Marshalltown bucket water heaters

Think two of these would be good for a HLT? Building a three tier and if I could use these, I would not need to mount a burner at eye level. oh I am using a keggle as a hlt

1000 watts

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BDB4UG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

If you could bypass the safety features, it might work. I saw on another site that it is designed to heat water to 100ºF in a 5 gallon bucket, but it also says it heats water to above 150ºF.

Sounds like you need to hardwire it and switch it with a PID. Might be kinda slow at only 1000w.

I have one of those and it works great. It will heat to boiling if you let. The only safety feature it has is that it shuts off it it runs dry...otherwise you just plug it in and go. It works a whole lot better in if the vessel is well insulated, a cooler heats much faster than a keg.

I have two and I think I can heat around 7.5g water from 60s to 180 or 190 in 70-80 minutes in a 10g round cooler with the lid loosely covering it. I thought I could leave just one element plugged in to hold the temperature but it eventually boiled anyway!

I tried using it for an HLT the last time I brewed and it worked well, my only regret (my fault) was not heating the water quite enough to preheat my MLT plus compensate for grain temperature loss at mash in. Don't be afraid to preheat too hot and then just let it cool when you need it to, it is a lot harder to fix it afterward. I should have just stuck one of the elements in my mash tun temporarily.

One concern I have is using it with hard water. They warn you if the deposits get too thick, the element could crack. I don't know if that is a general problem or if I should worry about it, but I won't always be using non-hard water.

bsdx,
Let me run this buy you: could you just start by heating your strike water in your MLT with the 2 of the bucket heaters. Then once you reach your strike temp or slighty higher, move the heaters to your MLT to heat up your sparge water while your grains mash?

Sometimes I don't use very much mash water, say 4 gallons in a 15 mash tun, it doesn't leave me much vertical room for the bucket heater to be fully submerged especially with the manifold in. Having excess water in a taller, skinner container like an HLT helps here. Also I didn't get the extension cords out yet so I couldn't plug in the bucket heaters near where my MLT was, and I didn't feel like moving the MLT around with the water in it. I'm either going to heat my strike water inside the MLT next brew (I'll have enough volume) or just get the HLT right next to it so I can gravity drain.

Thanks for the reply, I currenlty only brew 5 gallon batches, and you answered my question. I may pick up 2 of these from Tractor Supply and give them a try for heating my strike water and sparge water. If they don't work I can sell them to my Landlord and he can use them for the cattle here on the farm.

I'm liking it so far, don't have to worry as much about the strike water heating work and less time required letting the winter into my garage.

I just bought one of these and I am planning to use it in my MLT first, then move it to my HLT while the grains are mashing. You need a minimum of 6 inches of water since it will shut off if less than 6, but it recommends 8 inches of water.

What is it made of? is it dangerous or will it impart flavor? i have not used it yet and I am worried about rust or lime in my beer.

I'm not sure what its made of. I don't remember any warnings of it being made out of something toxic, and others have been brewing with it. I could not taste anything in the plain water after using it.

I only have 1 of them and that is more than enough. I use it heat my strike water, and like bsdx said, I usually heat it a little more than needed then stir the water once its in my MLT until it gets to my strike temp. Right after I pour the water into my MLT, I put the bucket heater in my sparge water and it is usually around 180-ish after the hour of mashing/sparging.

One thing that has helped me a lot with the bucket heater was to wrap the vessel the water is in with a blanket and then make sure there is a lid loosely sitting on top. It really helps hold the heat in and cut down on the time it takes to heat up the water.

I'll never not have a bucket heater as long as I brew b/c it saves so much time by not waiting for strike water to heat up and now I only use propane during the boil. Great stuff

I use the Marshalltown for all my 6 gallon batches. I even boil with it because it gives me extra heat to keep 8 gallons boiling on my stove. I've made pilsner, wits, light and dark beers and no issues.

I soak it in pbw and use a bottle brush to clean it.