Fantastic. Great. Love it.

Thanks, Wood!

That's a great DIY page. I am an Electrician by trade and I really know the importance of a ground ring, I am impressed that you included this in your design, most would have ignored that little detail!
Brew Strong - OUT!

Two questions:
1) Are there any heat issues around the fitting with either the plastic cooler body or the insulation around the power wires?
2) Do you run this on a GFI breaker?

Goober:
1) my batches need water no hotter than 170F and no negative effects to the cooler so far.
2) YES GFCI all the way. The entire wortomatic control panel plugs into one. BTW, with the heating element I use I had a new 20 amp service installed just for brewing (and insane Christmas lights).

Very nice. I am sticking with my SS Kettle to heat water because with my LP burner I can get to 170F in about 15 minutes. This Gott cooler would be great to maintain temps.

How did you mount the thermometer to the cooler, with a thermothingy? If not, I'd like details.

I want something that is removable so I can calibrate the themometer. Thanks!

Captain, you got it -- the thermosight. Link: http://www.zymico.com/tsight Cheers!

hey push, heard you bragging about the site on The Network.Great info you have here. I just built your water heater cooler and had a solid test run w/o any ER trips. Thanks for the info.

Now, Brant... c'mon... I never brag. Thanks for the great comment & I am stoked your HLT is working!

update: I did jamil's APA last weekend and it was wonderful not having to heat water outside on a burner. now I just have to hook up a timer to it to be ready when I wake up. thanks again.

How hard would it be to put a thermostat on it so you could set it and forget it?

Psi, that is exactly what I do. A Love Controller (see Binford Wortomatic Control Panel article) maintains temps and its probe fits in a thermowell in the lid.

Is that gasket the one that just comes with the element or did you buy a different one?

Vince, that is the gasket that comes with it.

There is another kind of mount available that I will use when I update this HLT that has a screw-in plate:

Cheers,
Push E.

I saw those in the store, but i figured they would not be better because you are putting more holes in the cooler...

Good point. However, I think it is a fact that the element will have to be replaced in time and the ability to simply unscrew it and pop in a new is appealing to me.

Push - The mounting plate rusts. I used it on my early prototypes as well. I ended up mounting the element in the end of a PVC tube. I ordered a brass reducer that is male thd 1 1/2 inches with a female 1 inch. the reducer screws right in to the PVC. I added a T as close to the reducer as possible. So the wort or water comes in one end, flows past the element then out the T, past my thermowell and back to the HLT or MLT. I use duplicate systems for both. I can maintain a 1 degree differential this way. If using gravity I guess you'd have to stick with putting the element in the cooler.

If you use pumps, there is no need to modify or drill the cooler in anyway, just replace the spigot with a ball valve.

Linc

has anyone had problems with leaks under the silicone on the inside of the cooler? I havent had any shorts from it and even roughed up the surface with sandpaper.

linc, so basically you built a rims element for your herms HLT?

@Linc Haven't seen that yet. Good solution, though.

@brant Not since I remade it with the plate and gasket.

@vince I guess so! :)

Love this setup. However, concerning the element size: the largest element for 120 volt I have found is 2000 watt. I was checking on some calculations and for 10 gal of H2O it'll take approx 1hr 17 min to get it to 170. I want to borrow some of your ideas on the brew setup but the questions is how do you go about getting the H2O to strike temp for the mash and then having your HLT up to temp in time to recirculate the mash? Do you heat another 10 gal using your burner and then transfer it to the HLT where the electric element maintains the temp?

I love this setup.

I've read reports from people building heatsticks, that the silicone fails on them after about a year or 2. Have you had similar problems?

thatguy,

I only ever get a leak (and it's a very slow, minor drip) when I fill it up and let it sit overnight. If I fill it and start brewing it is great. I've done dozens of batches now and am very comfortable with this setup.

Do you stir while the element is on? Also, how hot does it really get? Dont really plan on getting a temp control just yet, unless you know of something cheap! does it scorch the grains or any ill effect to the actual mash? Thanks!

Oh! One more thing! Did you ever have a problem with rusting!?

Peter, yes. I stir whenever the element is on to keep the temp consistent throughout the cooler. If you don't limit it, it will boil.

Pumping the mash through a coil immersed in the HLT has proved a great way to raise mash temps.

So far, no rusting.

Peter, yes. I stir whenever the element is on to keep the temp consistent throughout the cooler. If you don't limit it, it will boil.

Pumping the mash through a coil immersed in the HLT has proved a great way to raise mash temps.

So far, no rusting.

