I LOVE waking up to hot strike water. Easy as 1-2-3.

[weirdboy]

So I am using this now in a converted keg heating up 7 gallons of water. Temp at the bottom of the keg where the probe was resting was 19C but the keg felt hot so i tested the water at the top.. it was 47C!!!!! That is a HUGE difference.. anyone having similar results? I'm thinking if I insulate and use with my STC1000 temp controller there will be much less of a temperature gradient.

Thoughts?

Regardless of how well you insulate, unless you are constantly recirculating, you are going to get a temperature gradient from the bottom to the top because heat rises. But it's not a big deal. Just use your mash paddle/spoon/whatever to stir the water up when you are ready to dough in, and it should be pretty close to your intended strike temp.

 

[wilserbrewer]

So I am using this now in a converted keg heating up 7 gallons of water. Temp at the bottom of the keg where the probe was resting was 19C but the keg felt hot so i tested the water at the top.. it was 47C!!!!! That is a HUGE difference.. anyone having similar results? I'm thinking if I insulate and use with my STC1000 temp controller there will be much less of a temperature gradient.

Thoughts?

I believe most have found that in order to automate an HLT, some form of agitiation is required, with either a mechanical stirrer, a recirculating pump, or even a small air pump bubbler will move the water around for even heat. Unfoutunately it is not as easy as an element and temp control, unless you stir occasionally.

 

[iamjonsharp]

@Eyedoctodd: Thanks for posting this!

I purchased one of the Marshalltown 742g heaters a few weeks ago and had time today to play around with it prior to brew day. I plan on using it with a timer and temp controller to heat mash water to appropriate temp the morning before brew day. It looks like it should be able to heat water to the appropriate mash temp for for a 10 gallon batch well.

Here are the results:
Heated 8 gallons of 45F water in coleman cooler to 170F under 3 hours, about 3 degrees every 4 minutes.

Hit 170F around 2 hours 45 minutes (started timer at 5 hours counting down)

The cooler was slightly ajar due to the power cord. The cooler I have is the 62 qt coleman xtreme.

Was able to have the heater submerged on its side with the top/cord out of the water. Thermometer is on the right side of cooler.

Thanks again!

I'll let you know how it goes on brew day!

 

[ilikeguns]

@iamjonsharp did you measure the temps around your cooler to see if they were inline? I'm curious to see how the temps vary in a flatter cooler (yours) compared to my converted keg. I got a huge difference in temps depending on where my probe was.

 

[iamjonsharp]

@iamjonsharp did you measure the temps around your cooler to see if they were inline? I'm curious to see how the temps vary in a flatter cooler (yours) compared to my converted keg. I got a huge difference in temps depending on where my probe was.

I did not, as I was mainly interested in getting up to high enough temps to add grain to get to mash temp, and I put my temp probe as far away from the heater as possible. For what it's worth, it has prob been about an hour since I finished the test and the water in the cooler is reading 162F after stirring the water. The lid on the cooler has been closed.

 

[iamjonsharp]

I forgot to mention, that my test results comported very well with Todd's spreadsheet (within 10 minutes assuming a Thermal Loss of 1.05).
-Jon

 

[ilikeguns]

Anyone ever use this timer with the bucket heater? I'm thinking of wiring it into my project box with my STC 1000

http://1000bulbs.com/product/63761/...C777dash777ST01&site=www.amazonproductads.com

 

[bja]

Anyone ever use this timer with the bucket heater? I'm thinking of wiring it into my project box with my STC 1000

http://1000bulbs.com/product/63761/...C777dash777ST01&site=www.amazonproductads.com

What's the advantage over any other timer, except that it costs 5 times as much?

 

[ilikeguns]

What's the advantage over any other timer, except that it costs 5 times as much?

I saw it for 20 bucks and i want an outlet style timer so it fits flush into my project box next to my stc-1000.

EDIT: The ratings had me a little confused.. is this rated for 8 amps? or 15? The bucket heater draws 8 and from my limited understanding of electricity, I'd rather not run full capacity. Correct?

Ratings:
Resistive: 15 A, 120-277 VAC
Tungsten: 15 A, 120 VAC, 6 A, 208-277 VAC
Ballast: 8 A, 120 VAC, 4 A, 208-277 VAC
Motor: 1 HP, 120 VAC, 2 HP, 240 VAC
DC Loads: 4 A, 12 VDS, 2 A, 28 VDS

 

[eyedoctodd]

Close. The bucket heater draws 8.333A, so just in case you were thinking of feeding it with 8A, don't! I am thinking of adding a second one because I have a 20A circuit available right where I brew in the garage, so I could do some faster heating (like sparge water during the mash), but I might build a heat stick that will go higher than 2kW instead. Obviously going with 2 of these will heat twice as fast but I don't know if that will be fast enough for my sparge water during mash. (Although it would still help reduce propane usage and replace it with cheaper electrical power.)

