Electric Brew Rig

[Crusty]

After a bit of trial & error, I have decided to pull the pin on my gas brew rig & going over to electric. I see a few of the CraftBrewer ones being used & am after some opinions on how they go. I plan on one for my HLT, 50lt heated to strike in temp, 70deg, & two for the boil. Once at boiling, would one be sufficient to keep a good rolling boil in my 50lt keggle? I usually only do single, 25lt batches, 35l preboil. Any idea of times to boil or ramping HLT to strike in temps?

these

Cheers

 

[QldKev]

After a bit of trial & error, I have decided to pull the pin on my gas brew rig & going over to electric. I see a few of the CraftBrewer ones being used & am after some opinions on how they go. I plan on one for my HLT, 50lt heated to strike in temp, 70deg, & two for the boil. Once at boiling, would one be sufficient to keep a good rolling boil in my 50lt keggle? I usually only do single, 25lt batches, 35l preboil. Any idea of times to boil or ramping HLT to strike in temps?

these

Cheers

For the ramp times check out my site qldkev.net under homebrew there is a calculator you can plug the numbers into and it will give you the time.

 

[matho]

crusty,

I have a skinny tall style keg for my HLT and I have a 20cm diameter hole cut in the top and it is fitted with a 2200w element out of a kettle, it takes about 45min to get 25l from 16 deg to 68 deg and maybe a bit faster with the lid on. I don't know how long it takes to the boil because i have never tried

cheers steve

 

[Crusty]

For the ramp times check out my site qldkev.net under homebrew there is a calculator you can plug the numbers into and it will give you the time.

Thanks mate,
Worked that one out.

crusty,

I have a skinny tall style keg for my HLT and I have a 20cm diameter hole cut in the top and it is fitted with a 2200w element out of a kettle, it takes about 45min to get 25l from 16 deg to 68 deg and maybe a bit faster with the lid on. I don't know how long it takes to the boil because i have never tried

cheers steve

Thanks Steve.
When getting the gear for my brew rig, I based everything on sanke kegs & when deciding on the taller, slimmer kegs, I feel I have mounted my burners a tad high. 90mm from the tips of my 23jet Mongolian's to the bottom of the keggles. I have a bit too much overthrow from the burners for my liking even when throttled back. My control box gets a bit warm with the current setup so not 100% happy with it. Too much friggin around to try to tame the flames as such so probably easier to mount a 2200watt element in the HLT & maybe just stick with gas for the boil. A little overthrow at that end is not important.
Cheers

 

[spog]

crusty,i reckon your suggestion about going electric with the HLT,and keeping gas for your boiler is a smart way to go.
you are having "issues" with gas but have a gas fired setup,so it seems logical to me that you make use of the gas on the boiler, because you dont need to be so concerned with temp control on a boiler,a rolling boil is all that is needed (you know this anyway just threw it in ) .......cheers......spog.............

 

[Crusty]

Round & round we go.
I rang my electrician tonight & we have decided to take my control box off the mount which fortunately is bolted via a bracket to my stand & mount the control box on the wall. On brewday, simply wheel the brew stand to the control box & plug it all in when ready to go. The only small drama I was worried about is the MashMaster controller's temp probe was hard wired to my control box. The electrician is going to fit a male plug on the lead & I can simply connect / disconnect the lead from the control box when finished & wheel it away. The PID has a quick release mount so no problems there.
So the gas is back on. :kooi: