Start and stop

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IMALOSERSCUMBAG
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Start and stop

Post by IMALOSERSCUMBAG »

I had a mash that I didn't like as it turned to beer. The ph dropped out and the temp got cold. I tried to resurrect but ended up with not so good mash. Anyway, I figured I'd do a little experimenting with a run. Worst case I'll throw the alcohol into the feints jar. The first jar came out ok but a lot of heads. The next couple jars never got better. As of this point I had not done anything different so I'm thinkin the mash went to hell.

My thought was it sucks so lets experiment. I turned the boiler up and watched the stream and the ABV drop, I turn the dephglmegator up and watched. I basically tried different settings to see what happened. Yes, the liquor sucked and into the feints jar it went. Time to take the wife to dinner so I shut down.

The next day I wondered what would happen if I fired back up. Worked for a while then realized my controller box was not sending amps out to the heat element. I figured I fried it so I shut down. After cooling and draining the boiler, yep it was fried. I'm thinking some of the solids attached to the element during the cool down and burned into the element when I fired back up.

What did I learn?

A little bit on behaviors of varying temps on boiler, deph, and condenser. A little step forward in understanding these things.

Do NOT shut down and fire back up. Bad for element.

Not the end of the world as it gave me time to do a good cleaning of everything while I waited for the new element to come in.

One question to those who use the 240V elements. Is there a difference from those you buy for a hot water heater vs those from still supply places?
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: Start and stop

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Last purchase I did was an emergency so I picked up a 5k5W from home depot. Seems to work fine. I'm thinking of wiring two 5K5W curvy/wavy ULWD elements in parallel though to spread the power out a bit....

I don't think shutting down and firing back up should damage your element though. Sometimes they fail? My hot water heater element (in the hot water heater) lasts for many years but it's not subject to the throttling and acidic environment either...

Cheers!
-j
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i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
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still_stirrin
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Re: Start and stop

Post by still_stirrin »

IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue May 11, 2021 9:24 amOne question to those who use the 240V elements: is there a difference from those you buy for a hot water heater vs those from still supply places?
An electric water heater element is just a resistor in a piece of (heat conducting) metal. The metal is usually a steel alloy, sometimes stainless steel (more expensive) or a simple carbon steel (cheap). You can buy either at the big box store (usually).

The case for regular carbon steel elements is often in home water heaters where the element may be subject to fouling from calcium in the water (hard water). Keep the elements cheap so they can be replaced periodically.

The case for using a stainless steel element is when the water, or liquid is more acidic such that it could cause corrosion in the water tank. Also, stainless steel elements will cost more, especially if you buy it from a brewer’s supply store....they got you there!

Either type of element can fail and cheap Chinese clones are the most vulnerable, so “buyer beware”. But since an electric element is (somewhat of) an investment, buy what you can afford. And if possible, buy a spare to keep on hand for when your element does fail at a critical time.

I have 2 elements in my boiler and both have been working fine for several years. Both are regular water heater elements (ULWD), not the fancy brewer’s store stainless steel kind.

But I only power mine with 115VAC instead of the rated 220VAC because I don’t have 220V power in my still house. As a result, the ULWD elements have a much lower watt density (less power dissipated over the larger exposed surface area) which helps keep local temperatures lower and less likely to scorch a wash. Because of this lower power and lower watt density, I use 2 elements, each on its own 15amp circuit. When running both elements wide open, I use about 10amps per element, or 10 amp x 120 volt = 1200 watts per element. It works fine for a potstill stripping run.

So, I don’t believe there is any intrinsic advantage to a big box purchased heater element versus the ones hawked by the brew stores, except maybe for the metal’s corrosion resistance. The stainless steel elements do have the advantage here. But restating my experience, the regular elements have held up very good for me....YMMV.
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NZChris
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Re: Start and stop

Post by NZChris »

If you have to stop and restart and there are some solids in the boiler, give it a good stir to get the solids back into suspension before turning on the power or lighting the fire.
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Re: Start and stop

Post by bluc »

Turning power up suddenly mid run can scorch all grain mash also.. Even a strained one.
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Demy
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Re: Start and stop

Post by Demy »

I use cheap stainless steel elements (AliExpress) and I must say that they work very well. I don't think it's igniting and turning off the element can damage it, maybe you have a power problem (at the power adjustment part). All the electrical resistances that I have "opened" (out of curiosity or to retrieve a piece of pipe) are made very similar: an external tube, the internal wire that actually is the one that heats up (I think is tungsten) often spiral And among the 2 there is a refractory cement special. It is vital instead, do not turn on the "dry" element because it will warm up violently and burn.
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