Ace electric boilers?

[donchiquon]

Well you can get about 25 litres in and you can top up with a boiling kettle as things go on through the boil. I did that a few times and it worked fine. You lose some to trub of course. I reckon I used to get about 20 - 21 litres out without resorting to fancy tricks and if you put in the full 23 litre brew's worth of grain and hops, you can always add back some water at the end in the FV.

Honestly - if you're prepared to have a go and try other ideas you won't be much put out by the boiler size I don't think. I hope you enjoy your new shiny thing and that the problems some folk have had have been ironed out now.

Thanks Tony. Those options sound very workable and I can always just use 19 litre recipes.

Looking forward to trying out a bit of AG after 6 months of kit tinkering. :)

 

[donchiquon]

Brother-in-law arrived in Chamonix this week bringing new shiny ACE boiler with him. I've also borrowed a paella burner and a large pot to see if I can follow Tony's recipe to the letter!...should be an interesting day when it happens! :whistle:

The new version of the ACE mash tun is supposed to contain a 1600W element with a power rating of 1685W, but my model (ABMT300 30L) has a label on the bottom stating a rating of 2500W....not sure if I have the right version.

The bottom filter fits together nicely, I wonder if anyone else is using this during either the mash or boil?

 

[Tony1951]

Brother-in-law arrived in Chamonix this week bringing new shiny ACE boiler with him. I've also borrowed a paella burner and a large pot to see if I can follow Tony's recipe to the letter!...should be an interesting day when it happens! :whistle:

The new version of the ACE mash tun is supposed to contain a 1600W element with a power rating of 1685W, but my model (ABMT300 30L) has a label on the bottom stating a rating of 2500W....not sure if I have the right version.

The bottom filter fits together nicely, I wonder if anyone else is using this during either the mash or boil?

I'm assuming that the filter is the short bazooka type with a hose clip that secures it to the tap. I just fitted that and have used it ever since. No need to fit and take it off for different uses. I hose my boiler out after use and apply a jet of water to the filter to clean it. I also allow clean water to run through the tap so the inside is rinsed. I also have to clean the inside of the boiler -especially around the base where the element is, with a sponge backed nylon dish scrubber. The heat of the element will cause some material to stick to this, but it is easily scrubbed off after brewing.

YOU certainly need a filter on that tap before you use it so you don't end up with the tap being blocked by hops or break material. BE AWARE that sometimes your filter may clog up after the boil. Mine does. I have sometimes had to bale out the boiler with a pan to get out the boiled wort. The beer worked fine though, even though I had a lot of trub in the fermentation vessel. In some ways the beer was better because I got a more intense hop flavour since the hops were left in the FV for two weeks until the beer was brewed and I syphoned the beer off the trub. It can look really mucky in the FV but it is completely harmless in my experience. The first time I brewed and saw a huge amount of semi solid material in the wort, I thought my beer was bound to be ruined, but it just sank to the bottom and was fine. the beer cleared up perfectly and has usually tasted great except when I made stupid hop experiments and got the balance wrong.

You can test the power of the element by measuring a specific amount of water, taking a temperature measurement and timing how long it takes to reach boiling point. This website will help because it calculates the time to boil for various element powers and initial water temperatures. The calculator is marked "WATER HEATING TIME CALCULATOR"

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/calc.html

If you have a multi-meter, you can measure the resistance of the element by switching the controls so that if it was plugged in, the element would be connected (thermostat set to high temp, power switch on, timer off. You can then work out the power from that I think, but the easiest way would be to just do the time to boil test. It is probably a good idea to boil some water in the ACE before brewing anyway, just to test it and to clean off any deposits. I avoid using soap and detergent in mine so as not to risk getting such stuff in my beer, so some boiling water cleaning would be a good idea before brewing.

 

[donchiquon]

I'm assuming that the filter is the short bazooka type with a hose clip that secures it to the tap. I just fitted that and have used it ever since. No need to fit and take it off for different uses....



You can test the power of the element by measuring a specific amount of water, taking a temperature measurement and timing how long it takes to reach boiling point. This website will help because it calculates the time to boil for various element powers and initial water temperatures. The calculator is marked "WATER HEATING TIME CALCULATOR"

Hi Tony. Thanks for this - really helpful.



I unscrewed the base of the boiler this morning. Inside there were two horseshoe heating elements. One of 1600W and one of 900W. A total of 2500W as per the label on the bottom of the unit.



