How to install cheap Kettle Elements for HLT or Boil Pot Home Brewing
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ธ.ค. 2013
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Great video - got these exact kettles here in Dublin and wouldn't have known what to do with them otherwise....thanks a million man!
Great video! Been trying to figure out which way to go for a heating element, this is the best option I've seen yet!
One of the things you have to take care of when homebrewing is boil overs.
With that in mind I urge people trying to replicate this build to waterproof it by adding a plastic box around those live wires. You could easily repurpose a Pruta food container from IKEA (or similar) to do this.
Cut a hole in the base of the container the size of hole in the pot and put it between the silicone ring and the black connector.
Then cut a small hole in the side of the container facing down toward the table for the wire going into the outlet.
Finish off by placing the green lid on the food container. Now you don't have to worry about boil overs getting in contact with your live wires.
If you want a bit of added safety you can pout silicone around the hole for the wire going into the outlet and around the lid.
+Bjarke Klüwer Thank you for your suggestions! Cheers!
Wow, thanks for posting this Gash. I'm in Canada so just want to let people here and the U.S that this will work here. I just got one working, I picked up a 1.7 litre Sunbeam kettle at Walmart for $17, it has a removable cord and a red switch that lights up when it's on. You remove two screws from the bottom and two under the lid and pry the back off. After that, do everything Gash did except you don't have to rip out all the flat copper pieces, just the small round one at the top of the housing and you can even leave the switch hooked up and the light, and the cord can still be plugged into the element as usual which is a big bonus. Obviously just be very careful around it because there is some copper that could be touched if you weren't careful. If you're paranoid you could always glue some kind of plastic box over it or something but it's not really that bad, you'll see what I mean if you get one.
Thanks again Gash.
Cheers, Randy
Oops, I meant to add that the one's on the Sunbeam are 1500 watts (I got a reading of about 1460 when I checked it). I currently am using a bucket that holds about 6 and 1/2 gallons and the element in it (an old water tank element) is using about about 1220 watts and it's 'almost' good enough but doesn't get a really good vigorous boil going so the extra 240 watts should be just perfect. The two combined (on separate circuits of course, since combined that's about 23 amps, too high for my breakers of 15 or 20 amps) will be about 2,680 watts so no more waiting 1 hr and 20 minutes to reach boil, Yippeeeee!!! Can't wait to fire this sucker up, this is going to save a LOT of time and hopefully make a little better brew!
Glad it has worked for you! The reason I ripped all the copper pieces out was because people were complaining of them turning off or 'blowing' but they weren't blowing just the trip switch and copper burnt out. But that doesn't matter as long as it works!!!! Cheers mate!
Followed your video and made a great element for a herm-it coil, thanks great video
B FITZ Great to hear, cheers mate!
Brilliant work, Slugg!
Cheers Max
Great video! Lots of great tips there and I like the whole using a cheapo pot for the element! Cheers!
Thanks and cheers!
Thats awesome!! great timing too with the post... i've been searching for videos on what to do with water heater elements but this is kick ass! I'll be sure to give you a shout out when i build my keggle gash
Cheers Steve! Merry Christmas to you and the family! Have a happy and safe one mate!
Love the "how to" videos! Thanks for sharing!
No worries mate! Cheers!
Top notch upload m8, been waiting on this.Cheers
No worries! took me long enough lol Cheers
Brilliant! Thanks for sharing. Just what I was looking for. Cheers.
Some the ones I've done lately work without having to remove the auto cut off and light, no real modification, just carefully remove it and install. But if cuts out on you then you'll need to the mods. Cheers
Nicely done... something I may look at in the future. Cheers
Cheers Grant!
Nice tutorial Gash! Cheers!
Thanks mate! Cheers!
Awesome stuff Gash!
Cheers Dan!
Thanks for this video, helped a lot. FYI, the hole size is 40 mm.
Cheers craig, yeah mine were 40mm but had mate that got umm 35 or 38mm he said. thanks for watching mate, Cheers
Great video, I got exactly the same kettles from Wilko in the UK. I had not seen your video and I soldered the wires to the pins but your idea is much better. Great video and subbed you thanks for the idea. Also love the child in the background guess it's you kids. Cheers.
Cheers mate, yep that's my daughter! She turned 3 yesterday!
Gash Slugg Got out of the terrible 2's Ok then, lovely
Great video, cheers mate!
