Ace electric boilers?

[yeastinfection]

I never!! my ace boiler was dangerous kept blowing electrics and wort leaking into the electrics.. sent it back and never asked for replacement..

Thankfully I managed to rescue most of the brew.. sort of.

no way. scary stuff.

 

[BrannBrew]

I did a test with the ace last night ready for tomorrows hopeful (waiting on delivery) got it to 70 degrees in about 30mins in 20 mins it lost about. O.5oc. Had the lid just covering the top but not clipped in as I had my new chefalarm probe in the boiler so didn't want to crimp the wire.

Also a good test for my chefalarm. An old fashioned mercury style thermometer which was roughly +2 on the chef alarm

 

[BeerCat]

I did a test with the ace last night ready for tomorrows hopeful (waiting on delivery) got it to 70 degrees in about 30mins in 20 mins it lost about. O.5oc. Had the lid just covering the top but not clipped in as I had my new chefalarm probe in the boiler so didn't want to crimp the wire.

Also a good test for my chefalarm. An old fashioned mercury style thermometer which was roughly +2 on the chef alarm

Hi Brann. Been looking at these over the weekend. I have 3 thermometers, 2 analogue and a cheap £3 digital but all show different temps. I reckon i could be mashing a few degrees low as when i think about it even my stouts are not that thick.
Are they easy to calibrate? What did your boiling wort read? Mine goes up to about 108c if i remember correctly.
Is the lead long enough and if not can you replace the probe easily? Thanks.

 

[BrannBrew]

Hi Brann. Been looking at these over the weekend. I have 3 thermometers, 2 analogue and a cheap £3 digital but all show different temps. I reckon i could be mashing a few degrees low as when i think about it even my stouts are not that thick.
Are they easy to calibrate? What did your boiling wort read? Mine goes up to about 108c if i remember correctly.
Is the lead long enough and if not can you replace the probe easily? Thanks.

Compared to my anologe one it read a few degrees lower. The cable on the chef alarm was fine and could probably reach the bottom but I just put it into the centre.

Unfortunately after the mash I think the chefalarm went abit nuts as it was reading a temp even if the probe wasn't connected, and after which I didn't want to use it so carried on using my analogue.

I'll probably carry on using my analogue one and maybe get one that has a long enough probe so it can stay in the boiler, mine currently arnt really long enough might go down an inch or two, certainty doesn't go down to the middle of the boiler.

 

[Fil]

a simple 2 point calibration test that most folk can carry out at home is using close to 0C and close to 100C with iced water and the steam off boiling water. Barometric pressure and elivation above or below sea level can both effect the readings you take and a diligent bod can google that .. the ETI thermapen manual pdf can be downloaded http://thermometer.co.uk/catering-thermometers/2-thermapen-thermometers.html

and should detail the procedure.

If a device reads off by the same amount at both points ( ie 2 c and 102 c) its safe to assume a callibration adjustment will give you a good reading between 0 and 100c too,

 

[BeerCat]

It seems bad luck struck 3 times last night. First i dropped my beer paddle and smashed my favourite thermometer before i had a chance to check its accuracy as advised above. Secondly i went out to the garage for my protofloc 15min addition and the boiler wasn't working. Luckily i had boiled for 90mins by then so i don't think DMS will be a problem. I guess the thermostat has gone as i would not maintain a boil after that. Could be a build up on the bottom plate i guess, not checked yet but either way its very annoying. Nearly lost a batch of beer and time is money. After that i went to drain the wort and it got blocked just like last time and was not even using pellets. I did not vorlauf though as forgot.
All suggestions welcome friends.

 

[Covrich]

It seems bad luck struck 3 times last night. First i dropped my beer paddle and smashed my favourite thermometer before i had a chance to check its accuracy as advised above. Secondly i went out to the garage for my protofloc 15min addition and the boiler wasn't working. Luckily i had boiled for 90mins by then so i don't think DMS will be a problem. I guess the thermostat has gone as i would not maintain a boil after that. Could be a build up on the bottom plate i guess, not checked yet but either way its very annoying. Nearly lost a batch of beer and time is money. After that i went to drain the wort and it got blocked just like last time and was not even using pellets. I did not vorlauf though as forgot.
All suggestions welcome friends.

If I recall from my Ace the hop filter is pretty tiny and not far above the element.. I didn't think there was enough dead space for cold break to settle but I am no expert.

90mins+ thats a long boil??

 

[BeerCat]

It seems bad luck struck 3 times last night. First i dropped my beer paddle and smashed my favourite thermometer before i had a chance to check its accuracy as advised above. Secondly i went out to the garage for my protofloc 15min addition and the boiler wasn't working. Luckily i had boiled for 90mins by then so i don't think DMS will be a problem. I guess the thermostat has gone as i would not maintain a boil after that. Could be a build up on the bottom plate i guess, not checked yet but either way its very annoying. Nearly lost a batch of beer and time is money. After that i went to drain the wort and it got blocked just like last time and was not even using pellets. I did not vorlauf though as forgot.

All suggestions welcome friends.

 

[donchiquon]

It seems bad luck struck 3 times last night. First i dropped my beer paddle and smashed my favourite thermometer before i had a chance to check its accuracy as advised above. Secondly i went out to the garage for my protofloc 15min addition and the boiler wasn't working. Luckily i had boiled for 90mins by then so i don't think DMS will be a problem. I guess the thermostat has gone as i would not maintain a boil after that. Could be a build up on the bottom plate i guess, not checked yet but either way its very annoying. Nearly lost a batch of beer and time is money. After that i went to drain the wort and it got blocked just like last time and was not even using pellets. I did not vorlauf though as forgot.

