Brew Kettle - Coffee Urn?

Hi,

Would if be possible to use something like this (Electric Urn) as a kettle to mash grains in ?

Then, is it a good idea?

I've never seen anyone use on of those. It is kind of small though, 30 Lt is roughly 8 gallons or so. That would be the only issue I would see with it. Using a cooler to make a MLT works well. Mine will hold temp for over an hour if I need it to, and it didn't cost that much to make.

You will be able to run run about 10 pounds of grain max - would be fine if you're doing small stovetop batches. You will need to fashion a manifold or braid same as any other tun. Assuming it will hold mash temps (I have no idea what temp coffee urns use) you might have an issue with hot/cool spots. . .same issue as a fired tun. . .just stir the mash a lot.

If you already own one I'd say it's a creative solution and a noble experiment! If I was buying new I'd probably go with a traditional cooler. . .just based on cost and its proven track record.

Yes, there is actually a handful of threads about it scattered throughout here. I guess some homebrewers in England use something similar for indoor ag setups. I know there is at least 3 previous threads about it. I even think Scuba Steve was doing something with them. They are called Burcos in England.

Heres some info from previous discussions

Revvy said:

There's been a couple threads on here over the years about Burco Brewing. I hadn't heard of it, but I guess a lot of folks on your side of the pond have had some good results with those puppies.

I first heard about it in this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/smallest-fastest-all-grain-rig-world-91914/

And this. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/coffee-urn-hlt-89901/

Seems like getting a couple of them and you could have a decent rig, especially if you got a couple of those 10 gallon sized urns.

In fact it looks like this homebrew supplier sells Burcos actually to the homebrewing community. http://www.brewuk.co.uk/store/index.php/ag-equipment/30ltr-burco-water-boiler.html

I googled Burco and Beer Brewing and found some more.

http://www.berriman.me.uk/?Martin's_Homebrew:How_I_Brew_Beer

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=4641&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Click to expand...

Orfy said:

Thanks Revvy.

Lots of brewers use them in the UK.

This mainly stems from the lack of decent burners available the UK does not have turkey fryers or banjo burners.

I'm not looking replace my main outdoor system. I'm just thinking of doing indoor batches in the winter. I was just playing with it to see how it did.
The problem with these things is that they are cheap commercial items using low quality electronics.

Click to expand...

The berriman link "How I brew beer" has a pretty detailed set of picutres of his setup using one as a mlt and one as a boiler.

The Australians have been using something like that for "brew in a bag" for some time now. Search the "brew in a bag" and see if it would work for your situation.

Thank you for the awesome feedback.

I can't seem to find how hot those bad boys get, but from experience they boil water, so i guess thats good enough. This thing has a monster element in it, and apparently heats 30L in about 6 minutes....

I have some reading to do thanks to Revvy...

I'll let you know if I try it out...

EDIT: Revvy , it looks like he is using that Burco to heat water for his sparge only, not for mashing or boiling wort ?

To me it Looks like he's boilling as well. Looks like berrimen's going to a larger one to boil in.