However the wires for the 900W element had simply been snipped so that it no longer forms part of the circuit. The remaining wires are probably a bit too short for me to attempt to wire them up separately to provide separate heat settings for mash (900W), quick boil (2500W), and rolling boil (1600W). A shame, but then again I'm probably getting ahead of myself!



I wasn't very clear about the "filter" - sorry - I meant the false bottom. These are now included with the boiler - you can see pics of them here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221732086...1&exe=12742&ext=32470&sojTags=exe=exe,ext=ext



They look like they might help act as a first line of filter for hops during the boil? What do you think?

 

[donchiquon]

 

[Fil]

a common problem with a false bottom hop filter in a boil kettle heated from below the fb is that the boil will lift the FB breaking the edge seal allowing hops to fall below.

to overcome this some have secured the false bottom in place,

 

[Tony1951]

Hi Tony. Thanks for this - really helpful.

I unscrewed the base of the boiler this morning. Inside there were two horseshoe heating elements. One of 1600W and one of 900W. A total of 2500W as per the label on the bottom of the unit.

However the wires for the 900W element had simply been snipped so that it no longer forms part of the circuit. The remaining wires are probably a bit too short for me to attempt to wire them up separately to provide separate heat settings for mash (500W), quick boil (2500W), and rolling boil (900W). A shame, but then again I'm probably getting ahead of myself!

I wasn't very clear about the "filter" - sorry - I meant the false bottom. These are now included with the boiler - you can see pics of them here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221732086...1&exe=12742&ext=32470&sojTags=exe=exe,ext=ext

They look like they might help act as a first line of filter for hops during the boil? What do you think?

Right - this thing has moved on since my model. :)

Really handy to know that mine might have two actual elements. It would be pretty handy to have the possibility of running a 900 watt element for mashing, or running a 1600 one to have a less violent boil.

Anyway - it sounds like you are well on the way to your first brew with it. Hope all goes well.

 

[donchiquon]

Right - this thing has moved on since my model. :)

Really handy to know that mine might have two actual elements. It would be pretty handy to have the possibility of running a 900 watt element for mashing, or running a 1600 one to have a less violent boil.

Anyway - it sounds like you are well on the way to your first brew with it. Hope all goes well.

Here you go - photo of the twin horseshoe coils. Hopefully you can make out wattage. The internal one is disconnected.

Any thoughts on the false bottom Tony - as a veteran Ace user do you think it would help in the boil? Thanks

 

[Bigcol49]

. . . the wires for the 900W element had simply been snipped so that it no longer forms part of the circuit. The remaining wires are probably a bit too short for me to attempt to wire them up separately to provide separate heat settings for mash (900W), quick boil (2500W), and rolling boil (1600W). A shame, but then again I'm probably getting ahead of myself!

Hi!
Fit a switch to the boiler and wire in the 900 Watt element to the switch. When the switch is on, both elements are heating the water. When you want a rolling boil, flip the switch to turn off the 900 Watt element.

The photographs that you linked to show a false bottom AND a bazooka filter, as well as a straining bag. Looks to me as if the false bottom is used for mashing in the boiler in BIAB fashion, keeping the bag away from the heat source. The boiler is insulated, suggesting that it is perfect for mashing.
After the mash, remove the false bottom and use the bazooka filter to strain out hop debris after the boil.

 

[donchiquon]

Hi!
Fit a switch to the boiler and wire in the 900 Watt element to the switch. When the switch is on, both elements are heating the water. When you want a rolling boil, flip the switch to turn off the 900 Watt

[emoji106] I had already started scheming this exact mod! Just need to see if I can strip back the ends of the snipped wires on the 900W element.

I'm still tempted to see if I can secure the false bottom during the boil to give the bazooka filter a helping hand. Maybe I'll tie some cord around it so that I can remove it if it comes loose.

Just need my grains to arrive now!

 

[Kman]

Are the ones available now any good as they say they are 1600 watt, is this enough power to boil?

 

[donchiquon]

Are the ones available now any good as they say they are 1600 watt, is this enough power to boil?

I've tested my new unit with about 10l of water and it was very vigorous. I'll let you know once I've used it with wort.

 

[Tony1951]

Here you go - photo of the twin horseshoe coils. Hopefully you can make out wattage. The internal one is disconnected.

