Electric Hot Liquor Tank?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mward

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 1, 2007
Messages
204
Reaction score
0
I was at the hardware store yesterday and I saw this fitting for a hot water tank, it was a flange that bolts to the tank, with a gasket, that allows you to screw an electric heating element into it and it got me to thinking. What if I cut a hole in the side of a keggle and attached that to the keggle to make an electrically fired hot liquor tank? Anyone ever do this before have any thoughts? I thought it might just make things a lot easier being able to just fill it with water and let it heat up rather than boiling and dumping into a igloo cooler. Thanks.
 
Yes it will work, I have two 2000W elements and I could if I wanted keep 15 gal of water at a rolling boil with one, depending on the outside temp.

7985-NewKettles5Edit.jpg


7985-NewKettles4Edit.jpg


Cheers
 
I have an 1800w turkey cooker and it will roll 5 gallons with a lid. Without a lid, it only gets a slow/low boil. It takes about 1-1.5 hours to boil. I've used it twice and I'll be back to gas next time. I love the idea of automated temperature control, but this is not the tool for boiling large volumes of water. That said, for 12qts of 175* strike water it might be usable.

FWIW, it's the evaporation and uninsulated surface area that kills it. It'll take oil to 400 degrees no problem. It'll roll 2.5 gallons un-lided, and 5 gallons with a lid.
 
I just want to get it to 180, for sparging, not boiling. Sounds like it's the ticket.
 
mward said:
I just want to get it to 180, for sparging, not boiling. Sounds like it's the ticket.


Calibrate your temp control and it'll be great. A little slow, but great. Try and get one like mine that has a SS spigot on the kettle. And if you pack a little fiberglass around the kettle, it'll operate MUCH better/faster. That's the big problem with these. With such a small element, heat loss is nearly equal to the elements input.
 
Back
Top