Ace electric boilers?

[Tony1951]

COOLING TEST WITH BOILER FULL.

After the boil, I took measurements of the cooling rate when the boiler had 25 litres of water at between 98C and 90C.

Eight degrees centigrade was lost in 105 minutes which works out at a cooling rate of one degree C every 13.1 minutes. This is significantly slower than the earlier observed rate of one degree every nine minutes. This may be due as Winstonia suggested to the vessel being only part filled on the earlier test.

 

[Covrich]

It looks and doesnt sound too bad.. when you going to brew with it I am interested to see ho wit actually goes..

 

[Tony1951]

It looks and doesnt sound too bad.. when you going to brew with it I am interested to see ho wit actually goes..

I need to get the Cooper's Irish Stout out of the FV first. It will have been in there for two weeks on next Tuesday. It is already at 1010 so I can probably put it in the keg then. Maybe Wednesday I can get onto brewing the mild, but I don't know how I am going to cool the wort. At the observed cooling rate it will take about 13 hours to come down to pitching temperature. Maybe I should research no cool methods.

I'll write a brew day report in the place set aside for them.

Cheers

 

[Freshworth]

I have one of these and I love it. As some people have already said, the quality of it is surprisingly good. I half expected it to be flimsy and poorly put together considering the cost, but was actually very nicely surprised. It’s no Braumeister, obviously, but for £100 shipped it’s a steal. I feel like I’ve adequately satisfied my urge for some shiny stainless steel, whilst also managing to avoid the big dent in the wallet that usual coincides with that.

The thermostat also worked a lot better than I expected; I found it to only be a few degrees out. I did struggle to get a rolling boil though, even with the thermostat set to 110C, so I had to remove the probe from the underside of the element and secure it elsewhere. This effectively makes the thermostat useless as it puts the reading way off, but now I get a really vigorous, constant boil. Actually almost too vigorous… Thinking of building a voltage controller/dimmer to be able to have better control over the power of the element. Also didn’t need to replace the thermal cutoff with a higher-rated one, as you do with a lot of other boilers.

The double wall insulation is pretty thin but again I actually found it to be more effective that expected. When it's full of grain you’d be surprised at how well it holds it temperature. Next brewday I’m going to wrap it in a towel as well, which I think will keep me within around 1-2C of mash in temp after 60 mins.

One negative is that there are no volume markings and no sight glass. Not the end of the world, I plan to etch them on the inside as detailed here http://imgur.com/a/dCvS5, but a bit of a pain.

One thing I would definitely recommend is using a hop spider, if you’re using pellets. I was going to, then decided against it, then wished I had. The bazooka screen got completely blocked and I ended up having to pick the whole thing up and pour the cooled wort out into the fermenter! Which felt pretty sketchy.

All in all I’d definitely recommend, I’m looking forward to brewing with it again. Let me know if anyone has any questions about it or wants any up close photos of parts etc.

 

[yeastinfection]

So I'm guessing with this you'd add your grains in bag.then when done remove them and boil.adding hops in bag so as not to block the strainer at the tap. Is this what you would call an all in one..needing only a cooler ..

 

[Tony1951]

OK -

I used the boiler today to make a brew with the remains of the Geterbrewed IPA kit. I found no problem in mashing, but wrapped a blanket around the pot to make sure there was no loss of heat. I ended the hour long mash at exactly the same temperature that I started with.

My large pot is in use elsewhere as a brewing bin (stupid move) and I stuggled a bit with sparging. I pulled out the grain bag and successively rinsed it into a 4 litre pan that was really too small for the 3kg of grain. Eventually, I decided I had sparged enough after about four 1.6 litre spargings and got on with the boil.

This came in quite quickly and was pretty violent. I had left about eight litres of space above the wort and I think I needed it. The water was jumping about with a fair bit of energy. When I put the lid on, it started to froth up, so I leftit open so I could monitor the level to avoid boil over. It was fine like that and stayed inside the pot.

At the end of the boil, I topped up with cold water to where I reckon 23 litres should be. I did this because I didn't want the zero minute hops to cook too much as I don't have a cooler and will have to leave the wort to cool slowly in teh insulated vessel. It will take about twelve hours to come down to pitching temperature according to the way it was cooling the other day when I tested it with only water.

I note the comments above about the filter getting blocked - not looking forward to that as I have 66grams of pelleted hops loose in there right now..... Hoping it will drain correctly.

