One is 1.5 the other is 2 then my electric tea kettle is .5 plus the cold water I add to adjust temp I mash in about 4.5 gallons easy peasy
Now yer talking to yer self Brew Cat! Must be all that “all alone” time…
Sneezles61
Has anyone ever experienced scorching when using the propane burners? I don’t want to have yet another folly to add to this post
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A burnt bag… My first novel BIAB… That was a long day separating grains and wort… and not the way you’d traditionally do this… Well, not burnt… but melted a good portion of the bag laying on the bottom of the kettle…
Sneezles61
Now THAT is intense. I don’t do biab all that often, I standard all grain most times. I can’t see how I could scorch the wort/inside of the kettle, but anything is possible. I know a lot of people have scorched the inside with LME because it wasn’t stirred in well and the syrup stuck to the bottom of the pot, but no reports of all grain follies there. Just curious
I have never scorched my wort. I do not ever apply heat to the actual grains so there is no chance or scorching there either. I now cook with a clad pot which does a better job of evenly dispersing the heat than the cheap pot I started with.
Instead of trying to reengineer something that has already been done why not just buy an electric system that is proven? There are many of them out there.
Well because I actually am an engineer, I like to tinker and create things. On top of that, it’s a lot less expensive to build it myself, especially when I already own most or all of the materials and equipment necessary. I built my entire brew system for about $400, a professionally built one would certainly be nicer than mine but it’d cost thousands.
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Exactly why I build stuff too… There would still need to be alterations to suit my desires… Easy, eh?
Sneezles61
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What fun is that? Kind of like why brew when you can buy beer? It’s the journey not the destination
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Those fully automated electric breweries delivered to your door sure look sweet though. I kinda want one for the next house but we’ll see…
This thread makes me wonder about that but there must be a way to make electric work without scorching otherwise why would anyone use it? If that’s the difference between buying a proven system and tinkering, as a non engineer/electrician, then I’ll likely buy one.
I agree they are pretty. But the price is just too much, ya know?
My understanding is that the electric kettle also has a port coming out the bottom, which leads to a pump, which moves the wort back to the top of the kettle. That way the wort is always moving and thus doesn’t stay near the heating element too long and can’t get scorched.
I have also seen some get ups that would pump steam/boiling water through an immersion coil, transferring the heat a la a HERMS coil.
I like the idea of circulating the wort but I am in the thralls of redesigning my current kettle into a strike/sparge heater and pumping that water to either the MT or the HLT. It will help me not have to lift a hot kettle that is heavy, I have various burns on my forearms from accidental slips.
In the future I am sure I will experiment with moving the wort around while using the heating element. I get bored if I don’t make upgrades for too long
Yea I stopped picking up and moving hot kettles a long time ago for multiple reasons including safety. My chugger pump is one of best investments I’ve made in this hobby and both kettles in my DIY two vessel system have ports.
Nice. My chugger is used to vorlauf. That was my least favorite part of all grain brewing, so I set up my system that way. I’ll need to get another (cheaper) one for hot water transfer
Why? Is it hard plumbed?
I use silicone lines with QDs so I can switch from HLT to MT and pump through a plate chiller. Not real elegant but it’s functional.
I guess if your goal is total automation you can’t be there swapping lines but someone has to put in the hops so where do you draw the line?
Haha fair point. No it’s not hard plumbed, it’s all thermo-silicone lines. But I have multiple automated valves, and to add another set of them would exceed the I/O of my controller. It is possible to add more I/O, but that’d be expensive and therefore not the point.
Obviously elegance is what is driving my price, so I’m just trying to maximize my bells and whistles without driving the price up. A cheap chugger is much less expensive than more I/O
My system is propane but a HERMS. My experience is that heating with the heat exchange with mine is very slow if not realistically impossible. I would rather turn the burner back on and stir. I stick to single infusion so it’s not an issue really. YMMV
I had to google YMMV, your milage may vary
I’ve always been curious about the HERMS coil. Is it for mashing, or for boiling?
Because if it’s boiling, I don’t know how I’d ever produce enough hot liquid (without a steam jacket setup) to exchange enough heat. I could see someone sending steam through it and collecting the condensate, but other than that I don’t get it.
If it’s for mashing, then obviously you are just trying to control your mash temp, so you’d just send that temp water through it over and over with a kettle (electric probably) and pump, recirculating back to the pot on the output. I only do a single infusion as well FWIW.
All I’ve read, HERMS is for mashing process… and RIMs too…
There is nothing wrong with electric… I brew with it just like when I used propane… but none of the side effects… CO, extra heat… I do not see any use in a set it and walk away brewing system… I’ve dedicated my time and effort to brew on brew day… I’m right there monitoring the whole process… Unless I get distracted… If my brew doesn’t turn out as well, it’s all my fault… Not the equipment… Or the ingredients…
Did I mention I really like to brew… On brew day?
Sneezles61
