Electric way to heat my brew water for mashing?

Hi all,

I am looking for an electric way to heat my brew water for mashing in my first batch of the day. The kettles are all propane, but want to mash in right away in the morning with hot water and then use the propane the rest of the day.

Heat sticks? Are they safe to use on a timer? I know very little about electricty besides it can kill you.

Any thoughts on a simple way to rig up a heating element for 170 deg water?

Thanks for the help,

BW

I use a 100 cup (4 gallon) coffee urn.

I use the Allied Bucket Heater. My HLT is a 50 qt Marine Ice Cube cooler. I fill the cooler the night before brew day and use a timer to operate the heater. The bucket heaters have a built in safety shut off if they overheat for any reason. It takes several hours to heat 12 gallons of water to boiling. You will need a heavy duty timer that can handle the approximately 10 amp load. The timers can be bought at Home Depot and they are only about $10 or so. The heavy duty timers will be the three prong type. I don't try to hit my strike water temperature with the bucket heater. Instead, I heat the HLT to boiling or nearly so. I then transfer some to the HLt and add enough cold water to bring the temp down to where I need it to be for the dough in. The hot water remaining in the HLT I use for the sparge. Sometimes I will add additional water to the HLT and keep the bucket heater running during the mash if I think I will need additional sparge water. Any excess hot water can be used for cleanup at the end of the session.

You might want to look at GreenMontis flash boiler setup as a propane fired alternative. That gives you the ability to heat the strike water and sparge water as needed with a propane fired copper tube coil.

That bucket heater looks like a good cheap way to take care of business. I assume it is food grade?

Thanks for the help. Just trying to get some time shaved off my overall brew day to keep the wife happy. Happy wife=more brewing, plus all the other things.

If momma ain't happy, ain't no one happy.

Thanks again,

BW

BW

B-Dub said:

That bucket heater looks like a good cheap way to take care of business. I assume it is food grade?

Click to expand...

The bucket heater does not have a food safe rating. The heating element is copper and the heat shield is stainless. I've been using it for a long time and I see no indication of corrosion or anything else that might be cause for concern. I'm not worried about it at all.

I use the Bucket heaters (2 in a Rubbermaid cooler) .. if I use a timer, I can have the water ready when planned. Makes it convenient for weekend brewing..2 sep 120v GFI circuits

Food-grade ?? I had never considered that.

Is this an issue if it is pre-boil ? Maybe contribute something to the taste ?

If so, are regular water-heater elements rated as food grade ?

I gave up on boiling w/2KW ..just not enough juice, and the time I saved with the timers got sucked up waiting for the 2 heaters to develop a boil...

Ditto on the bucket heaters. I set them up the night before and use a RANC) thermostat. There is some straifying of heat through the water though so I usually have to stir it or pump it around and heat it a little more, but it saves a ton of time.

I just purchased a 100 cup Westbend coffee urn (6.25 Gallon) for $99 off E-Bay.
Did a couple of experiments... Water in coffee urn is 195 degrees and dispenses at 165 degrees and while it takes around 1 hour and fifteen minutes to heat up.

I also have a bucket heater (Tractor Supply Company) around 35-40 bucks that takes several hours to heat 5-6 gallons to mashing temps.

I just built this:
http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/The-Electric-HLT-(or-how-I-built-a-water-heater-in-a-cooler)

I'll be using it for the first time next week, controlled by a Ranco temperature controller.

[QUOTEI also have a bucket heater (Tractor Supply Company) around 35-40 bucks that takes several hours to heat 5-6 gallons to mashing temps.[/QUOTE]

You can improve on the heating time if you use an insulated vessel such as a cooler which is what I do. I can heat 12 gallons of water from somewhere around 70F to boiling in about 3-4 hours. Without using insulation of some kind, the heat loss is large and it may never reach boiling. I also filled the cooler lid with insulating foam which helped a lot.

