2000w element BK

[passedpawn]

With all that being said, why can I easily boil 6.5 gallons of H2O in an AL pot? AL is the better conducter and should be losing a ton of heat thru its walls. Yet it boiled the water impressively.

I do think JKarp is right: pot geometry has a large effect. You could not boil with an element in a pot that is 5' diameter by 3" deep; the convection would never occur. I think I'll leave it in the the AL pot until I go 220V. Anyway, I am still happy with the fact that a 5 gallon batch can be boiled with 120v..... we do agree on that right?

Glad to hear you are successful with your setup.

 

[McCuckerson]

Yes sir. I am building (almost done. where the hell is that free time) jkarps CTB20. It's exciting to know that I could essentially do a 5G batch with it. I thought the 2000W element would limit me to 3.5G batches.

That's what I thought too until I walked out into the garage and it was like a Turkish Sauna.... I expected to see some fat harry guy sitting in the corner. Instead I saw 6.5 gallons bubbling away. Not a crazy boil, but the nice roller. The roller that gently lifts your hops and says "come on out hop oils and infuse my IPA....." I'm doing it.

 

[McCuckerson]

Hi guys,

I brewed a 5.5g batch of ordinary bitters on this system last night. It went REALLY well. The mash out temp was 170f (no sparge) so I didn't have that far to go for the boil. I got about 72% efficiency from a 10lb grain bill.

The most surprising thing about the boil was the lack of boil-over. I ran the element full on for the entire boil. The transition from hot to boil was slight and I was able to just skim off the hot break. I don't know if this is because the element's power is so low (2000kW). There was some residue on the element but it came off easily with a chore boy.

:rockin:5.5g brew session with 120VAC power is possible with a bit of patience!:rockin:

 

[finley]

Out of curiosity, are you using a heat stick, or do you have the element mounted in the pot?

I am looking at moving soon, and had been tossing the idea around about adding 2 2000W 120v elements to a Keggle, and heavily insulating with a bit of Kaowool I have around. Your tests are definetly promising to me on what I can pull off now.

 

[CoalCracker]

I have two 2000w elements mounted in my keggle with Reflectix insulation and EASILY boil 12 gallons.

 

[iijakii]

Hi guys,

I brewed a 5.5g batch of ordinary bitters on this system last night. It went REALLY well. The mash out temp was 170f (no sparge) so I didn't have that far to go for the boil. I got about 72% efficiency from a 10lb grain bill.

The most surprising thing about the boil was the lack of boil-over. I ran the element full on for the entire boil. The transition from hot to boil was slight and I was able to just skim off the hot break. I don't know if this is because the element's power is so low (2000kW). There was some residue on the element but it came off easily with a chore boy.

:rockin:5.5g brew session with 120VAC power is possible with a bit of patience!:rockin:

Was the boil decent? A rolling boil on ~7 gallons?

How long did it take to heat from tap up to strike temp?