txstars15

Recipes 

As so many before, I'd really like to get away from using gas and go electric for my 6 gallon boils. Have visited all the usual sites and read numerous posts which all seem to indicate this is a fairly involved process. All I want to do is stick an element into my brew kettle and plug it in when ready to boil. Why can't I mount an element into my kettle, use a NEMA enclosure and run a power cord right to my clothes dryer outlet directly. Guess I just don't understand why all the additional gear, like fancy controllers, etc. my pump is a 110v and would plug separately into a normal 110 outlet. Guidance is appreciated.

dcarter

Recipes 

I use a 30 amp gfci protected cord because I don't like being electrocuted, but other than that, I do just what you are talking about. Here's a pic of my pot to illustrate.

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Primary:Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone

My trash heap fridge rescue and conversion to a first class fermentation chamber

If you don't like your job, you don't strike!.....You just go in everyday and do it really half a$$ed, THATS the American way! - Homer J Simpson

dcarter

Recipes 

Oops, that's actually a pic of my friends rig, but mine looks almost exactly like it from that angle.

Electric brewing cut my brewday energy costs from about 20 bucks in propane to about 75 cents in electricity.

__________________
Primary:Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone

My trash heap fridge rescue and conversion to a first class fermentation chamber

If you don't like your job, you don't strike!.....You just go in everyday and do it really half a$$ed, THATS the American way! - Homer J Simpson

corvanic

Recipes 

how far off the bottom is your element?

aquenne

Recipes 

The reason you see people going with controllers is that you dont neccessarily want the element firing at 100% power all the time (which is what you would get with it being plugged into the wall).

The principal is that you regulate the power going to the element on a per time basis. So, if you want to power the element at 50%, over a 5 second interval, then, the controller would apply power for 2.5 seconds, and then off for 2.5 seconds. This is an excellent way to maintain temperatures for mashing (herms) or in the boil kettle.

If you are only concerned with boiling, then you could size an element that would be suitable for your vessel. But, the probably with that would be you would take quite a bit longer to get up to boil, as you would be apply less power (say 2000 watt vs 5500watt). Again, you could do something like mounting 2 elements, and then turn one off once boil comes, but that just seems like complicating things for no purpose. I like automation, and I like to set it forget it so to say.
Hope this helps

45_70sharps

Recipes 

I've wondered about the time it takes to brew with these also.

If you're doing a boil of 7 gallons or there abouts from mash temperature, How long does it take to get a boil going?

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Let's see if I keep this updated!

On tap
Black Butte clone

In secondary
Pumpkin ale

In primary
Honey wit

Up next.. Firestone Union Jack clone

BadNewsBrewery

Recipes 

There are a number of threads on HBT that reference a spreadsheet that will give you time to achieve whatever temperature you want given some parameters you plug in. I don't have the link on me but it should pop up with a search.

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Building a Bad News Brewery - eHERMS

2013 Brew Count:
10gal Southern Pecan Ale (Blind Squirrel)
5gal Ed Wort's Apfelwein
5gal Saison w/ Italian Honey (Resurrection)
15gal Irish Red (Bloody Knuckles)

45_70sharps

Recipes 

Thanks.
I have been looking at the forum from my phone lately and the searches aren't very good.
I will check it out sometime though.
I'm not thinking of making the jump to electric, just curious.

__________________
Let's see if I keep this updated!

On tap
Black Butte clone

In secondary
Pumpkin ale

In primary
Honey wit

Up next.. Firestone Union Jack clone

jma99

Recipes 

You don't need no fancy smanchy controllers!

Get to High Gravity and buy dis stuff:
http://www.highgravitybrew.com/ProductCart/pc/Electric-Kettle-Controller-158p3084.htm
And dis:
http://www.highgravitybrew.com/ProductCart/pc/Heating-Element-4500-Watt-SS-306p2514.htm

And get brewing!

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God's own drunk, and a fearless man.

dcarter

Recipes 

That's a 30 gallon pot and the element is right around the 5 gallon mark so its a couple inches more or less from the bottom.

As for how long it takes to brew. Here are my times:

From 70 deg to mash (170 deg) it takes 40 minutes for 20 gallons
From 150 to boil it takes about 20 minutes to hit a full boil

To boil for an hour and to heat strike water the cost for electric is less than a dollar for a 25 gallon batch. Considering that I was shelling out almost 20 bucks for propane, it is worth the trouble to go electric. Like jma99 said, "you don't need no stinkin controller, just get to brewin!"

__________________
Primary:Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone

My trash heap fridge rescue and conversion to a first class fermentation chamber

If you don't like your job, you don't strike!.....You just go in everyday and do it really half a$$ed, THATS the American way! - Homer J Simpson