Rust on heating element...

[Chris7687]

Hey guys,
A little ticked off. I wanted to do a 24 hour water test on my brand freaking new eBIAB kettle and when I came home today I find this!



I do not think this is normal. I never even expected to see rust on this thing! WTF!!!!!!! How could this have happened? Is this going to cause problems with my beers? I would assume so... The lock nut is SS, so it isn't what is rusting, it is the base of the heating element.... Is it dangerous to use now? wtf..... I am livid. This shouldn't have happened, right? Now I assume I have to take the whole damn thing apart and raise hell with an Amazon vendor...

 

[gsanstra]

Read the bottom of this page:


http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/heating-elements

 

[Chris7687]

Awesome.... Wish I remembered reading that. Should I replace the SS nut? Shouldn't it be resistant enough to the rust? Or replace it to be safe?

 

[emyers]

just clean it off with a clean SS or brass brush, and don't let it sit again. Its just surface rust.

 

[Chris7687]

Thanks emyers. I have ordered the magnesium anode too, so hope that will help going forward. I read on the electricbrewery forum that the anode helped with reversing the rusting on the element. I hope that will be the case for me as well. Stupid that they even make the element so that it rusts....

 

[Shockerengr]

I take mine off each time (triclamps make it easier) and I find they don't rust in the course of a normal brew session. Lazily forgetting to cleanup after a brew session = rust.

 

[ODI3]

I bought an element with a SS base from ogden, its only 5000w but I like not having to worry about rust

 

[Chris7687]

Care to post a link? I may be converting my 11 gallon kettle into an electric kettle as well.

 

[CJBrewVT]

I has equally miffed with my 2000w "stainless steel" element from Boston Heating Supply. I called them before ordering and they told me on the phone they were all stainless, but since having the issue state the base is not. Had they said that in the initial call I wouldn't have spent the money on it (expensive with shipping).

My solution was food grade silicone slathered all over the base. I also have the oring on the inside to prevent liquid getting to the threads. It's worked well through a couple of brew sessions, bt this is just in my HLT.

 

[alien]

That would have me asking for a refund.

This sort of thing bothers me no end so I have gone the magnesium anode route. I got this one which fits 1/2" NPT and have had no problems in my HLT so far, touch wood.

http://amzn.to/18Y20dU

 

[ODI3]

I got it on ebay for about 60US. It is very similar to this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ogden-Immer...688?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a56e9570

But mine is 5000w 240v 1ph. It also came with a thermowell alongside the element and the orange enclosure. The orange enclosure had a manual broken temp sensor. I removed the temp sensor and installed a 240v 30a plug inlet.

All sorts of elements with different shapes and configurations come up on ebay.

One of the main companies that makes these elements is called chromalox. Chromalox makes a million different elements, with all different configurations, Chromalox also has a division called ogden that makes them too. I have no idea what the difference is between the parent company and sub company, except the chromalox elements have red housings and ogden have orange.

If i remember correctly, the specs of the element that i ended up with was:
35 watts per square inch, 19" long, 2" stainless steel head. Also, the head has standard npt threads rather than the wierd ones on the standard elements people use. As well, the elements are designed to be screwed in from the inside, rather than outside.

Due to the long length of my element, I bought the widest pot i could find: a 25 gallon megapot, the megapot dimensions are 21" x 21", I wasnt confident the element would fit in a keggle, although maybe you could weld on a longstem ferrule and get it to fit.

Sorry this post is a bit scatterbrained. Now that I have my brewing system finished, I will post an overview of it next time i brew

 

[orangehero]

You can also find elements with brass plugs designed for spas.

 

[alien]

British standard 2.75" BSP immersion heater elements also usually have brass faces. I've got one in my BK.

 

[BWN]

I swear the brewing gods just don't want me to brew on this thing. I spent half they day yesterday troubleshooting my element not firing(loose wire from PID to the SSR thanks raouliii). I finally got it taken care of and auto tuned my PID. I had to go to work so I let the water sit over night and had rust from the element and even the anode had particles falling off of it. So I have a bunch of brown rust particles and black magnesium particles in my HLT. I guess I'll try the food grade silicone idea but that won't help with the anode corroding. I guess I will have to remove the anode and install some sort of plug too.

 

[CJBrewVT]

In response to asking for a refund, I did but the claim was that I was not using the element for its intended purpose.

 

[BWN]

I am thinking about adding a filter to my water supply for the brewery. It sucks because it will change my water chemistry and I will have to have it tested again.

 

[Chris7687]

I swear the brewing gods just don't want me to brew on this thing. I spent half they day yesterday troubleshooting my element not firing(loose wire from PID to the SSR thanks raouliii). I finally got it taken care of and auto tuned my PID. I had to go to work so I let the water sit over night and had rust from the element and even the anode had particles falling off of it. So I have a bunch of brown rust particles and black magnesium particles in my HLT. I guess I'll try the food grade silicone idea but that won't help with the anode corroding. I guess I will have to remove the anode and install some sort of plug too.

BWN - I did the same thing. Unfortunately, my PID still won't auto-tune so that is always fun! I just wipe down the black sout from the element face and dry everything good after tinkering with the system. It seems from others talking about it, it is still fine to brew with the small amounts of rust... I would think it would give some type of off flavors though.

 

[BWN]

BWN - I did the same thing. Unfortunately, my PID still won't auto-tune so that is always fun! I just wipe down the black sout from the element face and dry everything good after tinkering with the system. It seems from others talking about it, it is still fine to brew with the small amounts of rust... I would think it would give some type of off flavors though.

Probably what I will do for now. I am going to try a few drops of olive oil on a paper towel and wipe off the face of the element. I think my wife might divorce me if I spend anymore money in this brewery.

 

[alien]

The Magnesium anode is supposed to get eaten up. It will cause more Mg2+ ions to dissolve in the water but hopefully not too much. I would rather have that than Fe3+ ions I suppose.

I think most people worry about this much less than I do. I just hate to see rust anywhere in my keg.