Glad you liked it! Cheers!
This is how I made a brew kettle with a 30L stainless steel pot and a 2000W/220V heater and have already brewed over 150 bathes of beer using the BIAB system.
Yeah mine lasted for years! Cheers!
Great video! Thanks for posting. I tried this technique on an aluminum pot (I know stainless would have been better, but hey, I'm working on a budget here ... hence attempting this technique). The softer metal allowed for a bit of a "shimmy" in the hole saw and now the hole is slightly too big and I'm getting a leak. Thought about using a high temp/food grade silicone sealant. Any thoughts /advice you could offer would be appreciated. Cheers!
The heater element I found is a stainless 1440 w 120 v. Witch if I have done the math right that puts me right at 12 amps would that be sufficient for 3 gallons, its for a 2.5 water heater
Thanks for the vid. I noticed that the Active, Neutral and Earth pins fit an IEC cable which is also known as a kettle cord. I didn't need to go to as much effort to connect power to me element. I also left the switching mech in place but will see how that goes later on.
yeah I stripped everything out due to all the trouble I've heard people have with them 'blowing' but when I looked at the elements they looked very solid and sound. So I'm thinking the 'blowing' bit was more then likely the connecting parts or the auto switch off mech. I didn't want to stuff around so just ripped everything out. Still going strong over a year old now and I brew at least every two weeks. I keep a back up pair just in case, but haven't used them yet. Let me know how it goes, interested to know. Cheers mate!
Gash Slugg 1 year, that's great. Just did a test boil tonight with no leaks (used red 'Permatex High-Temp RTV Silicon Gasket Maker' on the seal due to a cold water test resulting in a massive leak which I couldn't stop). IEC cable and element switch + power light worked fine. Was already thinking about grabbing another $7.50 homemaker kettle from Kmart for a backup as this one works a treat, cheers.
Good to hear! Just give em a scrub with a toothbrush after each brew and you should be fine! Cheers!
While boiling, if using two elements on the same circuit, avoid using clothes driers etc on the same circuit, think our house has 3 different ones, my wife often trips the circuit breaker on the switchboard. Doesn't hurt anything but can be a pain in the arse. Same for all elements.
Can the work with an immersion hearter?
Awesome build! I will be doing this. I already ordered the kettle from Walmart. I have some questions: Any on-off switch on these kettles can just be cut off and the power source will work correct? Can't the three prongs be kept on the plastic base and can be used to plug in the power chord instead of removing them and exposing the wires? Thanks!
The older elements auto cut off used to be a problem, the newer ones I've used seem to be ok and dont need all the modding as you suggested. So worth a try and if you have issues you can always mod it. Cheers!
Hi there. I'm about to do this with my boil pot and I just want to say thank you so much! I do about a 45L boil (gives me about 2x 19L keg). Is there any reason I couldn't put two of those elements into one large pot? I can use two different circuits as I wired my plugs with different circuits top and bottom. I also think mashing with a recirculating pump and thermostat should be fine, or am I missing something? Subscribed :)
I havent tried it myself, but have heard others doing it and I see no problems with it! Thanks for watching and cheers!
Hi mate thanks for the video!
I have the same elements and wanted to ask you what size hole did you have to cut? I think you said 40 mm?
I don't have the black things to put at the back of the element, do you have an idea where I can find them? or anything else I can use as substitute?
Also, what drill bit did you use? Q.max or would a bi-metal holesaw work?
Cheers
G'day, Yep my holes were 40mm, I'm not sure what you could use, I've never tried. Do you have the seals? Maybe try a piece of wood or steel?
Cheers!
Looks great. Do you think this would work the same using a cooler like those for a mash tun.
sitealive Gday. you probably could put them in a mash tun but you wouldn't want it actually touching the grain I'd guess, would depend how you set it up. I've never worried heating during a mash in a cooler. You could make a simple herms system with these elements, you can even leave it in the jug if you roll a coil small enough to fit the jug. Cheers!
Whats the estimated time to get your water up to strike or sparge temp? Have all the equipment to install a 5500w element in my keggle but may use this for my HLT.
+Alexander Giddens I have never used it to heat cold water to sparge or mash temps! It would be just guess at about an hour, I use a 2000w element in my HLT and it takes about 90mins. Cheers mate sorry for the delay!
nice video
Cheers mate!
