Thoughts on a 1 bbl system with tankless water heater

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KJC333

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So here's what I was thinking:

Tankless water heater for on demand strike and sparge water
55 gallon MLT
55 gallon BK with elec heating element
put elec heating element in my old 15 gallon HLT with IC to do HERMS mash recirculation
maybe a control panel for pump control and mash and BK temp control

Any thoughts? Anyone have any experience with using tankless water heaters for this purpose? Any comments about getting 1bbl to a boil with electric?

I've never used electric at all. My curent setup is a 10 gallon rig with propane burners and HERMS. I just think that having to keep adding water to my HLT is a pain in the bum, hence the desire for on demand strike and sparge.
 
Maybe contact psyco-brew. They have a commercial tankless heater they sell with some of their systems. You will need a commercial tankless water heater. I have a residential one but its max output is 140ºF, I use it to fill my HLT if I am in a hurry. The commercial ones can go as high as 185, or at least the ones I have looked at.
 
I believe there is a way to mod a household tankless heater. I've seen it mentioned before
 
tre9er said:
I believe there is a way to mod a household tankless heater. I've seen it mentioned before
Click to expand...

I have a rinnai tankless water heater, and you can buy a commercial controller for it, but it depends which model you have on how hot it can get. Mine is a RN75i and it can only get to 165 with the commercial controller, but a 94i can get up to 185. They sell on ebay for ~$45 (the controllers) the heaters are 700-1200 and can cost a lot to be installed.
 
Obviously a HLT with water heater elements is much cheaper. Time is the only factor here. I personally wouldn't pay thousands for instant strike water unless I had money to burn, but I'm just saying it's possible.
 
I picked up one of the commercial units for my heater, but un-installed it. Last thing i want is some one to take a shower when the heater is cranked up to 165. 140 is bad enough. But if you where trying to build a dedicated 1-3bbl system, the tankless heater is close to the cost or a bit cheeper than a HLT + heat source. for less than 1bbl its probably a waste.
 
KJC333 said:
So here's what I was thinking:

Tankless water heater for on demand strike and sparge water
55 gallon MLT
55 gallon BK with elec heating element
put elec heating element in my old 15 gallon HLT with IC to do HERMS mash recirculation
maybe a control panel for pump control and mash and BK temp control

Any thoughts? Anyone have any experience with using tankless water heaters for this purpose? Any comments about getting 1bbl to a boil with electric?

I have 2 5500 w elements in my 58 after BK aftere running off and sparging is complete it takes about 20 min. to a nice rolling boil on 38 gallons then I back it down to about 70% to maintain the boil, in an hour boil it will boil off about 5 gallons I haven't found a large enough tank for my Hlt yet so I'm using 2 sanke kegs with a 5500 w element in each to heat the sparge water:( for now.
Click to expand...
 
duckdogs said:
KJC333 said:
I have 2 5500 w elements in my 58 after BK aftere running off and sparging is complete it takes about 20 min. to a nice rolling boil on 38 gallons then I back it down to about 70% to maintain the boil, in an hour boil it will boil off about 5 gallons I haven't found a large enouph tank for my HI'm yet so I'm using 2 sanke kegs with a 5500 w element in each to heat the sparge watter:( for now.
Click to expand...

That's a good idea using two elements. Do you have both of them plugged into one control panel? I'm not an electrician, and I would feel uncomfortable doing any extensive fiddling with one of those panels. 20 minutes would be great though, especially considering I could start to heat it before the sparge is completely through.

Bsquared said:
Maybe contact psyco-brew. They have a commercial tankless heater they sell with some of their systems.
Click to expand...

I saw that one and I was thinking about it. I would love to keep things entirely electric, but it's probably unlikely that there is an electric tankless water heater that could produce high enough temps at an acceptable flow rate. I'd still be using natural gas, but at least there wouldn't be an open flame I guess.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, they are both controlled via Pids P-J's diagram for my system:) As soon as the elements are covered in the BK (10 gallon mark)I fire up the elements.

Pannel wireing updated 4 ssr's Auberin-wiring1-a11b-RM-SYL-2352-5500w.jpg
 
duckdogs said:
Yes, they are both controlled via Pids P-J's diagram for my system:)
Click to expand...

Wow, very cool.


Bsquared said:
You can also look for a commercial tanked hot water heater, and fill it and turn it on the night before brewing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I could look into those. As long as I could get strike water, and then 170 degree sparge water about an hour later I'll be happy. I don't know how quickly those tanked heaters can heat up, or how much control you have over the temps.
 

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