Sawdustguy

Recipes 

I think using these tankless hot water heaters for a brewery is a good idea but I think I would want mine dedicated. I cringe to think of what would happen if you accidentally left it set very high. It sounds like a scald waiting to happen unless there is something I am not seeing.

__________________
Guy

Brewery URL: Black Dog Brewery NY

BBQ Team URL: Two Fat Polocks BBQ Team

Montanaandy

Recipes 

Unless you have a recirc pump either internally in the TWH (which is usually a small HP pump) or preferably externally (a 3 HP is good) you will bleed off a good deal of water getting from 45' to 180' as well as energy to heat that water that is going down the drain. The energy savings if any is negligible. Montanaandy.

Randar

Recipes 

Sorry if I have added any confusion. I (or anyone else) was not talking about generating 180 degree water in anything but a completely diverted mode to dump the water directly from the tank. God forbid anyone tries to recirculate 180 degree water, that's insane.

As for the recirc pumps, some models actually use March pumps in the same 1/25th HP range! 3 HP would be WAY overkill for low flow rate recirculation (unless you live at the Vanderbilt Mansion)

The Navien models have the hot water return to the tank from the far end loop and use that for maintaining a "hot water" temp in the hot water supply line (so you'd be wanting to insulate your hot water pipes) but it takes advantage of the 3-stage burner and bypasses the cold water inlet to re-heat the water already in the hot water pipes.

Jknapp

Recipes 

Just thought I'd give a quick report on brewing yesterday with the tankless..

I brewed a 5.25 gal batch of Pale Ale. It was great! From pre-heating my mash tun to srubbing the kettle - 3hrs 21mins - start to completely finished. Not that I want to rush through my hobby, but with a 14 week old at home, I don't get much time away..

I only used the Noritz unit at 170 for the mash in. After a prelim test, I realized that I probably didn't need the higher 180 range to start. I opened the unit up at 170 and completely filled my mash tun cooler. After 5-10 mins of preheat time, I ran off the water to the level I needed. I was a little low in temp at that point (around 160), so I added my fill hose and opened the valve on both the hot water & cooler, letting some of the cooler water drain while filling with hot water. Kind of like a pre-heat-fly-sparge. When it came up to 165, I shut both off & mashed-in. easy.

I collected my 1st runnings as usual, determined the volume I needed for my boil volume, set the Noritz to 180 and filled a measured HDPE container to transfer to my MLT. Adding the sparge water, the grain/mash bed measured 168 degrees - which was perfect.

Everything else was the same. The added bonus was being able to wash my gear in the driveway in 40 degree weather with 120 degree water.

I really like the added funtionality of a tankless water heater. If you're at a place where you probably have to replace your tank water heater, I'd strongly reccommend making this investment in your home & your brewery.

Now, if I could only get a trench drain installed in my garage.. hmm..

Samuel9609

Recipes 

Maybe this has already been said but everybody is saying they are using the tankless water heater to get sparge water but why cant you use it directly to recirculate the wort for your different temperature schedules?