All in all, I'm very pleased. The powerful heater element shortened my brew day very much and I was at last able to make a full 23 litre AG brew rather than the 9 or 10 litres I managed so far. Huge brewery smells blowing out of the back door and around the garden while it was going. Excellent fun.

 

[Tony1951]

One thing I would definitely recommend is using a hop spider, if you're using pellets. I was going to, then decided against it, then wished I had. The bazooka screen got completely blocked and I ended up having to pick the whole thing up and pour the cooled wort out into the fermenter! Which felt pretty sketchy.

A hop spider would be a good idea BUT - I was lucky. I got all my wort out without any trouble. The rate of flow did reduce drastically over the draining, but I got out everything above the level of the tap. I was left with what looked like a pile of poo in the bottom that was about a half inch above the bazooka filter. I scooped it out and will put it in the compost bin. It is just trub and hops.

The insulation in this thing seems far better than I first thought. Even now 17 and half hours after switch off, the temperature in the FV is 45C! it will be a few hours yet before I can pitch. The cooling rate in the boiler over the range 100c to 45C is about 3C per hour.

It was easy to clean with a hosepipe in the garden. I tried not to squirt the electric bits. A very easy clean finish both inside and out.

A great buy I'd say. Very pleased.

 

[YeastFace]

Have you considered getting a no chill cube? It will cool down faster and less chance of infection as the cube is sanistised and air tight.

 

[Tony1951]

Have you considered getting a no chill cube? It will cool down faster and less chance of infection as the cube is sanistised and air tight.

I will certainly consider it Yeastface. I'm feeling a little tetchy at the possibility that it could still go wrong. I kept it sealed all night since switch off at 1600 hrs yesterday, but I am feeling uneasy that even at 1000 hrs next day it is still sitting above 40c in the FV..... :nah:

 

[Cwrw666]

OK -

I used the boiler today to make a brew with the remains of the Geterbrewed IPA kit. I found no problem in mashing, but wrapped a blanket around the pot to make sure there was no loss of heat. I ended the hour long mash at exactly the same temperature that I started with.

My large pot is in use elsewhere as a brewing bin (stupid move) and I stuggled a bit with sparging. I pulled out the grain bag and successively rinsed it into a 4 litre pan that was really too small for the 3kg of grain. Eventually, I decided I had sparged enough after about four 1.6 litre spargings and got on with the boil.

This came in quite quickly and was pretty violent. I had left about eight litres of space above the wort and I think I needed it. The water was jumping about with a fair bit of energy. When I put the lid on, it started to froth up, so I leftit open so I could monitor the level to avoid boil over. It was fine like that and stayed inside the pot.

At the end of the boil, I topped up with cold water to where I reckon 23 litres should be. I did this because I didn't want the zero minute hops to cook too much as I don't have a cooler and will have to leave the wort to cool slowly in teh insulated vessel. It will take about twelve hours to come down to pitching temperature according to the way it was cooling the other day when I tested it with only water.

I note the comments above about the filter getting blocked - not looking forward to that as I have 66grams of pelleted hops loose in there right now..... Hoping it will drain correctly.

All in all, I'm very pleased. The powerful heater element shortened my brew day very much and I was at last able to make a full 23 litre AG brew rather than the 9 or 10 litres I managed so far. Huge brewery smells blowing out of the back door and around the garden while it was going. Excellent fun.

With mine - I also have no chiller - at turn-off I add the last hop addition, let it stand for 30 minutes, then drain the hot wort into my FV. This takes something like 6 - 8 hours to cool to pitching temperature. But an added bonus is that the near boiling wort will totally sterilize the FV. Works for me.

 

[Tony1951]

With mine - I also have no chiller - at turn-off I add the last hop addition, let it stand for 30 minutes, then drain the hot wort into my FV. This takes something like 6 - 8 hours to cool to pitching temperature. But an added bonus is that the near boiling wort will totally sterilize the FV. Works for me.

Looks like a good idea that. Just don't fancy lifting five gallons of boiling wort up to bench level, and not sure swimbo would tolerate a vat of boiling fluid on the floor..... Maybe a suitable no chill cube / water carrier would work for me.

I still can't pitch yet, and I've had the FV standing in a bath full of cold water for the last two hours..... Looks like it may be 22 or 23 hours from switch off to pitching. Worried about infection a bit.

 

[winstonia]

I'd invest in a wort chiller if you're doing 20L and above batches, nothing beats a 20-30min chill time. They are pretty cheap over here at the moment.

 

[Cwrw666]

Looks like a good idea that. Just don't fancy lifting five gallons of boiling wort up to bench level, and not sure swimbo would tolerate a vat of boiling fluid on the floor..... Maybe a suitable no chill cube / water carrier would work for me.

I do my brewing outside in an old farm building, standing the boiler on our washing machine so it's straight forward to transfer to the FV. Hoisting the grain bag out is harder but I've got a rope through an eye bolt above the boiler to help with that. When I get round to it I'm going to fix up a proper pulley system.
First brew I did was in the kitchen and by the end of it everything was dripping with condensation, so outside I had to go.

 

[MyQul]

With mine - I also have no chiller - at turn-off I add the last hop addition, let it stand for 30 minutes, then drain the hot wort into my FV. This takes something like 6 - 8 hours to cool to pitching temperature. But an added bonus is that the near boiling wort will totally sterilize the FV. Works for me.

Wow. It only takes 6-8hrs for you to get down to pitching temp? I take it this is because your brewing outside? It takes at least 12hrs, usually nearer to 24 for me to get down to pitching temp in with my FV in the kitchen.

Just out of interest do you chuck everything into the FV or do you strain anything out?

 

[baggybill]

I picked up one of these to go down the no-chill route:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003URSXQI/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Not a lot of money for a pretty good quality container. Still to use it though... brewing time is non-existent at the moment <sigh>

 

[ManseMasher]

I really like that etching idea - guess what I'll be doing at the weekend!

 

[Covrich]

SO whats the verdict on these???

I was thinking about going down the Peco boiler from HBC with the chiller Kit but this has me torn.. okay overall with a chiller its an extra £40 or so but it does look a bit better...

Arrgh decisions decisions!!


The only other slight thing is the peco has a slightly higher capacity so making a full BIAB might be easier and less tight than the 30liter

That said the ACE has what looks like a ball tap and hop strainer on..


Did you find this to be good Tony?

 

[baggybill]

Nice post. I'm still looking and about to buy. I just feel 30L is too tight for big brews. I don't want to have to buy twice, already bought a small 16L pot which, although handy, I regret I never bought the bigger 19L for my small experimental brews.

I want enough head space so I can do somit else while the rolling boil is happening and not worry about boil over or hot break.

If the ACE did 40L, I would have bought it in the blink of an eye...

Still holding out for a Buffalo but it's been too long now ( couple of months) so looks like gas burner and 50-60L stock pot for me (already have Butane & regulator for BBQ).

Edit: If 30L will do you then Nisbets are doing them on special offer for ~£75

http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Buffalo-Manual-Fill-Water-Boiler-30Ltr/GL348/ProductDetail.raction

Man, I was so tempted...

 

[Twostage]

Looks like a good idea that. Just don't fancy lifting five gallons of boiling wort up to bench level, and not sure swimbo would tolerate a vat of boiling fluid on the floor..... Maybe a suitable no chill cube / water carrier would work for me.

I still can't pitch yet, and I've had the FV standing in a bath full of cold water for the last two hours..... Looks like it may be 22 or 23 hours from switch off to pitching. Worried about infection a bit.

Cooling is a curve not a straight line. The closer it gets to the ambient (surrounding) temp the slower it cools. The boiler will cool slowly because it is shiny metal which does not radiate heat. An FV will cool a lot faster as its surface is a colour. So as cwrw666 says get it into the FV as soon as possible.

Someone on here mentioned a good trick of instead of topping up straight away they chuck in frozen bottles of water. When they have melted empty them in.

 

[Tony1951]

SO whats the verdict on these???

I was thinking about going down the Peco boiler from HBC with the chiller Kit but this has me torn.. okay overall with a chiller its an extra £40 or so but it does look a bit better...

Arrgh decisions decisions!!


The only other slight thing is the peco has a slightly higher capacity so making a full BIAB might be easier and less tight than the 30liter

That said the ACE has what looks like a ball tap and hop strainer on..


Did you find this to be good Tony?

I really like it covrich. It has the ball tap and the filter and it is insulated. Really pleased. You will struggle though to get in 26 litre and not boil over. I only used mine once so far but I boiled a little on the short side snd added water. I had plenty of room that way.