Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?

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GoNova said:
Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?
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Yes, yes it will!

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GoNova said:
Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?
Click to expand...
Smaller batch today. 150 degrees to boil in about 25 minutes for 8 gallons of wort in a Bayou Classic 62 quart pot. Once boiling, dropped back to 3100 watts. My normal twelve gallons boils takes another 15 minutes plus or minus. Lid on until reaching a boil.

edit:
For anyone interested, I got a gallon and a half boil-off during the 75 minute boil yesterday. Also added a picture from this morning. More proof that yes, this induction burner will work. :D

Brewday140309-3.jpg


Brewday140309-4.jpg
 
AnOldUr - What pump is that? Looks like one of the US Solar's I see advertised here on HBT?

Awesome setup! :mug:
 
Thanks! Yes, it's the US Solar Pump TS5 15PV SS-NPT 3GPM.

Really happy with it. I use it to recirculate during the mash and pump from MLT to the kettle. I use gravity for HLT to mash and Kettle to carboy.
 
AnOldUR - what's the lowest power setting on the 3500?

You've shown us what it's capable of on the high side - which is awesome BTW - just wondering if it can be dialed back for smaller batches. I did some thinking last night, and I'd rather error on the side of power than wait and insulate.

And as long as I'm asking questions, what's the interesting kidney shaped dam in your BK? I'm figuring the small can is a filter for your drain valve.
 
Just checked. It'll go down to 500 Watts or 140 degrees, depending on the mode you're in.

And yeah, I like hoppy beers. Both are there as hop blockers. They look interesting, but are not as effective as I'd like.
 
PoorBoy said:
Anyone tried getting a bigger boil going? I have the 62qt BC stainless, and was wondering if anyone tried a 12g boil for a 10g batch.
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See here...

AnOldUR said:
Smaller batch today. 150 degrees to boil in about 25 minutes for 8 gallons of wort in a Bayou Classic 62 quart pot. Once boiling, dropped back to 3100 watts. My normal twelve gallons boils takes another 15 minutes plus or minus. Lid on until reaching a boil.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks AnOldUR! Looks like I'll be ponying up for the 3500W version.

Go big or go home, right? Now to go look for some overtime...
 
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I may pull the trigger tomorrow. IC3500 and Bayou Classic 11 gallon.

Will pickup a utility cart from Harbor Freight as a mobile brew stand so I can wheel it under the basement window.

Just got a window fan that fits the smaller size basement sliding window for exhausting the evaporation.

Just need the electrician. The panel is right next to where I plan to brew so should be a minimal installation.
 
sammy33 said:
Looks like my idea is catching on. ;)
Click to expand...

Indeed it is, I've spent more on propane in the last year than the induction cooktop costs. My single tier, 3 keggle, 3 burner system was just becoming a huge task to setup and clean (8-9 hour brew day, setup to put up). So I tried BIAB and was hooked, way easier. I was researching building a eBIAB and stumbled across a Braumeister and then saw the price. Then stumbled on this thread and was sold. If this works like I hope it does, I'm going to be selling quite a bit of other equipment.
 
geoffm33 said:
I may pull the trigger tomorrow. IC3500 and Bayou Classic 11 gallon.

Will pickup a utility cart from Harbor Freight as a mobile brew stand so I can wheel it under the basement window.

Just got a window fan that fits the smaller size basement sliding window for exhausting the evaporation.

Just need the electrician. The panel is right next to where I plan to brew so should be a minimal installation.
Click to expand...

Harbor Freight cart great idea, I was wondering what I was going to use.
 
geoffm33 said:
Trigger has been pulled. Can't wait!



I'm thinking this cart should work:

16 In. X 30 In.Two Shelf Steel Service Cart

EDIT: on second thought, this may be better, holds more weight (450lbs compared to 220lbs):

24 In. X 36 In.Two Shelf Steel Service Cart
Click to expand...

I have 3 of those carts in my home auto shop. They work pretty well, just the pan area gets weak towards the middle. To remedy this I bolted two strips of angle iron to each pan area, or I lined the pan area with a piece of plywood.
 
Geoffm33 - is the Bayou you went with a tri-clad bottom or the standard bottom? I'm having fits trying to decide on a pot, mostly because I can't find whether or not the BC series is induction rated. I think the tri-clads are, but I can't find any documentation that they are. General consensus with the standard kettles is some work, some don't - good luck.

