My electric brewery is functional!

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Addicted

Addicted

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I'm not done yet but i am brewing tonight!.It's nothing compared to some crazy stuff I've seen here but it works and allowed me to move out of the kitchen to a dedicated room.

I used two 120v 2k watt elements just on switches,hooked to a spare 30 amp 240v dryer circuit that was not used.

Electricbrewroomwithnepanel004.jpg


Electricbrewroomwithnepanel005.jpg


Electricbrewroomwithnepanel002.jpg


Electricbrewroomwithnepanel003.jpg
 
Nice. Hope your brewday is going well. Whatcha gonna make?

Why use 2 elements? Why not one high wattage one?

Might want to consider peeling that carpet back and laying some tile or something. Looks like a mess waiting to happen.
 
I used two elements so i could turn each off individually and use just one if i want.I'm making an Irish stout tonight,and drinking a Belgian trappist ale i brewed.

I know,the carpet will not last long,the room was going to be for something else before i decided it was to be a brew room.
 
I open two windows in there,It's still a little steamy though.But not bad.
 
Have you found that you can turn one element off, and boil with one once you reach a boil, with 2000W?
 
It would boil,but not a good boil.I use one to raise the temp if the temp starts to drop on the steeping grains.
 
Yah, I found that about 3700W worked well for a nice boil off in a full 5 gallon boil.
 
Thanks for the post. That looks exactly like what I am planning to do.

This may be a dumb question but - do you do your boils on that counter? I would be afraid of the heat damaging it.
 
Marsdude said:
Thanks for the post. That looks exactly like what I am planning to do.

This may be a dumb question but - do you do your boils on that counter? I would be afraid of the heat damaging it.
Click to expand...

Formica is super-tough. I am certain it is resistant to boiling temps. I put a hot (700F) soldering iron on it all the time (only for moments, though) and I've never damaged it.
 
how much will it actucally cost you to run the element for heating/boiling versus gas?


nice indoor setup starting to come together... but the rug isn't cool.


lowes and home dumpo have 12" x 12" ceramics on clearence alot for under a $1 a tile. even if you were to just do the imediate area.
 
4kW for an hour.... at about $.12 per kWh

So, about $.48 for an hour.

Gas will be $3-$4

Just for the boil...

Full brew sessions using only electric can be done for $1 to $1.30 total.
 
willynilly said:
4kW for an hour.... at about $.12 per kWh

So, about $.48 for an hour.

Gas will be $3-$4

Just for the boil...

Full brew sessions using only electric can be done for $1 to $1.30 total.
Click to expand...

wow i feel like such a tool now for using gas. my house only has 100amp service though so idk if i could really sweeze in the juice, i wouldn't want to pop the main.

how long does an electric take to come to boil with a 4kw if your doing a 5 gal batch?
 
nicknoty said:
wow i feel like such a tool now for using gas. my house only has 100amp service though so idk if i could really sweeze in the juice, i wouldn't want to pop the main.

how long does an electric take to come to boil with a 4kw if your doing a 5 gal batch?
Click to expand...

Well, if you start at say 150F after the sparge...

Start with 6.5 gallons...

16 minutes, and that is only 17 Amps ;)

Mine can get there in 7 minutes, but eats 37.5A

What major appliances in your home are electric? You can have a 100A panel and if you are running a gas water heater, furnace and range... you aren't tapping your potential.
 
willynilly said:
Well, if you start at say 150F after the sparge...

Start with 6.5 gallons...

16 minutes, and that is only 17 Amps ;)

Mine can get there in 7 minutes, but eats 37.5A

What major appliances in your home are electric? You can have a 100A panel and if you are running a gas water heater, furnace and range... you aren't tapping your potential.
Click to expand...

oil heat -
eletric washer/dryer, hot water, and range

i have one more spot in the panel left and i was gonna use it for my hottub when i get around to getting a pump from work.

my buddy thats an electrian wired me up a 3 way disconnect so i can run my compressor outside in the garage off my stove circut, so i do have a 240volt outlet on the side of my house in a weather tight box
 
Good news is, 4000W is a respectable size and only pulls 17A.

Talk to your buddy and see what he recommends.

Your range circuit is 30A or 50A I presume... that would work really well.
 
i'm really contomplating it for my mlt with some type of automation if my new single teir doesn't hold heat well, i'm still waiting on getting burners ordered up next week and misc fittings.


i'll have to check my kw rate and way the pros and cons
 
CT is pretty high for electricity costs... about $.20 per kWh

4000W running for 2 hours (that is a lot) would be $1.60
 
well depending on how much gas my new rigs burns through i may consider a hybrid system.

but i will still be stuck outside or in the garage
 
I love my single tier all electric system. I've made about 8 or 9 batches so far including a recent 11 gallon high gravity porter. I brew electric so I can brew in the basement year round. Go electric if you can, but definitely be careful and find an electrician friend to review your rig.
 
passedpawn said:
Nice. Hope your brewday is going well. Whatcha gonna make?

Why use 2 elements? Why not one high wattage one?

Might want to consider peeling that carpet back and laying some tile or something. Looks like a mess waiting to happen.
Click to expand...


