1800w Induction for 3 Gallon BIAB

[quaboagbrewing]

Looks like I'm finally going to be moving my winter brewing indoors (tired of freezing my butt off December - February. Plan on downsizing for the winter doing 3 Gallon BIAB batches every other week. I have a nice 8 Gallon Induction Ready Kettle that is 14 inches in diameter and thinking that I should be able to get away with an 1800w Induction Cooktop for this size batch. Looking for some advice on a good Induction Cooktop from folks that are using one for this size batch. I've been looking at the Max Burton 6200 and the Avantco IC1800 (cost between $85 and $130) but again I have zero experience with these. Ideally I want something that offers a lot of options for temperature settings to accomodate both mash temps and boil. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[ChuckO]

I am using the Avantco for general kitchen duty and have found that the temperature control is not worth anything. The temperature somewhere within the unit has no real correlation to the temperature in a cooking pot. When I move my brewing into the kitchen this winter I will be making 2.5 gal. batches in a 5 gal. kettle on it though. I plan to do a full volume mash BIAB by heating strike water until a manual thermometer reads the right temperature and then doughing in and mashing. I will be insulating the pot with reflectix on the diameter and placing a reflectix covered lid on it. Won't add any heat during the mash unless something goes drastically wrong.

My only problem with the Avantco unit is the temperature setting, which I have found to be worthless.

 

[Wynne-R]

An 8 gallon pot? Doubtful. It would hang over the edges of the glass and probably melt the controls.

- Compatible with pans with a bottom diameter between 4 3/4" and 10 1/4" - Spec on the IC1800.

I have the Avantco IC1800 and the Duxtop 8100MC. I use them with 12 qt pots, no problem. I fill them nearly to the brim, it’s easy to control the boil with induction. The heat dispersion is great, coming out in a big 6" donut, without the hotspots you get from gas or conventional electric.

The Duxtop has the same controls as the Max Burton 6200 and is practically impossible to cook with. It works for boiling wort, but the regulation is too coarse for general purpose cooking. It's always too hot or too cold.

The Avantco is a joy. I plan on getting another one when the Duxtop blows up. That could be soon judging by the sound of the fan.

Chuck, your unit might be defective, or maybe you’re expecting too much. The temperature sensor is in the middle, under the glass. It takes a while for it to heat up. In the meanwhile, the temperature inevitably overshoots. Try gradually turning up the heat until you get it where you want it.

Cast iron is especially tricky, it can overshoot 100F. Once you hit equilibrium, it’s pretty stable. Cast iron is a relatively poor heat conductor, so it’s slow to heat the middle. Also the bottom of cast iron is slightly concave from the casting. There is an air gap under the pan, further complicating the process. The induction is so fast, it could warp the pan. You have to be careful.

 

[quaboagbrewing]

An 8 gallon pot? Doubtful. It would hang over the edges of the glass and probably melt the controls.

So looks like I'll probably need to invest in yet another kettle (12-16qt) if I want to go with induction. May just go ahead and do that and test with it this winter. If I think this is the way I want to go for the majority of my brews then I might sell the 8 gallon kettle. I also have a 15 gallon kettle which I'll probably keep around for those times in the warmer weather that I still want to do a large batch.

 

[sumbrewindude]

I use a 6.5gal on my 1800W Avantco with no worries at all. Just barely clears the glass on all sides. I can boil 4+ gal (though it's not a vigorous one, and takes it's sweet time getting there) with Reflectix wrapping the pot, so while I don't think that heating the volume for a 3gal BIAB would be the issue it would take some time to get up there. Also, FWIW, the temp control on my 1800W Avantco sucks also - I constantly get temp creep, so you will need to monitor it pretty close. I get much more consistent results in the cooler, so that's what I do now. BIABIAC, just because we need more acronyms.