All,

I've grown tired of having to fill propane tanks and being limited by weather. I'm looking at a custom Spike 15 gallon kettle with triclamp ports for the element, 5500w ripple, and a Blichmann Brewcommander for the controller and paying for a NEMA 14-30 conversion to avoid an the need for an adapter to fit my receptacle. I'm planning to pick up a false bottom with adjustable legs from Brewers hardware to keep my bag away from the heat source. I'll also be wiring in a GFCI breaker with 10 gauge 4 conductor wire to make sure everything is safe and up to code. Can anyone think of something I'm missing?

Cheers,
Tony

Well it didn't turn out as planned and as most people's situations these days things changed. I did end up going electric and picked up a 1800w induction cooktop. It's currently mashing a pale ale I'm going to pitch Imperials Kveik, Loki, and ferment at 86F, about 30C I think. So far so good though.

Cheers
Tony

@Scott That brew day itself went pretty well. I did have to keep the lid partially on to keep the boil going and only boiled off .5gal/1.893L per hour. I do plan on adding insulation to see if it will allow me to remove the lid. Sadly though I lost that batch to a faulty dump valve. It's the first brew I've lost and the wife was not too happy it was all over the carpet. Can't fault the induction cooktop though. The one issue I did have on my second batch is at around 75 minutes into the boil it automatically shutoff. I was able to simply unplug and plug it back in and keep it going.

Cheers
Tony

Just thought I'd update this post as I've done a few batches with this system now. Starting with hot tap water helps reduce the time needed to get to mash temps although 120v/1800w, using an avalon bay induction cooktop, on a kettle without insulation will need the lid at least partially on to get maintain a boil. On the topic of insulation I just wrapped my kettle with reflectix, foil bubble wrap, and in a water test with 4.2 gallons/15.8L it took 35 mins to go from 77F or 20C to 152F or 66.7C and another 39 mins to reach a boil with two layers of reflectix. I'm brewing in a 5.5 gal/20.8L kettle and this represents my typical TWN from Biabacus with a 1.055 OG targeting 2.5G/9.4L into the fermenter. Prior to insulation I was getting around .5G/1.89L boiloff during an hour long boil so I'm sure this will need to be adjusted with the addition of insulation. The two added layers of reflectix allowed for a gentle boil with the lid off which was previously not possible even in hot summer weather so I will plan to put together a recipe and record new numbers during a test brew this weekend and adding an additional layer to help speed up transition times and achieve a stronger boil. The other thing to watch out for if you are considering switching over is you will need to adjust your grain bill up to account for the lower boil off rate. This oversight resulted in some lower OG beers initially but thankfully there is a section in Biabacus to account for this. I cannot stress the need to record your losses at every step of the brewing process to get the most out of any brewing software. Also, as a side note I'm really loving these kviek strains. If you don't want a ton of yeast character but still get the benefits of warm fermentation I'd recommend Lallemand's Voss strain, just don't forget that kviek needs double the amount of yeast nutrient than you would otherwise use for traditional yeast to support fermentation at lower pitch rates/higher temperature. I find that Imperial Organics Loki, while being a voss strain, produces more citrus flavors. Just my experience ymmv.

Tony

Alright well I needed to use some grain and couldn't wait to test drive the induction burner with the kettle insulated. From mash temp to a boil to exactly 30 minutes with almost 3.5g/13.2l of wort. Not exactly matching theoretical times based on pure math but there are environmental factors to consider. The boil doesn't appear any stronger than my water test but it is maintaining it without the lid now so I'll take it. Without getting a bigger bag I also don't think a fourth layer is possible and maybe not even beneficial. I tried to attach a photo of the boil vigor for reference but the file size was too large.

Cheers
Tony