Will this cheap 3500 watt induction burner work?

[humann_brewing]

so is there an update for neoprene material that people are using as an insulator?

Also has anyone done both neoprene and reflectix on the same pot to try and hold in more heat?

 

[humann_brewing]

Just did a test with about 5.5G of water and the results were a little lack luster. This was with 2 layers of refletix around the sides, nothing on the top other than the standard lid of a economy morebeer kettle

0m 90
10M 114
20m 134
30m 152
40m 170
50m 188
60m 204


I was hoping for much better than that of course but I think it may be the kettle, I don't think insulating would fix that much of that gap.

Anyone else used the economy kettles from B3?

 

[IslandLizard]

Just did a test with about 5.5G of water and the results were a little lack luster. This was with 2 layers of refletix around the sides, nothing on the top other than the standard lid of a economy morebeer kettle

0m 90
10M 114
20m 134
30m 152
40m 170
50m 188
60m 204


I was hoping for much better than that of course but I think it may be the kettle, I don't think insulating would fix that much of that gap.

Anyone else used the economy kettles from B3?

I have their Heavy Duty kettle with the triple ply bottom, and works like a charm. It's very possible the economy kettle just isn't "magnetic" enough to transfer the potential energy. You run it at 3500W power level, right?

The other thread I referred to has people "reporting" their results. Did you compare yours with those findings?
20 degrees in 10 minutes does look a little slow. The insulation is more useful when you reach higher temps.

Find out what kind (grade) of Stainless it is made from.

 

[humann_brewing]

I have their Heavy Duty kettle with the triple ply bottom, and works like a charm. It's very possible the economy kettle just isn't "magnetic" enough to transfer the potential energy. You run it at 3500W power level, right?

The other thread I referred to has people "reporting" their results. Did you compare yours with those findings?
20 degrees in 10 minutes does look a little slow. The insulation is more useful when you reach higher temps.

Find out what kind (grade) of Stainless it is made from.

Yep, I had it at full blast although the 1st led number is basically out, a defect upon arrival but either way, it was on full power. I believe the grade is 18/8, 1.2mm thick.

At this point, I am just trying to decide between the bayou classic 1060 and the northern brewer tall boy with tri-clad, basically tri clad or not, people seem to like those BC kettles though

 

[bferullo]

At this point, I am just trying to decide between the bayou classic 1060 and the northern brewer tall boy with tri-clad, basically tri clad or not, people seem to like those BC kettles though

I have the Monster Brew 1.2 (i think they are basically the tall boys). The bottom is strong and seems to work well with my 1800w burner.

FWIW, the owners of my brew store use induction and they have the BC pots. He said one of the only problems he sees is sometimes the bottoms buckle and he thinks it may have caused the glass to crack on his burner.

 

[IslandLizard]

Yep, I had it at full blast although the 1st led number is basically out, a defect upon arrival but either way, it was on full power. I believe the grade is 18/8, 1.2mm thick.

At this point, I am just trying to decide between the bayou classic 1060 and the northern brewer tall boy with tri-clad, basically tri clad or not, people seem to like those BC kettles though

You should contact them about that LED being out. Maybe they'll give you a nice discount/partial refund instead of replacing it.

18/8 SS may not be the best ferromagnetic alloy for induction. Read up on this on Wikipedia.

The Tri-clad would have my vote, and it would be nice if they are certified for induction. Early in this thread, one guy posted a welding spot and blister forming on his tri-clad. I've been looking out for that happening the first few times, but so far mine remained flat as it should be.

I have the Monster Brew 1.2 (i think they are basically the tall boys). The bottom is strong and seems to work well with my 1800w burner.

FWIW, the owners of my brew store use induction and they have the BC pots. He said one of the only problems he sees is sometimes the bottoms buckle and he thinks it may have caused the glass to crack on his burner.

Tri-ply rulez!

Deformation of the bottom can putting excessive pressure on the glass. Single ply bottoms tend to warp a bit, plus there's the weight with all the wort.

I can see a slight clearance (light gap) since the pot really rests on the SS frame edges that surround the glass plate. That makes me feel a bit better, because I never liked that close contact with my glass top stove. I made sure no grain of sand or anything was lodged in between. That glass stove top was cleaned and polished before placing the kettle on it, which was also inspected closely.

 

[humann_brewing]

I have the Monster Brew 1.2 (i think they are basically the tall boys). The bottom is strong and seems to work well with my 1800w burner.

FWIW, the owners of my brew store use induction and they have the BC pots. He said one of the only problems he sees is sometimes the bottoms buckle and he thinks it may have caused the glass to crack on his burner.

You should contact them about that LED being out. Maybe they'll give you a nice discount/partial refund instead of replacing it.

18/8 SS may not be the best ferromagnetic alloy for induction. Read up on this on Wikipedia.

