My DIY brew kettle

[matt5445]

I have built a keg kettle with a 5500W heating element driven by an auburn PID controller and a DIY box. I have modified a 5 gallon stock pot using pizza screens and a grease splatter screen as a grain basket with a copper pipe running down the middle with holes drilled in it to supply water to the middle of the grain bed using a 12v water pump I have also used a piece of threaded stainless steel rod to hold the screens in place and act as a centering piece for the pipe as well as being able to push a pot lid down by means of screwing a nut down to squeeze the grain. I have included pics of my kettle and controller but not of the grain basket as I'm not fully finished and I'm also building a 2' high wood platform to put the kettle on and mount the control box to so I can store everything elsewhere from my kitchen.

 

[thekraken]

Think you could post some more clearer pictures of that element enclosure?

 

[BrunDog]

Did you use glue or silicone to seal it? Food rated?

 

[matt5445]

I didn't take too many pics of the enclosure but basically it is a 4x4 plastic junction box with a 2" hole drilled into it and screwed through the mounting ears to the lower lip of the keg and the top portion is sealed with gutter silicone to prevent water entering the housing and a watertight fitting mounted in the top with the cord coming out the top terminating into a 250V 50 amp plug which plugs into the side of my control box. All the fittings including the element are weldless fittings and use silicone washers/o-rings to seal which are food grade, my temp probe which you can see near the element is a 1/4" NPT watertight sensor and as can be seen by my control box connects with an XLR connector as does the pump. Inside the control box I have a 240v - 12v power supply to supply the main relay coil energizing the PID and also to supply the pump, I also want to be able to brew in my kitchen and don't want to move my stove to get to the 240v there so I made an extension cord to go from my dryer plug in the basement to my kitchen.

 

[thekraken]

I didn't take too many pics of the enclosure but basically it is a 4x4 plastic junction box with a 2" hole drilled into it and screwed through the mounting ears to the lower lip of the keg and the top portion is sealed with gutter silicone to prevent water entering the housing and a watertight fitting mounted in the top with the cord coming out the top terminating into a 250V 50 amp plug which plugs into the side of my control box. All the fittings including the element are weldless fittings and use silicone washers/o-rings to seal which are food grade, my temp probe which you can see near the element is a 1/4" NPT watertight sensor and as can be seen by my control box connects with an XLR connector as does the pump. Inside the control box I have a 240v - 12v power supply to supply the main relay coil energizing the PID and also to supply the pump, I also want to be able to brew in my kitchen and don't want to move my stove to get to the 240v there so I made an extension cord to go from my dryer plug in the basement to my kitchen.

Have you fully tested the element enclosure for leaks? IE "To test this lateral seal, we boiled ~10 gallons of water for about an hour with the outside electrical box cover removed. No matter how we pushed, pulled, or tried to turn the electrical box, we were unable to create any leaks."
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/heating-elements?page=7

I gotta say while the design might work out for the time being it doesn't *seem* too robust from my arm chair. I mean no offense, I know you didn't ask for criticism but I just wanted to put that out there.

Welcome to the HBT community by the way!

 

[matt5445]

My element enclosure has no connection involving the element, the box just rests over top of the keg and doesn't seal to the keg, the silicone is only over the top and angles away from the housing so if the element leaks it runs down between the enclosure and the keg and as can be seen by my one pic the keg ground wire is secured with a bolt through the lower lip of the keg, the element attaches through the keg with the rubber washer on the outside and a silicone o-ring on the inside, I boiled 7 gallons of water in it for 1.5 hours and had no leaks.

 

[augiedoggy]

My element enclosure has no connection involving the element, the box just rests over top of the keg and doesn't seal to the keg, the silicone is only over the top and angles away from the housing so if the element leaks it runs down between the enclosure and the keg and as can be seen by my one pic the keg ground wire is secured with a bolt through the lower lip of the keg, the element attaches through the keg with the rubber washer on the outside and a silicone o-ring on the inside, I boiled 7 gallons of water in it for 1.5 hours and had no leaks.

I think people are concerned wih how you accomplished a good seal between the element and the kettle with the element lip the sealing oring often sits on appearing to be in the plastic box... you said you have a welded threaded 1" ferrule that I assume the element is threaded into with teflon or some other seal so I assume thats how you accomplished what you did? otherwise its very likely with movement your element seal in the kettle will start leaking.

 

[matt5445]

I've used weldless fittings instead of welded to prevent weld fatigue causing cracking or porosity/bacteria problems, the element is inserted through the kettle side with the stock rubber washer on the element lip and a silicone o-ring and a 1" lock nut on the inside, the plastic housing has a 2" hole drilled in it and sits around the element. The plastic housing isn't sealed to the kettle and just floats there but is bolted to the lower lip of the keg where the ground bolts too. I sealed the top of the plastic box to the kettle with silicone extending 1" past the edges and angling down so if water runs down the top from a spill or something it will run away from the box but if the element leaks it will run between the box and the kettle, the electrical connection is a water tight fitting as is the lid on the box.

 

[matt5445]

Here is some pictures of my grain basket setup and the best pic I could get illustrating the electrical box sitting around the element