Electric Boil off rate

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.

BenS

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2009
Messages
846
Reaction score
6
Has anyone noticed a difference in boil off since converting to electric? A few months ago, I converted my BK to electric and even though I dial my PID into roughly the same amount of vigorous boil, I seem to be getting less boil off. Everything in my brewing process has stayed the same, even the location I brew in (garage). My only thought is that because my heat element is about 2.5-3 gal up from the bottom of my keggle, it's not heating the same thermal mass as my propane burner. I'm even using the same keggle, just converted it to electric. Anyone else out there noticed this happening?
 
For an equivalent heat input into a system, you'll get an equivalent rate of boil-off (given equivalent environmental conditions). Electric vs. propane shouldn't really have any impact on that. Thermal mass refers to the heat capacity of the material you are trying to manipulate: i.e., the water and the pot. That hasn't changed.

It's certainly possible, though, that the appearance of your boil has changed, thus leading you to think that you are getting the same degree of vigor between your two systems.
 
It's certainly possible, though, that the appearance of your boil has changed, thus leading you to think that you are getting the same degree of vigor between your two systems.

You are probably right, there has to be something that has changed to change my boil off as drastically as it has. It is something that I'm learning to compensate for(less pre-boil volume), I just found it interesting and was wondering if other home brewers had noticed a similar phenomenon.
 
Back
Top