 

[eyedoctodd]

Also - to all those noting they have a temp gradient in their tuns..

That will only matter if you're using a temp controller probe to act as the brains of when the heater is receiving power or not (which was never my intent).

If you have a heater with a certain power rating (kW), you are getting the same number of kWh or joules of energy into that mass of water - regardless of whether it's going in evenly or if there's a gradient or if heat rises (or whatever). As someone else said, one quick stir and it all evens out quickly.

So for my intended use of the bucket heater in my original post, this does indeed work like a charm.

For Jon Sharp - you can easily calculate what your shortfall was in your cooler (figure out how many percent short your temp rise was). If you got only 90% of your intended rise, your shortfall is 10% Add that to 100% and you have 110% or 1.100

Enter 1.100 in your thermal loss box in the spreadsheet for future brews.

If you were looking for a 100 degree rise and only got 95, your thermal loss is 1.05. Does that make sense?

Another way to say this is if it took for example 15% longer than expected to hit your desired temp, you should adjust the thermal loss to 1.15

 

[bja]

I saw it for 20 bucks and i want an outlet style timer so it fits flush into my project box next to my stc-1000.

EDIT: The ratings had me a little confused.. is this rated for 8 amps? or 15? The bucket heater draws 8 and from my limited understanding of electricity, I'd rather not run full capacity. Correct?

Ratings:
Resistive: 15 A, 120-277 VAC
Tungsten: 15 A, 120 VAC, 6 A, 208-277 VAC
Ballast: 8 A, 120 VAC, 4 A, 208-277 VAC
Motor: 1 HP, 120 VAC, 2 HP, 240 VAC
DC Loads: 4 A, 12 VDS, 2 A, 28 VDS

You need to use the resistive rating for a bucket heater, so 15 amps.

The ballast and motor rating is lower because you'll get a spike initially when it's first turned on. The motor rating is about 7 amps (1 hp = 745 watts = ~7 amps).

 

[NathPowe]

This is a really cool idea. Thanks for the post Todd. My heater and timer came in the mail yesterday - stoked to start doing some testing to dial in my times for the next brew session. My plan is to use this setup to heat mash water in a 10gal Home Depot mash tun, so I'll post my findings in case folks are interested. Thanks again. Mighty fine.

 

[eyedoctodd]

Anyone ever use this timer with the bucket heater? I'm thinking of wiring it into my project box with my STC 1000

http://1000bulbs.com/product/63761/ELEC-ST01.html?utm_source=SmartFeedAmazonProductAds&utm_medium=Shopping&utm_term=ELECST01&utm_content=ElectricalInWallTimersDigitalAstronomic&utm_campaign=SmartFeedAmazonProductAds&thissku=ELEC777dash777ST01&site=www.amazonproductads.com

Hey there, I was interested in this so I looked it up to see how it's programmed.

I noticed it's got a lithium battery to preserve settings when the power's off. I remember reading reviews of the DT620 (that I used) and most of the negatives centered around dead batteries from people not leaving them connected to a power supply. I would imagine it's the same for this one.

Just something to consider if you're going to put it into a project box that isn't powered all the time versus a hardwired installation in the wall.

 

[SavoryChef]

I just used this setup to heat my strike water while I was at work yoday so I could brew when I got home.

18 gallons of 40 degree water for six hours of heating time and it was 135 when I got home. I need to figure the times better. But it still saved 40 minutes off my brewday

 

[barhoc11]

I am going to suggest someone on the forums make this..
http://mentalfloss.com/article/49383/sun-lens-backyard-burn-zone

You can have your water heated up in a few minutes from what I see and for no cost!

 

[wilserbrewer]

I just used this setup to heat my strike water while I was at work yoday so I could brew when I got home.

18 gallons of 40 degree water for six hours of heating time and it was 135 when I got home. I need to figure the times better. But it still saved 40 minutes off my brewday

As you likely have figured out, it is better in my opinion to aim to overheat your brewing water, as the temp increases thermal losses will also increase, so max temp out of these low wattage elements will not be that high. Very easy to temper down in temperature, a couple quarts of cold water or a little bit of ice will work easily.

