Control Panel Question

I've decided that since I'm not an electrical engineer, I'll just have to resort to buying an electric kettle. (I've read HOURS of post on building your own, and it makes my simple mind spin!)

I'm looking at High Gravity's electric kettles. You can get a converted keg 15 gal w/ 3500w element or spec one out from a stock pot.

If I go with either route, will I still need a control panel, or can I just plug it in and boil?

I plan on using a sanke keg w/ top cut and a ball valve for my HLT, and a converted cooler for a mash tun.

Thanks!

I_B_Mongo

You could just plug it in for a boil. You won't have much control over the boil off rate but it will work.

If you were to guess, how much could I expect to boil off?

Well, Elevation and heat transfer from the keg to atmosphere. I have two wraps of reflectix insulation on mine with a 4500W element at approx sea level. At 100% I get about 1.4 GPH. So if I were to guess, I would say somewhere between 1 and 1.2 gallons per hour with 3500W