Any thoughts on the false bottom Tony - as a veteran Ace user do you think it would help in the boil? Thanks

Thanks for the photograph. It looks like the nearest end of the inner coil has been chopped off, but maybe I have it wrong. I had thought it might be a simple matter to add another switch to enable me to run my boiler in 2500 watt, 1600 watt, and 900 watt modes. Maybe it would be possible. I don't know.

False bottoms. - Well, I've never tried one, though I did once try using a stiff chromed wire fruit bowl inverted in the boiler to keep the nylon bag I was using for containing my grain away from the element. I suppose the false bottom will guard against scorching the bag for people who want to use the element while mashing. BUT - apart from that one experiment, I've never needed that. I slip a sleeping bag over the whole boiler when I am satisfied about the mashing temperature and it loses only at the most 2C during an hour or more. Last time I measured the mash temperature at the start as 68C and as I ran off the wort at the end of an hour and ten minutes, I put my digital temperature probe into the stream of wort coming from the tap and it was 67C, so why would I need to power on the element during a simple infusion mash. I suppose if I was doing stepped mashes or something and had to raise the mash temperature, I would be glad to have a false bottom. I don't need that though. I have been getting 82% efficiency by simply putting the grain into the hot mash water without any bag - just boiler, grain and water. (I always use the strike temperature calculator to work out initial water temperature). Doing this took my ABV from identical grain and water volume from 5.6 to 5.8% to 7.6 to 7.8%. I have written about this elsewhere a few times so I won't go on about it, but it works so well, I have had to stop using as much grain and have cut back from 6kg base malt to 5kg. It is as easy as anything to clean up as well. I just drain the boiler/ mash tun through the tap after the second sparge, unplug the boiler and carry it to my compost heap where I empty it and then swill it out with a hose so there is no grain or husk in it during the boil. It weighs no more than the sum of the boiler, 5kg grain and 5 litres of retained water in the grain - maybe 13kg which is really nothing at all. This kind of mashing and sparging has been the best discovery of my brewing experiments so far.

 

[nigelnorris]

Just bought one of these, he's listing it for an extra tenner with a false bottom / filter included, so got that.

The browser plugin I use to convert units tells me that I have the version with a 2.1 horsepower heating element. Must remember to change that setting in Chrome.

 

[Kman]

I emailed ace and they said no matter which you order you get 1600w as that all they do now. Would like to see one in action if anybody can put a vid up

 

[nigelnorris]

The eBay advert said comes with a hop bag, but mine has come with a nice big sturdy bag which fully lines the boiler, so a grain bag then. That and the bottom filter worth the extra tenner I'd say.

 

[Kman]

The eBay advert said comes with a hop bag, but mine has come with a nice big sturdy bag which fully lines the boiler, so a grain bag then. That and the bottom filter worth the extra tenner I'd say.

Did you get the timer model?

 

[nigelnorris]

Did you get the timer model?

Yes. Extra 4 quid for a nice sturdy mechanical timer seems reasonable.

 

[Kman]

Yes. Extra 4 quid for a nice sturdy mechanical timer seems reasonable.

I can't wait to get one of these in a few months.

 

[Tony1951]

Mine just bit me in the @*se yesterday......

It's the old model with 2500 watts and when it reaches the temperature set on the thermostat it shuts off one element BUT keeps on the 900 watt one which seems to be disabled on the new ones (somebody posted a picture showing that one end of the 900 watt element has been snipped off and is now out of circuit). The purpose of this feature on the earlier model, is to 'keep warm' the mash, though since the vessel is insulated it is a dangerous and pointless feature.

I got my strike water temperature to the ideal for my grain weight, water volume and grain temperature (74C) and STUPIDLY forgot to switch the boiler off at the mains. I mixed the grains, checked the temperature - it was perfect. Absolutely dead on my target. I then put a sleeping bag over the damned thing to keep it snug and went away.

When I returned to run off my wort it was steaming hot and at 92C!!!!! The air turned blue, but it was my own stupid fault. I had no idea how long the mash had been at an acceptable temperature before it got too hot so rather than waste hops and more time boiling unfermentable wort, I ran it off and tipped the lot down the drain and dumped 4.5kg of wasted grain into the compost heap.

How I did this stupid thing I will never know.

This put me back about 90 minutes on the brew day and I am just glad I'm not running a micro-brewery and wasting the grain by the 50 kilos.