Interested In Electric Brewing

I plan on building a brew sculpture and have been doing a lot of research and I started looking at electric brewing because it really interested me. From all the stuff that I've read it seems like you need to have 240v for your system and I'm trying to find out if that is pretty much true. If so I think it would be to much of a pain/cost to get 240v into my garage, and I'm no electrician. Are there any feasible 120v systems because if there aren't I'll probably stick with gas. Thanks.

Im no expert but if you have two seperate 120 circuits you should be able to build a 5 gallon setup. Anything larger you wil need 240

Given the same current, 240V gives you 4 times the power of 120V. You're limited to about 1800W on a standard 120V / 15A circuit. For anything larger than about 3 gallons, you want 240V.

Kal

Thanks for the info, looks like I'm sticking with gas.

By the way kal, your system is bad ass!

240 isn't that expensive to run to a garage. Many garages may have it already if there has ever been a welder or large air compressor that was installed in the garage. If you own your home, it would be a selling point for the next guy.

If you only want to do a 30 amp 240v setup its really not that much for the wire. How far is it from your breakers to the garage?

kal said:

For anything larger than about 3 gallons, you want 240V.
Kal

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kosmokramer said:

Im no expert but if you have two seperate 120v circuits you should be able to build a 5 gallon setup. Anything larger you wil need 240

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I'm no expert , but I have done several 15 gallon batches, 18 gallon boil using two 20amp, 120v circuits w/ 2 elements at 2000w each, or 4000w total. I'm thinking about running 240v into my basement, but I already have 5, 20 amp, 120v circuits down there and haven't really ever felt short of power using 120v. Yes with only 4000w total, it does take close to an hour to go from sparge temp to boil...but that is w/ about 18 gallons in a 20 gallon kettle.

Perhaps it makes more sense to refer to total watts required rather than voltage...roughly 2-3000 watts will work for five gallon batches, and 4000 watts will work for 10 gallon batches.

my system uses (4) separate 120v/20A circuits. 1 circuit for both pumps; 2 circuits for PIDS and 2 1500W elements and the other circuit for powering a third 1500W element plugged into a simple switch and used as a "booster" to ramp up temps faster. All circuits are GFCI protected. The setup works great for 5 and 10 gallon batches and I only need to run 2 out of 3 elements once boiling has started on 5 gallon batches. I had my master electrician stepson install the 20A circuits at cost in my basement. I would go with nothing less than 20 amp circuits. 240v is real nice but not really necessary for a 5 or 10 gallon system. You'll need to do what is best for your situation. Good luck!