Heat Stick Issue

So I made a heat stick this weekend, water tested it, and all was good. When I brewed with it today there was wort inside the stick when I was done. I know I need to do some more work on the stick before using it again but do I need to dump the batch? Some wort must have come in contact with the cured J-B Weld.

From the J-B Weld website:

Q: Is J-B Weld toxic?

A: No. J-B Weld is non-toxic. However, we do not recommend consuming the product.

So, I'm thinking it's still good.

I've moved to mounting my elements in keggles, but for a while there I considered the all copper heat stick. I think if I was to make heat sticks I would go this route. You can still pot the wiring with jb weld, but the stick should be water tight.

There are plans floating around here somewhere.

I was just testing the electric brewing waters so to speak. Other than the leak issue I dig it.

I guess I just need to commit and drill a hole in my kettle.

Thanks for the feedback.

cswest said:

I was just testing the electric brewing waters so to speak. Other than the leak issue I dig it.

I guess I just need to commit and drill a hole in my kettle.

Thanks for the feedback.

Click to expand...

I know this is a bit off topic, but it was when I had a heat stick failure that I started to think about mounting them. Hope you don't mind a few thoughts on this.

Heat sticks are great devices. I still have one. I always felt a bit nervous about it, though. When one of mine started tripping the gfci I decided to mount. This was after about 10 months of usage, I think. Like you, my first concerns once I was actually using them was JB Weld contacting the beer. But ultimately, the failure issue is the big one. Mine just tripped the GFCI, but the failure bothered me and kind of screwed up the brew day.

You can't make a new heat stick in the middle of a boil. But you can fix a mounted element that pops. I had that happen to me a few months ago. I accidentally dry fired it, so I just took it off, ran to home depot. Replaced the element, got the wiring back in it's waterproof housing, and I was back in business.


I started a thread a while back on mounting vs. heat sticks in case you're curious. Mounting is really just as easy. I'd get a punch and dye set to do the holes. Having drilled several, the punch makes short work of it for like $60. You can always mount more than one if you don't have 240v.

There's a thread on here about how people have potted their elements as well.

I would never tell anyone not to use a heat stick. Mine performed really well. But since their life probably is limited, mounting is solid option. I made three heat sticks before I changed. Looking back, it was a fair amount of time and money for a solution that was, for me at least, kind of temporary.

Dgonza9,
Can you give a link to your thread about heat sticks vs mounting?
Thanks

Thanks