DIY brew kettle element

[GaryGav]

Hi all,

I've decided with some friends to make beer from grain. I am hoping to make a brew kettle from an 80l pot but wanted to know how powerful a heating element I would need and if my circuit breaker could handle it.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance.
Gary

 

[tdiowa]

I assume your power source will be a 220 volt. With a 30 amp breaker you could use a 5500 low density element and be under the limits. But you are using a kettle with 21 gallon capacity. That's a lot of wort. Plus a 5500 element would be somewhat underpowered. Not saying it can't be done just would take the wort some time to get to boiling

 

[GaryGav]

Thanks for your reply! I've attached an image of one of the circuit breaker boxes for the floor I'll be brewing on which I think says 230v. The cooler I plan to use as the mash tun is 58l so the pot is larger than I needed but I got it free from a chef friend!

I'd read a lot about using 2 x 2.4kw normal kettle elements but apparently that usually requires each to be run off a separate circuit? I'll be brewing and fermenting on the top floor (in a temperature controlled fridge) so won't be near a cooker socket on the ground floor (which is usually higher amp?). I don't know how to tell from the circuit box what amp the 'up sockets' circuit is?

 

[tdiowa]

Start throwing breakers until you find the specific one

 

[doug293cz]

Thanks for your reply! I've attached an image of one of the circuit breaker boxes for the floor I'll be brewing on which I think says 230v. The cooler I plan to use as the mash tun is 58l so the pot is larger than I needed but I got it free from a chef friend!

I'd read a lot about using 2 x 2.4kw normal kettle elements but apparently that usually requires each to be run off a separate circuit? I'll be brewing and fermenting on the top floor (in a temperature controlled fridge) so won't be near a cooker socket on the ground floor (which is usually higher amp?). I don't know how to tell from the circuit box what amp the 'up sockets' circuit is?

My guess would be that "up sockets" would be the upstairs sockets. You would have enough capacity to brew upstairs with a 5500W element, as long as you didn't have much else running simultaneously when you were brewing.

Brew on

 

[bruce_the_loon]

The current (amps) rating is the number starting with B. So the B32 is a 32 Amp circuit breaker with a B curve (which means it trips more rapidly on overload surges, a C curve is intended for motors and compressors which surge on startup and waits a bit longer before tripping)

 

[IslandLizard]

Don't forget to add a GFCI to the circuit your element plugs into.

Or, alternatively, keep your kettle well grounded when the element is plugged in. Grounded as with a bolt and nut on your kettle and a 4 sq.mm wire going directly to ground or a copper cold water pipe that's galvanically connected to a metal underground water pipe.

 

[doug293cz]

Not an expert on European electrical systems, but it looks like the 80A main breaker is the Euro equivalent of a USA GFCI breaker. Unlike the USA split phase power, single phase power can protect multiple circuits with a single 'unbalanced current fault' detector (if gnd and neut are only bonded upstream of the main breaker.) Europe uses a 30 mA trigger limit vs. the 5 mA used in USA. Can get a hellofa lot bigger shock from 30 mA vs 5 mA, but should not be lethal.

Brew on

 

[GaryGav]

Thanks for the responses everyone! This forum is great!