Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?

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GoNova

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***UPDATE***

I appreciate all the posts to this thread. I decided to move to induction brewing and haven't looked back. IT IS AWESOME. Use the link below for details and pictures. I hope this is helpful to those interested in making the switch.

www.mainlinebrewers.com/projects/induction-brewing/

For a great article on induction brewing, see the BYO article below.

https://byo.com/component/k2/item/2967-induction-heat

************

I am exploring the jump to electric brewing and found this very reasonably priced induction burner. Can you guys think of any reason why it would not work? I suspect my brew kettle will be larger than the burner. Will that be a problem.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00514BTJ6/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Would this just plug right into my 240 dryer outlet?

Any other things I should be thinking about?

Excuse my ignorance, but I'm just starting to learn about electric brewing.

Cheers. :mug:
 
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What kind of brew pot do you have? Induction cooking requires good contact between the pan and cooktop. A keggle wouldnt work well, and I would suggest a stainless steel pot. I know more about the cooktop than I do brewing so I will leave that to the experts around here. Worse off you would have to use a heatstick depending on your batch size.
 
I have a triple-layer bottom on my SS kettle and it is magnetic. Once I insulated it I could get a boil on 4gal with an 1800W induction burner. Theres no guarantee that a SS pot will be magnetic, check it first with a magnet (fridge magnet is good enough).

Yes I believe the burner would plug in the 240V outlet.
 
Looks like a standard 240V plug to me, three prong with one sideways to the other. Hard to tell the actual size though.

Definitely check your pot to be sure its magnetic.

My pot hangs over the sides of the hotplate a couple of inches. It really doesn't matter except if the hotplate will hold the weight. I've heard of people putting wooden spacers under the overhanging edges of the pot to hold some/all of the weight. Induction will work as long as the bottom is within 0.5" of the cooking surface, at least I've read that.
 
Induction will work as long as the bottom is within 0.5" of the cooking surface, at least I've read that.
Anyone know more about this? For weight reasons it would be good if you could support your pot on the outer edges a little above the burner. But the website say that the cooker automatically switches itself to standby mode when the cookware is removed from the cooking surface. I wonder if this is controlled by weight or the induction current being recognized?
 
The instructions with my little 1800W Max Burton burner state that the pan has to be within 1.5" of the burner surface. I'd read the 1/2" value on another thread here on Homebrewtalk.
 
Does yours have the "automatically switch to standby when the cookware is removed" feature?
 
Well, snap. I contacted the webrestaurantstore.com customer service department and they tell me that the pot diameter needs to roughly match the burner diameter. I'm probably not going to find a 8.5" diameter pot that can handle a full boil, right?

Any other thoughts guys?? Thanks for all the help. :mug:
 
Thats not true, especially since you are just boiling water. Yes the burner only heats a certain size but this is true of a standard electric element as well. The water/wort carries/distributes the heat from that are of the pan. I have a pan with a 14" diameter and boiled water on my hob that has about a 5" diameter burner.

Here's a reference to distance from the hob surface, they found 7mm (slightly over 1/4") is the limit and they do say that the power decreases as a function of the distance from the coil so you would want to make your weight-bearing assists just slightly higher than the hob surface. You'll have to add "http" to the front because the info is in the text under the video and this site wants to convert the link to video.

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHI68bN2j94
 
Lennie. Your 14" pot must pretty well cover the cooktop. Do you have any problems with it overheating? It just seems like over the duration of a 60+ minute boil the the heat from the pot would transfer into the cooktop.

My pot is a little bigger at 15 1/2" diameter, but the Avantco looks pretty beefy and is 12" x 15". It would probably still be a good idea to try to give it some extra support.

This is awful tempting. May just give it a shot. Thanks for your help!
 
Yes it mostly covers the cooktop although it doesn't cover the control panel in front and it only hangs off the sides by a couple inches on either side. I don't use any supports on it although I probably should use some wood blocks to take a little weight off the unit. The glass of the top does get quite warm but its designed to take the heat. its the same material you find on a conventional smooth glass cooktop. I expect it gets hotter when you fry, the boiling liquid should keep the temp around 212F although the pot surface probably gets hotter.

You'll probably want to insulate your pot, that will help it boil faster. I used some bubble wrap with foil-looking backing, just 1/2" thick and it really helped.

Glad I could help, I'm new to induction cooking but I'm impressed so far.
 
Very happy that I found this thread.

Ordered the Avantco IC3500 from WEBstaurantStore.com yesterday and it got here today. It's actually dimensions of the surface that the pot sits on is 13 X 13. It's a strudy build and has no problem supporting my 15 1/2" diameter 15 gallon pot with 11 gallons of water in it.

With no insulation it took almost an hour and a half to get from 45 degrees to a boil with the lid on. Once there it held the boil with the lid removed. With insulation and when starting from mash temperature the results should be fine.

Hope to test it on the real thing this weekend. :)





Oh yeah, and it plugged into an existing 220V 20amp outlet that I had for a window air conditioner.
 
Perfect, its pulling about 15amps so a 20amp circuit is just right. Glad you had good results. You'll find that insulation will cut that time in half at least.
 
I am ready to pull the trigger on this as well. My only problem is that it does not seem like the Avantco plug shown here:

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ima...208/240&image_name=/images/177ic3500_pic5_xlg

fits a standard dryer outlet like this:

dryer_plug.jpg
 
That's a 30amp plug, not the 20amp that comes on the Avantco IC3500. You could make up a short adapter cord with a male plug like the one you pictured to fit your outlet and a female 6-20 connector (below) to plug the induction plate into.