The Tri-clad would have my vote, and it would be nice if they are certified for induction. Early in this thread, one guy posted a welding spot and blister forming on his tri-clad. I've been looking out for that happening the first few times, but so far mine remained flat as it should be.



Tri-ply rulez!

Deformation of the bottom can putting excessive pressure on the glass. Single ply bottoms tend to warp a bit, plus there's the weight with all the wort.

I can see a slight clearance (light gap) since the pot really rests on the SS frame edges that surround the glass plate. That makes me feel a bit better, because I never liked that close contact with my glass top stove. I made sure no grain of sand or anything was lodged in between. That glass stove top was cleaned and polished before placing the kettle on it, which was also inspected closely.

So you guys are on the triply side, they say the downfall of that is that it takes more power to get it into the kettle, getting through a thicker surface, do you feel that is true, obviously you are saying you have better results.

 

[helibrewer]

This is a shot of the 3500W (240V) induction kettle we used at UC Davis. The hood helps with a good vigorous boil

 

[AnOldUR]

hmmm . . . looks like that hood would collect volatiles and allow them to drain back into the wort. Perhaps some insulation would be a better option for a vigorous boil. But what do I know? All the brainiacs are in the universities. :cross:

 

[helibrewer]

hmmm . . . looks like that hood would collect volatiles and allow them to drain back into the wort. Perhaps some insulation would be a better option for a vigorous boil. But what do I know? All the brainiacs are in the universities. :cross:

It's really just a scale version of what is used on all commercial breweries, as long as there is venting you are OK. The cover helps increase the vapor pressure for boiling but doesn't restrict exhaust. It's the vigorous boil that is most important for volatiles...and a little venting.

 

[humann_brewing]

Does anyone see any problem with using a heat stick in combination with an induction burner? I just want to make sure the induction part isn't compromised or something.

 

[fbold1]

Does anyone see any problem with using a heat stick in combination with an induction burner? I just want to make sure the induction part isn't compromised or something.

No problem with giving it a little help.

 

[humann_brewing]

So I got one of the Bayou classic 1060 models and did a test with about 5 layers (25ft) of the refletix stuff and was still not that impressed with the heating power of 6 gallons. I have seen it posted but I also noticed that only the inner rings are active. Does this matter, is it putting all of the power into that ring or does the outer ring need to be active in order to get full power?

 

[MerlinWerks]

I've only seen the inner ring active with my 1316 tri-ply.

 

[IslandLizard]

So I got one of the Bayou classic 1060 models and did a test with about 5 layers (25ft) of the refletix stuff and was still not that impressed with the heating power of 6 gallons. I have seen it posted but I also noticed that only the inner rings are active. Does this matter, is it putting all of the power into that ring or does the outer ring need to be active in order to get full power?

I've only seen the inner ring active with my 1316 tri-ply.

Contrary to what I thought too, there are no rings or zones in these plates. It's one coil. The induction creates a heating zone (disk shaped) in the bottom of your pot. All the heat energy generated there is supplied by the burner's coil. If you have a way to measure the current or watts drawn from your mains, you have a decent indication how many watts are being delivered to heat your pot, minus a few for the electronics and resistance of the coil itself, likely less than 4%.

It seemed that my 15 gallon triple ply bottomed pot's heating "disc" is slightly larger than that of my 8 gallon one. I didn't measure it.

 

[rayf]

Hello all. I have been following this thread for some time. I took the plunge and I have received my avantco ic3500. I have my 20 amp 220v outlet ready to go. I have tested my IC with a 7.5 gallon tri kettle With 7 gallons of water this thing rocks! I also have a 9 gallon stainless I used on an outdoor burner. The 9 gallon stainless was not compatible at all with the IC. I would like to purchase a 15 gallon tall boy to use with the IC. Are any of you using the 15 gallon Tallboy?

 

[JustLooking]

As far as I know, in the homebrew world, an IC is an immersion chiller.

 

[rayf]

As far as I know, in the homebrew world, an IC is an immersion chiller.

In this case I meant Induction cooker!

 

[humann_brewing]

Hello all. I have been following this thread for some time. I took the plunge and I have received my avantco ic3500. I have my 20 amp 220v outlet ready to go. I have tested my IC with a 7.5 gallon tri kettle With 7 gallons of water this thing rocks! I also have a 9 gallon stainless I used on an outdoor burner. The 9 gallon stainless was not compatible at all with the IC. I would like to purchase a 15 gallon tall boy to use with the IC. Are any of you using the 15 gallon Tallboy?

I just ordered one today so I'm hoping it works well

 

[humann_brewing]

Hello all. I have been following this thread for some time. I took the plunge and I have received my avantco ic3500. I have my 20 amp 220v outlet ready to go. I have tested my IC with a 7.5 gallon tri kettle With 7 gallons of water this thing rocks! I also have a 9 gallon stainless I used on an outdoor burner. The 9 gallon stainless was not compatible at all with the IC. I would like to purchase a 15 gallon tall boy to use with the IC. Are any of you using the 15 gallon Tallboy?

