Electric boil tube

[snowman_fs]

Hi guys,

I have a concept to bounce off some friendly minds. I'd like to use a vertical electric element tube (RIMS) as an external boiler with pumped recirculation until a dual phase (liquid/gas) thermosiphon can take over. Kettle return will be plumbed in at tangents and would whirlpool the duration of the boil as well as during chilling. A cone bottom with 1-1/2" drain for trub removal.

The eventual goal would be to build multiple vessels and move the external boiler, controller, pump and chiller "cart" from tank to tank for mashing, boiling and fermenting directly in the kettle.

Does anyone have any experience with external boilers to provide input?

 

[TexasWine]

I have some experience, but on a large industrial scale in distillation columns (refining, NGL extraction, etc.). Not sure what your background is, but properly designing a thermosiphon reboiler isn't a simple matter. I would recommend reading the relevant portions of Henry Kister's book Distillation Design before endeavoring to tackle the project you describe.

After reading, please let us know if you have any specific questions.

 

[snowman_fs]

I would recommend reading the relevant portions of Henry Kister's book Distillation Design before endeavoring to tackle the project you describe.

Great read, it started me down many roads. Many things to consider, geometry is important. I need to plan for variable head pressure (variable batch size) and may end up using a low shear peristaltic forced recirc for the duration of the boil. The control for it would need to balance feed rate and power input.

 

[TexasWine]

Have you ever considered just getting a portable heat stick like the one @Bobby_M sells over on Brew Hardware?

http://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/hotrod.htm

It'd be much simpler to use something like that for mashing and boiling than trying to design a portable reboiler.