6-20 female.jpg
 
I realize this is an older thread, but I stumbled upon it when searching for info on this specific model. I was especially concerned about the larger diameter of my brewpot (15.75") and the supposed 10.25" limit in the current product listing.

I couldn't be more pleased with this unit. The same pot and volume of wort would only simmer on my gas stove or even my propane Bayou Classic outdoors.

Here is a video of the vigorous boil I was able to hold at 3100 Watts. Note that I insulated my pot with Reflectix which does not melt or burn when using induction and is safe to the touch. I also built a Reflectix cover that I used while bringing the wort up to boiling temperature. EDIT: Volume of boil is 7.1 gallons.

 
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I just bought one and was very happy with the test run in the laundry room. Now just to add the 240 wiring in the basement to have full indoor brewing capability.
I'm using a 9 gallon Bayou Classic
 

This is awesome... thanks! I'm impressed with that boil of such a volume of liquid.

I've been debating buying one of these instead of installing an element and your video is steering me closer to that... the only thing holding me back is not being able to control it with a PID, so I'll still need a RIMS tube for holding mash temps.

Edit: hmmmm... I wonder if it would be possible to rig something to perch my keg (boil kettle) over this and if it would still boil as well (since the bottom curves away from the magnetic field). Maybe not, since I think I read somewhere you can get special induction cookers to use with woks.
 
Was wondering if this worked ok for full volume BIAB? I usually do 5 gal batches and might start with a total of 8 gals of water for my mash. Usually start a boil with 7 gals or so. Looks like this would work great for a future downstairs brewery and safer then the propane burner.
 
Was wondering if this worked ok for full volume BIAB? I usually do 5 gal batches and might start with a total of 8 gals of water for my mash. Usually start a boil with 7 gals or so. Looks like this would work great for a future downstairs brewery and safer then the propane burner.

Yep, works great. I get better heating performance than most propane burners. Tap temp to strike temp in 20-30 mins, mash temp to boil in 20-30 mins.

Here's a video of it in action:
 
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If you're wanting to boil 7-8 gallons, I assume you have to go with the 3500watt and not the 1800watt?

or would the 1800watt work also, but just take longer?
 
My research seemed to indicate that more than 1800 watts is required for an all-grain boil. I have a wide 10-gallon pot that could have straddled two 1800 watt burners plugged into separate circuits, but pot's manufacturer (Johnson Rose) said one 3500 watt burner is the way to go. I couldn't be more pleased with this model, and the 220V was not an issue for me - I just wired a commercial receptacle to a dryer cord/plug and unplug my dryer when brewing.
 
My research seemed to indicate that more than 1800 watts is required for an all-grain boil. I have a wide 10-gallon pot that could have straddled two 1800 watt burners plugged into separate circuits, but pot's manufacturer (Johnson Rose) said one 3500 watt burner is the way to go. I couldn't be more pleased with this model, and the 220V was not an issue for me - I just wired a commercial receptacle to a dryer cord/plug and unplug my dryer when brewing.

This sounds about right. I think i read somewhere someone was able to bring 6.5 gallons to a very light boil and it took a while with the 1800 watt setup. The 3500watt can obviously boil over 10 gallons! What pot do you have? (link maybe)
 
This sounds about right. I think i read somewhere someone was able to bring 6.5 gallons to a very light boil and it took a while with the 1800 watt setup. The 3500watt can obviously boil over 10 gallons! What pot do you have? (link maybe)

I have this pot: http://johnsonrose.com/product.php?item=47400 and it works great. I think you're better off finding one that's closer to a 2:1 height:diameter ratio, though. I just bought this one because I was able to get a great price on it through a friend.
 
Bumping this thread because I am researching this induction burner and had a question on which type of kettle to pair with it..

For using an induction burner, is it recommended to use a thinner base pot like a Bayou Classic, or is it better to use something like a MegaPot 1.2 that has a tri-ply bottom with aluminum sandwiched in it to evenly distribute the heat?

I am looking to build a simple countertop BIAB system and this looks like a very nice combo!
 
Bumping this thread because I am researching this induction burner and had a question on which type of kettle to pair with it..

For using an induction burner, is it recommended to use a thinner base pot like a Bayou Classic, or is it better to use something like a MegaPot 1.2 that has a tri-ply bottom with aluminum sandwiched in it to evenly distribute the heat?

I am looking to build a simple countertop BIAB system and this looks like a very nice combo!

I would definitely say sandwiched. Even then, you can still physically see the rings of heat in the bottom of your pot, but I think the aluminum does dissipate it as well. Temperature readings across the diameter of the pot vary, but the good rolling boil evens things out. I have never had any scorching with my 3-ply sandwiched pot from Johnson Rose.
 
Do you need GFCI protection when plugging in an induction burner or can I just wire and extension cord from my dryer outlet to this?
 
If you are going to be building a cable to plug the 6-20 into your 14-30 dryer outlet, I would be sure to build a 20A breaker into the cable too. That way it's safe. Otherwise you could fry your cable/cooktop if an overcurrent occurs.

Also be sure to check if the Megapot is induction ready. The bayou classic's work really well and have a good aspect ratio compared to the wider pots. I've been brewing twice a month for almost 10 months on my setup. I insulated the pot with reflectix and do BIAB.

DSC_1039 (Medium).jpg
 
If you are going to be building a cable to plug the 6-20 into your 14-30 dryer outlet, I would be sure to build a 20A breaker into the cable too. That way it's safe. Otherwise you could fry your cable/cooktop if an overcurrent occurs.
Panel breakers are there to protect your house wiring, not the appliance plugged into an outlet.
 
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