120v heating element with gas stove top?

[jhorgan1]

Hey guys,
I've been doing outdoor brewing using a turkey fryer for the past two years but I recently moved to a new place where I don't have an outdoor area to do that anymore.
I've started looking into electric brewing but my apt is a rental and only has your standard 120v outlets. I've been looking around and most people agree that a single 120v heating element won't be enough to get a boil going so I was thinking of using a 120v heating element in conjunction with using my stove top. Will this ruin the heating element or do you guys have any suggestions to get around this?

This is the heating element I've been looking at:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/17D03-002/120V-Electric-Brew-Heater---15.html

Thanks in advance!

 

[dyqik]

Hey guys,
I've been doing outdoor brewing using a turkey fryer for the past two years but I recently moved to a new place where I don't have an outdoor area to do that anymore.
I've started looking into electric brewing but my apt is a rental and only has your standard 120v outlets. I've been looking around and most people agree that a single 120v heating element won't be enough to get a boil going so I was thinking of using a 120v heating element in conjunction with using my stove top. Will this ruin the heating element or do you guys have any suggestions to get around this?

This is the heating element I've been looking at:
http://www.homebrewers.com/product/17D03-002/120V-Electric-Brew-Heater---15.html

Thanks in advance!

I've done this with a 1000W bucket heater (for half the price of that heater you link to) on my gas stove. It does help get up to boiling with a full 5.5 gallon batch, but you do need to be careful not to let the cord get near the stovetop or flame! Use a GFCI socket if you have one, or an inline GFCI device if you don't (that heater has one built-in). As long as it doesn't touch the bottom of the pot, there should be any issues. Once you are up to a rolling boil, you can probably remove the element.

 

[jhorgan1]

Thanks, maybe I'll try that. Are you talking about this heating element? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BDB4UG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

How did you manage to keep it from hitting the bottom of the pot?

 

[SciFive]

Hey guys,
I don't have an outdoor area to do that anymore.
I've started looking into electric brewing but my apt is a rental and only has your standard 120v outlets.

I'm in a similar position in addition to having a cheap electric stove that could not handle a large stock pot. The plugs in my kitchen are GFI and split onto two separate 20amp breaker, so I built an electric kettle by installing 2 1800watt water heater elements in a 32quart stock pot. I plug one element into each breaker. I've never measured my time until boil because it has always been fast enough to not bother me (I usually boil ~6 gallons of wort). This also leaves my stove open for other things.

I installed the heaters based off the work on http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/, but two of the bucket heaters you linked would probably also do the job.

 

[dyqik]

Thanks, maybe I'll try that. Are you talking about this heating element? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BDB4UG/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

How did you manage to keep it from hitting the bottom of the pot?

Yep, that's the one. I don't keep it from hitting the bottom of the pot, the stainless ring you see is a guard for the element that holds it off the bottom. It does take a little rigging with the cord to stop the thing falling over though. I also use it for finishing heating my sparge water while I'm mashing, and I have used it to heat my strike water in my cooler mash tun while I head out to the LHBS for ingredients (takes about 90 minutes to get 4 gallons up to strike temperatures). I do that with my RIMS now.

They are only 1000W, so two isn't really enough to boil with (and is no better than a single 2000W element on a 20A circuit). But 1000W is enough to boost a gas stove to get 7 gallons to boil.

 

[jhorgan1]

I got that heating element in the mail today but even with the pot over 2 burners and the element I still couldn't get the damn thing to boil.

I started at 5 gallons but eventually i got enough "boil" off that I got down to approx 3.5 gallons. I left it on the stove for at least 3 hours.

I just ordered another one of those elements off amazon and I'm going to see if that works.

It was weird, the element seemed like it would fire up and the water inside the ring would start boiling but then shortly after it seemed like it would stop... Maybe I was doing something wrong with the element?

 

[jhorgan1]

So even two heating elements didn't really work. With both of them running, the stove running, and the pot covered it still took about 3 hours to get the water to a simmer. I decided to try that out anyway but it definitely won't work for the long term.

Instead I think I'm going to drill my pot and install two of these 1500w elements, my only problem now is that I have no clue how I'm supposed to get these elements to hook up to an outlet, anyone have any ideas?

 

[dyqik]

It was weird, the element seemed like it would fire up and the water inside the ring would start boiling but then shortly after it seemed like it would stop... Maybe I was doing something wrong with the element?

The heater has a high temperature cut out that's supposed to stop it from burning out. On my one, it seems to be set a bit higher, because I can boil water with the element. Unfortunately, it seems that your's is working to well. I guess there is a way to disable it.

 

[dyqik]

So even two heating elements didn't really work. With both of them running, the stove running, and the pot covered it still took about 3 hours to get the water to a simmer. I decided to try that out anyway but it definitely won't work for the long term.

Instead I think I'm going to drill my pot and install two of these 1500w elements, my only problem now is that I have no clue how I'm supposed to get these elements to hook up to an outlet, anyone have any ideas?

You need to wire a control box of some kind for each element, with at least a switch for one, and some kind of power control (plus a switch) for the other. StillDragon sell a cheap SSVR controller kit. This is pretty much a standard e-kettle at this point, so you can look at pretty much any other e-kettle thread for that. Bobby_M's weldless install kits are good, imo.

 

[Fatman_Brew]

You wouldn't really need a control box for a 1500w element to assist the stove top.

 

[dyqik]

You wouldn't really need a control box for a 1500w element to assist the stove top.

Not for one, no. For two, 3000W is enough to put give you a boilover on 5.5 gal batch in an 8 gal pot, even without the gas stove, and it's hard to switch an element by pulling the plug. The control box can just be a switch box, I suppose, but an SSVR doesn't cost much to add.

To the OP, how big is your pot, and how much are you trying to boil? A 9000 BTU/Hr gas burner should be able to eventually boil 7 gal of wort, without assistance, and two 1000W heaters might just about get there as well, without gas. 2kW plus a gas burner should be plenty.

 

[AussieBrewerInColorado]

I was just looking at these on Bobby's site:
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/etc4wf.htm (welded)
or unwelded https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/hotpod-ewl3.htm

Look a lot safer than what I have been reading.

I do 10 gallon all grain batches in keggles for HLT and BK, cooler for MLT. In the same boat can't make any electrical changes so was thinking of going this route, putting in the heating element and plugging directly into outlet. I was wondering what kind of power you needed to heat HLT to about 180. Another option for me might be unplugging the dryer on brew day which has the larger L prong.