the crofton brewery expansion

[Easy Peasie]

Hi all
Had a break from brewing as the river season has started and I,ve been on the riverbank at weekends as opposed to in the garage brewing. Anyway I had some spare cash and was gonna buy an expensive centrepin reel but miraculously i've bought 2 100l Marmite cocottes and a 70l Marmite thermos. Got a great deal for all 3 about 160 quid all three. Gonna use my existing gas burner for the boiler, but stay electric for the hlt. Been thinking about an immersion heater elements and of course pid controller. What no you think of the immersion heater elements as opposed to kettle elements?

Cheers

Andy

 

[Hawks]

I have immersions in my boiler :thumb:

I do have them connected via 16 amp 3 pin sockets that have dedicated power supply. I don't think I would do otherwise ( although I'm no expert on electrickery but was advised this was best way )

 

[darkonnis]

Oilybits do some good immersion heaters, they're about £20 and designed for bio diesel manufacture, they're made of 304 if I'm not mistaken and are suitable for brewing applications.
and as for a PID, might be cheaper do use something likethis. Not that exact one, but I did see one somewhere with a 30A switch that someone on the other forum was using for their HLT (cant find the link) and it was about £13 including the temp probe... may work out cheaper than buying a PID is all.

 

[Mark1964]

Its not up to the job and besides you can buy a pid off ebay for a tenner

 

[Easy Peasie]

Thanks for the answers guys.

Mark
Agree with you looks like an STC-100 although suitable for regulating fermenting temps its not suitable for setting strike water temps, and PID's aren't much different in price either.
My thoughts with an immersion heater are that it already has a shroud on the dangerous bits, rather than a kettle element. my plastic hlt has a kettle element and a shroud made with a silicone sealant tube, never been happy with it so would like something that looks a bit more professional .

:thumb:

 

[darkonnis]

Fair enough, I've not really looked into PID's I know the controller itself is cheap enough to buy but I was under the impression you had to wire the rest up yourself with additional bits?
That element from oilybits:
http://www.oilybits.com/heating-element ... d_454.html
Few of the lads on the other forum use em, I plan to use one in my next brewery build