2.5 vessel single-element electric brewery

[WesBrew]

Photos of setup. The kettle with the hoses inside is a 10 gallon. Only used to catch water from steam condenser, which works like magic Love it! Lots more room with smaller kettle and easier to clean. @BrunDog

 

[WesBrew]

not sure if its normal but i'm getting some heat in one of my cables. at the wall, beginning of cable/outside of the plug is getting 115deg for a couple of inches and then is normal temp until i get to the connection with the brewcommander plug. at that end the last couple inches of cable were at 125. The cable going from BC to the kettle was 84deg, except at the element, where it was around 125, which is probably normal due to the heat. is this ok or should i be taking this cable apart to check?
i have either a camco or dernord 5500w element. sometimes im wondering if im getting 100% pwr.

 

[Deric]

Can't hurt to check. I open up every cable and make sure connections are tight every 6 months or so.

 

[doug293cz]

not sure if its normal but i'm getting some heat in one of my cables. at the wall, beginning of cable/outside of the plug is getting 115deg for a couple of inches and then is normal temp until i get to the connection with the brewcommander plug. at that end the last couple inches of cable were at 125. The cable going from BC to the kettle was 84deg, except at the element, where it was around 125, which is probably normal due to the heat. is this ok or should i be taking this cable apart to check?
i have either a camco or dernord 5500w element. sometimes im wondering if im getting 100% pwr.

The heat comes from resistance in the connections. The previous advice to go check the tightness of the connection is good.

And no, you are not getting full power out of your element. Any place heat is generated is power lost. You lose 20-35W in your SSRs, even if you have very low losses in your other connections.

Let's do a little math. SSRs are typically spec'ed at 1.5V max on voltage drop, so let's assume that yours is 1.0 volts. That means if your incoming voltage is 240.0V, then you only have 239.0 volts left after the 1V lost in the SSR. An element rated at 5500W @ 240V has a resistance of 240^2 / 5500 = 10.47 ohms. At 239V the power will be 239^2 / 10.47 = 5456W. Since you have some heating in your wires, let's assume that the total resistance of all connections is 1 ohm. Now the total resistance is 11.47 ohms, and the current will be 239V / 11.47 ohms = 20.84A. The power to the element is then 20.84^2 * 10.47 = 4546W!

As you can see, resistance in your wiring not only causes heating where you don't want it, it also can significantly reduce the max power you can deliver to your element.

Brew on

 

[ba-brewer]

I just had to replace a socket recently. I had a little dried on wort or smutz on one of the prongs of the elements and it got cooked/burnt causing heat build up in the socket.

Good to check your exposed prongs on elements to make sure they are clean.

 

[WesBrew]

Got it apart. sure enough, black wire took 1.5-2 turns on either end. only .5-.75 turns on the white and green wires. i wanted to check the plug at the element but can't figure out how to get it apart. No screws.

 

[WesBrew]

The cheap soft plastic-black l6-30r connector failed me. I think doug293cz mentioned somewhere, they aren't good. It was a purchased cable. The connecter got sloppy over time with use and started to melt on last boil.
i'm replacing with some heavy duty nylon parts that screw together.

 

[WesBrew]

Otherwise the E Brewery has been doing great. Have since just set up a HLT and mounted a herms coil to it with its own element. Switching the connecter between two elements helped wear it out fast....but it was junk to begin with

 

[WesBrew]

Pick of damaged connector next to new connector and plug . The damaged piece is smaller in diameter than the new one.

 

[jcav]

Nice job on your brewery! I just had the same thing happen on one of the prongs on my boil element. It caused some charring on the plug. I just changed it out and got a new plug end and a new element. The connecting and disconnecting over many brew days over the years caused the connection to loosen up. Then it gets hot which causes this to happen. It is good to always check the connections each brew day while it is running and also to have spare plugs, elements, and parts on hand to fix issues as they arise. Good to see you enjoying your rig!

John