Planning my new Boiler

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I am looking to get a new boiler soon, I have planned most of it but I am not sure about elements, I am aiming for a 100l shiney boiler and do not plan to put my current kettle elements in it (1 of them is dead anyway...) I have seen this one at the Home Brew Company and it looks good but I am not sure if I will need 1 or 2.

I will be continuing with BIAB for now but possibly upgrading/changing to a 3v system later in the year. I expect to be brewing 10g batches for the most part but that may also change in the future.

Suggestions welcome, I have had a quick search but am in work so time on here is limited to quick looks ;)
 
I would say it'll take quite a while for a 10G batch to get up to a boil with a single 2kW element. I use a single 2.5kW element for a batch half that size, in a plastic bucket, and it's none too quick. Two of those elements, though, and you will probably be in business, as long as you have a suitable electrical supply to cope.

There are many types of element, each with their pros and cons. Those look OK, though, at a sensible price. A reasonable surface area for the power, so they shouldn't suffer from scorching. I do recall someone mentioning that the plastic back nuts are a bit unreliable and it would be better to change them for metal.
 
100L pot you will most certainly need 2 elements to maintain a good rolling boil also it will take hours to get all that wort up to boiling point the elements you were looking at look like backer elements try buying direct from backer
 
I have the home brew elements. 2 in my boiler, and they just hold a rolling boil.
They do take some time to get there !
I made a mistake and only had one element fitted to the HLT in retrospect that needs 2 as well.
To help save time When getting the hlt up to strike temps I put halt the water in the boiler and warm it up in there at same time, transferring it all to hlt when approaching temp.

I live near Baker electrics.....they do 2.75KW element which would be better. Hover they are a pain to deal with, they are not customer focussed !!
In time I'll probably call in and uprate mine...not a prospect I'm looking forward to.
 
You went for four in the end did you Fil?

I went the same route as Film forms 100L boiler and HLT
 
Belter said:
You went for four in the end did you Fil?

Yeah it made sense after reading the anecdotal evidence from people who went single element or lower power in the hlt. i dont fancy having to flip a timer switch the night before or waiting too long for the water to hit strike temp.. the current period between flipping the hlt switch and hitting strike temp is ideal for leisurely potter about getting everything else sorted for the brew :)
 
not clear in the ad pic but they simply have 2 terminals with screws to secure, live to one neutral to the other from a suitably rated cable (2.5mm)

Box over the back to enclose and issolate :) apparantly the same sized qmax punch used for the pot hole 32mm will cut a hole in a box to fit snuggly on the terminal block.. i went box shopping and was horrified at the £10 per box my hardware shop wanted for ip66 ones i had my eye on. so its off to ebay or screwfix for the £budget option :)
 
Sorry to hijack another thread but when building a boiler what thermostats do people use? I have been looking round and can find a few for household boilers that screw on that I could modify to work but they only seem to work from 30 to 90 degrees just didnt know if these temps were high enough
 
On a boiler they are not used much. you want the water to boil and hold that boil only there's little altering of temps to do.
Most folks have a measure of control by having 2 elements fitted into a boiler, 2 to be used to get the water up to boil then one switched off for the rolling boil.
Of course in a hlt more control is needed over temps and then other methods have to be used.
 
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