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Wade E

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here is the start of my electric Hot Liquor Tun for making beer. It is a Target 32 quart Igloo cooler for $19.86. I am adding a 1500 watt hot water heater element, a ball valve for draining into Mash Lauter Tun in which the grains steep in. I am also adding a temp gauge in it to make sure I get it up to temp and as a check that my electric temp control unit is accurate. First I had to cut the handle down as it would protrude with where the ball valve and thermo will be located. I used my chop saw for this. Next I needed to locate a spot where I can safely drill through the cooler at its lowest point but still have room for a big washer inside the cooler and the O ring that seals it. I used a 7/8" hole saw for this. Next I drilled a 3/8' hole for where the bulkhead goes through that holds the thermo . I wanted to also keep this low for small grain bills that dont require much water. I was going to also do the hole for the heating element tonight also until I realized that my holesaw set skipped from 1 1/8" - 1 3/8" which of course I needed 1 1/4"!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :re:po:m Oh well, guess I have to go grab one of those at work tomorrow if we have 1 or back to Home Cheapo! More to follow in the next few days.
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Wade,
I know nothing about making beer, but it looks really nice! If/when I get into beer I'm sure I'm going to want/need one. :)
 
Looks good. I'm looking forward to seeing more detail on how you hook up the electric heating element. Is it going to require 220?
 
Whenever I upgrade my brewery, I would love to make it electric so I can brew inside.
 
Okay, did a little more work to it today. Brought home the 1 1/4" hole saw that was in my toolbox at work by the way. First I locared where it had to be to clear the angled bottom of the cooler but keep it as low as possible. I then drilled a 2" hole to clear the fixture that will encase the outside of the water heater element which is a PVC endcap, then I drilled the actual hole where the heating element goes. The heating element comes with a rubber seal for installing in w ater heater but you have to add one on the inside also which i found a silicone gasket at Home Depot in the sink repair area. You also have to get a pvc bushing and cut everything after the hex part off to use it as the nut on the inside of the heating element. I will contnue this saga in a few daus when I get some electrical fittings, 1 for the PVC cap that the heating elemnt wire will run through and another for my Johnson digital temp. controller.
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Wired up the temp unit today and picked up the copper for the grounding washer.
 
Its done now. I couldnt find a sheet of copper that was worth buying for the little grounding washer that I needed so I bought a newel post angled cap for $2.34, cut the angled ends and then pounded it flat. I then pulled oy mu 1 1/4" hole saw and drilled a hole in it making sure there was enough room at one point to leave a tab for the ground wire. here is the end result of this and this little part is very important to this project if you anything about electricity!:sh
This copper washer goes in between the gasket and the heating element to ground everything.
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I then drilled a hole through the PVc end cap and attached a wire clamp to it so that the wires wouldnt be exposed that connect to the heater element. I finished connecting the wires, drilled a small hole through the cooler for the temp probe and little eye hook to keep the probe out of harms way of the heater element. I also soldered a few pcs of copper with an elbow so that I could get all the water out of the cooler(Dip Tube). Thats it. Its a little bit of work but way cheaper then buying 1 and building its mostly fun. Ill test it later as I want to do some work to the keggle now.
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