Electric Turkey Fryer

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Cregar

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Was wondering if anyone has used the MASTERBUILT Stainless Steel 28 Quart Digital Turkey Fryer for doing full boils.

Just found out my apartment complex won't even let me store a propane tank on my balcony because of some city fire code. So there goes the idea about buying a turkey fryer and brewing beer out on the sidewalk :(

So I need to find a way to do it with electricity, I found the heat stick but I'm nervous about building and using one of those.

Did a search but nothing come up... if this has been already taled about could someone link to the post.

Thanks
 
Cregar said:
Was wondering fi anyone has used the MASTERBUILT Stainless Steel 28 Quart Digital Turkey Fryer for doing full boils.

Just found out my apartment complex won't even let me store a propane tank on my balcony because of some city fire code. So there goes the idea about buying a turkey fryer and brewing beer out on the sidewalk :(

So I need to find a way to do it with electricity, I found the heat stick but I'm nervous about building and using one of those.

Did a search but nothing come up... if this has been already taled about could someone link to the post.

Thanks

I suspect it would work, but it's a little small and boil overs might cause issues if it hits the plug... so I'd be weary.
 
I was thinking the same thing about boil overs but if your putting a 14 lb turkey in a 28 qt pot full of oil, it bubbles alot too.
 
Electric turkey friers are around 1600-1800 watts. Not enough for a rolling boil uncovered. I supplement w/ a 2000 watt heatstick. YMMV

Heatsticks work well...always submerged and on a GFI!!

The beauty of the electric turkey frier is that I feel comfortable letting 5-6 gal of water heat up over the course of an hour or two w/ minimal supervision.

Something about the propane cooker w/ the open flame... I watch like a hawk.

IMO the electric turkey friers are an inadequate boil pot for a full 5-6 gal. unless you supplement. I actually supplemented a few batches w/ an additional small imersion heater used for a cup of coffee (3-400watts) it worked but was a struggle.

Additionally, some feel that if the pot can heat oil to 350, 212 to boil water should be easy. Not true...the steam created from boiling carries the heat away rapidly.

These units make nice electric HLT's and decent boil pots if you can add additional wattage w/ a heatstick. Be advised you will have to pull from two 120V circuits both GFI to really boil on any sort of schedule or intensity.

Mike
 
I've lived in several apartments with a similar fire code. Did that stop me from grilling? Nope. ;) Several of my neighbors also grilled, and no one said a word.
 
ScubaSteve said:
I've lived in several apartments with a similar fire code. Did that stop me from grilling? Nope. ;) Several of my neighbors also grilled, and no one said a word.

I would chance it if I wasn't afraid of getting evicted. I just moved to this apartment complex to get my daughter into a better school district for high school and that was also close to work. If I got evicted I can't afford the other apartments complexes in this district... way out of my price range. So I am trying to figure out a alternative full boils.
 
Ah. That's a pretty good reason! Probably not worth the risk. Can't you just stick the propane tank in a closet? That'd solve your problem.
 
I use an electric 40L (~42qts) urn - one that's designed to be used in big kitchens.

It was 250 New Zealand dollars, I'd expect you'd find something similar in the states for around 100 - 150 USD. It came standard with a 2000w element, I also added another 2400w element and a manifold as there was a lot of deadpsace. 2000w keeps the boil going nicely but takes around 40 - 60 mins to come to a good boil, but 4400w comes up quickly but boils too hard, so I drop down to the single 2000w for a nice rolling boil.

You can see pictures here.
 
denimglen said:
I use an electric 40L (~42qts) urn - one that's designed to be used in big kitchens.

It was 250 New Zealand dollars, I'd expect you'd find something similar in the states for around 100 - 150 USD. It came standard with a 2000w element, I also added another 2400w element and a manifold as there was a lot of deadpsace. 2000w keeps the boil going nicely but takes around 40 - 60 mins to come to a good boil, but 4400w comes up quickly but boils too hard, so I drop down to the single 2000w for a nice rolling boil.

You can see pictures here.

