Other Heating Ideas?

[humble_servant7]

I'm just now contemplating that the 24-gallon pot I am soon to be ordering MAY not fit on my stovetop seeing that I have a vent hood over it that limits available size capabilities.

So does anyone have another suggestion as to how I can heat my milk/cheese up in another device of sorts-- because I dont thinik the stove will work.

[linuxboy]

A good solution would be to buy a standalone propane or natural gas burner, like the ones used for the turkey fryer kits.

http://www.perfectbrewingsupply.com/images/banjoburner.jpg

Craigslist is a good source. I bought a heavy duty burner a long time ago for doing 15 gal brewing batches. I get a boil in about half an hour, so the BTU is way overkill for cheese. It should work nicely for a 24 gal pot.

[Cheese Head]

humble, here's a link to Wayne's solution for heating his stockpot vat.

[DeejayDebi]

I had this idea today that a 60 or 80 quart Hobart mixing bowl would make a nice cheese vat. Running copper tubing around it similar to a wort chiller but for heat and some sort of sleeve around that you could build a nice vat. Anybody got an extra $338.08 ?

[humble_servant7]

A good solution would be to buy a standalone propane or natural gas burner, like the ones used for the turkey fryer kits.

http://www.perfectbrewingsupply.com/images/banjoburner.jpg

Craigslist is a good source. I bought a heavy duty burner a long time ago for doing 15 gal brewing batches. I get a boil in about half an hour, so the BTU is way overkill for cheese. It should work nicely for a 24 gal pot.

I'm loving Linuxboy's solution.

What do you guys think of this?

A portable Butane Stove that I can just sit on the counter-top?:
http://www.wasserstrom.com/restaurant-supplies-equipment/Product_900459

[linuxboy]

Something like that would work well, assuming it was sturdy enough to support the weight. That's something like 200 lbs if the pot is full of milk. You may want to consider another fuel source, though. A natural gas pipe is easy to extend and use a flex hose for the hookup, or you can use cheap 1-lb propane cylinders if you want something portable. Butane burns hot, but I think it's rather expensive compared to propane.

[humble_servant7]

I'm sorry guys-- I so so so DID NOT mean to say 24-gallon pot.

I was thinking of "quarts" when I typed "gallons"-- so forgive me-- HYUGE mistake on my part.

I meant 24-QUART/6-GALLON pot.

Again-- sorry guys

[DeejayDebi]

I do that sometimes too. It happens! 

[wharris]

Awww,  you got my hopes up that someone else was working with a 100qt pot.

[wharris]

Actually, this thread made me re-visit a thought I have had for a while....



How nice would that be....

[Majoofi]

very cool. Of course you'd have to do some extensive work to heat it, and bold it to the floor or something.

[wharris]

That kettle has a built-in steam jacket,  and yeah, I would bolt it to the floor. 

Of course now I would need install a small boiler in the house....

(It never ends....)

[DeejayDebi]

Well there's always those kadova moulds ...

[humble_servant7]

Just to address a thought I had this morning.

Does anyone have/know the ratio/scale for finding out how much heat one would need for their water bath in order to make the milk increase by 2degrees per every minute-- or however cheese manufacturers tell you how long it should be properly heated by whatever time to degree increments in order to ensure a good curd set?

[wharris]

I found a formula for calculating the wattage required for heating elements.

Basically you need to figure out the total gallons of liquid you are trying to heat. The amount you are trying to heat it. and the timeframe in which you want to do that.


So, for example, if you had a 15 gallon water bath, you are taking your water bathwater from 50deg to 80deg (30deg travel), in 30minutes, it  works out like this:
[(15x30)/(372@.5)]x1000=
[450/186]X1000=
2.41x1000=
2400 watts