I'm trying to make a boiler for brewing beer using a central heating immersion element. I bought a circular brass boss from my local plumbing supplier, but can't grip the boss well enough to tighten. Are there any squarish type boss nuts I could use for this job ? (Obviously the thread part of the boss will have to be circular to screw onto the immersion element thread, but the outer part of this could be non-circular.)
Cheers
Darren
Could you fit the immersion heater into the boss and then use a standard immersion spanner to tighten the boss itself via the element body, or maybe I have not grasped your problem?
Bob
When I tighten the rear end of the element with a spanner, at a certain point, the boss slips (there's nothing to grip it, put up resistance against it... I've tried using an oil filter removal tool, but it won't work).
Cheers
Darren
OK I see what your problem is. Can you solder the boss into the heating vessel? One thing could be a problem. Is you beer going to be tainted by the brass and copper jacket on the immersion heater? I know metal vessel can be problematic in wine making. How about a different approach - a burco boiler or tea urn. Being designed for food/drink use the materials should have been chosen to avoid tainting.
14 Burco hits on eBay at the moment.Good luck
Bob
Would it be an easier job with one of these?:
The vessel is a suitably specified food grade plastic bucket.
I'm not aware of any taint issues. Copper is fairly commonplace in breweries.
Burco and similar stainless steel boilers are far too expensive for what you get... even secondhand. I have considered the Burco type boilers in the past, but I prefer the DIY from scratch approach.
THANKS for your help, but what I'm really looking for is advice on the availability of an alternative boss nut for an immersion element.
If there's none of these available, the other DIY options seem to be : (a) grind two small notches into the boss so I can spanner it somehow; (b) braze the boss so I can get a grip on it. Cheers
Darren
Plastic bucket with an immersion heater in it? I don't fancy that setup at all.
Try an aquarium heater, something like:
cheers, Pete.
I wonder how long it would take to boil 60 litres?
Christian,
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