Electric brewing on a budget

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jkahrs595

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I have acquired three sanke kegs and would like to start getting parts together to go all electric. Every thread I've seen that lists parts and prices is usually well above what I'm willing to spend. Without factoring in a brewstand, what can I expect to spend on an electric setup? I won't need a wort chiller, I plan on using a gravity fed system, and the kegs have already been purchased.

Is it possible to do for ~$300-500?
 
So I have 2 1500 watt elements installed in my BK. Total for all the parts and fittings was less than 100 bucks, including 2 50 ft extension cords. Granted, it's not a RIMS system, but depending on how simple or complicated you want it to be you can make it for the same or less than a propane system.
 
Are you just talking about heating water and wort with a heat stick? If not, do you plan on the elements having some sort of variable control, i.e. PID, etc? You could build a heatstick and plug it I to a GFCI outlet pretty cheaply. The control and hard wiring is where the price starts to escalate.
 
I am just now helping a local guy piece together a fully electric HERMS system and it's going to cost about $500, and that includes a wort pump, a spa panel to give him GFCI, and two electric kettles, each at 5500W of power (but only one kettle running at a time).

If you just want an electric kettle to heat (PID controlled) and boil in, then you can do it for WELL under $500.
 
I can give you a quick price listing if you can tell me a few things.

(1) Do you have a 240v outlet that you can use?
(2) Does it take a 3-prong or 4-prong plug?
(3) is it GFCI protected?
(4) how far is the outlet from where you will be brewing?
(5) Do you want the ability to heat water to a specific temp automatically, or will you monitor temps and control the heat manually?
 
I can give you a quick price listing if you can tell me a few things.

(1) Do you have a 240v outlet that you can use?
(2) Does it take a 3-prong or 4-prong plug?
(3) is it GFCI protected?
(4) how far is the outlet from where you will be brewing?
(5) Do you want the ability to heat water to a specific temp automatically, or will you monitor temps and control the heat manually?

Unfortunately I don't have any of this information, as I am moving out of my apartment at the end of this month. I plan on turning one of the rooms in the basement of the new place into my "brewery". There are a washer/drier down there, so I'm assuming there is a 240v outlet. I have no qualms about unplugging a drier to brew :)
 
Unfortunately I don't have any of this information, as I am moving out of my apartment at the end of this month. I plan on turning one of the rooms in the basement of the new place into my "brewery". There are a washer/drier down there, so I'm assuming there is a 240v outlet. I have no qualms about unplugging a drier to brew :)

As Walker has mentioned it's very difficult to give you an estimate on cost without the information he has requested. At the very least you need to know how much power is available to you and if it is GFCI protected.
 
The house I'm moving into was built in the early 1900's. Judging by the appliances in the kitchen and the hot-water radiators throughout the house, it's not going to be GFCI protected. Can this be DIY? Or do I need to hire an electrician to install that for me?
 
That said you're limited to 30A. That's 3600Watts. You could get away with a 3500W element likely. Put one in your HLT and one in your BK, but you couldn't run both at the same time. Shouldn't need to though unless you're doing back to back brews.
How do you figure that? Power available with 30A at 240V is a lot more than 3600W.
 
You can run a single 5500w element at 30A, and if looking for a budget Ebuild I got a really simple but effective control panel roughly $120 for everything.
 
The house I'm moving into was built in the early 1900's. Judging by the appliances in the kitchen and the hot-water radiators throughout the house, it's not going to be GFCI protected. Can this be DIY? Or do I need to hire an electrician to install that for me?

Eek...

A lot of stuff can be DIY, but if your house is that old, it could be using fuses instead of circuit breakers.

You might need more electrical service work done (or DIY) that the average Joe, but it is still possible.
 
You can run a single 5500w element at 30A, and if looking for a budget Ebuild I got a really simple but effective control panel roughly $120 for everything.

you got a build thread? I'd like to see what you were able to pull off with $120. That's a damn good price, depending on what it's capable of.
 
I can give you a quick price listing if you can tell me a few things.