Now thats what I'm looking for!!!:ban:
 
I have an electric turkey fryer, I think Masterbuilt (bought at the Depot for like $70). POS. OK if you only want to do a partial boil. I'll use it to heat sparge water, but it can't maintain a real boil on 5 gallons of wort. Remember, it's harder to heat water than oil for some technical reason I don't remember...
 
There's been a lot of discussion of BTU needed, and the conversion is 1 Watt = 3.413 BTU/hr. So the 1650 Watt burner would be the same as a 5631.45 BTU burner. Now I'm sure the utilization is much better since you aren't losing any heat around the pot or anything, but I still would be skeptical, even or partial boils.
 
You should be able to do 2.5-3 gallon boils without any problem. The electrical rating is about what the larger coil on my stove has and I've done mini-mashes on it. I have a propane setup, but when it is cold, windy AND raining ...
 
BierMuncher said:
Do you have a friend with a garage?

Who says you have to brew in your own residence?

I think BM is onto something. Especially if the friend with the garage likes beer. He'd probably allow the you to use the garage for a 12 pack or so every time you brew. Might be a friend that you give beer to anyway who knows. I would think you could even seal up the carboy or bucket and bring it back to your apartment so that you don't have to go to the friends house to rack to secondary, bottle, etc only to brew.
 
BierMuncher said:
Do you have a friend with a garage?

Who says you have to brew in your own residence?

I already do that... just a pain in the ass to pack everything up plus it's nice to brew at home :)
 
I'm tellin' ya man....keep your propane in a closet and out of plain sight ;) Then just brew on the sidewalk, 15-25 feet from the building. An electric turkey fryer is probably going to take forever, and isn't something you can use for the long haul.
 
I have one, and it will maintain a weak boil w/o the lid and a good boil with the lid. It's also pretty slow heating up at only 1800W. For those reasons, I'm back to gas.

I went there for two reasons. 1) Had the cooker. 2) I liked the ease/safety of set it and forget it.


the_bird said:
Remember, it's harder to heat water than oil for some technical reason I don't remember...

Water evaporates taking a great deal of heat with it. A lid keeps much of that in, and it transitions from from no-boil to boil. Oil loses most of it's heat as radiation from the pot and surface.
 
I have one and have used it for three batches so far. It is all I plan on using for now on. It does take a little bit to start the boil initially but from the mash out at 171 to 212 it only takes like 10-12 mins. An no its not a rolling boil, but its a boil, without the lid on.
 
For all the "iffi-ness" in this situation, you may not like this, but for the interim, maybe you could just go back to partial boils on the stove top. You might not win any awards, but the brew will be a lot better than what you'd get at the gas station.
 
I am currently lusting after denimglen's hot water urn.

Unfortunately, it seems like hot water urns are hard to come by in the US.
 
I did a quick search when I first posted in this thread to see if I could find something in the states but didn't have much luck as I don't know the kind of stores that would sell them.

They seem to go by the name 'Tea Urns' and sometimes 'Coffee Urns' over there, maybe try searching under that name instead if you haven't already?

Maybe try resturant/catering supply stores?
 
There are a few companies that will import "hot water urns" from England or Austrialia.

The real thing is that the restaurant business in the US just doesn't need hot water urns. Very few people drink hot tea, and coffee makers are designed to brew coffee, not just heat up water. Typically, the coffee vendor will take responsiblity for placing the coffee maker, keeping it working, and providing coffee for it.

It's unfortunate, because those hot water urns seem like they would make a handy HLT.
 
david_42 said:
You should be able to do 2.5-3 gallon boils without any problem. The electrical rating is about what the larger coil on my stove has and I've done mini-mashes on it. I have a propane setup, but when it is cold, windy AND raining ...

As David_42 recommended above, how about brewing smaller batches (2.5-3.0 gallons)? Maybe you can keep the lid partially covering the aluminum pot?
 
So I need to find a way to do it with electricity
This is kind'a a dead thread, but whatever.... If you have access to your circuit breaker, you can check what kind of electrical outlets are available. Having a 240V plug, allows electric brewing by installing an electric heating element similar to a hot water heater. The capitol investment would be larger than gas. I am considering it just for the worry free control.
 
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