future brew shed wire questions

Afternoon All,

I have a shed that I plan on on using as 'homebase' for electric brewing in the future.

I have about 50 feet of #6 wire ( 4 separate pieces of solid core insulated)running from a 40 amp breaker in the house subpanel through conduit to a 120/240 subpanel in the shed. I currently have 3 circuits in the shed:
#1 20 amp breaker serves a window shaker
#2 20 amp breaker serves 2 ceiling lights and 3 wall receptacles (one of which is a gfi)
#3 is a 30 amp breaker for a 3 prong 30 amp rv outlet

I seldom use the rv receptacle (it was to trouble shoot the ac) and would like to install another breaker and a 240 outlet to run a 3500 watt element mounted in a boil pot.

I am building a 1650 watt 120 volt heat stick now and plan on using it to heat mash and sparge water, and possibly add it to the boil kettle to assist in getting the boil up faster (5 gal batches..may boil larger quantities for bigger IPAs).

With a 40 amp breaker in the subpanel, would there be any problem running both the heatstick and the 3500 watt boil pot at the same time?

With the 3500 watt element drawing about 16 amps, would an inline 20 amp gfi be sufficient?

Thanks for any feedback, this is a great site with tons of info.

For now the heatstick will be controlled with a toggle switch in a weatherproof box, but I'll later make a simple panel or toolbox panel for a PID.

Regards

As long as you don't run the window shaker (what the heck is that anyway) and the RV outlet when you brew, you should be fine with the 40A breaker (5100W @ 240 = 22A). However, #6 wire is good for at least 55A (if its copper).

A 20A GFI would be fine for the 3500W element, but how do you plan to protect the heat stick?

Thanks for the feedback. The window shaker is an ac I put in for climate control when working on wood kayaks ( and perhaps when I retreat there to have a brew.)

The heat stick (1650 watt 120 volt=13.75 amps) will be plugged into the existing 15 amp gfi outlet serviced by a 20 amp breaker.

Ac won't be running and the RV outlet is breaker off unless being used.

Regards

Ahh... Should have checked urban dictionary...

Looks like your plan is good. You should check the details on your #6 feeder though. You might be able to change out the breaker and be able to run the "window shaker" while you brew.

I'm in the process of converting my system for electric brewing, I put in a 4 wire 240VAC dryer outlet like is described at the electric brewery web site, excellent resource. This way you can run a 5500W element and boil 10 gallon batches easily.

I used a 120VAC HLT in the past, but even with preheating the water to 140ºF out of my thankless water heater getting the water up to strike temp and Sparge temp was a long process. 240VAC is a good way to go if you can.