Weld-Free Electric Keg Boiler: A How-To Guide

[MegaJohn]

I added the copper washers and wrapped teflon tape around the bolt shafts where they pass through the keg. Tightened it all up and filled it with water over night... all dry on the outside this morning.

Thanks for the help... now on to wiring the element up and trying out my router controller.

I purchased 6' of 2" copper pipe this morning... they're pretty proud of that stuff. I hope to have time this weekend to begin work on my boka column.

Cheers!
John.

[MegaJohn]

My keg wiring went well and now the keg has an double gang metal electrical box attached and grounded of course.

My heating element is 240V 4500W... ran on 120V. It took about 4+ hours to get 12 gallons of water up to 200*F. Today I will find some insulation material to wrap the keg... hopefully this will shorten my heat up time.

Another option is to run the heater on 240V to get it up to heat then go to 120V for my run... I'll see how it works on 120V then decide.

The boiler is done... time to start my column.

Cheers!
John.

[Fattiusmaximus]

MegaJohn I too started out with 110v trying to heat my boiler.....believe it or not if you switch to 220v your boiler will hit operating temp at the top of your column within an hour!!!...no bs!!...i was very surprised it cut the warm up time that much.....aand its cheaper to run it off of the 220.....what kind of heat control are you using??

[MegaJohn]

I currently have a router controller to which I've added a large heat sink for controlling the heat.

I've wrapped my keg with reflectix insulation to conserve heat... I'm not sure how much that will help. I can also make an extension cable to connect to the dryer plug (220V) if needed to bring the keg up to temperature.

I've not done my cleaning runs yet, but I'm getting close... I'll see how it goes.

Thanks,
John.

[Fattiusmaximus]

The heating cleaning run is when i decided to make the switch to 220 .....it took forever!!!

[Xnerd]

I am thinking about switching to electric heat as well. Im sick of buying propane tanks.


I cant find a 220vac router controller ....
any ideas

[MegaJohn]

I am thinking about switching to electric heat as well. Im sick of buying propane tanks.

I cant find a 220vac router controller.... any ideas

Look into the PSR-25 controller... If I go with 220V in the future, I will likely build a controller based on the PSR-25. There are very few parts required and it seems folks experience good results & reliability with them.

Happy & Safe Stilling!
John.

[Xnerd]

This helps a great deal!

I dont know why I could not find it.

thanks again.

[F6Hawk]

My keg wiring went well and now the keg has an double gang metal electrical box attached and grounded of course.

My heating element is 240V 4500W... ran on 120V. It took about 4+ hours to get 12 gallons of water up to 200*F. Today I will find some insulation material to wrap the keg... hopefully this will shorten my heat up time.

Another option is to run the heater on 240V to get it up to heat then go to 120V for my run... I'll see how it works on 120V then decide.

The boiler is done... time to start my column.

Cheers!
John.

That's because using a 240V element on 120V reduces the wattage by 1/4, so you are only putting out 1125 watts.

[NattyBoh]

I just purchased the flange to screw-in adapter. It is zinc. No good? When used for its true purpose (water heater) there are no issues.

[RevSpaminator]

I don't mean to be a pain, but your question has been answered right here in this thread. I don't think asking you to read the entire thread thoroughly is too much to ask.

[NattyBoh]

I've read the thread several times. Looks like the original poster and another have used this adapter successfully. Was just looking for an explanation as to why this can be used on a hot water heater (without issue) but not on a boiler.

[RevSpaminator]

Because water isn't as acidic as wash.

[raketemensch]

So, now that this thread has been around for a few years, has anyone managed to find a copper or stainless version?

I'd love to add this to my keg, but the Zinc concerns me.

[Kegg_jam]

It'll rust.

Don't ask me how I know.

[raketemensch]

Well, that's a bummer. I'm not looking forward to trying to solder this thing.

[jedneck]

Here is how I did mine. Its a 1" female MIP and a piece of 1" split and flattened with a hole cut in it for the female to fit in. Slider it up and drill a couple bolt holes. Wrap head end of bolt with thick ring of PTFE tape and make a cardboard/tape gasket. Not an ideal solution but it works. Make sure you use stainless bolts, the nuts can be standard rustable steel. Use bolts long enuf it will also give somewhere for the ground to get hooked up to.
Safety note: cover the element with something so you don't get bit. I usually wrap it with a ball of electrical tape.

[raketemensch]

Awesome, thanks. I was headed down this road in my head tonight, wandering the aisles of Home Depot, but I ran out of time trying to think of anything that would come with 1" stainless nuts.

Is that what you used there? What does MIP stand for? I think I'll grab some 1" heat shrink for the protective bit.

[Hound Dog]

Check out amazon..?..
http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Fitting ... 30RBT390MX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can always solder one of these on or get a copper 1" female threaded fitting, cut it down and solder it on. Since I have a copper boiler, that's the route I went.

[runyon]

why not just use a bolt on water heater element? I haven't read through all 8 Pages yet, so this may have already been addressed.

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[cranky]

Check out amazon..?..
http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Fitting ... 30RBT390MX" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

You can always solder one of these on or get a copper 1" female threaded fitting, cut it down and solder it on. Since I have a copper boiler, that's the route I went.

I went both routes and am just as happy with the cut down copper fitting on my little SS boiler as the SS one on my keg but the copper one was actually easier to solder than the SS.

why not just use a bolt on water heater element? I haven't read through all 8 Pages yet, so this may have already been addressed.

Sealing is a big problem and replacing it can also be a problem.

[StimpDog]

when i heat up my corn mash & add flaked maize to start the fermentation process of my mash...I was going to find a 20 gal pot and heat it on my stove. but could i just pour it in my keg/still and use this setup instead? or would the heating element scorch the grains?