crazy idea i just had... will it work?

So I just had an idea... scary I know

I am working on a 2 tier rig with a grant on the mash tun. I plan on recirculating the mash (RIMS) to maintain temperatures. My idea is to mount an electric burner like a stove burner to the bottom of the grant (an old pressure cooker) with a float switch so it wont turn on unless there is wort in there and use that to heat the recirculating wort.

I was thinking something similar to what walker did for his smoker https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f172/converting-charcoal-smoker-electric-252798/

Does this sound crazy?

With a properly tuned PID, it will probably work. The heat treansfer you get by heating a burner which heats the pot which heats the liquid will not be as efficient as what you get with an element directly in the wort, but I think it would be cool to try it out. I have seen other systems that use the grant as the point of heat application, but one of those was a gas system and the other used a 1000W immersion heater like this.

Thanks Walker... I'll probably try it, I can always build a rims tube if it dosent work and the burner parts aren't too expensive.

Efficency isnt as big of a deal... I am saving a ton of it switching to electric to begin with and the major reason to switch is to not stand outside in the freezing winters up here.

I was thinking about putting a heat transfer compound similar to what you put on heat sinks to aid the transfer to the pot.

Any Ideas on a good way to mount this thing? The pot is currently hanging. Ive thought about tapping the bottom of the pot but I am not sure if teflon would hold up to the temps, same if i soldered the hole in the bottom of the pot.

jtsims21 said:

I was thinking about putting a heat transfer compound similar to what you put on heat sinks to aid the transfer to the pot.

Click to expand...

I don't know if that is such a good idea. That thermal grease is probably going to smoke and burn at the intense heat levels that a heater element will produce. That's just a guess, though.

jtsims21 said:

Any Ideas on a good way to mount this thing? The pot is currently hanging. Ive thought about tapping the bottom of the pot but I am not sure if teflon would hold up to the temps, same if i soldered the hole in the bottom of the pot.

Click to expand...

Hmmmm..... I'd probably try to make some hanging bracket for the element instead of directly trying to mount the element to the pot.

Does the pot nest down into a hole in a table-top or something?

Probably mounting the element inside an old scrap pot into which the grant is lowered into would increase efficiency by containing some of the convective heat loss. Using a high heat tolerant insulation is another way. For example, you should be able to lay the element on top of ceramic wool.

Ive thought about tapping the bottom of the pot but I am not sure if teflon would hold up to the temps, same if i soldered the hole in the bottom of the pot.

Click to expand...

silver solder will work. that is what holds the heating elemenet into my HERMS pot. there is water in the pot, so it cant get up to 700+ degrees to melt. only reason i didnt weld it is because the pot im using is mighty thin, and my welder isnt very good and would have just blown a hole in it while trying to weld the much thicker half coupling to it. solder has held up for probably 20-30 brews so far...

Walker said:

Does the pot nest down into a hole in a table-top or something?

Click to expand...

This is what it looks like currently (it is under construction so it could look like anything)



Sorry for the picture thats so far out I can get a better one when I get home.

SO... instead of just hanging the pot there, I would maybe build a shelf under that pot with the burner mounted to it. Pot remains in the same place it is now, but it is resting on a burner instead of just hanging from the frame.

(maybe just buy a single-burner hot plate for this, controlled by your brewery panel)