How
to Build an Electric Homebrewing Heatstick
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Parts Required: |
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Notes: |
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Mark the ground nut hole at the threaded end of the drain pipe |
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Thread power cord into pipe and attach green ground wire to brass ground nut |
03/08/07 - IGNORE the aquarium silicone pictured here. Apply
thick layer of J-B Weld Epoxy to completely coat the entire base of
the element. Also completely coat the pipe's inside ground wire connection.
I used a wooden tongue depressor to spread the epoxy inside the pipe
and on the element. |
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03/08/07 - A good seal is absolutely critical to success and long-term reliability! My first pair of sticks used aquarium silicone to seal them. The silicone failed after about two dozen uses or less: the sticks started leaking and thus instantly popped my GFCI outlets. Then I poured Alumalite plastic casting resin inside the pipes to completely encapsulate the contacts (on top of the old silicone - not exactly ideal). One stick worked great for about two more years, while the other stick was consistently flaky, popping the GFCI outlet about half way through a boil. Just before I wrote this update, both sticks completely died. When I ripped them open, I discovered the first (original) layer of aquarium silicone had failed and allowed wort to get inside and create a short. Nothing would seal these sticks at this point so they had to be completely rebuilt, including new elements and a new right angle drain pipe - as the Alumalite was not about to come out of the right angle pipe elbow! A trip to Schmo Depot and $60 later - my two new sticks use J-B Weld for the inside contact encapsulate and sealant. As mentioned above, I used a wooden tongue depressor to spread a thick coating on the entire base of the elements, then I spread as much epoxy on as possible before screwing the elements down on to the drain pipes. J-B Weld is too thick to pour in from the top of the pipes like I had done with Alumalite, so I really wanted to get as much epoxy in there as possible to encapsulate the entire element base from the inside. Time will tell if this revision improves the sticks long-term reliability. FWIW: I know of at least one homebrewer who is using electrical-grade epoxy as the encapsulate with good success. Others have reported good success using just high-temperature automotive RTV silicone, like Permatex Ultra BLue Gasket Maker. If you use another compound to seal your sticks and experience good long-term success with it, please e-mail me and let me know what you use and I'll add it here. There's probably many products that will work well. |
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Thread plastic end-screw and compression ring onto metal drain tube |
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Remove plastic shroud from plug (cord is too large) and thread cord through end of plug |
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Attach wires the plug - BE SURE green wire is attached to ground prong!!! |
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Brewing with Heatsticks I have found heatsticks to be very versatile tools that I use to apply heat at virtually all stages of my brewing process. Below are pictures I recently took while brewing a creamy Irish stout and will give you some ideas of where to use a heatstick in your brewery! |
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Maintaining the 150 degree infusion mash temp by stirring with a vertical-element heatstick |
Checking
temp while bringing
wort to boil with two, 2000-watt heatsticks |
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