I was thinking that the HLT could be replaced by a tankless water heater that can heat up to 170F. Shoot away.
FWIW, My house is using a tankless (Bosch) and they have safety features to prevent scalding. I dont know if you'd be able to override those, but the thermostat for my unit does not go above 128F
My flash boiler can take it from 50* to boil at about 1/2 gal per minute and cost me about $60 to build. Works great for me and I also use it to mashout on 1bbl batches.
How do you sparge with steam?
Are you just using steam to heat a pot of water? Like you would with a burner, or element?
I have a 069 Noritz (6.9 gpm) that came with a difital control panel and is capable of up to 176* in 5* increments.
I use it to provide strike water (from San Diego ground water, through a charcoal filter, I can fill 44 gallons of strike water at 164 in just a hair under 20 minutes.
After I fill the Mash Tun, I move the outlet hose to the HLT and fill it at 176 and then turn on my digital controller to maintain the HLT temp (it controls the burner under the HLT).
IIRC Green Flash has 3 or 4 tankless HW heaters mounted in their space for strike water.
I know steam has more brute force for changing mash temp., but that was never the topic of discussion here... sorry we are so far OT. This is just about OD sparge water heating right?
If you only want OD sparge water, what is more practical in terms of cost (build/operate)?
Maybe I need to change my 1BBL design...
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