Prototype Previews: Hopback and Heat Stick

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It has been on there as "out of stock" for a few days now. The message was that he was waiting for the elements to arrive. Hoping to get this thing before next brew day. It is so shiny and awesome...must have!!!! :D
 
Ok, stainless elements and hotrods are ready to purchase. We only have about 20 of the 50 units completely prepped for shipment but hope to catch up by the time we get there.
 
Bobby, I'm not clear on the dimensions of the hot rid plus 5500w element together. The element is 12.5 but what about when paired with the hot rod? Trying to see if this will fit into the 10gal Tall Boy which is approx 13.3" wide or whether I should plan for a different/wider pot.
 
Just ordered my Hot Rod :ban:!!!!!! I did have a little trouble with the order page so hopefully I didn't accidentally order more than one of them. I got an email confirmation that looks right though. I kept telling me that shipping rates had changed, review your order and resubmit. I resubmitted it and I kept getting the same message. Finally I just exited and came back and it went thru. I am so excited to get this thing. Thanks Bobby.
 
One last question. I reviewed the page on how to put this thing together and there was no mention of using yellow teflon tape on the heating element threads so I'm assuming I won't need any. Is that correct?
 
Just thought of something:
I purchased one of these because my living situation recently changed and the new place isn't as ideally suited to brewing so I'll be using this to supplement my stove which can only get about 6 gallons to a proper boil. Initially I'm not going to add a controller or anything like that.

I did just realize, though, that in my wood shop I do have a 26 amp router speed controller. Any reason I couldn't use that as a crude temperature controller to say control the intensity of boil, etc? Again, no sensor, pretty crude-it would be controlling things more by feel-but I would think it would work.
 
monkeyman1000 said:
Just ordered my Hot Rod :ban:!!!!!! I did have a little trouble with the order page so hopefully I didn't accidentally order more than one of them. I got an email confirmation that looks right though. I kept telling me that shipping rates had changed, review your order and resubmit. I resubmitted it and I kept getting the same message. Finally I just exited and came back and it went thru. I am so excited to get this thing. Thanks Bobby.
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I'm still trying to figure out how to get out of that paypal payment loop. Before clicking the pay with paypal button, you have to enter both a city and zipcode for the shipping calculation to happen before you go to paypal. Frankly, it's easier to just select check out and use a credit card and avoid paypal altogether.
 
opusx11 said:
Bobby, I'm not clear on the dimensions of the hot rid plus 5500w element together. The element is 12.5 but what about when paired with the hot rod? Trying to see if this will fit into the 10gal Tall Boy which is approx 13.3" wide or whether I should plan for a different/wider pot.
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I have to put them all together and get an exact dimension for you but the hot rod adds 2" of depth so 14.5 is about right give or take 1/4". Unfortunately the tall boy is one of those anomalies that won't work unless you compromise and get a shorter element.
 
Bobby_M said:
I have to put them all together and get an exact dimension for you but the hot rod adds 2" of depth so 14.5 is about right give or take 1/4". Unfortunately the tall boy is one of those anomalies that won't work unless you compromise and get a shorter element.
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Thank you! I'll keep an eye out for a wider pot
 
Bobby_M said:
I have to put them all together and get an exact dimension for you but the hot rod adds 2" of depth so 14.5 is about right give or take 1/4". Unfortunately the tall boy is one of those anomalies that won't work unless you compromise and get a shorter element.
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Thank you, there do not seem to be many 10 gal pots that would fit the element, I'll keep an eye out!
 
