Quick HLT heating and external wort boiling (Calandria?)

[Bionicmunky]

Been mulling this one over for a while.

I noticed ADMs RIMS system on Jims and thought it would be a nice solution.

However, after I got one of the Willis immersion heaters the cartridge heater I used for my RIMS system came up at a bargain price.

So I now have one of these laying about:

I'm wondering if I could use it as an external boiler for the copper, If I set it up vertically and allow it to draw from a dedicated port on the bottom of the copper, the boiling action in theory should recirc it al la a Calandria without needing a pump, should be relatively easy to clean and will use only 3kw as opposed to my current 8kw burner. I should also be able to cut down on boil times as utilisation would be upped due to better nucleation <sp?> whilst also reducing evaporation.

Same for the HLT which currently has 2x 3kw elements, the recirc should make heating far more efficient.

What do you guys think?

J

 

[Smod]

Sounds good.

I was thinking about something similar a while back. Heating the wort as it goes from mashtun to boiler via some kind of heat exchanger so the boiler reaches temp sooner. Same for cold water going into the HLT. It'd be the same as a domestic combi boiler. As you have the kit why not try it out.

I'm sure it'll work.

:thumb: :thumb:

 

[Springer]

Remember its all about power input and flow rate, combi boilers are about 30 kw these days, old fashioned electric showers at 6kw didn't put much water out, you had to run around to get wet unless you were a big un.

S

 

[Aleman]

It will be fine until the hops plug the intake / outlet

If you use pellets you may be fine . . . . . I would worry about wort caramelisation as you may not get the circulation rate you want. . . . I've thought about adding a 4" pipe round the element in my femtobrewery with a mushroomed top to act as a calandria . . . but then I'm happy with things at the moment (apart from the RIMS recirc Rate ) so will leave it alone