Vertical hot water heater element?

[crazyirishman34]

I am wondering if I could use a heater element verticaly in my brew kettle? I was thinking that it would help me with the whirlpooling of the batch.

 

[Hammy71]

I assume most put their elements horizontal so that there is less chance of the element sticking out of the wort and burning up. I've seen MLTs with the elements placed that way. Guess it depends on the size of your pot and how big your batches.

 

[iijakii]

Most people don't have trouble whirpooling even with the element. Are you having issues? Let us know your setup, maybe there's an easier way to achieve a better whirlpool with an elbow orientation or what not.

 

[crazyirishman34]

I haven't started building my system yet. But I was thinking of getting one of the Stout tanks kettles. Right now I have 2 of the blichman boilermakers that I want to use for the mash tun and HLT. I am going to use the brewtroller to control everything. I am not sure how automated I am going to go but I would like to at least use it for volume measurement.

 

[audger]

my HLT has the elements coming up thru the bottom. as long as you pay attention to liquid level and make sure that the elements arent powered when they arent submerged, theres no problem. its not a bad idea to have a float switch to turn off the power when the water level drops below a certain point automatically...

 

[crazyirishman34]

I was planning on using volume sensors. Do you think that having the one element mounted horizontally would effect the whirlpooling? I am planning on using a tangential inlet to create the whirlpool effect.