I just got one today so I'm hoping it works well

 

[rayf]

I just got one today so I'm hoping it works well

Have you given it a test run yet?

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

I've been using my IC3500 for a few months now. It works great. I've used it for brewing 2-5gal full 90min boils, mashing (biab), making stocks, crab and shrimp boils, making 5gal of gumbo, and many other uses. Sometimes I wish I had another one.

 

[rayf]

I just got one today so I'm hoping it works well

Have you done any tests on the ic3500 with your 15 gallon Tall Boy? I have received and done water tests with my tall boy and ic3500. I'm not so impressed. I can not get a very good boil going with 10 gallons of water with the lid off. With the lid on it does well. This kettle is well made and very nice. I'm wondering if the neoprene sleeve that you all have discussed earlier in this thread will help?

 

[humann_brewing]

Have you given it a test run yet?

Have you done any tests on the ic3500 with your 15 gallon Tall Boy? I have received and done water tests with my tall boy and ic3500. I'm not so impressed. I can not get a very good boil going with 10 gallons of water with the lid off. With the lid on it does well. This kettle is well made and very nice. I'm wondering if the neoprene sleeve that you all have discussed earlier in this thread will help?

I haven't boiled wort yet but did a test of 4g of water and it was considerably faster than the Bayau 1060 for me at least, then again that was with 5g so I should have made them equal there.

I have the details at home but I remember from 80 to boil was about 29 minutes and that is lifting the lid every 2 minutes to take the temp. It was moving at a solid 9 degrees every 2 minutes or 4.5 until it got above 180 or so, then slowed a bit.

I brewed last weekend but used my newly created heatstick to maintain a 6.5g boil nicely. I will be using this in combination of the IC3500 to heat up and help boil 13g of wort.

 

[scruffymmh]

Have you done any tests on the ic3500 with your 15 gallon Tall Boy? I have received and done water tests with my tall boy and ic3500. I'm not so impressed. I can not get a very good boil going with 10 gallons of water with the lid off. With the lid on it does well. This kettle is well made and very nice. I'm wondering if the neoprene sleeve that you all have discussed earlier in this thread will help?

So to flesh this out some more, and assuming 15g tallboy kettle, using just the ic3500:

You say you can't get a good boil going with 10g and w/o lid, but with lid it does well. Of course, it's not as difficult to maintain a boil as it is to get it going. So if we attempt to bring, say, 13g of wort up to boil from mash/sparge temp, with lid on, do you think that is possible? Is it possible to then take lid off at that point and continue a sufficient boil for 60-90 mins? Basically, is it possible to do 10g batches using this burner? I've read elsewhere that it is not, but I'm not convinced.

 

[chocotaco]

So to flesh this out some more, and assuming 15g tallboy kettle, using just the ic3500:

You say you can't get a good boil going with 10g and w/o lid, but with lid it does well. Of course, it's not as difficult to maintain a boil as it is to get it going. So if we attempt to bring, say, 13g of wort up to boil from mash/sparge temp, with lid on, do you think that is possible? Is it possible to then take lid off at that point and continue a sufficient boil for 60-90 mins? Basically, is it possible to do 10g batches using this burner? I've read elsewhere that it is not, but I'm not convinced.

The beauty of induction is you can insulate your kettle much better than if you could were you applying flame directly to it. Since there will be no flame, as long as your insulation isn't metallic it won't be in any danger.

Insulate your kettle really well and you'll have no trouble boiling a 10-gallon batch. That's my opinion, anyway. I only have a 10-gallon kettle so I can't test it myself.

 

[borealis]

I know people like anoldur have had success insulating with neoprene. What do you think about this? http://www.keg-skins.com/shop/
I was concerned about the metal zipper. Is that an issue?

 

[fbold1]

As long as the zipper is not on the bottom it would be ok. zippers are normally non magnetic anyhow.
If it covers the bottom you would have to cut that out and this material may not tolerate heat, so for a 39.95 experiment,
I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[chocotaco]

I've been thinking about getting a Spaceloft blanket (aerogel blanket) and sandwiching that between two layers of Reflectix. It would be expensive (the spaceloft would be 50 bucks or so) but it would be unbeatable for insulation.

 

[jeffmeh]

I've been thinking about getting a Spaceloft blanket (aerogel blanket) and sandwiching that between two layers of Reflectix. It would be expensive (the spaceloft would be 50 bucks or so) but it would be unbeatable for insulation.

Interesting idea. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Aspen-Aerog...phobic-Mat-Per-Linear-Foot-10mm-/180860317203

Not very thick, but relatively inexpensive. I don't know if you found a cheaper source.