Barrel Conversion

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screamlead

Landlord.
Joined
Oct 21, 2010
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Location
Kemer, fethiye, Turkey
Converted one of my 30 ltr FV barrels into a spare boiler. I have a 30 ltr Aluminium stock pot for the main wort boiling but thought i needed a spare in case i run out of Gas at some point and also i intend to use it as a pre boiler for the mash tun and sparging.

Got some cheap kettles from local market for 25 TL about a tenner UK got a tescos here but no value stuff etc.
Got the elements out and they looked like this -

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Then i chopped the top bits off them where the cut outs were and then mounted into the barrel after drilling out with hole saws for the tap and elements -

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Then i did a trial fill for 2 days on the roof to check for leaks - one element had a very slight leak so tightened everything up again and sealed them with Gasket sealant - good to 350c
The leads that came with it were good to 16amp but are german type 2 pin jobs which i have never trusted even living there for 17 years, so i switched them for UK types and they are good for 10-16amp 1mm2 cabling.


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Then i connected one element to my upstairs Generator socket and also the obligitory RCD and tested it then switched on and did a trial boil -

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As you can see temp was at 60c and that was after 20 mins or so - i have a 5.5KW generator to run the house during powercuts so used that on one element only as it can only draw 18amps on the 240v commando but the 110v commandos are capable of 36amps on max, I may try that later.
But got it to 102c and a roiling boil by plugging in 2nd element after 40 mins or so then disconnected the 2nd and it kept boiling OK and only lost 2 deg c so looks OK
 
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