Oh man you are in so much trouble.
In another post I offered some free legal advice about liability and the law and it was wrongly interpreted (stupidly) as though I were some nancy pants worry wort telling other people how to run their lives.

So be warned:
No good deed goes unpunished, no kind word goes un-rebuked.
 
Addicted said:
I'm not done yet but i am brewing tonight!.It's nothing compared to some crazy stuff I've seen here but it works and allowed me to move out of the kitchen to a dedicated room.

I used two 120v 2k watt elements just on switches,hooked to a spare 30 amp 240v dryer circuit that was not used.

Electricbrewroomwithnepanel003.jpg
Click to expand...

Maybe I am missing something but is this picture the actual 240V dryer outlet?

If it is, how does it have a ground? Normally a three prong outlet has no ground. Only two hots and a neutral. Are you using the neutral as a ground also?
 
passedpawn said:
I'm sure that is the case. That is how 3-prong outlets work, isn't it?
Click to expand...

I believe normally on older range's or dryers they would just bond the neutral to ground. I am just not sure it is such a good idea on a kettle full of water to have them bonded together.
 
Maybe I am missing something but is this picture the actual 240V dryer outlet?

If it is, how does it have a ground? Normally a three prong outlet has no ground. Only two hots and a neutral. Are you using the neutral as a ground also?
Click to expand...

I would hazard to guess yes,I've only begun to try and understand electricity.I had a buddy help me do it that knows more than me.
 
Also,I have Gfi's on the wood panel with the switches,the dryer outlet is going to be mounted off the floor and away from the kettle before the next brew.
 
I couldn't quite tell by the picture if the outlets were gfci, good to know. I am a noob to electricity but have learned a lot over the last several weeks. I just would hate to see someone make a mistake that could potentially harm them.
 
I had an electrician buddy rig it for me,I'm starting to learn some from him now.The only thing that worried me was the dryer outlet on the floor,if i spilled water in that i would be in truoble.It's getting mounted on a wall away from the kettle.Is there any way to Gfi the dryer outlet?
 
Addicted said:
I had an electrician buddy rig it for me,I'm starting to learn some from him now.The only thing that worried me was the dryer outlet on the floor,if i spilled water in that i would be in truoble.It's getting mounted on a wall away from the kettle.Is there any way to Gfi the dryer outlet?
Click to expand...

Yeah, go to the breaker box and place a GFCI breaker on that circuit ASAP
 
enid said:
Maybe I am missing something but is this picture the actual 240V dryer outlet?

If it is, how does it have a ground? Normally a three prong outlet has no ground. Only two hots and a neutral. Are you using the neutral as a ground also?
Click to expand...


Just asking here, why not use the 4 prong dryer outlets?
 
I agree with using a 4-prong. It is not ideal to use 3-prong.

To safely use a 3-prong plug, don't use the neutral for anything except to ground the metal kettle. Also, ensure that there is no other devices on this circuit. In this way, the neutral should be exactly the same as a normal "green" earth ground.

Where you get into a little trouble here is if you use half the 240VAC to derive 120VAC. You might consider doing this to run a pump. In this case, the 120 would come from one of the hot wires and neutral. Since the neutral would be carrying current, and accepting that all wire has some resistance, you now will measure a voltage on the neutral due to the current and resistance; you'll measure a voltage on the kettle. Might be small, but you don't want that. This happens because the neutral wire that is meant to be the safety earth ground is being used to carry current.

I highly recommend using a licensed electrician to look over what you have done. In fact, have one put a GFCI into your beaker box and look at your job at the same time.
 
passedpawn said:
I agree with using a 4-prong. It is not ideal to use 3-prong.

To safely use a 3-prong plug, don't use the neutral for anything except to ground the metal kettle. Also, ensure that there is no other devices on this circuit. In this way, the neutral should be exactly the same as a normal "green" earth ground.

Where you get into a little trouble here is if you use half the 240VAC to derive 120VAC. You might consider doing this to run a pump. In this case, the 120 would come from one of the hot wires and neutral. Since the neutral would be carrying current, and accepting that all wire has some resistance, you now will measure a voltage on the neutral due to the current and resistance; you'll measure a voltage on the kettle. Might be small, but you don't want that. This happens because the neutral wire that is meant to be the safety earth ground is being used to carry current.

I highly recommend using a licensed electrician to look over what you have done. In fact, have one put a GFCI into your beaker box and look at your job at the same time.
Click to expand...


Right, and it looks like his 240VAC three prong is in fact feeding his 120VAC outlets.
 
willynilly said:
Right, and it looks like his 240VAC three prong is in fact feeding his 120VAC outlets.
Click to expand...

That is the way it looked to me, that is why I questioned it.

I just had a similiar problem. I was going to use my existing 3 prong range outlet to power my 240V system. When getting into it I figured out it only had 2 hots and a neutral. I put in a spa disconnect because the existing wiring was only 8/2 and a 30 or 40A gfci was outrageously overpriced. I ran 4 wires (2 hots, ground, and neutral) to the GFCI disconnect and used the existing wiring to power 240V side in my control box. I then put an extension cord on my control box for the 120V power.
 

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