Building Shiny - Questions to the Wise ones!!

[mrfrosty]

Hi guys, I'm currently putting plans together to move to shiny, and probably going down the Nordic Optical route.

I currently have a 60l plastic boiler so think it will be best to grow to a 100l boiler and HLT.

I dont know what to do regarding the Mashtun, whether i go for a 60l or 80l thermobox. With my current 30l coolbox and can produce 46l brews of around 4-4.5% ABV but i want to be able to produce 70l+ brews or much higher strength if required. If i went for an 80l thermobox but only happened to want to make a 23l brew would the mash cool down much quicker due to the extra free space in the thermobox. Or can you get round this by laying tin foil over the mash?

My other current question is heating the boiler? electric or gas? I'm tempted by gas as a friend of mine heats a 50l boiler with gas and he says its rapid, but i would like to know how long it takes you guys with gas to boil 80-100l of wort? and what size burners do you have to achieve this? If i was to go electric, from the How-tos i notice Vossy's excellent build is with 2 x 2.4kw heaters on a 100l boiler. Again what sort of times are you guys getting to boil the same quantity of wort? I am tempted by gas if it is much quicker than electric, please the cleaner lines inside the boiler without the elements. Finally Nordic Optical 100l pots and gas. Am i guessing they should be more than capable of withstanding a hefty gas burner underneath them as thats what they should be designed to cope with?

Thanks in advance

Rob :)

 

[RokDok]

Rob, We're just about to do our first brew as a consortium. I was considering gas but then thought about using induction heaters- simpler than gas and no prob with furring up of any electric elements (water is very hard here). 3KW induction heaters are currently on offer at Nisbetts. It's a bit slow- 2 hours to boil 50 litres from a starting temperature of 7 degrees. We'll boil the night before so will still have some residual heat in the HLT so shouldn't take too long to get to strike temp. You would need to make sure that whatever pot you use is inductable.

 

[fairbrew]

I am also setting up as you. I bought 100l boiler and hlt and a 46 ltr mash tun for small brews and a 70l for when I have progressed to larger brews. I bought 8,8w gas burners and plan to test tonight to see how long to get from cold to boil. will let you know later. pots are capable of use with the gas burners I have

 

[fairbrew]

It took an hour and fifteen minutes to get from cold to boil, is this the norm, it seemed slow to me

 

[mrfrosty]

Hi RD never throught about induction heaters, but to be fair i'm looking to speed the whole process up so induction heaters may not be as fast as i would like.

FB i'm definitely interested in your results. Where have you sourced your pots? I was thinking of Nordic Optical due to cost and a lot of guys on here have used before so they're tried and tested.

Rob

 

[mrfrosty]

It currently takes me approx just under an hour to bring 50litres of 50oC wort up to the boil with a 3kw immersion heater, so if you boiled 90-100 litres of water from cold to boiling in an hour and fifteen then that seems much faster to me.

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I've got a 50L thermopot mashtun, 70L HLT and 100L Boiler........ I can easily do 15 gallon beer at around 5% or 12 gallon 5% stout.

BB

 

[mrfrosty]

Thanks BB, thats what i'm looking for to be able to produce 15 gallon of 5% ale. How do you heat your 100l Boiler, and how long does it take to bring to the boil?

Rob :)

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

I've got two Tesco kettle elements in the boiler (might fit another as a back up) that take around 30 mins to reach boiling point from the mash on a 12 gallon brew length.... I brew 12 because it works best for me using 3 wine fermenters. :thumb: 2x4 gallon for kegs and 5 gallon for bottles.
The HLT is heated with one but has got 2 fitted that gets a good start with 50c water from the home combi boiler the make things quicker and to save on electric.

BB

 

[mrfrosty]

Thanks for the update BB, a lot of guys use the tesco value elements but I'm just not sure about them. Do you bring to the boil on both, then turn one off? I've been doing a lot of reading over at theelectricbrewery.com and they use, I think, comco 5.5kw heating elements. They look great and can import two with shipping from amazon.com for £60 but I had concerns of the cost to run a 5.5kw heating element. Although they do appear to be popular in the brewing circles in the US and Canada.

Rob

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Mine have brewed over 2000 pints with no issues, I give them a good clean after every brew..

I get the wort up to boiling point using 2 then alternate between each one 5-10mins each, then every so often I have them both on for about a minute during a 60min boil.....
Make sure the boiler is well insulated around the sides and don't forget the base..... :thumb:
If I get chance I'll post a pic when I get home from work.

BB

 

[mrfrosty]

That would be great if you could BB, I'd appreciate that :)

Rob

 

[Aleman]

I wouldn't use gas with the Nordic Pots . . They are just not thick enough

 

[mrfrosty]

Thanks aleman that was the answer I was looking for regarding gas, if the pots are no good for it then electric it is. Just need to decide on elements then. Still unsure of using the tesco value elements, even though they can save a load of money.

Rob

 

[RokDok]

Mr F, We've got Genware pots they're pretty solid and can be used for gas or induction, they're not cheap tho. The pubshoponline based in Weymouth do them for about 30-40 % cheaper than anywhere else.

 

[RokDok]

Rob,
On another board someone said they used these, primarily as a boost to bring to the boil , any use ??


http://www.ece-ehlers.de/content.php?se ... 9&produkte

 

[unclepumble]

For heating elements you can't beat these if you can get 11" into the pot. I use one and its great, you can put a PT100 in the thermowell and control the boil really easily.

much better than the tesco kettle elements, but you do need to buy a brass or stainless BSP nut to fit them.

UP

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

For heating elements you can't beat these if you can get 11" into the pot. I use one and its great, you can put a PT100 in the thermowell and control the boil really easily.

much better than the tesco kettle elements, but you do need to buy a brass or stainless BSP nut to fit them.

UP

Do you need to frig the thermostat Unc??

 

[unclepumble]

For heating elements you can't beat these if you can get 11" into the pot. I use one and its great, you can put a PT100 in the thermowell and control the boil really easily.

much better than the tesco kettle elements, but you do need to buy a brass or stainless BSP nut to fit them.

UP

Do you need to frig the thermostat Unc??

No need to frig, just remove it and wire direct, as long as you have a pt100 & PID. the thermostat is a seperate unit that you can take out if you want.

UP

 

[Titch]

Ooh and how big does my hole need to be ?

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