Mr. Coffee = heat plate & sparge pump?!?

[tokerlund]

I was cruising through Failblog.com when I saw a picture of a guy cooking his can of Spaghetti-Os on a coffee machine heat plate. That got me thinking. . .

Isn't a coffee pot basically a heat plate and a sparge arm?

So I went to the Goodwill and bought a Mr. Coffee for $8 (after rounding up to help out a good cause).

I took it apart and basically it is a heating element under a thin metal plate. That element is in the shape of a horseshoe and then there is a metal tube connected to it. Each end of the tube has a rubber hose. One of those rubber hoses has a one-way valve. That is how the coffee pot sucks up the water and spits it up the sparge arm and onto the grounds.

I am thinking that a 900 watt coffee pot would keep smaller batches of my BIAB warm for the hour long mash. Then I extend the hoses and put one end down into the bottom of my brew kettle (it should fit between the bag and the pot, I have a Bayou with the insert basket). The other end I can utilize the coffee pot sparge arm and put just at the top of my BIAB. That should keep the wort circulating and keep it warm at the same time.

I know this is pretty ghetto, but for $8 it seems to be an OK idea.

Before I kill myself or ruin a batch of beer, what are the major drawbacks?

 

[Bobby_M]

It spurts the water up the tube because it's creating local steam. I haven't measured the water temp, but it's probably close to 200F which is a little high.

 

[Minky]

There are a number of reasons this won't work, so I'm just going to mention a few. The quantity of water that a Mr. Coffee handles when making a pot is about a half a gallon. It takes about 10 minutes (a guess) to do that. It is not designed to handle water that has already been heated, it only heats to about 180 degrees, and it can only raise the water a few inches. Even if you figured a way to move it further, it would cool too much in the lines to make any difference.

I like the way you think though. This hobby is full of innovations that started with re-purposing common items.

 

[tokerlund]

Yeah, I am going to have to test

A) what temp the water comes out at. . . I need it to be pretty specific like between 140* and 160*

B) If it can push water up that high. . . but the length of the hose might allow me to manage the temp. The longer the hose, the more the 180* water cools as it goes to the top of the pot.

C) Can it handle wort? I am most worried about that one-way valve. I know that thing will get clogged unless there is a pretty fine filter keeping out the grain bits. As I am BIAB that should be easier than just doing it in a MLT

I know this is not enough for a true sparge. I honestly just bought the pot for the heat plate and started thinking. I am for sure going to see if the heat plate can add some degrees to my 5 gallon boil. I am trying to get it rolling with just a 2000 watt heat stick and I am thinking I need a little extra umph. I had been using propane, but I'd like to cut that out when it gets to be bitterly cold up here.