My Super Mini Single Element 120V ULC (ultra low cost) Electric Setup

Just finished preliminary testing on my new electric setup... PID control of a single 1800 watt heating element temporarily mounted for testing. Ultimately it will be setup like a heat stick that I can move into both my hlt and boil kettle.

Lucky for me I had an old broken power washer cord with gfci and power switch I saved a few years ago which worked perfectly!

I will be able to boost it with either propane burner or stove top to speed things up if I want to making it very simple and adaptable.

My next stage will be to use a solar recirculating preheating system to get the water up as hot as I can prior to using the electric making it cheaper and green!

Perhaps someday I will get a second ssr and element installed for more power?

what do you all think so far?

Exposed wires over boiling water makes me nervous...but still very cool, Happy Brewing!

I knew that would be the comment, I never boiled the water just tested the system raising the water temp from 70 to 80 degree's. they will be threaded into a copper pipe cap and sealed up in a length of copper to protect them from the steam and water. :rockin:

Wow that looks simple enough. Make sure you share how long it takes to get a boil.

Your brewing area looks really pleasant

Nice clean looking control box there too, do you have an SSR hiding inside there, and is the heatsink attached inside the box, or is it directly off the PID or something?

thanks! I wanted to play with electric brewing to see if I should get any deeper down the rabbit hole. I have a 60 amp ssr stuck the side with a hole drilled in the plastic behind the back of the ssr so I could check its temp with my finger, it definate got hot after 10 minutes so I will attach the small heatsink I have and see if that keeps it down. This is a lightobject 1/16 din PID, RTD sensor and 60 amp SSR and they were super cheap, so far very happy with them. I also have a 1/32 din from them controlling my keezer at the moment using the relay output. :rockin:

Finished up the sealed heatstick portion... testing phase worked perfectly, tonight I brew electric for the first time! :rockin:

Sweet! Good luck on the first run!

What kind of heating element is that? I've never seen one before.

Where did you get the heating element?

Its a bunn coffee maker element

http://www.etundra.com/Tank_Heater_...?utm_source=google+product&utm_medium=organic

It doesnt say but I am assuming its a low watt density or maybe even ultra low watt density due to the length and only being 1800 watts at 120 volts

How did you assemble the copper handle for the element? Did you have to do some of the soldering after installing the wires? If so, how did you keep the wire's insulation from melting when you heated with the torch?

I soldered as much as I could before running the wires then put some heat shrink over the wires before closing it up. Copper is a great heat sink, no burning smell coming out when I was done! My only problem is condensation inside the tube, I will probably pour some fiberglass resin or something to keep the terminals covered at the bottom!

GAH, I must have got the o-rings too hot as one seems to be leaking now... So much for my first electric brew, I will have it working before the next brew!!

Perfect boilover plan, starts to boilover, bzzzzt, pop, no more boilover. Leave those wires exposed!!


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wildwest450 said:

Perfect boilover plan, starts to boilover, bzzzzt, pop, no more boilover. Leave those wires exposed!!


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ha ha, I might be back to the exposed bracket before too long, at least it worked!

ok, I scratched the stick idea and decided to simply mount the element to my kettle. I will use it as a combo hlt and boil kettle. Then my rtd rusted and stopped working, so I ended up ordering the auber liquid tight one with quick disconnect. Trial run is going on right now and so far so good!

Seems to raise temp about 9 degrees every 5 minutes, so its no speed demon...

Sucess... My first electric brew day went great!

Turned it on at 8:35 this morning at 65 degree water, hit 164 at 9:50 (should have used hot water from the water heater but I wasnt in a hurry.

Went from 147 to a boil in 44 minutes, again not in a hurry.

I also used a stir plate for my starter and it made a huge difference!!!

Here are some pictures:

ok, now i am currious, is that just a picture of the starter, or is it sitting on the stirplate?

"should have used hot water from the water heater but I wasnt in a hurry"

I'd skip this idea, water heater water is rarely good brewing water IMO. You are much better off heating in your kettle.

Creative use of BBQ grill as brewing stand!

Very nice ryclo! You make it look so easy!

bf514921 said:

ok, now i am currious, is that just a picture of the starter, or is it sitting on the stirplate?

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I put a fan inside that old dead dvd player, it was stirring at the time of that picture... I have since changed it up a bit, stir plate version 2.0 will be coming soon!!

AdamCanFly said:

Very nice ryclo! You make it look so easy!

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Thanks, each batch gets easier!!

samc said:

"should have used hot water from the water heater but I wasnt in a hurry"

I'd skip this idea, water heater water is rarely good brewing water IMO. You are much better off heating in your kettle.

Creative use of BBQ grill as brewing stand!

Click to expand...

Good to know, I will keep that in mind... The BBQ worked really well, that just may be my default brew stand from here on out... :rockin:

samc said:

"should have used hot water from the water heater but I wasnt in a hurry"

I'd skip this idea, water heater water is rarely good brewing water IMO. You are much better off heating in your kettle.

Creative use of BBQ grill as brewing stand!

Click to expand...

Why is water heater water bad? It's heated the same way? What if the house had a water filter before it went into the water heater?

Build up of minerals. Simple test is to drink a glass of cooled water from the water heater - yuck. Most water filters will still leave minerals in the water.

With water heaters there is a simple maintenance routine that should be systematically followed. Pick dates that are easy to remember (like when the seasons change) and drain about a gallon of water from the heater's bottom drain. You want to do this with reasonably fast flow. This will eliminate the mineral sediment that collects in the bottom of the tank. The problem does not exist with tankless heaters.

If your heater is fairly old go with plan B. Heat cold water for brewing.

^^thanks P-J. The water I use to brew is so damn cloudy when ran through the hot water heater. Ill try it next time I get a chance (read: "remember").

P-J said:

With water heaters there is a simple maintenance routine that should be systematically followed. Pick dates that are easy to remember (like when the seasons change) and drain about a gallon of water from the heater's bottom drain. You want to do this with reasonably fast flow. This will eliminate the mineral sediment that collects in the bottom of the tank. The problem does not exist with tankless heaters.

If your heater is fairly old go with plan B. Heat cold water for brewing.

Click to expand...

Can you set a tankless heater to 170?