I can find induction pots, but they're all squat/wide instead of narrow tall. The only two I can find (now) are either the BC tri-clad, or the NB Monster 1.2. I REALLY wish I had snagged up one of those Tallboy kettles NB had a while ago, but I have no idea if they're even going to offer then again as they've been removed from the website.
 
sumbrewindude said:
Geoffm33 - is the Bayou you went with a tri-clad bottom or the standard bottom? I'm having fits trying to decide on a pot, mostly because I can't find whether or not the BC series is induction rated. I think the tri-clads are, but I can't find any documentation that they are. General consensus with the standard kettles is some work, some don't - good luck.

I can find induction pots, but they're all squat/wide instead of narrow tall. The only two I can find (now) are either the BC tri-clad, or the NB Monster 1.2. I REALLY wish I had snagged up one of those Tallboy kettles NB had a while ago, but I have no idea if they're even going to offer then again as they've been removed from the website.
Click to expand...

I'm going on the notion they are induction capable. A few have mentioned in this thread that they had confirmation from BC and many are using that exact model. Only time will tell :ban:
 
sumbrewindude said:
I REALLY wish I had snagged up one of those Tallboy kettles NB had a while ago, but I have no idea if they're even going to offer then again as they've been removed from the website.
Click to expand...

The Tallboy basically got some extra embellishments (graduations, silicone handles) and became the MegaPot 1.2. I have the 10-gal MegaPot 1.2 and I love it. Works great on the IC3500.
 
So the bottom line is this induction cooker can handle the weight of approximately 8 to 10 gallons of water without damaging the cooker? I would like to have a way to do 5 gallon batches inside. I will reserve 10 gallon batches for outdoor brewing. The. BC pot people seem to favor is 13.6" in diameter but the IC3500 gives a max diameter of just over 10". Is this okay?
 
Hello said:
So the bottom line is this induction cooker can handle the weight of approximately 8 to 10 gallons of water without damaging the cooker? I would like to have a way to do 5 gallon batches inside. I will reserve 10 gallon batches for outdoor brewing.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. There are some in this thread that are doing 10 gallon batches with 12 gallons of starting volume. There is another pic in thread with over 100lbs of weights in the kettle ontop of the burner.
 
schiersteinbrewing said:
Indeed it is, I've spent more on propane in the last year than the induction cooktop costs. My single tier, 3 keggle, 3 burner system was just becoming a huge task to setup and clean (8-9 hour brew day, setup to put up). So I tried BIAB and was hooked, way easier. I was researching building a eBIAB and stumbled across a Braumeister and then saw the price. Then stumbled on this thread and was sold. If this works like I hope it does, I'm going to be selling quite a bit of other equipment.
Click to expand...

Most folks buy those exchangeable pre-filled barbeque bottles......... and pay through the nose. The better way to go is to get a 100 pounder..... of course I have several of those, a 30 pounder, and a 250 pound bottle and a 500 gallon tank. It isn't usually too difficult to find a place to fill one of the 100 pound bottles. The last one I filled cost $60.......... that's a pretty decent deal compared to exchanging the 20 pound barbeque bottles. I picked up 3 100 pounders at a farm auction for $20 each, and gave one to a friend. Most folks don't want them.....they're heavy.

H.W.
 
Owly055 said:
Most folks buy those exchangeable pre-filled barbeque bottles......... and pay through the nose. The better way to go is to get a 100 pounder..... of course I have several of those, a 30 pounder, and a 250 pound bottle and a 500 gallon tank. It isn't usually too difficult to find a place to fill one of the 100 pound bottles. The last one I filled cost $60.......... that's a pretty decent deal compared to exchanging the 20 pound barbeque bottles. I picked up 3 100 pounders at a farm auction for $20 each, and gave one to a friend. Most folks don't want them.....they're heavy.

H.W.
Click to expand...

I use the 30lb and 15lb bottles and take them to be refilled. Propane has become quite expensive in this area.
 
Hello said:
So the bottom line is this induction cooker can handle the weight of approximately 8 to 10 gallons of water without damaging the cooker? I would like to have a way to do 5 gallon batches inside. I will reserve 10 gallon batches for outdoor brewing. The. BC pot people seem to favor is 13.6" in diameter but the IC3500 gives a max diameter of just over 10". Is this okay?
Click to expand...

