Pro/Cons on heating source options

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

gregarpp

New Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2010
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Chicago
In the past I did the typical backyard turkey fryer burners with propane.

I am in the new house now and have a section of a building set aside to build something permanent. Something I can leave set-up all of the time.

My main problem with propane was the tanks freezing and having to swap tanks.

This new brewery area will be in the garage and I already ran natural gas for the heater.
So I guess an easy option is natural gas. But I am guessing I need the expense of burners.

But I was looking at a wood fired stove, electric or even possibly wood fired steam.
 
electric or NG are the most viable options at our level unless your Yuri:D

do lots of research and figure out which will be easiest for your abilities and or pocket book. the burners arent much more if not the same for propane or NG and there are lots of threads on electric setups
 
For a new set up Electric is the best IMO. easier to control, cheaper to run, fewer fumes, and no flame. As jppostKW stated it up to your wallet for some items. Are you thinking AB? Post a $ number your thinking of and we can work with that. Be careful as some times this hobby can gobble up money. I started with a 10 gallon AG cooler set up went to a 20 gallon Blichmann with propane then went electric then went to a 55 gallon electric with three 42 gallon fermentors.
 
I really like the idea of no fumes/flames.
I was assuming electric would be the most expensive.

I am currently using 2 15.5gal kegs on turkey fryers to do dual 10gal batches. I use coolers to mash in.

I would probably go down to one permanent type 15.5gal keg to make a 10gal batch.

Since this is in the garage, I was thinking of adding a wood stove to heat (I have free wood) I can then add a pot on top of this to supplement the heating of water - using the electric to finish it off.
I wonder if I could circulate the boil wort through a coil into the wood stove to offset the electric also?

What service would I need to boil a 10gal batch in a pot?
I already have 220v in the garage for my welder
 
I really like the idea of no fumes/flames.
I was assuming electric would be the most expensive.

I am currently using 2 15.5gal kegs on turkey fryers to do dual 10gal batches. I use coolers to mash in.

I would probably go down to one permanent type 15.5gal keg to make a 10gal batch.

Since this is in the garage, I was thinking of adding a wood stove to heat (I have free wood) I can then add a pot on top of this to supplement the heating of water - using the electric to finish it off.
I wonder if I could circulate the boil wort through a coil into the wood stove to offset the electric also?

What service would I need to boil a 10gal batch in a pot?
I already have 220v in the garage for my welder

your welder service is probably more than capable. For 10 gal I would suggest a 4500W element at a minimum which is around 19A, 5500W would be optimal(23A).

If you're welder service is 30A or better you're in business.

Electricity is generally much cheaper than NG. I think I use maybe 10kwh for a batch total and at 12 cents a kwh thats a $1.20 for electricity.

I think you could do a simple BK electric setup for around $100. That's a straight on/off no pid control or anything like that. The biggest cost factor is typically the wire. throw a PID, SSR, and temp probe for another 100.

A wood fired brewery would be pretty cool, I've seen very few pop up and I think that is because not many people have an abundant supply of fire wood.
 
gregg

I would look for 30 amps with ground fault protection. something like 5000 watts of heating should work for 15 gallon brew batches.
As for using wood....I have a wood fired boiler for my house and i use hot water at 130-140 f to start with. This saves electricity and time with the mash and sparge water.
I use a single boil kettle for everything you can see my build at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/squam-lakes-brewery-pictures-144764/ Check out my gallery for a nice wood pile
 
Back
Top