Can a boiler for less than 50 quid be any good ?

[sbond10]

Noticed a few places are selling peco 32 litre one element jobs for less than 50 notes . Are these any good ? Bearing in mind I've brewed a grand total of 3 times this year and maybe get one more out before the years out so it's not going to be hammered once a week kinda thing.
1)Would I be able to go full 20 litre brews in it if I also used a 17 litre pan as my mash tun and used maxi biab method ?

2)How easy are spares to come by ?

3)Do they cope with dme well ?

[Fil]

got a link?? how much of the boiler is plastic? since you have contingency for the slightly lower than ideal volume, seems worth a look if not a punt? for a dead element fix as long as the old one still seals a tesco kettle element thru the side would work if spares are hard or expensive to come by.

[sbond10]

http://www.brewsmarter.co.uk/all-grain- ... t-31-c.asp

Top one in that link there's also one by brewsmarters sister ( I think there related ) company which you build your self for 65 with a basic hop filter included.
As you can see it's all plastic not fantastic but for someone that brews a few times a year it doesn't need to be all stainless. Plus it stops me killing myself trying to bodge wires together and remove thermal cut outs

[Fil]

http://www.brewsmarter.co.uk/all-grain- ... t-31-c.asp

Top one in that link there's also one by brewsmarters sister ( I think there related ) company which you build your self for 65 with a basic hop filter included.
As you can see it's all plastic not fantastic but for someone that brews a few times a year it doesn't need to be all stainless. Plus it stops me killing myself trying to bodge wires together and remove thermal cut outs

50l mango barrel £11 ebay
2 x tesco kettle elements ?£10-12? inflation
drilled out tank connector, compression valve, copper tubeing and fittings ?£15
2 x £shop pack of snaplock food boxes £1


less than £40 and no volume issues

[bob3000]

For a couple of brews a year I can't see any problems. Haven't used one myself but I'm sure some on here have them. I use 2 of the same kind of element for 45l brews and they do a good job.

[sbond10]

Mango s go floppy when heated plus Swmbo wants a premade solution

[Heron1952]

Mango s go floppy when heated plus Swmbo wants a premade solution

Not really and not much, in my experience if you keep the lid on, or the rim as it Fils photo. I used 3 mangos for a year or so before going Shiny

[vacant]

I've got one of those buckets as a FV and it would be fine as a boiler. £14.49 delivered from Bigger Jugs. Two tesco 2.1kW kettle elements will be faster than one 2.4kW and give more control over your rolling boil or getting the volume down. Though it would get to a boil with just one element fitted.

I've had a Waddington & Duval water butt tap on my boiler for almost 70 brews so far. A cheaper look-alike dripped when cold.

So that's around £25, or £30 for more flexible control, if you fit your own elements (easy in plastic - draw a circle, drill holes just inside the perimeter to get most of the plastic out, then finish off with a semi-round file).

My boiler is a 60L similar to this one for £23

[sbond10]

As said I've considered the DIY route but Swmbo says no so although cheaper things usually fail epically for me. I can't have two kettle elements will draw too much juice at once

[Fil]

with the limitations imposed i would give it a go, my own experience of an initial biab brew in a 5gallon to the brim ally burco and the mess i created colour my views on smaller volume boilers, but generally whenever i pipe up with a comment along the lines of 'bit tight on volume' regarding the off the shelf brew kettles many experienced brewers pipe in with served me well comments to counter..

it is what it is, a single element will be slower to hit the boil, but be more than adequate to keep it going nicely,

but as said fitting a 2nd element isnt a big job, and a suitably rated unwound extension cable from a 2nd ring main in the house can power it safely.. if you want to go down that road after a few brews.

but if its the difference between brewing with a slightly overpriced for what it is 32l bucket brewkettle peacefully and dealing with its features against brewing with top notch diy kit with all the bells n whistles but getting asked "You sure its safe?" or "that looks iffy" every 2 mins thru the brewday i would definatly opt for the off the shelf job too

a woman who lets you brew, even with a few conditions imposed cant be all bad

but tbh i would be tempted to start suggesting just where she should shoeshop in future in mild retaliation hehe that new charity shop for example

[sbond10]

I have (as far far as I'm aware) only one fuse on the board for sockets so loading two kettles elements wouldn't be pleasant I don't think.
Do you reckon the thermal cut out has been removed ?

[UKTony]

I have one of the earlier Peco boilers and unless they have changed it is slightly too small for a 23L batch without liquoring back.

The biggest problem is the element connector is not really up to the job as it is an IDC 10A (computer style) and whilst just about ok at 220v nominal if you have an over tolerance supply (ours is 262v at times) the over wattage melts the connector and erodes the rather cheap plating to the terminals. Finding high temperature IDC connectors is difficult as most kettles have switched to the cheaper integrated into the stand version.

[sbond10]

Hopefully they will have changed the connectors hopefully