Induction brewing

I was walking through Costco yesterday and saw them selling an induction cooktop "hot plate"



I immediately thought "wonder if I can use that to brew?"

Has anyone used one of these or something similar to brew?

In theory, but it depends on the level of power. Most of the inexpensive ones are less than 1500W, which might handle small batches but won't really work for 5 gallons.

We are using an 1800 watt induction cooktop to maintain our heat exchange and sparge water temps in our 10 gallon HERMS system. Only have one brew so far but it worked well for that. I'll post back after I've had more time with it.

I use an 1800w induction for my 2.5 gl system and it works great. They also make stronger 220v 3500w induction plates that would be better for larger batches.

Earlier in life I was unfortunate enough to be living in a warehouse impersonating an apartment on the outskirts of Brooklyn. Since this place was of dubious legality, we only had a single 20 amp circuit for the living space and couldn't install a real stove.

I couldn't make pasta for two years because the 1800 watt hot plate we had wouldn't boil water.

Propane is just so easy.

I use two. One to direct fire my mash tun - I almost always do step mashes since this makes it so easy - zero scorching issues running full tilt. I have a second that I use to heat my sparge water. The typical consumer models don't have the power to do a full boil for a 5 gal. batch. I use a propane burner for that. One could easily boil a 3 gal batch though (I've gone that big for tomato sauce)

I can do the mash for a 10 gal batch though, but typically do 5 gal batches

pjj2ba said:

I use two. One to direct fire my mash tun - I almost always do step mashes since this makes it so easy - zero scorching issues running full tilt. I have a second that I use to heat my sparge water. The typical consumer models don't have the power to do a full boil for a 5 gal. batch. I use a propane burner for that. One could easily boil a 3 gal batch though (I've gone that big for tomato sauce)

I can do the mash for a 10 gal batch though, but typically do 5 gal batches

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Very intriguing...I've been toying with the idea of a new build, and I've been waffling back and forth between an internal element and a RIMS tube. How much power does yours have, and what kind of a ramp up can you get between steps?

I wonder if there are any that could be hooked up to electronic control.

I'll double check, but I think my mash unit is 1500 watts (~10 yrs old). For a typical 5 gal batch I can ramp at about 1.5 F per minute (3-3.5 gal H2O, 6-9 lbs of grain). What I really like is that I can use the foilized bubble wrap for insulation with no fire/melting issues. I did spring for a nice magnetic SS pot. I made a custom insulated lid. My sparge water (5 gal) easily heats to 170 F in the time it takes for me to do my mash (includes weighing and milling times)

Of course then there is the bonus that you can use the cooker for cooking food. I have a two-tier system and use gravity to move the sparge water. My setup does provide quite a bit of flexibility as far as arrangement goes, is easy to set up and would lend itself well to a small apartment. Mine lives in the basement and is almost always set up though.

I've thought about hooking it up to a temp. controller to do automated step mashes (would need an auto-stirrer then too), but that would only allow me to turn it off after a set temp. was reached. I'd have to patch into the control board to really do it right, and I'm not prepared to do that to my cooker - yet

I boil wort on a 6Kw 3-phase 230VAC induction cooker that I built from three 2Kw units ripped a part and built into a custom box. I use a 20 gallon pot and brew 10g batches.

Protto said:

I boil wort on a 6Kw 3-phase 230VAC induction cooker that I built from three 2Kw units ripped a part and built into a custom box. I use a 20 gallon pot and brew 10g batches.

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Photos please......!!

Another thing to remember is that many of the off the shelf units have a cooling fan that needs to run once you power off the unit. I'd be hesitant that an automatic temp control system that is continuously cycling the power on/off could damage the unit over time since it would not allow the fan to run once you've turned the heat off

Also forgot to mention that we too are using propane for boiling. Induction is for the heat exchanger and sparge only. That way we can mash and sparge indoors and do the boil outside on the deck if it is cold out.

kickrjason said:

Photos please......!!

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Sorry but I can only give you this link. At the moment my internet connection is so slow I can't upload anything. And the link is in norwegian, you could try google translate if you're interested.

http://norbrygg.no/forum/index.php/topic,3062.0.html

I use a 80qt pot that is compatible with induction. When I boil wort i use 1400 or 1600w on each of the tree units. That gives around 10% boil off in an hour, mabe a little bit more.
I have 30 batches on it. It's made og MDF (yepp, wood fiberboards), and the only thing I'd like to change is I'd like to have one big hardend glass plate on top, because 6Kw WILL boil over 12 gallons in a 20 gallon pot.

This might help clarify the issue:

Northern Brewing Article saying it is possible to boil 6 gallons on 1800 W:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/connect/2011/07/induction-brewing/


Email from Bayou Classic saying their pots are induction ready:

"Hey <ercousin>, thanks for contacting us. Yes, all of our SS pots are induction ready. The Try-ly bottom is not totally necessary but is nice and does help depending on the the load going into your stock pot.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Have a great rest of the week!

Cheers!

Cary Hanson
President
BayouClassicOutlet.com"

pjj2ba said:

I use two. One to direct fire my mash tun - I almost always do step mashes since this makes it so easy - zero scorching issues running full tilt. I have a second that I use to heat my sparge water. The typical consumer models don't have the power to do a full boil for a 5 gal. batch. I use a propane burner for that. One could easily boil a 3 gal batch though (I've gone that big for tomato sauce)

I can do the mash for a 10 gal batch though, but typically do 5 gal batches

Click to expand...

I'm contemplating the exact setup you mention with two hot plates. I currently use two burners on my stove for mash and sparge water then carry it to a propane burner to boil. Is the diameter of your mash tun larger than the heating circle of the hot plate? That seems to be the only issue I can't solve so far; fininding a single electric burner that a 13.5 inch diameter pot will sit on to heat(size of my mash tun).........

I use an 1800W one for 3gal full boil batches. It will boil 4gal, though it's not vicious. It might boil 5gal, but it'll take a while to get there. I just can't see it being able to boil 6gal.

Go to the electric section and see the induction thread, lots of folks are using induction - some brewing 10gal, 5gal, or like me at 3 or less.