What heating element for my electric brew kettle?

[Charlie]

I like the idea of an electric HLT, but I have heard that hot water heater type elements will burn out if the water level falls below the element. This would be messy if it happened on brew day.

I can envision some safeties like installing a low level cutoff switch, or having the dip tube above the element, (the thermocouple will have to be down there too). Is there a more elegant solution? I use pretty much the entire contents of my HLT.

Charlie

[codewritinfool]

Would be a dream to close the loop on an element sized correctly to give full autonomous feedback control. Set the mash in temp and let it rise full power and ramp down when reaching the temp. Dump into mash tun or use the HLT as a mash tun, and insulate. Sparge and go.

I have realized this dream with my HLT. I hope to post pics & details soon.

[codewritinfool]

Thanks for the info and support Code.

Code != CodeRage, just sayin'.

[Kbar]

Would be a dream to close the loop on an element sized correctly to give full autonomous feedback control. Set the mash in temp and let it rise full power and ramp down when reaching the temp. Dump into mash tun or use the HLT as a mash tun, and insulate. Sparge and go.

I have realized this dream with my HLT. I hope to post pics & details soon.

Look forward to seeing and hearing about it!

[yellowthere]

[quote="Thirsty Boy"]I vote for a handheld immersion element such as this


I want one of these and I don't even want it for brewing. I would just put a car battery in a backpack, attach it to the coil and walk around the mall with that bright red coil, with a creepy smile on my face.


That is awesome man, just awesome.

[CodeRage]

Honestly, I believe the fear of wart scorching is over rated. I run a 4500 Watt ULD element in my BK and it has plenty of umph to get the kettle to a rolling boil. I wouldn't suggest anything less though unless you know you are never going to move on from 5 gal batches.
I would imagine if there was scorching there would be evidence of carmalization on the element and I haven't seen any. My beer certainly doesn't taste burnt either.
If it is a matter of controlling your boil off rate, an auber PID controller with SSR allows you to set a 0-100% duty cycle output manually. I havent seen this feature in other PID controllers in the same price range. Ought to set you back around $80 bucks. It's what I use and I like it.

you cant get a stainless jam nut and silicone gasket from bargainfittings.com to mount it through the wall of your boil kettle.

It's hard to screw up the wiring. You'll either get 120 across the element or 240 Protect the terminals some how and...
The most important thing is to make sure you bond the ground to the kettle some how. This way if voltage does leak it will pop the breaker and not be sneaky waiting for you to grab it. GFCI breaker is good insurance but I don't think they are as necessary as some people preach. Think about, an electric range top has the element in direct contact with metal pots and are subject to boil overs and what not, they aren't on GFCIs. I'll say it again, GROUND THE KETTLE

Hey Coderange - how long, with your 4500W element, to bring to boil 5 Gallon batches? or do you do 10 Gallon?

Sorry for the delay, been busy.

It takes me around 10 minutes to get 7 gallons to a boil from 80 deg tap. It really doesn't take long at all.

[bertoid]

I like the idea of an electric HLT, but I have heard that hot water heater type elements will burn out if the water level falls below the element. This would be messy if it happened on brew day.

I can envision some safeties like installing a low level cutoff switch, or having the dip tube above the element, (the thermocouple will have to be down there too). Is there a more elegant solution? I use pretty much the entire contents of my HLT.

Charlie

I have an electric brewing system set up in my basement (allowing year-round brewing in rainy Portland, Oregon). For the HLT (also for the boil kettle, but that's even more of a no-brainer since I'm chilling it before I drain), I just switch off the electricity to the heater when I'm draining the water. I don't know if that's elegant, but it's very easy to do. You just have to make sure that you stay in the habit of turning off the heater whenever you decide to pull any liquid out. A low-level switch is a good idea, but they can be a bit pricey, IIRC.

Cheers!
-bert-

[foomench]

I like the idea of an electric HLT, but I have heard that hot water heater type elements will burn out if the water level falls below the element. This would be messy if it happened on brew day.

My HLT heating element is a bucket heater that automatically turns off if the water drops below the element.