I found a 1500W 120V ULWD element on plumbingsupply.com. It is less than 5 inches long
 
monkeyman1000 said:
This is the link. https://www.plumbingsupply.com/elements.html I'm new to this so I'm hoping I read that right. I got the first one listed there for $20.16.
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Once again, any US standard water heater element will fit in any of brewhardware.com's element housings. The ones that brewhardware is selling are stainless elements with stainless threaded bases. The ones you linked to do not have stainless bases as far as I can see. I've only found a handful of suppliers that offer completely stainless elements.
 
at the same time I wouldn't use a 1500 watt element for anything unless you just don't have an open breaker, they don't heat very fast at all, I have one in my 5 gallon pot to make starters and it takes 30 minutes to boil even at 2.5 gallons, even if your using a rims I don't think it would recover fast enough to change temps
 
From the previous threads a few people were saying that the ones Bobby was selling wouldn't fit in their pot bc they were too long. That is the case with mine as well. I am using mine in conjunction with my stove so I think 1500W will be fine for what i'm wanting, at least I hope so. How do I tell if the base is stainless or not? I was just going by what the advert said that it was made from incoloy. Does that not include the base? Also, I can't always rely on the fact that the rentals I stay in will have a 20amp circuit near the stove so i thought the 1500w would be a safer bet.
 
1500W/120V = 12.5A
2000W/120V = 16.66A

so most homes have a 20 amp breaker except mine of course where an old box had mostly 15's so I upgraded but the amps for a 2000 would be fine and a 2000 just barely works for everything

and just a warning you need at least 12 gage wire for either of those, the wire heats up over an hour pretty hot to touch and a good quality wire with good jacket is worth using just to be safe
 
Most element bases are zinc coated iron fittings. Trust me I have expensive camco 5500watt stainless/incoloy elements and I'm forced to use silicon caulk to keep them from rusting too fast because I clean with oxyclean overnight. I just recently found some at brewmation that are rippled and have stainless bases, but right now I can't afford 60 bucks a piece plus shipping.
 
I use lime life elements, the reason (cheap) but had the same issue a couple of times with rusting bases but after some observation when I don't scrub the element every brew it stopped and built up a layer of burnt on wort which seemed to seal it, now I just don't touch it (the base) at all
 
Bobby does the $229 lower limit free shipping apply internationally?
If not, is there a lower intl. rate if I shop over $229?

What will you mark the package with for international shipping? Contents description and value-wise?

Any package to Norway is taxed 25% of the marked value + $30 flat rate.

Will US-based taxes, if any, be subtracted for intl. shipments?

Thank you
 
monkeyman1000 said:
From the previous threads a few people were saying that the ones Bobby was selling wouldn't fit in their pot bc they were too long. That is the case with mine as well. I am using mine in conjunction with my stove so I think 1500W will be fine for what i'm wanting, at least I hope so. How do I tell if the base is stainless or not? I was just going by what the advert said that it was made from incoloy. Does that not include the base? Also, I can't always rely on the fact that the rentals I stay in will have a 20amp circuit near the stove so i thought the 1500w would be a safer bet.
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I'm not aware of ANY 1500 watt elements that have stainless bases. You may be able to find one with a brass base.
 
vhaarr said:
Bobby does the $229 lower limit free shipping apply internationally?
If not, is there a lower intl. rate if I shop over $229?

What will you mark the package with for international shipping? Contents description and value-wise?

Any package to Norway is taxed 25% of the marked value + $30 flat rate.

Will US-based taxes, if any, be subtracted for intl. shipments?

Thank you
Click to expand...

The U.S. free shipping mark is $299. I shouldn't comment on how we mark international packages in an open forum, please email me directly. We are still trying to iron out the International shipping calculator. It's currently estimating too high.
 
For a heatstick you'll be fine as long as you wash it off and keep it dry as soon as you're done with it. But eventually somewhere way in the future, the dissimilar metals will anodize and the iron will begin to rust. It's more of an inconvenience than a deterrent. And it's really only plaguing all-electric brewers like myself.
 
Hey Bobby- you offering crushed grain or just bagged whole grain on the new site? I ask because I didn't see a crush option and didn't want to presume anything. N_G
 
Just walked in to the hot rod conversation.
Anyone have any pictures of it in use? How do you suspend it in a kettle; and what does it mean to bend it 90 degrees?
Are their any advantages to this over welding on a 1.5" ferrule?
 
I don't think anyone has a hotrod yet. The point is, it's a heat stick. For supplementing heat to speed up boil times. Welding on a ferrule serves the same purpose but is a permanent source of heat.
 

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