Hlt Options

[woodmac66]

Guys I am looking for some opinions ans direction on the best way forward on a HLT and Power supply.
I currently have a Keggle with a 2000W element but want to increase my heated water supply to a 70 litre vessel.Stainless Steel.
I would like to know eithe 2x 2400W or 1x 3600W and what sort of boil time I would be looking at.
I have 3 Phase available and would like to know if I should go down that line or stick with say 30 AMP.
Also want to add a Herms to my setup so would it be a good option to add a heap of copper coil to the HLT in place of the herms if I had the ramp speed or leave the vessels seperate.
I am not wedded to any option just want to make the best decision, so if you have ideas happy to hear them.
I just want the water hot Quickly.

I have read a heap of individual topics on these subjects but feel I am going round in circles .
Have added a piccy of my setup basically 50 Litre TUN and 70 Litre Kettle

Cheers Guys !



Woody

 

[raven19]

That brewery is so hot! B) - sorry distracted from your Q.

My best recommendation would be to keep your 2000W element - put that into the new HLT, and simply purchase an over the side immersion heater. They can be used in so many different applications, are portable and need no welding, etc.

 

[Pete2501]

Beer pr0n.

 

[woodmac66]

That brewery is so hot! B) - sorry distracted from your Q.

My best recommendation would be to keep your 2000W element - put that into the new HLT, and simply purchase an over the side immersion heater. They can be used in so many different applications, are portable and need no welding, etc.

Thanks Raven , I am going to have to address the power issue anyway once I go Herms,.
Just want to know the best way to go about it and any drawbacks if any.
Then would probably sell the keggle.

 

[Screwtop]

Thanks Raven , I am going to have to address the power issue anyway once I go Herms,.
Just want to know the best way to go about it and any drawbacks if any.
Then would probably sell the keggle.

Like all things brewing.....................it depends.

Do you want to start brewing by running your water in the morning and having it at temp within an hr. With my system an 85L HLT I use an 1800W element. Because I use HERMS I only need strike water of 50. Draw the water the night before and set the timer to start heating at 3.30am. Wake up at 5am (summer) and the water is ready, dough in and set the HERMS to sacch temp, then go off and make a coffee. After 20 min go back to the brewery set the HLT temp for the remaining (sparge) water to 80 and check to see if the mash is up to temp. If the mash is at temp I have some breakfast while mashing............etc......etc get the pic.

I don't need a larger element for my process using my equipment. Depends on how you want to do things really. Nice rig by the way.

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[woodmac66]

Like all things brewing.....................it depends.

Do you want to start brewing by running your water in the morning and having it at temp within an hr. With my system an 85L HLT I use an 1800W element. Because I use HERMS I only need strike water of 50. Draw the water the night before and set the timer to start heating at 3.30am. Wake up at 5am (summer) and the water is ready, dough in and set the HERMS to sacch temp, then go off and make a coffee. After 20 min go back to the brewery set the HLT temp for the remaining (sparge) water to 80 and check to see if the mash is up to temp. If the mash is at temp I have some breakfast while mashing............etc......etc get the pic.

I don't need a larger element for my process using my equipment. Depends on how you want to do things really. Nice rig by the way.

Cheers,


Screwy

Thats my dilema Screwy!
I thought that I would stay with what I have and move on to Herms next But the more I read about Herms setups the more I get confused about the best way to go!
So due to not knowing the best way to go with Herms neither I thought I would post this and look to the best path to give me the most flexibilty long term.
So is abigger water mass in a herms better by incorporating it in the HLT or to seperate the 2 items>?

 

[woodmac66]

Can anyone help with whether I should go 3 Phase.??

 

[Screwtop]

Can anyone help with whether I should go 3 Phase.??

A few brewers use a coil in their HLT for their HERMS HE. Maybe some would like to comment on their experience using this arrangement. I went for a separate vessel for the HE so that I could have sparge water in the HLT ready at 80C without the need to vary the temp. The small amount of water in the HE vessel can be at the required temp within about 15 min. For fast ramp speed, the formula is less water, more piping, larger element. Lots of brewers use a SS pot around 10L with a 6M coil of half inch copper tubing heated using a 2200W jug element out of a $10 jug.

IMO three phase is overkill.

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[woodmac66]

Lots of brewers use a SS pot around 10L with a 6M coil of half inch copper tubing heated using a 2200W jug element out of a $10 jug.

Screwy is this what you have that gets you to Mash temp in 15 min?

How fast are you recirculating ? e.g 1/2 or full open on the Ball Valve


Woody

 

[sav]

Can anyone help with whether I should go 3 Phase.??

It depends , like screwy said if you go HERMS coil in your HLT I would say yes 2 3phase cause its alot of volume of water 2 heat but if you go a 11lt pot like I did than I would say know 2 3phase power,
all that I have is a jug element in my HLT that is 50lts,gets to it about 50deg in 30 min and let the HERMS do the rest,when mashing the hlt is on for another 30min for mash out,It is all on 10amp and my controller is on the same power point.
Since I have went to HERMS I will confirm that I am not heating as much now to when I was batch sparging cause I had to heat so much water.This is just my way but it has taking the stress out of worrying about having enough hot water for the sparge.
cheers sav

 

[woodmac66]

It depends , like screwy said if you go HERMS coil in your HLT I would say yes 2 3phase cause its alot of volume of water 2 heat but if you go a 11lt pot like I did than I would say know 2 3phase power,
all that I have is a jug element in my HLT that is 50lts,gets to it about 50deg in 30 min and let the HERMS do the rest,when mashing the hlt is on for another 30min for mash out,It is all on 10amp and my controller is on the same power point.
Since I have went to HERMS I will confirm that I am not heating as much now to when I was batch sparging cause I had to heat so much water.This is just my way but it has taking the stress out of worrying about having enough hot water for the sparge.
cheers sav

Thanks Sav ,
So you basically only use the Herms to get to temp from protein rest o Mash Temp!
So you don't continue to recirculate through the mash... HLT is getting Sparge water ready and then you use the HE to get to Mash out then Sparge.

 

[sav]

Thanks Sav ,
So you basically only use the Herms to get to temp from protein rest o Mash Temp!
So you don't continue to recirculate through the mash... HLT is getting Sparge water ready and then you use the HE to get to Mash out then Sparge.

Yeah I do recirculate for the whole mash when I am ready to mash out I turn the hlt tap on to fill the tun, then stop recirculating to give a stir then do that for 10min same for sparge.