Do you have any issues with wort sicking element, making a mess etc. Thinking of doing an electric kettle but weary of the contamination issues. Cheers. Awesome videos.
I haven't had any real issues, I use a toothbrush and clean them after the boil and it only takes a minute or two. Cheers!
not one site even mentions placement pats,except in the philippines.i need the switch.
Hi loved this video! Hi a couple of questions.
Does the element break frequently when used for a boil pot?
How long does it take to bring that big pot up to a boil?
Could this be used with a thermostat and a temperature sensor for mashing purposes as well?
I'm still on my first set, I've done well over 50 brews with them. Takes around 20mins to bring it to the boil, thats from warm wort of course. Yes I think you could use it for mashing. I 'm not sure I would use it for mashing, I would however use it in a HERMS system. Cheers mate!
I’m guessing warm wort is between 100° and 120° degrees Fahrenheit?
Did this last weekend and totally burnt the wort. Kettle heating element is way to powerful for 15 litres/3gallon batch. Any ideas hw to reduce the power?
Sure there are many ways! There's one like this th-cam.com/video/_LwUR7YtWZg/w-d-xo.html or there are newer ones like this www.kegland.com.au/power-controller-chip-3600w.html they are wired up the same. Cheers!
How many amps do they pull 12 amps or do you need 20 amps to run two of them I'm trying to weigh the difference. Because I can get a water heater element that will only pull 12 amps I only brew 2 gallons so 3 gallons is what I want to heat
I use them both on a regular house circuit which should trip out at 15 amp, so its under that. I do use extension leads on both elements so that would drop things a little. I've never done the math but I just bought an amp meter, so next time I brew I'll see what each is pulling actual. Cheers
Gash Slugg, Any chance of an update for cordless kettles. It seems all I can find in Aust for a reasonable price is cordless kettles. thanks
These were cordless too, these ones www.kmart.com.au/product/cordless-kettle-1.7l---white/153805 Cheers mate!
ok thanks
Thanks
No problem
Great video mate well done. Where did you get the push on connectors from? I shall be completing this project myself over the next few days.
***** Just from an electronics store called Jaycar. I install some in another pot the other day and the connections are slightly smaller, still used the connectors I had but probably could of went another size down. Cheers mate!
Gash Slugg Good on ya mate. Looks like I'll be swinging round Jaycar and Kmart tomorrow.
***** Just finished brewing my first brew with this method, got a 39 litre stock pot from Rays Outdoors for $50 and two kettles from Target for $7.50 each. Had to add an extra washer to make fully watertight. Very impressed by the results achieved. I managed to maintain a good rolling boil of 25L of wort on a single element with the lid on but it's still warm here in the Sunny Coast. My only disappointment is that I'm going to have to wait to sample the results.
***** You dont want to boil your wort with the lid on though. Good to hear its working, I often wondered how they'd go on a very thin walled vessel, what sort of washer did you use to beef it up? Cheers!!
Gash SluggWas open a good crack once the wort was getting up close to boiling to allow the DMS to escape. Washer was a thicker rubber with 38mm diameter opening. I am still learning with all grain brewing so happy to experiment and make mistakes along the way. Used a BIAB grain bag for this attempt but will not bother again as modifying the mash tun.
I couldn’t see the size of the pot that you were using but I am thinking about installing this on my 8 gallon brew pot, is this powerful enough to heat up 6 1/2 gallons of wort?
That is a 10.5 Gallon Pot (40 Litres) Boils that full no issues at all, have to turn them down. Just a note too , the newer elements I've found that you dont need to take the cut out switch out, so you can just pull them out unscrew the backing and screw it straight into the keg/pot. This could be different for you of course. Cheers
Gash Slugg Brewing fantastic, thanks for your reply, this is a great cheap solution as I have a glass cooktop and spend hours heating up water and wort. Thanks for the video
Also, upon doing research on these, I see that some have a setting with automatic shutoff, does yours have this feature and if so you’ve obviously found a way to bypass it
That was all the modding I did to the element base, the holes etc because my old ones used to shut off, the new ones I have I kept the shut off switch intact and they weren't shutting off, something you may need to test with the elements. Cheers
Gash Slugg Brewing awesome, thank you, just bought one today, gonna give it a shot this week
Gash, I have a 1.5 liter hot water jug from K-Mart that looks almost identical to yours and it boils water in about 4 minutes, so I know I can get more of them. I'm just wondering if the standard electrical wall outlets in U.S. (120 volt) would have enough juice to power them the same way your standard electrical wall outlets (220-240 volt) do. Do you think that's even an issue since they both perform equally when used as their intended purpose as heat elements in a hot water jug, or does the additional power you have in Australia come into play when trying to boil 28 liters opposed to 1.5 liters with similar sized heat elements?
