Howdy pards.
I have been doing some study into boiler thickness, particularly minimal and maximal thickness limits. It would seem to me that as long as a boiler is structurally sound and rigid enough, then it should be fine in terms of function as a boiler. I may be wrong but thats how it seems to me. I am particularly looking at stainless steel options for myself, in the form of food grade 316 stainless drums. I currently run a 25L stainless electric element boiler, which is fine but I would like something larger for double size runs, stripping to low wines etc etc.
I will be looking at larger fermenters and moving away from plastic.....but thats another matter.
As far as heat retention goes, I have that matter covered by planning on using insulating materials for efficiency.
So what has your experience been in metal thickness? Any issues of thin material warping or otherwise not working?
Ferm.
Boiler skin thickness, heat retention etc
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- Swill Maker
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Re: Boiler skin thickness, heat retention etc
Can't really beat a Keg ...either 50 or 80 Liter . . I have gas under mine . Biggest issue is keeping the heat in it . Most of mine seems to go up the sides . I tried wrapping Fibre glass Batts around it . That worked a treat . Been lazy lately and pissed it off but it makes a huge difference in gas consumption .
Don't ask why there are hoses over the keg ....irrelevantMy recommended goto .
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.ph ... ion_Theory
Re: Boiler skin thickness, heat retention etc
Kegs are handy. If you're going larger scale ( which were not going to discuss on this forum. Got to respect the rules here) either the ss barrels or ss ibc totes work a treat.
I had a custom boiler made. It's 1/4 thick ss. It's fucking heavy. It takes 2 people to move it. It takes forever to heat up but it stays hot forever. So if I have to shut down to go out or just need a break it pretty well takes nothing to bring it back to temp. Especially with some insulation on it.
That being said. Unless you're making a really heavy flute and or column for it then going with a thinner material boiler will be perfectly fine. 2 beer kegs welded together make a great boiler btw. Just a thought.
Yak
I had a custom boiler made. It's 1/4 thick ss. It's fucking heavy. It takes 2 people to move it. It takes forever to heat up but it stays hot forever. So if I have to shut down to go out or just need a break it pretty well takes nothing to bring it back to temp. Especially with some insulation on it.
That being said. Unless you're making a really heavy flute and or column for it then going with a thinner material boiler will be perfectly fine. 2 beer kegs welded together make a great boiler btw. Just a thought.
Yak
HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.
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- Swill Maker
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Re: Boiler skin thickness, heat retention etc
Thanks guys, those are both very useful posts. It seems kegs have many advantages.
Yakatak; I had not really considered shutting it down then coming back, thats a great point. Do you run gas on that?
I did find some larger brand new food grade stainless drums that are cheaper than getting a purpose built boiler made, but due to the rules I will leave it at that.
I will do some research on insulation and see what suits me. I guess the insulation can make up for shortcomings in boiler wall thickness.
Yummyrum; do you know if beer kegs can be bought in Australia? Seems most people acquire them 'second hand' here.
Thanks
Ferm.
Yakatak; I had not really considered shutting it down then coming back, thats a great point. Do you run gas on that?
I did find some larger brand new food grade stainless drums that are cheaper than getting a purpose built boiler made, but due to the rules I will leave it at that.
I will do some research on insulation and see what suits me. I guess the insulation can make up for shortcomings in boiler wall thickness.
Yummyrum; do you know if beer kegs can be bought in Australia? Seems most people acquire them 'second hand' here.
Thanks
Ferm.
Re: Boiler skin thickness, heat retention etc
It's run on internal water heaters the holes are cut and tapped right into the ss plate on the side. But could easily be run on a custom gass burner if I made a brick shroud for the lower half of.it. or dig a trench and run it on fire or more accurately a hot coal bed. I can also run it off steam. Or rather will be able to when I finally have the funds to make my steam on demand generator.. I'm hoping larry can help with this as he's done them before but I haven't really asked him yet.
But that's off topic. Here's a few things for you to consider. Gass should be outdoors unless you vent outdoors . Electric inside is safer easier and faster on average. Which is more efficient. But for some electricity is cost prohibitive as propane is either really cheap to use or they don't have the space inside to run a boiler. How and where you choose to run your boiler is going to determine how you insulate your boiler.
For example I jave a 15 gallon keg boiler that I run on a propane burner. I took a 55 gallon metal.barrel. cut of the head and shortend it a bit. Cut out a slot for the ear hose and a few air vents
And flipped it over the burner. Next I traced the keg on the bottom and but out thr outer diameter of the keg pluc half inch extra all the way around. The keg sat 2/3rd in the shroud (oven) so my liquid line was always above the shroud. This simple modification cut my stilling time by a third and my propane usage by a third as well.
On my electric boilers I'll use reflectix or similar insulation. On my columns I use commercial boiler tube insulation. Makes a huge difference in the runs I find.
Hope that helps some.
But that's off topic. Here's a few things for you to consider. Gass should be outdoors unless you vent outdoors . Electric inside is safer easier and faster on average. Which is more efficient. But for some electricity is cost prohibitive as propane is either really cheap to use or they don't have the space inside to run a boiler. How and where you choose to run your boiler is going to determine how you insulate your boiler.
For example I jave a 15 gallon keg boiler that I run on a propane burner. I took a 55 gallon metal.barrel. cut of the head and shortend it a bit. Cut out a slot for the ear hose and a few air vents
And flipped it over the burner. Next I traced the keg on the bottom and but out thr outer diameter of the keg pluc half inch extra all the way around. The keg sat 2/3rd in the shroud (oven) so my liquid line was always above the shroud. This simple modification cut my stilling time by a third and my propane usage by a third as well.
On my electric boilers I'll use reflectix or similar insulation. On my columns I use commercial boiler tube insulation. Makes a huge difference in the runs I find.
Hope that helps some.
HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.