The diameter is fine. Don't worry about a couple inches in difference. My MegaPot is ostensibly 14.1" in diameter (in reality the clad bottom is probably more like 12-13") and it works great. Obviously you will get a ring around the outside of the bottom that isn't as hot, but in practice it is still much better heat distribution than a water heater element (which many people use with success) or even gas flame.

Don't worry at all about the weight. This thing is rugged as hell. It looks and feels like it is built to withstand a nuclear blast. I wouldn't be surprised if it could handle 20 gallons as far as weight is concerned.
 
chocotaco said:
The diameter is fine. Don't worry about a couple inches in difference. My MegaPot is ostensibly 14.1" in diameter (in reality the clad bottom is probably more like 12-13") and it works great. Obviously you will get a ring around the outside of the bottom that isn't as hot, but in practice it is still much better heat distribution than a water heater element (which many people use with success) or even gas flame.

Don't worry at all about the weight. This thing is rugged as hell. It looks and feels like it is built to withstand a nuclear blast. I wouldn't be surprised if it could handle 20 gallons as far as weight is concerned.
Click to expand...

Thanks. In BYO this month they even said the pot doesn't need to touch the cooktop because it uses magnetic force or whatever so as long as it is close, it can heat. Meaning, that ring that doesn't hit the element should heat but probably not as quickly.
Now to buy everything eventually and hire an electrician to give me the right plug in my kitchen. I use an electric stove so it's possible that will be helpful but I leave things like electricity to the trained professionals.
 
The BC pot arrived today, got it assembled and ready to use. Now if the cooktop would just hurry up. Also, have a bazooka screen on the way.

For those of you wondering the BC (non triclad bottom) is very magnetic. The little spot between the thermometer and valve is a magnet.

2014-03-11 14.34.16.jpg


2014-03-11 14.34.31.jpg


2014-03-11 14.35.06.jpg


2014-03-11 14.35.18.jpg
 
Hello said:
Thanks. In BYO this month they even said the pot doesn't need to touch the cooktop because it uses magnetic force or whatever so as long as it is close, it can heat. Meaning, that ring that doesn't hit the element should heat but probably not as quickly.
Now to buy everything eventually and hire an electrician to give me the right plug in my kitchen. I use an electric stove so it's possible that will be helpful but I leave things like electricity to the trained professionals.
Click to expand...

Well, it's true that it doesn't need to actually touch the cooktop to heat, at least from a technical standpoint WRT induction heating. But, it doesn't work laterally that much (as in the outer rim of the pot). Basically, there is a huge electromagnetic coil inside the burner underneath where the pot goes. The diameter of the coil is what determines the pot diameter you're guided to use. The coil has a high voltage running through it and oscillates its polarity very rapidly in order to transfer energy into the pot via induction (the creation of eddy currents inside the pot's metal in response to the changing magnetic field given off by the coil). If you take a look at this diagram of the field density of a solenoid (the word given to an elecromagnetic coil of that configuragion):

Finite_Length_Solenoid_field_radius_1_length_1.jpg

(the diagram comes from here if you want to read more about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Finite_Length_Solenoid_field_radius_1_length_1.jpg )

Think of it as a side view of the inductor coil in the burner. The burner is designed so that the bottom of the cooking vessel will occupy the light blue/green area of field density. You will still get some heating out in the yellow area, and even the red area, but it drops off so rapidly that it quickly becomes negligible. So the "outer rim" area will be getting much more heat by conduction from the heated center of the pot bottom than it will get directly from the burner.

Also, as far as not touching the burner - these cooktops are designed to magnetically detect the pot sitting on top of the burner before they turn on the coil. This is to prevent the coil from burning out (basically by virtue of the energy having nowhere to go). So you have to get at least pretty darn close to touching the burner before that sensor will allow the heat to flow.
 
schiersteinbrewing said:
The BC pot arrived today, got it assembled and ready to use. Now if the cooktop would just hurry up. Also, have a bazooka screen on the way.

For those of you wondering the BC (non triclad bottom) is very magnetic. The little spot between the thermometer and valve is a magnet.
Click to expand...

Awesome! :mug:

Did your BC come configured that way with the valve and thermo side by side? What parts do you have for your recirc return in the lid?

Edit: I see now from your previous post. You added the therm to the ball valve version. Very cool!
 
sammy33 said:
Awesome! :mug:

Did your BC come configured that way with the valve and thermo side by side? What parts do you have for your recirc return in the lid?

Edit: I see now from your previous post. You added the therm to the ball valve version. Very cool!
Click to expand...

