Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hi folks,

I think I'd like to use the keg boiler I'm building for boiling wort for all grain beer as well as for use as a still boiler.

Anyone else do the same?

It will have a 1" drain, 2 x 2400w elements (exposed to the wort).
Planning on using hop socks to minimise mess on the inside.

Anything else I should take into consideration?

Thanks,

Tenorbrew

I think you might find that boiling an all grain mash
In a narrow necked keg like throwing mentos into coke.

All grain washes that I did even with the top cutoff they will foam up quite a bit. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Im using a t500 boiler for wort and wash bwko with starch conversion via malted grain semi all grain/sugarhead as sugar is still added :handgestures-thumbupleft: with a keg biggest problem I think would be bits of grain left behind from wort and burning. T500 boiler does not have an exposed element..but a bit small 8-}

Grain will not be a problem, as I will be mashing in a 50L esky with a copper manifold, so only nice clear wort will make it in to the boiler.
The more I think of it, the more I am convinced it is a great idea.
If most of the hop residue is contained in a hop sock when I make beer, cleaning won't be too bad, just the protein break from the malt.

I think you need an open kettle to make beer to allow evaporation to remove some unwanted elements.

Using exposed electric elements to boil all grain wort is common place and no problem.
I have run 25L+ and commercial brewhouses of 1200L using elements in direct contact with wort.

Main points (some raised above) are:
Make sure you have plenty of head space for foaming/hot break
Try to avoid excess/any grain carry over from mashing
Ensure you have a hole/chimney at the top large enough to carry the steam produced (100mm for 50L boiler is plenty big enough)
Using all hop types via direct addition is fine. If using a hop sock make sure the bag gets no where near the elements
Clean your elements every now and then with a hot Sodium Percarbonate soak

Happy Brewing! :D
Mud

wynnum1 wrote:I think you need an open kettle to make beer to allow evaporation to remove some unwanted elements.

This :text-+1:
You won't boil off DMS, making the beer sulphury/creamed corn flavours
The top of the boiler will just cause the DMS (and other compounds) to constantly condense and fall back into the boiler

The tank on the right is a 2700L kettle from a commercial beer brewery.
Note the chimney and diameter.
Can't say I've ever tasted any DMS in any beers made using it, even lagers.
Using evap rates of 3-10%/hr still no problems

DMS is normally caused by poor ingredient choices and bad techniques

mudsta wrote:DMS is normally caused by poor ingredient choices and bad techniques

High DMS levels will be present with low kilned malts like Pils malt, not just poor ingredients or techniques

sp0rk wrote:

mudsta wrote:DMS is normally caused by poor ingredient choices and bad techniques

High DMS levels will be present with low kilned malts like Pils malt, not just poor ingredients or techniques

Yes, low EBC kilned malts can contain high levels of DMS.
However I didn't say that it was ONLY caused by poor ingredient choices and bad techniques

Thanks guys.
The keg will have a 4" access/fill port near the top in addition to the 2" ferrule.
Might even rig up a chimney to stick out the window, if I don't end up brewing outside.

I mainly use ale malt, so DMS is less of an issue.

Cheers,

Tenorbrew