Home made boiler- Cooper's FV?

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Thumper

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I plan to move to BIAB in the future, and while this may be a little while away (I need to figure out where to store grain), I'm considering how to make myself a boiler. I have a Coopers 30l FV with a tap, is there any reason I couldn't just fit a couple of cheap kettle elements to this and make a false bottom? People seem to fit metal taps to their home made boilers, and this bucket has a plastic one.
 
I plan to move to BIAB in the future, and while this may be a little while away (I need to figure out where to store grain), I'm considering how to make myself a boiler. I have a Coopers 30l FV with a tap, is there any reason I couldn't just fit a couple of cheap kettle elements to this and make a false bottom? People seem to fit metal taps to their home made boilers, and this bucket has a plastic one.

That's exactly what I did and used it for quite a few years. I did change the kettle elements for one of these though.
 
check the plastic of your doner FV look for the recycle triangle and check the number within, a ldpe/hdpe bucket will soften considerably over 80c, a problem well documented with the ex mango blue barrels, however the blue barrels are bigger and have thicker walls so contain the brew regardless.

If the bucket is PP then it will remain rigid at boiling temps and will be much more secure to contain the boil..

the PP euro buckets as sold by the copper kettle are highly suitable for brew kettle building, and imho the 66l version would be better than the 30l giving more headroom and the capacity to deal with a lil oversparge or a bigger brew..
 
Thanks both. I've seen the instructable, that's partly what made me consider building my own- it doesn't look too complicated. I'm more concerned about whether a Coopers FV is a suitable choice, and whether there was a reason most people seem to use metal taps in their builds.

Steve, I assume that's essentially just a more powerful kettle element. Can it be run from a standard UK plug socket, and does it come with all the bits needed to fit it and achieve a tight seal?

Thanks both for your help.
 
Steve, I assume that's essentially just a more powerful kettle element. Can it be run from a standard UK plug socket, and does it come with all the bits needed to fit it and achieve a tight seal?

Yeah it's a bit more heavy duty than a kettle element which is usually 2.2kw and it'll run off a standard socket, 3kw is 13 amps. I went through about 5 kettle elements in a short time before switching to that one and it lasted for years. You need a 1" BSP nut to attach it and an enclosure to cover the contacts.
 
Personally I wouldn't use my coopers for two reasons. First one being that it is my bottling bucket, the second being that I wouldn't trust the tap on it, It leaks and it doesn't catch right on the catchy bit. I'd be a nervous wreck boiling 30 litres of wort in that for an hour.
 
I checked and the recycle symbol has a 5 in it. Is that safe with heat?

Steve, thanks for that. May be the way I go. I'm thinking of wiring in one of the inkbird stc-1000 with a 12 inch probe to make it digital, but maybe I'll make that stage 2...

Ciaran, the tap on mine is fine (though the bottling wand it came with is ****), and it's a decent sturdy bucket. My only worry is whether the damn thing is heatproof!
 
I checked and the recycle symbol has a 5 in it. Is that safe with heat?

Steve, thanks for that. May be the way I go. I'm thinking of wiring in one of the inkbird stc-1000 with a 12 inch probe to make it digital, but maybe I'll make that stage 2...

Ciaran, the tap on mine is fine (though the bottling wand it came with is ****), and it's a decent sturdy bucket. My only worry is whether the damn thing is heatproof!

No 5 is polypropylene (PP) which should be fine :thumb:
 
Thanks Steve, looks like this might be a goer, then! Now to figure out where the hell to keep my grain...
 
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