Convert a brew pot into an electric brew kettle

Greebow · 27-02-2012 04:43PM #1

What I’m trying to do
I have a 30L stainless steel brew pot, and I’m looking to convert it into an electric brew pot. I would like to install a spigot, hop strainer, thermometer and a heating element with a thermostat.

Preferred set up
Ideally, the element would be earthed, and would be powerful enough to bring 20L to a rolling boil. The thermostat should control the heating element, allowing me to manually control the temperature of the water. I don’t know much, but I do know that water and electricity don’t mix, so I would like the set up to be as safe as possible! If there were any other safety methods, I’d like to incorporate them where possible.

Where I need help
I’m no electrician, so I’m not sure what voltage would do the trick. I would be looking to plug the pot into a standard domestic plug.

What voltage should I be looking for to bring the water to a rolling boil, and not cause a Dublin wide power outage?
Ideally these would be weldless connections. Does anyone have any experience of using these?
A lot of the information online for converting pots is specifically for the US. Can anyone recommend an Irish or UK site that discusses this?
I’m a little dubious about taking kettles apart for this, but I would be open to listening to anyone that has done this successfully in the past.
What should I be looking for in terms of safety?
Should I just cut my losses and buy a boiler from a homebrew store?

Essentially, any guidance on this would be very much appreciated.

lordstilton · 27-02-2012 06:22PM

A few question?
Firstly have you the means to drill through SS? You'll either need a really good hole saw, coolant and patience or a Qmax cutter,coolant and patience.
If you can drill the holes thats the first hurdle.
Most people use kettle elements to power their brew pots http://www.thehomebrewcompany.ie/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_28&products_id=1100
Or you can buy a cheap argos kettle and strip it for the element.
An element is typically 2.4kv which brings 20L up to a rolling boil in about 40 min.
You could stick 2 elements into the pot and that would reduce the wait time.
You don't need any welding to install just washers, have a search around the homebrew sites and you'll find plenty of info on hole saw sizes and the likes...beoir.org or jims beer kit are sites with plenty of info

Now why exactly to you need to contol the temp as oppose to just boil?
Im guessing your planing to mash in this or go for a brew in the bag set up.
Either way there isn't really an analogue solution unless you know what your doing.
What you can do is set a temp contoler to a range and the element will switch on and off to keep the water in that range.
Alot of people including myself use an ATC800 for this...there are much cheaper ones out there if you go looking.
However this has some drawbacks if your thinking of mashing in this way...
Fill us in on what you plan to do and hopfully we can help

Sky King · 27-02-2012 10:30PM

lordstilton wrote: »

An element is typically 2.4kv which brings 20L up to a rolling boil in about 40 min.

2.4 kiloVolts??? :eek:

I’m no electrician, so I’m not sure what voltage would do the trick. I would be looking to plug the pot into a standard domestic plug

The voltage doesnt change home-slice. It's 230 nationwide (or so they say). it's the current that your element is drawing (and hence the power consumption) you need to be concerned about.

Given a 13A socket and 230V your max power for a socket is (13)(230) Watts which is about 3000 watts or 3kW... so your element needs to be below that.

lordstilton · 27-02-2012 10:39PM

2.4kw even

oblivious · 28-02-2012 07:24AM

yep 2 2.4kw elements will get you there, something like this

Greebow · 28-02-2012 10:35AM

Good stuff. Thanks for the replies folks

I was initially looking to control the temperature so that I could steep grains in the pot (I haven’t made the leap to all grain just yet). The ATC800 definitely seems like the way of the future.

I just have two quick follow up questions:

Can I plug 2 x 2.4kW elements into a 2 gang plug socket or would this load be a little heavy and trip the fuse?
Kettle elements definitely seem to be the way to go, but I assume that some level of waterproofing the connection is required (to protect against damage for boil overs or washing). Can anyone suggest an approach for this?

Cheers

BeerNut · 28-02-2012 10:38AM

Greebow wrote: »

would this load be a little heavy and trip the fuse?

I'd say so.

Kettle-hacking guide here.

Sky King · 28-02-2012 02:22PM

Would you consider using gas instead OP?

You can get gas burners fare cheap and it'll heat your brew pot up in jig time.

Mashtun · 28-02-2012 02:40PM

I converted a regular commercial keg to a boil kettle. I have a 4500W element in it and it doesn't trip or blow anything. What is important here is the gauge of the cable you are using to supply power to the kettle as this is the variable that limits the amount of current that can be handled.

If you want to use such an element in your setup they can be got as cheaply as ebay Item # 350464629410. If you wire this with 2.5mm 3-core cable into your kettle then there shouldn't be any issues with current that's being carried as long as the fuse in the plug can handle it.

To get the element into your pot, the easiest way imho is to use a carbide tipped holesaw. I think 32mm for such an element is about right but if yer thinkin of headin down that route i'll confirm for ya. If you get a hole saw you'll need an arbour to mount it on for drilling the hole and some cutting fluid too. All on ebay for cheap enough.

In terms of power control and rolling boils, the best way to achieve this, imho, is PWM. Basically ya build a little circuit with a dial on it that passes a % of power to the element, like a dimmer switch for all the world. I haven't bothered mind!

Plenty of safety tips are thrown around in forums but as far as I'm concerned the main thing here is to earth the body of any metal pot you intend to put electricity into.

TomCo · 28-02-2012 10:12PM

I made a brew kettle a few weeks ago from a 22 liter fermenter and 2 argos kettles. I dismantled the base of the kettle, removed the mains cable, and wired it directly to the terminals on the element (all I needed for this was a pliers, there were clips on the mains cable already).

I made a bit of a mess of drilling the holes and so had some leaks initially. If you're going this route make sure to insert the seals that come with the kettle fat side facing the element - this stopped my leaks almost totally (some tec 7 around the outside did the rest).

Pay careful attention to the ratings on any gang plugs of extension leads you might be using. I started my boil using an expensive but under rated extension lead (which I didn't unwind) which subsequently started melting and smoking half way through the boil causing an electrical short and the power to trip.

A cheapo gang plug with a short lead worked a lot better (no fires).

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Convert a brew pot into an electric brew kettle

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