So i gathered up all the parts to get this thing together. Bought a hole saw at a cheap discount type store. Mistake #1. Using said hole saw mistake #2. It made 3/4 of a round hole and the other 1/4 broke right off the cooler so i have a semi circle with a bubble on it if you will. So the original method wasnt going to work so i found the plate posted above. Got 4 bolts nuts and washers from the store as well. Punched 3 1/4 more holes in the bottom. (remember the bubble!) Pumped half a tube a silicone underneath it and tightened it up. We'll see if it leaks tmw. Not even gonna bother wiring it at this point. pretty sure its gonna leak :(

I had a heck of a time getting a seal using silicone, so I took a cue from the cedarcreek heat stick webpage and used JB Weld. That did the trick. Hope that helps someone out.

Has anyone used JB Weld-Marine? I saw it at Southerlands. It MIGHT be better with liquids. I wonder if it has an oder?

I was wondering around how much this setup cost? I wanted to compare it to other setup prices.

Good grief, I hope nobody else tries this. This whole idea makes me cringe, and I won't even go into the leaching hazards of heating soft plastics. If you want man boobs from synthetic estrogens, have at it. However, that grounding ring isn't going to do a thing for you when the silicone eventually leaks, and it will. Grounding minimizes the risk of current choosing you as a path to ground. It does not eliminate it. If you really need a hot water heater, get yourself a stainless steel pony keg. Have a welding or machine shop weld a threaded stainless fitting in place, and insert your heating element with pipe dope. you still have to deal with exposed terminals, so you would best have them include a plate to allow a NEMA 4 box to be mounted to cover them. Better yet, just get one of those $120 outdoor tankless propane water heaters (like Eccotemp L5) and plumb it in. Get rid of the electricity altogether with the exception of a 12 volt pump. If you don't want to take the advice of a degreed engineer, at least think about this: No hobby is worth dying over or killing one of your kids. You will notice that the National Electric Code was written not by electrical engineers, but by an association of city fire departments to stem the tide of deaths due to electrocution and fire after the introduction of electricity into homes. Something like this could never be sold commercially for a reason. It will kill you in ways that you haven't even thought of. Your kid could be twenty feet away standing on a damp surface when the silicone fails and the nozzle drips. It only takes 1/4 amp to stop a human heart. Your going to have at least 5 or better, depending on your element. Just spend the money and do it right.

Taro, thanks for your comments. They are truly appreciated in spite of the passive-aggressive arrogance. I tried writing you, but the email address you provided bounced. If you ever want to write an article about this or post a how-to for your alternative electric HLT I will gladly give you a venue here on Wortomatic. Cheers.

Actually, 100mA is all it takes to fry a human. Also, unless there is laminar flow directly connecting the electricity to the kid, then the kid will be fine. Chances are, however that the leak(s) will better connect the live wire to ground, tripping the GFCI.

Electricity is just as safe as any other method of heating up water (how many of us have electric water heaters in our houses?), but it is also a ton safer to use inside.

Personally, I'd love to have the money to buy a bunch of stainless steel kegs... ain't gonna happen until I'm out of school (Paramedicine, in case you were wondering).

I think Push Eject wrote up a really good, straight-forward "how I did it" tutorial and should be commended for sharing the information, as opposed to being lectured on the faults involved.


Cheers!

I contacted a friend of mine's father who is an engineer for Igloo and asked him about the possibility of leeching toxins. Here is his response:

"It's not really a straight answer because officially we do not recommend putting 170 degree liquids into our chests. There are some potential issues with the foam and if you get close to boiling you are nearing the temperature that will start to (not melt) soften the polypropylene liner. Officially the cooler was not designed to hold boiling liquids. But if they happen to find there way into your cooler it won't poison you! People have done it without issue but I really don't like to see it being done!"

So, ideally, nothing will poison you, but Igloo doesn't recommend doing it. There you go.

Very cool, Jeff! Thanks for getting that information.

To be clear, I do not boil water in the HLT, but it does approach 175F. You know, now that I think about it, don't most of us mash in coolers? If you do a mash out you probably have the issue, right?

Nonetheless I am considering building a new one like Kai Wallner's at:
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/hot-liquor-tank

Cheers!

I did exactly that. I replaced a copy of your orange HLT with a copy of Kal's SS HLT. Your version served me well but I wanted to step up to 10 gal batches so I needed a larger HLT.

I did not use a Blichmann kettle, rather, found a 20 gal SS kettle with lid for $150 shipped.

BTW - taking a SS coil as shipped and reshaping into a tighter coil to function as the HERMs coil (per Kal's pictures) is not a trivial task! Search his forum for HLT coil and you will see some of the ways others were or were not successful.