Catt22 said:

[QUOTEI also have a bucket heater (Tractor Supply Company) around 35-40 bucks that takes several hours to heat 5-6 gallons to mashing temps.

Click to expand...

You can improve on the heating time if you use an insulated vessel such as a cooler which is what I do. I can heat 12 gallons of water from somewhere around 70F to boiling in about 3-4 hours. Without using insulation of some kind, the heat loss is large and it may never reach boiling. I also filled the cooler lid with insulating foam which helped a lot.[/QUOTE]


This is what I have experimented with as well, in an insulated cooler with tap temperature water, it will take 3-4 hours. Its nice to see several home-brewers all trying the same thing !

I built a kettle like the www.theelectricbrewery.com guy, but used bayou brew kettles from www.bayoubrewkettle.com

willatkinson said:

I built a kettle like the www.theelectricbrewery.com guy, but used bayou brew kettles from www.bayoubrewkettle.com

Click to expand...

the 15.5 gal is $120 - alot less than the boilermaker, which seems overkill for a HLT)

I drool over the setup the guy has at the electric brewery

Tom said:

Ditto on the bucket heaters. I set them up the night before and use a RANC) thermostat. There is some straifying of heat through the water though so I usually have to stir it or pump it around and heat it a little more, but it saves a ton of time.

Click to expand...

I do exactly this as well, but I stick the hose from my aquarium pump in the bottom of the HLT. The constant bubbles keep it stirred enough so the temperature is more consistent.

kappclark said:

the 15.5 gal is $120 - alot less than the boilermaker, which seems overkill for a HLT)

I drool over the setup the guy has at the electric brewery

Click to expand...

$108 - 10% off with "hbtwebsite"

I just installed a valve from bargainfittings.com, the 4500w ripp element, and a therm. I use it as my boil kettle.

If you wanna go full E-HLT, here is an idea...

I keep looking at this http://www.chicompany.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=246_251&products_id=2002 for doing the job. Seems like I could set it for 170 and come outside in the morning to the garage and mash in right away. Saving both time and propane. Then it could be used in other H20 heating during the brew day saving more propane. To be honest I just think for what it is the price is to high.

Any one use this in their set up??

Thanks again,

BW

Yeah, you could install an element that will work way cheaper than that. Also, that doesn't look like much wattage, so I'm not sure how big of a batch you could do. I couldn't find the info on that site. Personally, I'd just install an element in it. I like this guys setup...

http://theelectricbrewery.com/

Banjoman76 said:

I also have a bucket heater (Tractor Supply Company) around 35-40 bucks that takes several hours to heat 5-6 gallons to mashing temps.

Click to expand...

You can cut that heating time down considerably if you use an insulated vessel of some kind. I use a cooler and can gain about 40 deg/hr heating 10 gallons. So, depending on the tap water temp, I can get up to sparge temp in about 3 hours in the summer and 4 or so in the winter. I set it up on a timer the night before and it's ready to go in the morning when I am. This has proved to be a major time saver on brew day.

Catt22,

Your set up is the next likely step in my system. The time saver alone is what I want the most.

I assume the bucket heater use the same heating element as a water heater and would be food safe. That is the one thing I like, the SS heating element, on the CHI site.

BW

B-Dub said:

Catt22,

Your set up is the next likely step in my system. The time saver alone is what I want the most.

I assume the bucket heater use the same heating element as a water heater and would be food safe. That is the one thing I like, the SS heating element, on the CHI site.

BW

Click to expand...

I don't know what the bucket heater element is made of. It appears to be copper. It shows no signs of corrosion at all and I've been using it for almost a year now. It does not have a food safe rating AFAIK, but that does not necessarily indicate that it is hazardous. I don't worry about it at all.

Could we get a pic of how this is mounted or suspended in the HLT, please?

I have a quarter keg sitting in the basement. This has me thinking about creating a 7.5 gal mash water pot. I could add a 1500W element to it and them just plug that into a timer for now. Ultimately converting it to a PID temp control.

What you think about that?