Help - Brewing Catastrophe

[urbanvet]

Today could not get worse. This was to a be a big brewing weekend - I'm brewing for a wedding in 2 months and needed to get five 25l brews on this weekend: one tonight, two tomorrow and two Sunday. I left for work this morning with the boiler filled and plugged in (an Electrim Plastic 23l affair). Phoned the wife before setting off home and arrived just as the water got to strike temp. Happy days. Flicked the plug switch off, mashed in and pulled a Jenning's Cumberland (dry hopped with fuggles). Bang! WTF? I had switched off the wrong plug (the STC1000 to the fermentation freezer). The Electrim was glowing red and had melted through the bin side and base. My back up element has decided to not work either, so I'm on the stove top again for the first time in 10 years.

£80 f**kin' quid down the drain. Every cloud has a silver lining though and it is time to go shiney. Problem is I haven't the time, tools or knowhow to build my own. Money is a bit tight too. Can I do better than H&G 50l at £140 delivered? NB I want to step up to 50l so I don't have to brew 5 times in a weekend!

[Kev888]

Oops, sorry to hear about that

For shiny, I think you may struggle to get much lower than hop and grape's economy range without 'doing it yourself', but the malt miller does similar pots at similar prices that may widen your choice. He offers hole-cutting services taps and hop stoppers, but if you wanted to go electric you'd need to get and fit your own elements (like these), and leads (like these).

People have picked up well priced tea urns and general-purpose boilers but usually not this big and often needing thermostats bypassed, I'm not sure if any fit the bill for you off the shelf but I'm sure someone will say if any do.

Cheers
kev

[jimp2003]

Is there anyone in your area who could lend you some equipment?

[darkonnis]

I got a 26L swan boiler for £50 and a 35L buffalo for £82 both delivered courtesy of ebay. The swan was off a resale merchant (like nesbits but not nesbits), buffalo off some chap (nesbits wanted £5 more for 5L smaller) I appreciate this isn't mega helpful as its not the size you wanted. It can be done however. Buffalo's definitely dont need the thermo bypassing (9/10 on the thermostat is marked as constant boil) and i dont think burco's need it either.
Where are you based? I bet you there are a few lads on here who would gladly give you a hand getting it sorted in time in exchange for a few pints of your next batch.
How long do you have (2 months yes but, 3 days to make, 10 days rushed fermentation/secondary, conditioning time? need all the time you can get by on less?)
Reason i ask is, thats expensive. French ebay (marmite is the username) is much cheaper and if you email and ask they WILL ship to the UK no problem, barneeys set up is about somewhere and it is mint. You could consider asking and seeing if someone on here could do the DIY bit for you to help you out. If money and time are tight you need to work out which is tighter and just run with it, it would just be a shame for you to pay a fortune when you could ask someone local for a bit of help!

[urbanvet]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Given the time pressure I have ordered a 30l PP bin and element from Copper Kettle (£38 including holes cut - bargain) and I'll brew evenings this week. A few late nights and I shouldn't be behind schedule. As much as I would like to step up to 50l now, I want to spend some time planning the set up rather than jump in now with something that may not be suitable. Although given the price I would consider two parallel 25l systems...

[darkonnis]

Ordering from the french ebay site as i said before would make it significantly cheaper.
50L pot £40
50L Insulated pot (mashtun) £75
98L steel pot £52
80L Insulated pot (Mashtun) £112

So for a £200 you could have a full 50L stainless set up then probably another £100 or less for filters, pipes, taps, elements etc
And for another £50 you could go all in and have a 100L set up.
Obviously with the time you have, this isn't an option but something to consider for the future btw google chrome auto translates, which makes using french ebay very easy