All suggestions welcome friends.

Ouch! I feel for you there - I've had several stuck mashes durign recirculation with the ACE and none have done my blood pressure any good :whistle:

Did you leave the false bottom in for the boil?

When I used the ACE to boil as well as mash I never had an issue with blockages so long as I used both the hop filter and the false bottom. The hop leaves would settled on the FB and act as a natural filter for pellet and trub. Drained like a dream every time.

 

[BeerCat]

Ouch! I feel for you there - I've had several stuck mashes durign recirculation with the ACE and none have done my blood pressure any good :whistle:

Did you leave the false bottom in for the boil?

When I used the ACE to boil as well as mash I never had an issue with blockages so long as I used both the hop filter and the false bottom. The hop leaves would settled on the FB and act as a natural filter for pellet and trub. Drained like a dream every time.

Lol, didn't do my blood pressure much good either. That's exactly what i have been doing using both of them and its been great until these last few goes. Will give the boiler a really good clean and see what happens next time. I finally have the bits together to wire up the PID so will be trying that out soon as well.
|Been smooth sailing up until now.

 

[BeerCat]

If I recall from my Ace the hop filter is pretty tiny and not far above the element.. I didn't think there was enough dead space for cold break to settle but I am no expert.

90mins+ thats a long boil??

I tend to miss my efficiency badly so been over sparging and doing an hour boil before any hop additions. Hopefully once the PID and pump are wired up will improve. Could also improve with a new thermometer.
Well i found the root of the problem. The bottom was totally burnt and was a nightmare to get off. I remember not doing a vorlauf and pouring the wort left at the bottom back in so guess it was the flour causing it. I don't have a mill and crushed some specialty malts in the food processor. And that's rubbish! Thought i would of known better by know.
How do people clean their filters. Mine seems to have a build up inside but tried everything can think off. May get a larger one next and a new extra bag to either strain the wort through before boiling or use for boiling the hops.

 

[Covrich]

I tend to miss my efficiency badly so been over sparging and doing an hour boil before any hop additions. Hopefully once the PID and pump are wired up will improve. Could also improve with a new thermometer.
Well i found the root of the problem. The bottom was totally burnt and was a nightmare to get off. I remember not doing a vorlauf and pouring the wort left at the bottom back in so guess it was the flour causing it. I don't have a mill and crushed some specialty malts in the food processor. And that's rubbish! Thought i would of known better by know.
How do people clean their filters. Mine seems to have a build up inside but tried everything can think off. May get a larger one next and a new extra bag to either strain the wort through before boiling or use for boiling the hops.

Does it not hand screw out?.. I have a large one what I do is unscrew and rinse under the tape.... any bits which are trouble some I leave it to dry and then they shake/ brush off

 

[BeerCat]

Does it not hand screw out?.. I have a large one what I do is unscrew and rinse under the tape.... any bits which are trouble some I leave it to dry and then they shake/ brush off

It does but over time its getting clogged and PBW or sodium percarbonate don't seem to shift it. Sometimes i don't clean it up for a few days as i tend to brew in the evening. Perhaps i shall buy a larger one or try a blowtorch on this one.

 

[BeerCat]

Boiled it in PBW then ran under the tap and now 99% good as new. Fingers crossed gonna brew tomorrow now. Had a few hickups but still fantastic value if you ask me.

 

[dwibber]

Has any one got a good set up profile for Beersmith using the Ace boiler. I cant get my head round it. I need to top up boiler to finish of with around 21 litres in FV. Thanks

 

[Covrich]

Has any one got a good set up profile for Beersmith using the Ace boiler. I cant get my head round it. I need to top up boiler to finish of with around 21 litres in FV. Thanks

The problem you may have with a boiler such as the ace.. Well it isn't a problem just something you need to consider is how much pre boiled wort you can actually fit in there.. IIRC they say 25L as the vigorous boil will spill over above that.

So by the time you boiled down from 25L and losses from hop absorbtion and trub you can end up with less than what you want 21L

Is your pre boiled wort at the 25L line?

What you can do is top up your sparge water as the wort boils down

 

[BrannBrew]

I my filter was a mess too. But as I had to buy a false bottom separatly I've also got the parts so it's tubing from the outlet to the false bottom and it'll hopefully pickup from underneath the centre of the false bottom.

Other recent purchases have been a pump and flexible sparge arm. I haven't unboxed and setup it all with the ace as I've had fair few hours spare to sort it out this week.

Two main issues I had from my first use was that it was a bugger to get from ace to fermenter and it took ages to cool to pitch.

The extra thing I got the pump and bits for is reculation not really necessary but nice to have

 

[donchiquon]

Has any one got a good set up profile for Beersmith using the Ace boiler. I cant get my head round it. I need to top up boiler to finish of with around 21 litres in FV. Thanks

I was getting about 3 litres of boil off with the 1600 watt ACE. The max I fitted in on a boil was 27 litres....but I had to watch it carefully!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[donchiquon]

Two main issues I had from my first use was that it was a bugger to get from ace to fermenter and it took ages to cool to pitch.

Did you use an immersion chiller? You should find that constant stirring whilst the chiller is running should have it down to temperature in about 10-15 mins.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Keats]

Looks like the Ace boilers are back in stock on eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221617833736

New digital version is about £60 more than the old one though.