Parts for electric brew kettle

[Sadu]

Merry xmas everyone. I'm wanting to build a 10 litre / 2.5 gallon electric brew kettle for doing 5 litre / 1.25 gallon batches. I haven't found any good blog posts outlining the process for a simple build like this but I think I have it figured out. I wonder if someone could sanity check my parts list / process and let me know if I'm missing anything?

What I'm looking for is an electric boil kettle that will bring a 5 litre batch to a boil quickly, then I manually adjust the heating power to maintain a rolling boil. It's important that I can adjust the power level

Kettle - basic 10 litre stock pot. 25cm diameter which limits what elements will fit inside.
http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/p/liv...ass-lid-10l/R2073296.html#q=stock+pot&start=1

Element:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/AC-...32350262396.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.AG6bb4
2000W 240v AC. In New Zealand our power is 240V and 10a circuits are standard. This shouldn't need any special wiring and should be well powered for approx 8 litres / 2 gallons pre-boil.

Step bit to drill the holes for the element...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/DIU...32711038407.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.AG6bb4

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1pc...32663806352.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.AG6bb4
SSR capable of 25 amps / 250v. I will be drawing 10a so hopefully this is big enough (allowing for the chines-parts exaggeration factor).

Heat sink for SSR
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/SSR...32669579107.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.AG6bb4

Kettle plug socket...
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/5-P...32382178287.html?spm=2114.13010608.0.0.AG6bb4

Power is supplied via 3 pin with the ground wired connected to the kettle.

Additionally, I will use an Arduino and potentiometer for controlling the SSR. I have plenty of experience programming Arduino so I'm feeling good about this side of the project. The Arduino (power set by the pot) will turn the element on / off in a 2 second cycle. So 60% power would mean 1.2 seconds on then 0.8 seconds off. My understanding is that a slower cycle is better than using PWM which would be switching many times per second.

Will also need a case for housing the plug on the side of the kettle, I will use a waterproof ABS project case or 3d print something custom in ABS or nylon.

Questions:
1. Does this parts list look ok? I'm not based in the USA so Aliexpress is my goto for this kind of stuff.
2. Does the controller need a fan or is a heatsink + some holes in the case going to be enough?

Any advice appreciated - basically this gear will take 4 weeks to arrive so I don't want to find that I ordered the wrong stuff and have to wait another 4 weeks.

 

[ch19]

Gidday Sadu. I'm based in Palmy and did a similar build recently. Personally, I found most of the components locally at not much more cost: you can get a 32mm step bit for $9 + shipping on Trademe, a Mager (more reliable) SSR from nicegear.co.nz for $16 + shipping. I went with a metal enclosure and used thermal adhesive to stick the SSR in the enclosure and mounted the heatsink on the outside. My controller also runs off 10A and it is a little warm by the end of a brew.

 

[Radboud]

Not to be a know-all but have you considered a portable induction hob? You would need one with pseude stepless control, eg a rotary control (such as this one) as you probably can't use an SSR to control it (the hob won't auto power on when the SSR closes the circuit).

Merry Christmas!

 

[Sadu]

Not to be a know-all but have you considered a portable induction hob? You would need one with pseude stepless control, eg a rotary control (such as this one) as you probably can't use an SSR to control it (the hob won't auto power on when the SSR closes the circuit).

Merry Christmas!

This may sound odd but part of the fun is building something myself. I'm a bit of a maker and half the fun of brewing is playing with cool toys. And pimped kettles have a coolness factor that electric hobs will never achieve. There it is, not afraid to admit

 

[Sadu]

Gidday Sadu. I'm based in Palmy and did a similar build recently. Personally, I found most of the components locally at not much more cost: you can get a 32mm step bit for $9 + shipping on Trademe, a Mager (more reliable) SSR from nicegear.co.nz for $16 + shipping. I went with a metal enclosure and used thermal adhesive to stick the SSR in the enclosure and mounted the heatsink on the outside. My controller also runs off 10A and it is a little warm by the end of a brew.

Nice one. Good idea on the metal enclosure too. Any chance of a pic of your controller? Did you go the arduino route or just a pot to control the SSR?

 

[augiedoggy]

You can get those mager SSRs on eBay with a heatsink and grease for $12 shipped too.

 

[ch19]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1482700920.878501.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1482700963.992013.jpgThe enclosure is from Jaycar. I think it was around $20 from memory. I use a MyPIN TD4 to manage temperature. I bought it because it has the manual control function, but in practice, I never need to throttle down the boil intensity because 2.4kW gives a nice gentle rolling boil in 28L.

 

[ch19]

You can get those mager SSRs on eBay with a heatsink and grease for $12 shipped too.

True. On my build, I bought some parts locally because i wanted them shipped quickly. Most of the time (when I plan ahead!) eBay / AliExpress is good value.

 

[Sadu]

View attachment 381821View attachment 381822 I never need to throttle down the boil intensity because 2.4kW gives a nice gentle rolling boil in 28L.

This is good to hear. I'm rolling with 2000w for a 5-8 litre boil, should be supremely quick to heat up

 

[ch19]

This is good to hear. I'm rolling with 2000w for a 5-8 litre boil, should be supremely quick to heat up

Nice. If you pump 2kW into 8L you'll evaporate off way more than you need over a 60 minute boil. Will you be using the arduino to moderate the power to the element?

 

[Sadu]

Yeah that's the idea. Hit it hard with 2000w to hit a boil in under 5 mins then dial back to 40% or whatever for the rest of the boil. Figure a 10 litre kettle will also work nicely for quickly heating strike water for my 23 litre batches. Currently that's taking too long and slowing down my brewday.