The thermo hole I drilled. It, clears the bottom of the kettle there is 1/8in between the bottom of the termo and the counter, it could use to be a little higher.

The lid, I drilled out the vent hole that was already there and used two washers, a 1/2in SS coupler and 1/2 brass male hose barb.

Going to build a whirlpool arm that just screws into the SS coupler. I'm planning on using the pump to recirculate the wort through my plate chiller.
 
On this thread we are concentrating on induction cooktops only................. The other and really wonderful way to use induction heating is in a RIMS. Instead of using an electric element in the wort, or a heat exchange coil in the HLT, you could easily and cheaply, set things up to use induction to heat a piece of stainless steel tubing passing through a coil. The electronics to do this are incredibly simple...... with very few components. A transformer, a pair of mosfets, a couple of diodes, a choke coil, a capacitor, and a very simple induction coil. The schematic for this is available in a number of places. Here is one of them..........

]http://www.rmcybernetics.com/projects/DIY_Devices/diy-induction-heater.htm

And here is a Utube video of it.......There's a video on the site also:



This is absolutely a no brainer for RIMS.......... I'd be surprised if nobody has one set up yet. By using induction, you're not concentrating the heat on a hot surface where wort will scorch. It's worth noting that while the demo is quite impressive......... A screwdrive heated red hot in 30 seconds.......... In our application there is a steady stream of liquid passing through drawing the heat away..........It's never going to get excessively hot as a result. Switched on and off with your PID controller based on thermocouple temp, it should be very controllable.


H.W.
 
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Owly055 said:
On this thread we are concentrating on induction cooktops only................. The other and really wonderful way to use induction heating is in a RIMS.
H.W.
Click to expand...

I want to do this.
Thank you for a new science project.
 
• IC3500 just arrived (at work, will have to wait until I get it home to open it!).
• Bayou Classic 44QT will be here tomorrow
• Wheeled steel service cart will be here tomorrow (brewstand)
• Electrician over the weekend

I'll be brewing in the basement, having a little concern over ventilating and creating a negative pressure environment for my natural gas appliances in basement. Would love some input over at this new thread.
 
geoffm33 said:
• IC3500 just arrived (at work, will have to wait until I get it home to open it!).
• Bayou Classic 44QT will be here tomorrow
• Wheeled steel service cart will be here tomorrow (brewstand)
• Electrician over the weekend

I'll be brewing in the basement, having a little concern over ventilating and creating a negative pressure environment for my natural gas appliances in basement. Would love some input over at this new thread.
Click to expand...

I use a window fan up against my glass block window vent, held in place with a dowel. I use foam all around the fan to "seal" the edges and make sure the moisture does not blow back in. One thing I quickly learned during my first basement brew is that cold water pipes condense the boil-off steam and drip like crazy. I bought foam pipe insulation (similar to a swimming pool noodle) and that does an OK job, though I do find myself wiping them down a couple times during the boil to prevent dripping.
 
mredge73 said:
I want to do this.
Thank you for a new science project.
Click to expand...

I think this is more than a science project. It's a useful device that could be a real improvement over current RIMS and HERMS systems. I would find a ceramic cylinder or perhaps just wrap a piece of fiberglass a few wraps around a stainless steel tube, and wind my working coil around that. I have everything except the micro wave transformer on hand already, but there are other transformers such as an ordinary high output battery charger transformer. Everything in this design is pretty flexible. Mosfets are available very cheaply......... I buy them on Ebay in lots at less than a dollar a piece for some pretty high power mosfets. Capacitors are equally cheap. Build this based on a stainless steel tube, flare the ends, and couple it into your RIMS circuit in place of the resistance heater. The coil could be many more wraps, extending a foot or more in length. By having more wraps, the voltage could be higher due to inductive reactance, and the capacitor could be smaller. It's an interesting job juggling the values on a tank circuit, calculating the frequency, and then working out the reactance so you know what your current draw will be at a given voltage. With the right combination you could run right off the mains, just rectifying it. The higher the frequency, the higher the voltage you can run because the reactance increases the resistance of the work coil as the frequency goes up. that means lighter wire over a longer distance....... equals better heat distribution. Done properly this could heat your strike water and boil your wort......... There is no reason why you need an element under the pan. A permanent wrap potted in epoxy around the pot itself might heat the outside of the pot uniformly with the heat distributed well enough to eliminate the need for a heating element in the RIMS flow at all. The possibilities are perhaps not endless.........but many.

H.W.
 

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