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100% Stainless Heating Element

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Any hopes for the 5500 watt ripple elements at a more competitive price than Brewmation's? I need 5500 watts, but paying Brewmation more than double the (shipped) price in order to get the stainless base is a bit hard to swallow.
 
Anyone see rust on their SS element that they purchased from southernboystills.com ? I bought two but been too busy to try them out yet, but a friend that I told about the SS elements on southernboystills.com site has been using his and noticed rust on the element after his first use.

sselement_rust.jpg
 
Anyone see rust on their SS element that they purchased from southernboystills.com ? I bought two but been too busy to try them out yet, but a friend that I told about the SS elements on southernboystills.com site has been using his and noticed rust on the element after his first use.
Hard to tell but Looks more like burnt wort and not rust to me.... but some grades of stainless can rust especially when used in extremely hot applications like exhaust and heat element applications.
 
Hard to tell but Looks more like burnt wort and not rust to me.... but some grades of stainless can rust especially when used in extremely hot applications like exhaust and heat element applications.

That's what I thought too, but he swears it's rust.
 
Anyone see rust on their SS element that they purchased from southernboystills.com ? I bought two but been too busy to try them out yet, but a friend that I told about the SS elements on southernboystills.com site has been using his and noticed rust on the element after his first use.

Yep. Mine only ever touched water and had this after one use. I sent mine back due to the misadvertised wattage and now have the brewha unit. One use on it and all is well.

Edit. Technically two uses on each. Forgot that I ran an auto tune before brewing with them.
 
Oh I like that brewha element. I see it has the triclover clamp on it. Not sure if it's an issue with the mobile site, but does it say what size that is?


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Anyone see rust on their SS element that they purchased from southernboystills.com ? I bought two but been too busy to try them out yet, but a friend that I told about the SS elements on southernboystills.com site has been using his and noticed rust on the element after his first use.

This looks like surface rust that may have been caused by the element being shaped with tools that had been previously used with carbon steel or tools made from carbon steel. You may be able to passivate with acid or just scrub it with Bar Keeps Friend and remove the rust if it is just surface type.
 
So I'm trying to compare the electric heating element options. We've got...

1. Brewha element. 5500W/240V $215. stainless steel. attachment: 1.5" triclover
2. Blichmann element. $130-$200. 115/240V, 1500W-5500W. stainless steel. attachment: direct threadless (2x5/8 holes in brewpot.)
3. TheElectricBrewery element. $200 assembled or $150 kit. 240V/5500W. NOT 100% stainless. attachment: direct threadless (hole in brewpot) OR via NPT OR triclover.

Any others to add here?
 
Just heard back from my friend that found the rust on his Southernboystills.com SS element. He sent them an email and they replied back that they were having trouble with the finish on one of their batches....
 
So I'm trying to compare the electric heating element options. We've got...

1. Brewha element. 5500W/240V $215. stainless steel. attachment: 1.5" triclover
2. Blichmann element. $130-$200. 115/240V, 1500W-5500W. stainless steel. attachment: direct threadless (2x5/8 holes in brewpot.)
3. TheElectricBrewery element. $200 assembled or $150 kit. 240V/5500W. NOT 100% stainless. attachment: direct threadless (hole in brewpot) OR via NPT OR triclover.

Any others to add here?

you must be talking about the fancy unnecessary accessories and not just the elements... The standard ULWD camco elements like used in the electric brewery are like $30... the stainless ones like brewnation sells are about $55.... the there are many different enclosures for the housings which all do the same job... they are mostly about cosmetics besides the triclover setups that allow for easy removal and cleaning but even those can be bought separately much cheaper in most cases than from the guys reselling them with elements as a kit..

I used a 1" plastic conduit coupler filled with epoxy for my elements.(like $5) and a nut and oring from bargainfittings.. not as nice as the triclover setups but actually safer than the reconfigured electrical boxes like Kal used in the electric brewery build... I can submerge my whole kettle/ element and all in water while cleaning with no fear of a leak.
 
Augiedoggy: got a pic of your electrical elements?
I'm certainly interested in cutting a couple hundred dollars from my setup cost.
 
It looks like I'm about 3 weeks away from having some all stainless elements. It was only a matter of time before a few more vendors got with the program to keep the prices reasonable. I just bet $10,000 that you guys will help me get rid of them.

Waiting patiently.
 
Here's where I'm at. The 5500 watt I was about to pull the trigger on was a pre-spec'd design that measured 14". It would have been fine for direct installs in most kegs and pots, but I knew it wouldn't fit with my new HotRod heat stick hardware included. If I'm going to go with a large quantity to keep the cost down, I wanted it to fit more applications while still keeping it LWD. Long story short, I had to spec out a new design at 12" long with an offset so that the bundle of four tubes (the pair and the foldback) will be centered on the mount bushing. Why? It will fit our RIMS tube like a glove also.

So, the same element will now be able to fit direct installs, heat stick use, and RIMs use. As soon as they get the design drawn up and quoted for me, I'll know the ETA.

At this time, I'm not going after an ULWD ripple design because I anticipate the LWD of around 120 watts per sq.in. to be fine for boils.
 
Thanks Bobby. Any changes/info on the status of the 120V/2000W element?
 
Most definitely will be interested in one around the first of the year for a biab with recirc.


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This is what the BrewHa elements look like. Not pretty to look at! Looks like a lot of heat was used to bend these things! Hope it hasn't compromised the stainless! I'll use BKF to be on the safe side. The base looks like it has some copper in it but the surface that comes in contact with the liquid appears to be stainless...


element5.jpg
 

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My new elements will look very similar to those. I know everyone is used to the Camco darker incoly finish, but these brighter stainless ones are perfectly corrosion resistant. I had one going through cycles of starsan, air, water several times and the sheath and base look the same as new.

And 25% cheaper than current suppliers...
 

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