Sparge water heating.

[Crappyfish]

Im looking at a reasonable way to heat sparge water for a Brewzilla. Ive seen this on ebay and wondered if this is a reasonable way to go price/functionality?

20litre Electric Urn £54.00

Very interested in what current brewzilla (or similar) use.

cheers

buddsy

Did you get a sparge boiler. I have the same issue and found a 10l klarstein adjustable temperature water boiler. Sorry its a late reply I just remember reading this thread ages ago

 

[chillipickle]

It is certainly worth checking out freeads and gumtree for urns.I managed to pick a 20ltr buffalo urn up for £30 the other day.Pretty much unused not a mark on it.

 

[Gerryjo]

I use a 30l burco boiler for my sparge water.

- What holds much holds little. So if you don't need 30l, don't heat 30l
- I heat extra and use it for cleaning as I go
- I can use the kettle to catch the run-off water from the cooler, again used for cleaning
- I can make tea for a lot of people if I need to

The one you linked has a sightglass which I wish I had (also wishing I had one on the Grainfather). However, looks like that tap might be hard to replace if you wanted to (I replaced mine with a proper ball valve tap).

Additional consideration is just making sure you have enough current available on the circuit to have both the brewzilla boiking (1900w) and the sparge water heater heating (look like the one you linked is 1300w). That's more than a 13A draw there, so would need to be careful

The contacts on the socket faceplate are rated to around 20amps on each outlet for safety provided they are CE or kitemark on the unit. The portable appliance which they are designed for have a maximum of 13amp fuse rating at 250v due to the fluctuating output for power plants in different areas with high demand especially in peak times.
I have a 2.5kw burco and a 1.5kw Swan both running though only a short period together and no damage to the socket.
But again you can't be too careful if you don't know.

 

[DocAnna]

I have a brewzilla/Robobrew and use a 20 litre stick pot on a simple portable induction hob. This has the advantage of being easy to tidy away and I use the pot to put the grain basket in after the sparge which stops it dripping all over the floor.

The induction hob doesn’t take up much space and can be packed away after use, is super efficient and you can get a decent one for under £40 on Amazon.

Anna

 

[Crappyfish]

Yeah weird the klarstein one is rated at 920 Watts which seems low but it boils 10 litres of water which is fine as I only sparge with about 7 or 8. Like the idea about boiling extra for cleaning.

 

[buddsy]

Cheers for the replies friends!

I bought the 20l unit as in first post from ebay. £54.00 free P&P

Seems pretty good although Ive not tried it for sparging yet.

buddsy

 

[Kveik Freak]

Im looking at a reasonable way to heat sparge water for a Brewzilla. Ive seen this on ebay and wondered if this is a reasonable way to go price/functionality?

20litre Electric Urn £54.00

Very interested in what current brewzilla (or similar) use.

cheers

buddsy

Everybody and their auntie seems to have been having a clear out during lockdown, I've seen catering size electric tea urns going on facebook marketplace and gumtree for £20-30! I've seen some real bargains, could be worth a look where you are.

 

[Crappyfish]

Everybody and their auntie seems to have been having a clear out during lockdown, I've seen catering size electric tea urns going on facebook marketplace and gumtree for £20-30! I've seen some real bargains, could be worth a look where you are.

Cheers mate I picked one up from Hi fi Tower it's a klarstein for 37 quid it is a B grade but I can always send it back for free if it's a bit crap.

 

[Kveik Freak]

Cheers mate I picked one up from Hi fi Tower it's a klarstein for 37 quid it is a B grade but I can always send it back for free if it's a bit crap.

Still sounds like a bargain. Good for you!

 

[buddsy]

A quick update from me. I've used my boiler 2 times so far. I added a £5 temp gauge. The built in dial seems to run about 10deg C too hot. On a brew day Ive filled it with the full 20 litres and adjusted the whole 20 litres of water. Each time I've had to top up with more water than expected so been very pleased I had 20 litres of treated water ready to go. I set the temp a bit lower then adjust closer to sparg time to 75 deg. Seem to worked out well so far.

The gauge I fitted leaked but I found a rubber o ring sorted it.

buddsy