Prototype Previews: Hopback and Heat Stick

[Monkey-BB]

Thanks Bobby-
I got mine two days ago put it together gave it the overnight water test... this thing is absolutely beautiful!!! I may order another one its so nice- the bend fits perfectly out of the keggle-
First class all the way bobby!

 

[Bobby_M]

Awesome.. I still haven't quite figured out a way to mount it in a keggle type install. One idea I had was to make the bend a little lower down so that the mounting clamp I made up will actually clamp to the horizontal part of the tube and then the 1/4-20 stud could just drop into a hole that you'd drill in the top of the upper rolled keg lip. I'm also messing with ideas that would mount it to the ring of keg top material that is typically left when you cut a 12" hole in the top of the keg.

 

[truckmann]

I probably should have ordered mine with a bend. I was a bit worried about being able to get the wires past a bend. I was thinking of cutting a slot out of the extra material in the top of my keggle so I can get it close enough to use the mount you supplied.

 

[truckmann]

How hard is it to put the bend in with a manual tubing bender?

 

[nutty_gnome]

As requested, so here are some pics of the Hot Rod in action in my 10 gallon recirculated BIAB system. I have one of Bobby’s early prototypes. So this one looks a bit different than the ones currently shown for sale.

As I noted earlier in this thread, I am running 120V through a 5500watt element as a boost to my propane for strike water heating and then just using the hot rod to maintain the mash temp in my recirculated BIAB system. The element is fired by a PID connected to the SSR; the PID fires based on the temperature of an RTD at the outlet of the pump. This is not an unusual setup for an electric element.

First pic shows the Hot Rod in the strike water near the drain elbow. Next pic shows the aluminum pizza peel I use as a false bottom. Note the u-shaped cut out on the rim. The peel has 3 stainless u-bolts that hold the false bottom about 3.4 inches off the bottom of the pot. This is enough room to clear the Hot Rod and the drain elbow. Next, you can see how the rim of the peel accommodated the Hot Rod downtube. Then the pizza peel goes in the pot.

I rigged a wood top with a hole in the middle as a return for the recirculating mash. You can see in the next pic that I have a flat copper diverter off the end of the tube to spread out the returned mash water.

And there is the whole, glorious, ghetto-riffic system. Works great! Makes beer I am happy to drink!
N_G

 

[WilliamWS]

Hey guys,
First, I'd like to say that I received my Hot Rod two days ago and it is beautiful.
I just got around to wiring it up today and just wanted to post a little heads-up to those doing the same because I just created a bit of a headache for myself:

The ground lug isn't quite deep enough to fully tighten down the screw. I was installing the ground and tightened the screw down with moderate pressure then checked the ground-it was still a little loose and the lock washer wasn't engaged so I decided to tighten it i touch more (I've had lock washers in the past that took a little more than moderate pressure to engage)...and the head of the screw sheered off (takes less force than you'd think). Evidently it had bottomed out before tightening all the way down on the ground. So now I get to try my hand at extracting the screw (not really that hard but I do need to run by the hardware store to get the right size extractor). If these are all the same then I'd suggest that you either shorten the screw (it was literally only about a half-turn too long) or add an additional flat washer as a spacer. As it was, the ground wasn't tightened down and the lock washer wasn't doing anything.

Again, great product...just wish I'd noticed this before it happened. Hopefully this'll prevent the same from happening to anyone else.

 

[Fatman_Brew]

Really looking forward to buying one. I plan on using 220v in a keggle. I would like to see some reviews & photos in a keggle before I pull the trigger. I have a 10 gallon pot with a 120v element to assist my stove now, but want to step up to 8 gallon batches soon.

 

[WilliamWS]

I don't own a keggle but this is how the version with the bend and 2,000 watt element fits in a 15 gallon Penrose kettle. It's hard to tell from the pic but there is around 4" of clearance over the top of the kettle. I think keggles are 2-3" taller and slightly narrower. I'd be a little surprised if it didn't clear.

