3 vessel build advice needed

[sirhcjw]

Hello All,
I have started a build of a 3 vessel system.

I am building a full electric system.

My aim is to bottle up 72 long necks ( 54L ) from a batch and I will have a 70L boil kettle.

I am currently building the HLT from an old 50L keg and will be installing the herms coil and a 4500w element.

I was planning to get a 70L mash tun but I have been thinking maybe I could use another 50L keg as my mash tun and after mashing and sparge I could get my 65L pre boil volume and then boil down to about 59L the lose 5L in the fermenter.

Can someone advise if this would be viable or would I need a larger mash tun?

Regards

Chris

 

[droid]

I have a 76ltr mash tun and regularly make 80ltrs finished, albeit *under 5%abv. I also have a keg set-up for smaller batches but have never tried to get more than 44ltrs finished. I'd say it's possible and if you can afford to try it then have a go, otherwise if you're thinking one try, one investment in gear - go the bigger mash-tun.

*your abv will be limited unless you drop the finished volume for bigger abv batches

 

[captain crumpet]

65L in a 70L kettle is going to leave no room for the actual boiling part.

 

[RobinW]

I tried scaling up a recipe in BeerSmith to a 54L batch and with the losses in my system you'd need 79L of water Total, 46L Mash Volume which gives a Pre Boil volume of 64L.

I believe you want Pre Boil + 30% for the boiler so 85L or bigger would be the go there.

 

[sirhcjw]

Great info guys thanks.

Looks like I need to go for 50L HLT, 70L MLT, 95L BK.

I was planning to use a 5500W element in my BK do you think that will be big enough or do I need to look for a 6500W?
To bring the 64L up from mash out to boiling.

 

[RobinW]

You'll need the power circuits to drive those elements.
A standard power point can only supply 10 Amps.
Watts = Amps x Volts and Watts / Volts = Amps.
So
2400watts / 240 volts = 10 Amps.
4800watts / 240 volts = 20 Amps
5500watts / 240 volts = 23 Amps.
6500watts / 240volts = 27 Amps
You'd best get advice from an electrician on what it'll cost to run cables and fuses from the power box for hi current circuits.
Or go with a gas burner.

 

[sirhcjw]

Yes I have my sparky on standby ready to upgrade my mains and install 63A circuit to feed into my brew controler.

I have a raspberry pi based system planned using craftbeerpi software and a bunch of ssr's to do the switching.

Just wondering if the 5500W will be big enough to bring that amount of wort up the the boil or will it take for ever.

 

[wynnum1]

The element you have to look at what type of element it may be better to have 2 elements so as not to burn and have better control.

 

[RobinW]

I really don't know but I've seen others using a 4800 and a 2400 to achieve boil then turning one off once boiling.

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/

 

[sirhcjw]

I will have a boil pid software controled from craftbeerpi so it should switch on and off to keep it at a good boil I would have thought.

Someone correct me if I am wrong here.

I was thinking of using one of these
https://store.brewpi.com/mashing/st...less-steel-ripple-heating-element-5000w-5500w

They say low watt density to prevent scorching.

 

[micka80]

I have a 88 litre pot and I always boil 65l down to 58l for 50l into cubes. I use 2 X 2200 watt elements and have no issue with a good boil, much more power will cause the boil to splash like in my 54 l pot were I have to turn 1 element off for the boil.
More power would be great to get up to temp quicker, 2 of those 5000w ones would be perfect, just turn 1 off when the boil is reached.