(1) Do you have a 240v outlet that you can use?
(2) Does it take a 3-prong or 4-prong plug?
(3) is it GFCI protected?
(4) how far is the outlet from where you will be brewing?
(5) Do you want the ability to heat water to a specific temp automatically, or will you monitor temps and control the heat manually?

Walker,
Could you give me a rough estimate if I provide you with this information?

1,2,3,4) Yes, I have a 4 prong outlet in the Utility Room, There is no GFCI Sticker on it like the ones in the rest of the house, so I'm going to say NO to GFCI, the outlet is about 20 feet from the area in the garage I currently brew in
5)I'd like to heat the water and control it automatically.

Thanks for your help!
 
Walker,
Could you give me a rough estimate if I provide you with this information?

1,2,3,4) Yes, I have a 4 prong outlet in the Utility Room, There is no GFCI Sticker on it like the ones in the rest of the house, so I'm going to say NO to GFCI, the outlet is about 20 feet from the area in the garage I currently brew in
5)I'd like to heat the water and control it automatically.

Thanks for your help!

GFCI is not available for 240V at the outlet itself. It will be built into the circuit breaker that feeds to the outlet. You can look at your breaker box and see if the breaker feeding your outlet has a little "test" button on it.

having to add GFCI can be a substantial part of the costs. The GFCI breakers are not cheap. The one I used was like $125 if bought in a store. I scored it on ebay for $35.

For the guy I am helping, I found a spa panel on ebay for under $50 shipped that included the GFCI breaker. The listing has ended, but he had a bunch of them, so I suspect that they will be relisted soon:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Spa-Panel-50amp...669?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f07aee76d
 
Walker,
Could you give me a rough estimate if I provide you with this information?

1,2,3,4) Yes, I have a 4 prong outlet in the Utility Room, There is no GFCI Sticker on it like the ones in the rest of the house, so I'm going to say NO to GFCI, the outlet is about 20 feet from the area in the garage I currently brew in
5)I'd like to heat the water and control it automatically.

Thanks for your help!

I'll ping you with a PM to ask more questions, rather than clutter up this thread.
 
jkahrs, check out this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/electric-brewers-west-michigan-216573/..

I am in Saugutuck and have an electric setup myself and would be willing to lend advice/guidance/help, and the link shows there are quite a few others in the area interested in electric too. Also check out the Michigan Mashers group here on HBT because there is some more interested electric brewers in this area that posted in the "New West Sider" thread...

:mug:
 
You can run a single 5500w element at 30A, and if looking for a budget Ebuild I got a really simple but effective control panel roughly $120 for everything.

Ahhh.... I found your build thread, and I understand what you were saying about $120 now. I missed that you were talking about JUST the parts for the box.

I added up $125 for just the box in that thread and that looks like it didn't include shipping costs. Or any power cables. Or plugs for power cables. Or a temp probe. Or GFCI protection. Or heater elements. Or fittings to mount heater elements. Or a fitting to mount the probe. Or wires and spades to connect things. Or terminal strips. Or a heatsink for the SSR. Or a 120V receptacle for the pump. Or a pump.

SO, I can see $120 for the box being doable in that regards. :D
 
Sorry to invade your thread but I just have a simple question. If I was doing a simple 10gallon extract boil would I be able just to hook an electric heating elemnt to my keggle and hook it up to a washer dryer hookup and not have to use a contol panel since its just for boiling my wort? Electric newb sorry if its a dumb question
 
Sorry to invade your thread but I just have a simple question. If I was doing a simple 10gallon extract boil would I be able just to hook an electric heating elemnt to my keggle and hook it up to a washer dryer hookup and not have to use a contol panel since its just for boiling my wort? Electric newb sorry if its a dumb question

Yes. This is possible, but you really should have GFI protection to be safe.

If you throw caution to the wind, an element on a cord, mounted to a kettle, plugged into the wall, and with no kind of control will cost you under $40.
 
Cut my kegs open yesterday! I had very limited tools (a drill and a jigsaw), but I managed to get decent shaped wholes cut. Now to order a step bit, and some weldless fittings!

0r13z.jpg
 
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