Burner Vs Element

[RobW]

Has anyone seen a practical wood fired setup? Short of a campfire with a kettle on it, I wonder if there's a cleaner way to do it?


http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Gear/Phi...shBrewing.shtml

 

[~MikE]

hey Blackfish, yeah, if i had NG at my place, i'd have used that in my brewery over electric. for me the main thing was not having to get gas bottle refills. the savings was an added sizable bonus.

 

[Siborg]

With the elements I'm using, I whack two of em in the boiler until it reaches the boil and pull one out. I have to run them on seperate circuits, but I have a long ext cord so its no biggie.

I find one of these elements is enough to maintain a nice rolling boil without boiling over. When I use them for my HLT, basic acquirium temp controller off ebay for approx $40 delivered works fine. The only thing with them is you need to spend a little on a box and wiring if you can't do so yourself, so it may be easier to by a temp mate from C'brewer if they sell them ready to go (can't remember if they sell in box).

I've been getting by with just one for my boiler, it just takes a little longer to bring to the boil. Recently got another one from BeerBelly for $50.. works a treat!

 

[yardy]

Yardy, you must be deaf!

pardon...



seriously it's not that loud, i work with them often (they're a bit noisy using them in a confined space) but in the shed it's not a problem.

I've seen videos of the rambos etc and they seem a lot louder to me.


heats 40 litres in uninsulated HLT @ 2*C a minute, (22*C ambient temp of bore water.)

cheers

Dave

 

[roller997]

Another couple of positive points for using electricity rather than gas to heat HLT or boil the kettle are:
1. It is much easier to insulate the vessel, saving on energy as there is no direct heat applied on the outside of the vessel
2. The heat is applied to the water / wort, instead of the outside of a pot which is more energy efficient
3. It would generally considered safer to use electricity than open flames if you intend on brewing inside your house. This is based on the assumption that everything is wired by a professional and there are no leaks that let the liquid contact the power.

I am using a mix of gas and electricity and I am moving to all electric in the near future to avoid the regular re-fills of gas.

The biggest downside is that you need an aweful lot of electrical power to raise temperatures of large volumes quickly. While some burners can scale up from single batch brewing to double batch brewing, with an electric setup, you are likely to need more elements and you might eventually hit the limits of power supplied to your home.

Cheers

Roller

 

[MarkBastard]

SS sheathed element

this is pertinent to my interests

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Putting an element on a timer is a great time saver on brew days

I usually set mine to have water at mash in temps when I wake up or get home from work - whichever the case may be

Cheers