Nice I want to order one for the same thing but It doesn't look like bobby offers a 1500w stainless steel element and the 2000w is to big for my kitchen. I'm wondering if I got one off eBay if it would be the same fit in the hot rod?
Honestly, the 2000watt element should work as long as you have a GFCI outlet to plug it into. I don't have great power in my kitchen either and was worried a bit about the same thing with tripping breakers, but it worked like a charm.
I would honestly go with Bobby's Hot Rod. You will be hard pressed to find one better. Its a work of art and I would pay twice what he is charging for this thing..its just that nice.
I brewed a full AG grain batch today on my flat top electric stove(Pliny Morebeer kit which was a 90 min boil) and used the Hot Rod for the first time and it got the strike and sparge water to temp in less than 15 mins with the electric stove helping..To get 6.5 gallons of wort to a rolling boil after I sparged out, it was about 18 mins from 160deg to a solid boil. I actually turned off the hot rod and let the stove handle the boil the rest of the brew once I got the boil really going. Without the hot rod, it would have taken the stove over an hour to get to that nice of a boil and maybe would have never gotten to that point to be honest.
I did pull the pot off the stove to see if the hot rod would hold the boil with no help of the stove and it did nicely which gives me the ability to brew anywhere I have a GFCI outlet. The hot rod is my initial jump to going all electric sometime in 2015 as I wanted to see how well something like this would work. It passed the test and will be a very useful tool for my all electric setup next year.
Great investment and I would not hesitate to pick one up. I think it cost me $20 more to buy Bobby's as it would have to build one. Well worth the extra $20
Pics of my brew day with some of the Hot Rod pics below.
Heating up strike water:
View from the pot:
View after I pulled it out and cleaned it up:
Another view..It has a nice "Hot Rod" logo on the back which is slick..
Some additional wiring photos, product information and other good stuff on the Hot Rod from others as well as the master of the design himself located on this thread:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/prototype-previews-hopback-heat-stick-471766/index41.html