 

[djt17]

Maiden voyage for the Hot Rod today; this is the best money I have spent on brew gadgets ever! Thanks Bobby

 

[truckmann]

I tested mine in a keggle today with about 8 gallons of water. I still need to do a little work on the keggle to mount it better but it looks like it shouldn't be a problem. It took about 45 min to get the water from 65 ish to boiling. I used 10 gauge wire and it was tight to get it in there. I got a straight one but I think I'm going to see if I know someone with a tubing bender so I can put a bend in mine.

 

[truckmann]

Can someone confirm what size tubing bender I need?

 

[user 163849]

My Hot Rod came in today's mail, so is yet to be wired but I am really impressed with the quality of materials and workmanship. This seems to be a top quality product.

 

[WilliamWS]

Yeah, the thing is rock solid, the welds are beautiful...good stuff.

 

[Bobby_M]

If you want to bend it yourself, you'll need a 5/8" tube bender.

 

[Will-D]

I've taken tubing into a hardware store and they let me use a bender.

 

[monkeyman1000]

I got my Hot Rod on Saturday and I was immediately impressed with the design and build of this thing. Very sturdy with nice clean welds. I put it together with the 1500W element I bought separately Saturday afternoon. The only negative I had with it was that I had to add a #12 washer to the ground side due to the 5#mm Hex screw bottoming out without it. With the washer everything tightened down nicely. I did the leak test over night and everything had sealed up nicely. On to Brew day!! This thing worked really well for me. I am doing a full volume BIAB batch with 4.5 gallons of starting water in a 6 gallon pot. This is a new pot for me so I did a test run without the Hot Rod last week so I could compare times. Without the Hot rod it took me about 44 minutes to get to strike temp (155). Boil time was another story. After 47 minutes I was only up to 204 degrees from the starting point of 155. With the Hot Rod and my stove at full blast I got to strike temp in about 26 minutes. Getting to boil was the best part. It only took about 16 minutes to go from 152 to boil with the stove and the Hot Rod and I was able to maintain a good boil with just the Hot Rod. :rockin:

 

[WI_Wino]

Do you have it plugged straight into the wall? No pid or controller of any type?

 

[monkeyman1000]

Yeah, just plugged into a GFCI outlet. I unplugged it and removed it from the pot once I got to mash temp and just used the stove to add heat every so often to keep temps up. The boil is just a boil so no need for any controller as far as I can see.

 

[djt17]

Do you have it plugged straight into the wall? No pid or controller of any type?

To control mine I just turn the burner on my stove down. By the end of the boil the stove was on low.

 

[monkeyman1000]

I ended up with a boil off rate of about 0.8 gallons an hour. A little lower than the software predicted so I might have the stove on a bit next time. I am very happy with this product and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone.

 

[wbarber69]

That's not bad for what I presume is a 1500w element. My all-electric system with a 5500w ripple only gets about 2.5gph boil off.

 

[monkeyman1000]

Excellent. I've never used an element before so that is good to hear. Any special cleaning instructions for one of these things? I was also wondering how often I should do that leak test? The Hot Rod was really easy to use but I'm not gonna lie, I was a little nervous when I first plugged it in. (That's what she said).

 

[wbarber69]

A plastic bristle brush and some oxyclean will do the trick. It's gonna collect beer stone, just get used to it.

 

[monkeyman1000]

Thanks for the reply. I will have to pick one of those up.

 

[rappell]

Question for those using hop back to filter with rice hulls. Do you pump hot wort through to sanitize? Or is it ok to just sanitize the hop back and fill with rice hulls?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Bobby_M]

I suppose there are different places to use it as a filter, but if it's between the boil kettle and plate chiller, it's going to get to get heat sanitized for the whole operation.

 

[bbohanon]

Bobby, any word on when date-wise the Hopback will be available to the masses on your site for purchase?

 

[bbohanon]

Also ordered the Hot Rod today as well..cannot wait to use it!

 

[wbarber69]

Any new updates on the hopback?

 

[Bobby_M]

As of right now, I'm waiting to hear back from folks who have either made up their own secondary screen or received mine and tried again with hops. I do have more units on hand, but I want to be sure the screen system works without clogging.