Anyone try one if these? pre made heat stick

http://www.homebrewstuff.com/15-boiling-brew-heater-controller.html

I was thinking of trying one if these.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it work well?

My main use would be supplementing my rather weak gas stove. I have only done extract brewing to date. And may go to brew in a bag soon. I have seen inductions for making one, but i don't really want to go that route.

Good gravy, $200 for 1800 watts? Why not use a couple of these?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/MARSHALLTO/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Agreed, seems really expensive for what you're getting.

Thanks for the suggestion.

So how well does that MARSHALLTOWN heater work? Is it reliable?

I've used them on occasion (the $40 ones for sale on Amazon). They work great in clean water. I cannot vouch for their performance in wort...never tried it.

lifesjoys said:

Thanks for the suggestion.

So how well does that MARSHALLTOWN heater work? Is it reliable?

Click to expand...

I haven't used mine very much lately, but it seems to be built in a solid way and it has some nice safety features. If I were in your shoes, I'd start with one of those and see if it's sufficient to supplement your stove.

I will go with the $40 one. If it works well, great, if not, oh well it is not expensive.

I used to use a Marshalltown bucket heater to supplement my gas stove. Works just fine. The only reason I don’t still use it is because I bit the bullet and added elements and got out of the kitchen.

How much wort or water must there be? It seems tall.

lifesjoys said:

http://www.homebrewstuff.com/15-boiling-brew-heater-controller.html

I was thinking of trying one if these.
Does anyone have any experience with this? Does it work well?

My main use would be supplementing my rather weak gas stove. I have only done extract brewing to date. And may go to brew in a bag soon. I have seen inductions for making one, but i don't really want to go that route.

Click to expand...

I used one and I threw it out. The thing has a temperature control which is completely useless for a brew kettle because water boils at a constant 212F plus a little depending on your elevation above sea level. Then I tried it in a mash tun and had a serious scorching problem. The grain husks that were right on the element actually burned black. The last straw was when I was doing a boil using this item + my stove top and the housing started melting.

Amity said:

How much wort or water must there be? It seems tall.

Click to expand...

The Marshalltown bucket heater is 17 inches long and the bottom 6 has to be submerged for it to operate. Of course it depends on the dimensions of your kettle as to how sharp of an angle you can get it to and therefore how much liquid is needed.

So I tried the Marshalltown heater. It helped heat the water much faster. It would the take the wort to a boil then shut down, and repeat. It seems like the internal controller lets it get to a boil the shuts it down till it stops boiling.

I'm sure the beer will still taste fine. A nut brown ale.
But the heater wasn't what I was hoping for. For heating water to strike temp, or helping a burner that can maintain a boil get there quicker this will work, but help a burner maintain a boil so far it doesn't look like it will work.

The cycle time is too slow. You need something that switched the element on & off at a faster rate.

I used one of the heaters the OP asked about and it worked great. Helped me moved to full boil 5 gallon batches when I went all grain. I really liked the temperature control option on it. However, I am now building a full electric set up and don't think I'll need to use it any longer. So my experience with this heat stick is only from a few batches.

I think I'm finally going to pull the trigger on this one. I've been considering the Marshalltown stick for helping me get to temp since I brew outside now exclusively.

I'm still shocked that no one has come out with a commercial heat stick specifically for brewing. I can't and won't mess with building electrical setups that will be used for liquids, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested in the product.

I was thinking about getting one to start up my HLT at the beginning of the brew day to save some time. Of the 17", how far can you immerse the $40 bucket heater? I'll be heating ~ 30L in a keggle. Think it would work or should I just build in an element?