Whilst weighing out my grains for my upcoming brew i decided i'd give the badly crushed MO i have a bit of a pulse in my food processor. As i've been getting rubbish efficiency with it i figured a little pulse in the food processor may help a bit. So i added about a kilo extra MO to the recipe. I then added a few cups to my food processor and gave it a quick pulse. This done i unplugged the food processor and without thinking plugged the power supply lead back into the element of my HLT. Poured a beer and came back inside. :nono: I then cooked dinner and had a few pints for training.
A few minutes ago i wandered back out to the brewery to get some more beer and could smell a funny plasticy melting smell. I looked over at the brewery and my HLT was glowing orange! :shock: I quickly shut off the power and cursed a fair bit. I removed the HLT from the shelf and it was a bit 'soft' to say the least. The lid had melted and the thermometer had fallen in breaking. The element had melted a fair amount of anything near it. Meaning i now have a brewery minus a HLT. It would have been a lot worse if the HLT didn't have 15L of water in it. :whistle:
Thankfully i'm in 'training' and therefore returned to the brewery about 1 pint earlier than normal. Another 5 minutes and it would have caused a fire i reckon. I wondered why the lights were flickering a bit tonight?
Pic's...
So i no longer have an HLT :cry:
Brewzone-how quick could you(or anyone else for that matter) get me a 80L stockpot?
I've mailed the guy over here who quoted me for my brewery and asked how soon he could make the 80L kettle. Every cloud has a silver lining i guess. But it means i'll not be brewing for a while. :cry: :cry: :cry:
What a twonk :rofl: ....but your in esteemed company MEB :shock:
I regularly pump water from the HLT forgetting to turn the PID controlled element off that heats it :shock:
If I hear the hiss of the element getting high and dry, all's well...but occaisionally it's the burning smell that lets me know
A float switch would sort that out, but I can't be arsed :P
I did that for 14 months, it was a pita but not an insurmountable problem, you could heat your sparge water up and transfer it to another vessel such as a coolbox fitted with a tap, then sparge directly into your boiler again :)
nah mate, it's a piece of **** using a boiler as a HLT... that's all i've ever known! i've never had (and still dont) have a dedicated HLT.
just fill your boiler to the brim with liquor ... dough in (i'm assuming you've doughed in enough times to now know your water to grain ratio by looking... or failing that stick a marker pen line on your boiler where X amount of litres is required)... then fill your boiler up with more water again for the sparge and bring it to mash out temp... and collect the runnings in fermenters.
My deposit is winging it's way to Earl. Two weeks for my 70L SS kettle, domed bottom etc. Counting the minutes already. :party:
Perhaps i should 'accidently' melt my boiler too? :hmm:
My kettle specs:Kettle has total vol of 70 litres with a slightly domed base to allow for manual stiring to give a whirlpool effect . There is an outlet in the cylinder just above the weld seam for the domed base to allow trub free runnings and a perferated screen to catch the hops. The lid will have a hole 100mm diameter with a sliding cover for hop additions and to allow steam out. There will be no bottom outlet fitted reducing the chances of getting burnt flavours in your beer which is highly likely with a outlet running from the bottom.
Two weeks is going to feel like forever. It's only been a day and it already feels like a week. Reminds me of how i used to be with the weeks running up to christmas when i was a lad.
I've had a nice email from Earl yesterday. Your gonna like this guys...
Complete 50L system. This is what i'll be getting asap as funds allow. Camera funds are on hold, dive kit is being rummaged through and everything i don't need i'm selling. :thumb: I have a spare kidney if anyone's interested? Also a brain-hardly used but slightly beer fuggled, best offer secures... :lol: I want that system and i want it NOW! Especially the conical-look at it. How could you not want it??? I've almost hosed my pants over that pic. Kylie or Danni? Sod off you aussie mingers-i'm after the conical. :lol:
and this is MY kettle so far...
It looks very tidy from the pic's and as Earl comes from recommendations from the brewing forums here in NZ i reckon the quality will be right up there. He was great with answering all my questions and had many recommendations of his own.
I was excited just thinking about getting my kettle. Now i've seen it being built i won't be able to sleep. Better get some beers down me for the purpose of becoming unconscious. Rather than laying in bed with a woody just thinking of the shiney... :lol:
I will photograph all the welds, taps etc in full when it arrives to give you an idea of the quality. And to show off a little.
SWMBO is buying me this for my birthday pressie. I suddenly love her loads. :rofl: