Couple of questions about heating elements

Let me start off by saying hello to everyone, seeing as this is my first post.

I have been searching the forums and some other sites for an answer to a few problems but haven't had much luck so I figured why not just ask?

Situation:
I am currently living in an apartment and we just had the stove replaced and SWMBO won't let me use it to brew anymore . I looked into propane burners and they're not completely out of the question but electric seems to be much cheaper. I'm not planning on building a big brew rig or anything fancy (at least not yet ) since I don't have the funds or space available (whole starving college student thing). So I just want to install a heating element in my BK that I can plug into a regular wall outlet.

From my searches I've found that most people are running full rigs or elements from a dedicated 240V outlet or the people that are running 120V elements have them integrated into a brew rig or don't exactly say how they did it. But I have learned some random bits and pieces of info from them. So I'm thinking I would be able to buy a heating element, 1500w x 120V for example, and some 12/3 wire with a regular 3 prong plug on one end and wire it up and plug it in, possibly run some sort of switch in the line. I like to think I'm fairly mechanically inclined (in my junior year of pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering) but I'm nowhere near as familiar with electrical components, other than the basic circuit analysis class I took, and wanted to double check with you guys before I kill myself.

Questions:
1. Will this setup work? (assuming everything is wired and grounded correctly) or will it just pop the element or a fuse? Its a fairly older building so I'm guessing the outlets are 15 amp and 1500w at 120V is 12.5 amps so it should be safe right?

2. I am still only doing extract and partial brews, so I top off my fermentor with water and only boil about 3 gallons. Would a 1500 watt element be sufficient to boil this amount?

3. Would you recommend something else?

Sorry this was kind of long but I figured the more info the more you guys would be able to help. Thanks!

here's a small countertop system I remember reading about. This is more than you want but maybe you can get some ideas or gain some knowledge from it.

Good Luck

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/countertop-brutus-20-a-131411/

Upon further looking post 5 of the link has parts breakdowns for the system, maybe you could get away with the kettle and controller parts.

That's a great thread! Thank you

It looks like he has the heating element wired with a regular 3 prong cable. So it seems like my idea on just wiring the plug directly to the element should work then?

Would I need an actual controller for it? Or could I maybe plug that into a power strip and use the switch on the power strip to essentially turn the element on and off?

Your plan will work for a 3gallon boil without an issue, just watch for scorching if you use a HWD element & remember to cut the power when you add your extract.

If you want to get really fancy then you can head down to Lowe's and pick up a Wireless Dual Outlet Remote Control Set like I did and use it to control your element. I used mine to control 2 elements and a pump without an issue on my last brewday.

And finally, please remember to only plug that element in to a GFCI protected circuit. It could save your life.

1500 watts is about 5200 BTUs/hour

to heat 3 gallons from 70 to 212 degrees it takes around 3500BTUs of energy. so you can boil 3gal of water from room temp in about 40 minutes (not taking into account any heat lost from the pot to the air in that time).

to go from mashout of 170* to 212*, it should take about 12 minutes, again- plus a few extra for the heat lost.

You guys are going to get me in trouble with SWMBO. That controller is awesome!

I'm planning on doing my brewing on my patio (shes not a fan of the smell) and using an outlet out there which I'm assuming is GFCI since its outside and exposed to the elements, but I'll double check. Thanks for the info guys.

DanTheBrewMan said:

You guys are going to get me in trouble with SWMBO. That controller is awesome!

I'm planning on doing my brewing on my patio (shes not a fan of the smell) and using an outlet out there which I'm assuming is GFCI since its outside and exposed to the elements, but I'll double check. Thanks for the info guys.

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It was only $20.00, besides when you're not brewing you could use it for christmas lights or something. ;0)

Thats a good point.

I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to incorporate the heating element with my aluminum pot. I was looking at the heat stick method that you just stick in the pot, but with only a 3 gallon boil I'm not sure it would be deep enough to fully submerge the element. I also noticed that the people that mount the element in the pot from the side use some sort of gang box to enclose the back side of the element. I'm wondering if this is a little over kill for my situation or if maybe there is a simpler way of protecting the back side of the element? Maybe a short tube or something?

A new turkey fryer (burner and 7.5 gal pot) is $70 at Home Depot. A heatstick might be cheaper, but probably not a full on electric kettle.

After looking at my brew pot I'm thinking a heat stick is probably the way to go. I looked at the link that mikeal provided and noticed that he used a wooden wedge to separate the element a little bit to shorten it. I thought this was pretty interesting since I didn't know the element could be bent without breaking, so would I be able to safely bend the element maybe 60 to 90 degrees in order to fully submerge it if its too long? Just in case the 90 degree drain pipe method won't fit my pot.

It's possible to bend the ULWD or LWD elements a bit but not the HWD elements to my knowledge. And bending to 60-90 degrees I think would be a bit much in either case. Your best bet is go go to your hardware store and pick up all the parts and test fit them together to see if you can fit the stuff in your pot.

I use a keggle, it's ~16" wide on the inside and a 90 degree heatstick fits fine. YMMV

I converted a keg into an electric kettle. I was in the same situation as you. I use 2 heater elements on 120v, just plugged into separate circuits. It works well. Can boil a full 12 gallons.

Alright thanks guys. I think I'm gonna go to home depot and see what I can find.

DrinkDR said:

I converted a keg into an electric kettle. I was in the same situation as you. I use 2 heater elements on 120v, just plugged into separate circuits. It works well. Can boil a full 12 gallons.

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Thats awesome that it can boil a full 12 gallons. What wattage are you using? I looked at my breaker panel in my apartment yesterday and I have a mixture of 15 amp fuses for lighting and 20 amp fuses in the kitchen, which I attribute to it being a somewhat older complex, and of course they're pretty poorly labeled. I think I am just going to use a 1500 watt to be on the safe side.

Success!!! I've completed the heating element and we're leak free and currently at 180 degrees and holding strong.

DanTheBrewMan said:

Success!!! I've completed the heating element and we're leak free and currently at 180 degrees and holding strong.

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Pictures?

Here's a couple after boiling 3 gallons of water. It looks like there's some mineral buildup on the element. I think I did pretty well on the JB weld if I do say so myself

Looks good, as long as it's watertight you should be just fine. I used JBWeld to pot my connections and Aquarium Silicone to seal the element and threads on the drainpipe. Just a word of caution, unplug that sucker and pull it out of the pot before adding extract or grains. If you scorch your beer with that HWD element you will certainly taste it. I didn't have any issue with this until I brewed with a lot of wheat and oats. Now I don't use these in my mash at all.

Cheers!

wyzazz said:

Looks good, as long as it's watertight you should be just fine. I used JBWeld to pot my connections and Aquarium Silicone to seal the element and threads on the drainpipe. Just a word of caution, unplug that sucker and pull it out of the pot before adding extract or grains. If you scorch your beer with that HWD element you will certainly taste it. I didn't have any issue with this until I brewed with a lot of wheat and oats. Now I don't use these in my mash at all.

Cheers!

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Yea I was thinking about this the other day. I'm thinking I might make another heatstick with a lwd element to maintain the temps after I use both heatsticks to get the water up to temp. Especially after it took almost an hour to boil 3 gallons of water last night.