"I was quite certain that I would have a funny story before I even had a chance to distill my first batch. I purchased a 1500w cadco / broil king burner and it tells you in the manual to heat it on high for 10 mins without any pot to allow the coating to seal properly.

I set it up in the basement (its winter) where I intended to do my initial water boil test for the HC2.... well, I turned it on, went upstairs for about 4 mins and upon returning found my basement filled with some funky white smoke... god knows what third appendage I will be growing in the following months :)

I turned off the burner for fear of something gone wrong and not sure if I should attempt to heat it for the remaining 6 mins or to just start using it as normal."

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I didn't read my info that came with the hot plate real well but I had it in the garage and it smoked it up pretty good. Re-read the instructions and it says it will smoke some and to do the initial burn off outside. Now we both know :)

If you use it before burning off the protective coating you will put a funky residue on your cooker. Burn it all off before using it."

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That sounds like a Southern thing :) I can almost smell it ."

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If I was using a hot plate with a keg I'd have to shave twice before I got the heads off :) I'm satisfied with the Brewhaus HC for my purposes. The 1500 watt hot plate gets my heads off in one hour and 35 minutes from a cold start and that is good from what I was used too."