Boilers and boiling newb question.

[Cully]

I have my cool box ready to be converted to a mash tun. Next stage is to buy two boilers. I had planned to buy 2x 60 ltr ones from Copper kettle, ready drilled + the elements and bits for the tap. This though would put the cost of each boiler between 80 and 90 quid. I wanted 60 ltr to avoid boil over and because a lot of recipes in the books I have call for 33+ ltrs of total liquor. I have looked at 32 ltr Pico Boilers which are 47 quid each - two for the price of one see? I am wondering though, what do I do if the recipe calls for 35 ltrs of total liquor? Can

a) this be done with a 32 ltr boiler in some way?

b) As I am not dead set on 40 pint brew sessions and would probably prefer to do 30-ish pints at a time. Can the various brewing software have the recipe tweaked to turn a 40 pint recipe in to a 30 pint one which would probably nullify the problem ?

it doesn't matter so much for the second boiler which will be wort only.

[BenB]

Scaling a recipe is dead easy using software like Beersmith. 60L for 30 pints is overkill, I happily brew such lengths in a 50L stainless bucket even with a 17% per hour boil off.... 80-90 ready made sounds quite good if we're talking a stainless boiler because the imported ones from Germany plus elements plus tap would be 50-60... and that involves faffing around with Qmax cutters.

[FUBAR]

It's easily done by just heating your mash liquor , then once you have mashed in add the remaining liquor to heat up while the mash does its magic . That aside in my opinion I would go for the biggest capacity boiler you can afford & accommodate not only for boil overs , but mainly the capability of longer brewlengths if you wish .

[Cully]

Both the 60 and 32 ltr ones I am thinking about are plastic. Copper kettle do the bucket( 60ltr) with all holes cut for 23 quid, then each element would be 27 quid - 70 quid before tap, hop strainer etc. Peco plastic 32l boiler is only 42 quid but only 1 element I believe.

[brewnaboinne]

I'm doing the same as fubar suggests above with a 27L Burco boiler, not much room for boil over mistakes for a 40 pint brew. A 32L boiler should be ideal.

[Fil]

may i suggest cheaper elements? you could get a cumulative 6kw of electrical power using 4 x £5-£6 ebay china 1.5kw elements. Providing a simple pull a plug power control of 25, 50, 75, and 100% options, resulting in a quick heat up and a managed boil. and perhaps even a budget lwd(low watt density) solution as well
search ebay for "1.5kw kettle element"
ok you will have to pay a bit more for extra kettle leads
I used 2 of these elements in a 66l pp bucket hlt, alone not powerful to maintain a rolling boil with 50+l volume and the lid off, but add 1 or 2 more

also the bergland Stainless steel stockpots are now again available to buy in the uk a 50l pot costs circa £50 delivered, though the cost of Qmax punches to make easy holes is a further expense if you cant find a friendly brewbuilder close by with em already..

[Cully]

DIY soltions are out of the question, Fil. Has to be the cheapest option too, which I thought would be plastic. As I am having to brew outdoors, we need a cheap 2m x 2M Gazebo or cook tent as well, all the metalwork for the boilers and Tun, fermenter, bottles, bottling gear, Refractometer, digital thermometer etc etc. I gave every bit of gear away a while back apart from my old Boots crown capper. Looks like 2 Peco's will have to be it. They have one 2.4kw element as far as I can tell. 42 quid.