauce pan is quite heavy). I thought my brew day was going to be a total disaster. I took apart the unit and removed the control circuit board and seen that it had some wort on it that had gotten in there when I had disconnected one of my fittings. I had wiped it off immediately after the spill, but apparently it had found it's way to the circuit board. I took a sprayer and filled it with hot tap water and set it to spray a single stream and washed the affected area and the switch pots that were affected, then took SWMBO's hair dryer and dried off everything. A few minutes later it was running as good as new and I slipped it back under the pot alongside the other one and carried on. Also, the units won't shut down unless you set them to. I have run 90 min. at a setting of ten which is max and also max temp of 450.

GW

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uberg33k said:

http://aervoe.com/techdata/6200 IM.pdf The 6200 (metal finish 1800W) is only rated to a max load of 50lbs.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...8T14xq4S1HwcpXwEA&sig2=fqdQvgNHYSgFFviA58R3xg The 6000 (black plastic 1800W) is only rated for 25 lbs.

5 gal of water alone weighs 43 lbs. Even if you're only doing 19QT, you're exceeding the safety rating of your plate. Please do not encourage people to think this is safe, here's why...

The work coil (the thing heating your pot) runs at 1kV or 1.2kV (I forget). There is a ton of capacitors in there to help smooth ripple and swing the voltage back and forth to get you that PWM. When I was working on a bypass control circuit for this unit, I seem to recall total storage capacity of the boards to be something like 350J to 400J. That is heart defibrillator time. This unit is perfectly safe to use under normal conditions within manufacturer's spec, but taking it apart after it's shutdown because of the circuit getting wet is EXTREMELY dangerous. There is enough zap stored in there to KILL you.

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gwjames47 said:

I guess since I have been brewing on the MaxBurton 6000 for over 2 yrs. and exceeding the weight capacity by 80% with no adverse consequences I have become complacent.

Thanks for letting me know how dangerous working on one of these can be. And I do not advocate anyone taking apart their induction unit for any reason.

GW

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