I think its worth a try, I can't guarantee anything because I've never used 120V but I agree with your logic. And I've seen people in your part of the world use similar set ups. Cheers mate!
In the U.S it's the Proctor Silex brands, the 1L kettles list at 1000Watts on 120V and the "Proctor Silex Kettle Durable 1.7 Liter" rates 1500Watt. I'm considering the smaller unit not listed as cordless has the plug is directly tied to the unit and doesn't have a switch. That way I don't think I'll have to rewire. Nice Video Very thorough, didn't have to keep rewinding to see the details like on shorter videos.
cool mate worth a try! Cheers!
+steven burnham Did you ever get this to work? I just stumbled onto the proctor silex models on google before noticing your comment.
+Michael , no I never went forward on that idea ... I'm a proud owner of the blichmann 240V boil coil for my keggle. I'm pulling together the controller based off TheElectricBrewery.com, concepts but a more limited configuration Single PID and recirculate like the "breweasy" concept, very similar to brew in a bag but with separate mash above the kettle. www.blichmannengineering.com/products/breweasyhttp:
Will this work in America?
I don't see that small element bringing a 15 gallon potto boil with the 120v plug.
I don't think you can find the 230V hot pots in the U.S (I believe Gash said in the vid about element controllers that his 240V elements were 2400W, so using those same elements at 120V would only give you 600W ea.) . - the only ones I have found here in the U.S. are 1500W @ 120V. If you used 2 of those 1500W elements at 120V, the wattage would be about 3000W. You'd probably be better off using two of the 1500W elements (on 2 separate circuits), to get your boil - 3000 W to boil with, but even then, I'm not sure you would get much of an aggressive boil in a 15Gal pot with only 3000W. Seems like most of the larger brew-pots require 2 5500W elements @ 240V to get an aggressive boil. I would think that the two 1500W elements @ 120V (from what I've read), would only be good for a 5 - 7.5Gal boil. Just my 2 cents worth, NOT GOSPEL ......
How long did these elements last??
Well mine havent died yet, I used them flat out every fortnight for maybe 2 years, been using the robobrew mostly this year, but used the old boil pot again last week with no issues. Cheers!
Gash Slugg go Kmart!!!!
Matthew Langridge hahaha yeah cheap enough to have spares on hand all the time too.
it would be a hazard if you forgotten to turn off the electric supply
Better than keg king ellements they get a good boil going
show us your controller, that's even more intriguing.
Is this the controller you mean? Element Controller for Home Brew Boil Kettle - Cheap and Easy!
It is, I like your approach with the rheostat instead of SSR
Cheers mate!
LEGO ABBA FARTS.
Time for me to crack this sucker out! Cheers and uber Thrifty to boot!
well you didn't say what you were going to do so we should not have looked for anything interesting apart from the dismantling, which I had already done before looking at the clip
I have heaps of videos using these... You just plug them in... th-cam.com/video/c0wHoJpmMmI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=HDM76yEplUF4HZcp
From other videos I have seen you could have saved your self lots of work by just removing that 1 copper disk and leaving every thing else.
That took about 15 seconds to rip everything off, and I'd wanted it gone to make drilling easier and the video clearer, if it's not needed get rid of it! It also helps people that have different styles to show that none of that rubbish is needed! It also gets everything out of the way that could possibly short it out. These usually aren't sealed in any way and when or if you get a boil over you don't want those bits of copper as it will short out in a heart beat. Cheers!
Ahhh ok, I see your point about the short circuit.
🤣 même pas fichu de sertir une cosse, et ça fait des vidéos !
WHY DIDN'T YOU SHOW US A BOIL GOING? WITH A POT THAT SIZE YOU NEED 4 OF THOSE HEATING ELEMENTS
no you don't I still use this to this day :) Check out this, its the same pot with 38L in it, boiling fine! Cheers! th-cam.com/video/RsBfrQSv6zY/w-d-xo.htmlm28s