Electric Turkey Fryer as HLT?

Due to recent events, I've had to scale back on my brewery plans. A true "sculpture" with direct fired vessels is not going to happen, so I'm back to the drawing board. I was looking into heatsticks with my HLT in mind, and came across this thread on electric turkey fryers. I never knew there was such a thing. Rather than jack that thread, I figured I'd start my own, focusing on using one as an HLT.

Someone mentioned that they would be good as an HLT, and based soley on appearance I agree. What I'm wondering is if it's possible to drill one for a valve? If not, how might one convert it into a usable HLT? Here's one I'm looking at, just as an example: http://lib.store.yahoo.net/lib/popeilfamilystore/etf.pdf

Why are your plans scaled back?

Dude said:

Why are your plans scaled back?

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Lack of money and time, mainly. I had planned to use my comp time for the brewery, but you know that didn't pan out. Plus, with work on the house and vehicles, the budget won't allow for the sculpture I had envisioned. I'm itching to get brewing again, so I want to salvage what resources I have left and get cracking.

The more I look at this thing, the more I think it is doable. Plus, brewing in the shed, minimizing the time I have to run a burner is a good thing, IMO. And having digital temp control for my strike and sparge water would be money.

The electric fryer I have I will use to heat water, but it's design precludes putting a value in place (it has a separate aluminum liner, so you couldn't really drill it very easily; it really isn't a "pot"). So, I doubt it would work well as a HLT.

the_bird said:

The electric fryer I have I will use to heat water, but it's design precludes putting a value in place (it has a separate aluminum liner, so you couldn't really drill it very easily; it really isn't a "pot"). So, I doubt it would work well as a HLT.

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That's great and all, but I don't want to install a "value". I need a valve on it.

I see what you mean......I wonder how it would do without the liner piece? I bet it would for damn sure heat more efficiently. No telling what in the hell the "outer shell" is coated with, though.

Wiseass...

I don't think it's watertight without the liner. There's a big gap between the liner and the outer shell (presumably, that's what keep it cool to the touch). Running it without the liner isn't an option as far as I can tell.

Now, if money were not a concern, I'd say think about dropping the coin on a pump and pump over the side - but money pretty much kills that.

The electric fryer's a really piss-poor heater, anyway - takes a lot longer to get up to temp than a $45 propane stove. If I could find someone to give me $40 for mine, I'd get rid of it and be 100% propane with my brewing.