Summerland
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I have a big 20 gallon system with 30+ gallon pots without any insulation and I run a single 5500 watt BoilCoil element in my boil kettle. At the start of the boil I've got 28 gallons + and I have no problem getting a rolling boil going without a lid and about 85% power.
So recently I started doing 2.5 gallon batches BIAB style on my stove using my old 6 gallon pot and I really liked that I can brew inside while I'm watching the kid and still do things around the house, so I decided to build a small eBIAB setup that could work for either 2.5 or 5 gallon batches.
I got a Bru Gear 10 gallon pot, and brewed a 2.5 gallon batch on my stove using the new pot before all my equipment arrived. However, I could never get a boil! I've been doing this exact same amount on this exact same stove for several batches without a problem, the only thing that changed is the pot. Is the bigger pot (6 gallons to 10 gallons) really acting like so much of a heat sink that I can't get the water to boil?
I got my 1650 watt element and controller in, so I decided to test it and even with 4 gallons I could not get it to boil. I got 0.75 gallons of boiloff in an hour, but the water never visually boiled, it just steamed a lot. Is that good enough?
5500 watts for 28 gallons is 196 watts/gal, 1650 for 4 gallons is more than double at 412 watts/gal. Am I missing something here? Is it the fact the BoilCoil element goes all around the pot and this new element just has one foldback?
I have a big 20 gallon system with 30+ gallon pots without any insulation and I run a single 5500 watt BoilCoil element in my boil kettle. At the start of the boil I've got 28 gallons + and I have no problem getting a rolling boil going without a lid and about 85% power.
So recently I started doing 2.5 gallon batches BIAB style on my stove using my old 6 gallon pot and I really liked that I can brew inside while I'm watching the kid and still do things around the house, so I decided to build a small eBIAB setup that could work for either 2.5 or 5 gallon batches.
I got a Bru Gear 10 gallon pot, and brewed a 2.5 gallon batch on my stove using the new pot before all my equipment arrived. However, I could never get a boil! I've been doing this exact same amount on this exact same stove for several batches without a problem, the only thing that changed is the pot. Is the bigger pot (6 gallons to 10 gallons) really acting like so much of a heat sink that I can't get the water to boil?
I got my 1650 watt element and controller in, so I decided to test it and even with 4 gallons I could not get it to boil. I got 0.75 gallons of boiloff in an hour, but the water never visually boiled, it just steamed a lot. Is that good enough?
5500 watts for 28 gallons is 196 watts/gal, 1650 for 4 gallons is more than double at 412 watts/gal. Am I missing something here? Is it the fact the BoilCoil element goes all around the pot and this new element just has one foldback?
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