 

[paulster2626]

I'm heading to the USA this weekend. Does anyone know a store where I could grab one of these heaters somewhere between Buffalo-Syracuse-Philadelphia?

Everywhere in Canada seems to be out of stock!

 

[emprbasist]

I bought mine from Amazon. Do they ship to Canada?

 

[paulster2626]

I bought mine from Amazon. Do they ship to Canada?

If I want to pay outrageous shipping fees, wait for weeks, then pay taxes and duty when I go to the post office, then yeah - they ship to Canada.

These things cost $60 locally here. In the USA they are $30. Figured I could just grab one somewhere since I'm driving 700km (434 miles) through the USA. There's gotta be SOMEWHERE that sells these. Checking TSC stores...

 

[eyedoctodd]

A quick google search shows they are carried by True Value hardware stores, though you'd want to call ahead to make sure they have it in stock.

There are several stores around the Syracuse area and having made that trip many times myself, I would recommend you stop at one a little south of Syracuse for easy-on/easy-off the highway (I-81)

This store locater is cool in that it auto-updates when you drag the map:

http://www.truevalue.com/store_locator.jsp

They have free ship-to-store, so the best thing would likely be to pick a store, buy the heater online, ship to that store, pick up heater. Done.

 

[SpeedYellow]

I hope you guys are really careful with this. Generally, you should not run your dishwasher, clothes dryer, or stove while you're away or sleeping, because those are the most common appliances to start fires. Why? Because they use heaters.

Be careful with this unwatched heater idea folks. I wouldn't feel comfortable myself.

 

[WileECoyote]

Nice thread

Cheers

 

[paulster2626]

That's great - emailed a few stores along the way asking about availability. Thank you!

 

[paulster2626]

I hope you guys are really careful with this. Generally, you should not run your dishwasher, clothes dryer, or stove while you're away or sleeping, because those are the most common appliances to start fires. Why? Because they use heaters.

Be careful with this unwatched heater idea folks. I wouldn't feel comfortable myself.

My water heater heats a large volume of water all day long using fire. Same with my furnace, but it heats air (obviously).

When used properly, this should be no more dangerous than any of those. BUT - I still wouldn't leave it running while I'm not home.

 

[SpeedYellow]

My water heater heats a large volume of water all day long using fire. Same with my furnace, but it heats air (obviously).

When used properly, this should be no more dangerous than any of those. BUT - I still wouldn't leave it running while I'm not home.

That's a silly retort. If you think kluging together a heater and a timer and tossing it into a pot is as inherently safe as a water heater or furnace, then there's clearly no rational discussion possible here. The fact remains, even well-designed heating appliances start fires, hence the reason that dishwashers are the most common kitchen appliance to cause fires (according to Consumers Union). This is far from a well-designed heating appliance. It's a kluge.

 

[paulster2626]

That's a silly retort. If you think kluging together a heater and a timer and tossing it into a pot is as inherently safe as a water heater or furnace, then there's clearly no rational discussion possible here. The fact remains, even well-designed heating appliances start fires, hence the reason that dishwashers are the most common kitchen appliance to cause fires (according to Consumers Union). This is far from a well-designed heating appliance. It's a kluge.

What is the difference? If it is hooked up to something like a A419 to cut out at a certain temperature, then the only reason a fire could start would be from a faulty device - like a bad power cord or something.

Consider these are mainly used unattended in barns to keep livestock water from freezing - a farmer's barn and animals are worth a lot more than your house. If these guys trust them, then so would I.

Also: This is not a dishwasher.

 

[eyedoctodd]

I can see SpeedYellow's point, but only to a point. Using any electrical device carries some risk, and I would venture that there is probably less risk here with a properly grounded setup than with all of the burning propane we use.

To minimize any risk I incur with this setup, I put a new smoke detector right next to where this gets used and installed a new fire extinguisher next to it. Since this will only run while I'm at home, I am more than satisfied with this level of safety.

Safety can always be taken to extremes. To ensure absolute safety, you know we probably shouldn't brew at all, we should just leave it up to the pros.

 

[poptarts]

Bumping this thread cause its a good idea, and this is an amazing deal

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FO8FY68/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[KIAKillerXJ]

I still think of doing this, but my routine now I crush my grains as strike water heats and that has been timing well. However if I spread that out to let's say the night earlier, it would perhaps give me a even more relaxing brew day.

However- that little heater you just posted ain't gonna cut it for any measurable amount of water, I don't believe, although granted I couldn't find the watt spec for it


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