Converting a twenty gallon all gain system to all electric

I have a basic question I have been unable to find the answer to. I built a 20 gallon all grain system about ten years ago. I used a 110K BTU natural gas burner to heat my hot liquor tank and boiling kettle (the same 27 gallon kettle). I am considering converting to electric but am unable to find out how large an element I would need to heat something like 25 gallons of water to a boil?

I tried using the largest element I could find 4500 watts @ 240 volts (5500 @ 277 volts if I use a buck and boost transformer) some years ago and it brought 20 gallons of water to a rolling boil in about 30 min. Not sure if being just water changes the calculation water vs wort?

Also read that some folks are using electric elements to heat your mash tun? I boiled water in my hot liquor tank (175 deg F) to mash tun and use pump and electric element with aqua-stat to maintain 165 deg F.

I am also a licensed electrician...


Ray

wort vs water should be pretty negligible. someone can answer that better than i...

to heat that much, i would definitely go with a 5500 watt element. heating that much water, depending on starting temp, should take about an hour. you can use this calculator to determine that http://www.phpdoc.info/brew/boilcalc.html

i have seen some people directly heating the mash like that, but i like the idea of a herms which i am currently constructing.

You might want to consider this element:
240V/6000W Stainless Steel Resistored LWD

I have a 20 gallon hlt . I heat 18 gallons of cold tap water using a 5500watt 240volt element to mash - in temp in 40-45 minutes. I think you can find 6500 watt elements out there.

The hot liquor tank time does not worry me as much as getting to a boil but I guess I will be starting in the 155 deg F range so I do not have that far to go. I have a 5500 watt element I am going to try with water. My kettle only has on 1" threaded hub so was thinking of just making up a "dip tube" to connect to my spurge pump so I don't have to put another hub in my kettle.

I used to hear a lot about scorching wort with elements years ago but I guess that is not an issue with so many people going this route.

Time for me to get going and set up for the weekend!

for the wort you will want a ulwd element, this will help keep from scorching wort

30 minutes heat up sounds a bit slow. Insulating the sides might help.

RayHomeBrewer said:

The hot liquor tank time does not worry me as much as getting to a boil but I guess I will be starting in the 155 deg F range so I do not have that far to go. I have a 5500 watt element I am going to try with water. My kettle only has on 1" threaded hub so was thinking of just making up a "dip tube" to connect to my spurge pump so I don't have to put another hub in my kettle.

I used to hear a lot about scorching wort with elements years ago but I guess that is not an issue with so many people going this route.

Time for me to get going and set up for the weekend!

Click to expand...

I started with a 3500 watt in my kettle which had a nice rolling boil at 100%, but took to long to get there. My 5500 gets there quick, and then I turn it down to about 60 -65% to maintain a good boil. I have not had any scorching issues and am using a Camco ulwd element.