110v Hlt

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.
Use two 2000w elements mounted in the keggle. Works fine for HLT or can boil 12-13 gallons no problem.
 
So one person says it will take a while to "heat up" and another says it will boil...... Not exactly corroborating opinions.
 
So one person says it will take a while to "heat up" and another says it will boil...... Not exactly corroborating opinions.

I think he was thinking of using one 2000W element.

Is 5500W more power than 4000W? Of course, but will 4000W work pretty well, absolutely. As I said, I think it's about right for a 12 gallon boil.

Been doing 10 gallon batches this way for a few years. Yer fine. you won't be gaining hours on your brew day by having 5500 watts, though of course it would be a bit faster and would require 220V service and something to dial down the boil element.

Certainly for heating 5-9 gallons of strike water to 160 degrees or so, 4000W is fine.

d3d6400c.jpg
 
I built an 8 gal EHLT with one 2000 Watt element. It gets 6 gal up to stikre temp (180-ish for my set up) from cold filtered tap water in about 45 minutes. If I get busy and forget it will get to a boil in an hour. Takes a little longer than a 220V set up obviously but for me it's about the brewing experience not how I can speed things up.
 
I built an 8 gal EHLT with one 2000 Watt element. It gets 6 gal up to stikre temp (180-ish for my set up) from cold filtered tap water in about 45 minutes. If I get busy and forget it will get to a boil in an hour. Takes a little longer than a 220V set up obviously but for me it's about the brewing experience not how I can speed things up.

It's hard to see the need for more heating capacity in the HLT. Once you have your calculations done you can start the strike water, then crush some grain or do some other cleaning or setup. Going from 170 to a boil also doesn't take massive amounts of time.

I think the 220V setup is more elegant, but 110V works just fine and doesn't slow you down that much.
 
One problem you might encounter with a 1200 to 2000watt element powered HLT, is if you plan on putting a heat exchange coil into the HLT and use it as a HERMs. If after you fill your MLT with the strike water and need to refill your HLT to cover the coil, and re heat your water. The time it takes to get you HLT back up to temp might cause some problems.

I used a 120VAC HLT with a single infusion system for a long time, it worked great I just needed to give it 45 to 75min to get up to temp depending on batch size. I complimented this system with a small heat exchange vessel (1gallon cooler with a coil and a 1500watt element in it) for recirculation and doing step mashes.
 
You will need two 20 amp circuits to run two 2000 watt elements, but it's not that big a deal since any house wired since the 1970's should have two dedicated 20 amp kitchen circuits. One circuit will be along one wall and the other will be along the opposite wall. Just make sure nothing else attempts to run while brewing.
 
Two circuits are needed, yes.

If you're in a house, its not tremendously difficult to learn how to add circuits to your electrical panel. I don't think it's horribly expensive to hire a pro, either, although I have never done that so can't really speak to the price. Be sure to get detailed instructions before you go into the panel and make sure the main breaker is off. Also, be sure to understand what that means.

But honestly, a receptacle is only three wires and adding a circuit only involves snapping them on and then running the wire in appropriate conduit, bx etc.

So if you don't have enough 20 amp outlets, it's something to look into.
 
Another possibility for low wattage HLT's (1500-2000w) is to put them on an a simple plug in appliance timer to turn on an hour or two before you start brewing, this way plenty of hot water is available cheaply and easily.

Even a puny 1100w bucket heater will heat a lot of water "in time".
 
Another possibility for low wattage HLT's is to put them on an a simple plug in appliance timer to turn on an hour or two before you start brewing, this way plenty of hot water is available cheaply and easily.

Even a puny 1100w bucket heater will heat a lot of water "in time".

True. If he goes 4000W, though, I don't think it's low wattage. I haven't timed my HLT performance lately, but I'm not waiting an hour or two to get strike water to 165 or so.

I'm going to do test to see how long it takes, but my feeling is that I get it started, crush some grain, get a few things ready and it's just about there.
 
True. If he goes 4000W, though, I don't think it's low wattage. I haven't timed my HLT performance lately, but I'm not waiting an hour or two to get strike water to 165 or so.

I'm going to do test to see how long it takes, but my feeling is that I get it started, crush some grain, get a few things ready and it's just about there.

Agreed, clarified my post above, "low wattage" being the 1500-2000w range. 4000w is not low wattage IMO, and is plenty for 5 gal batches, and also ample for ten gallon batches w/ reasonable wait times.

For just heating strike water and getting started, 4000w sometimes overheats my strike water unless I hussle getting my grainbill together.

Kinda like having a V8 or V6 or even a 4 cylinder car, they all go highway speed, some just get there a little quicker.
 
So one person says it will take a while to "heat up" and another says it will boil...... Not exactly corroborating opinions.

I brew with two 1500w elements in my keggle.... Usually do 5.25gal batches (7gal breboil and easily boil out 1.50gal in 60min) and for the xmas-brew-sessions I do get 13.5gal to boil (not crazy but I get it to a valid boil).

I am thinking about a "HERMS in a box" cooler and run it with one 1500W on an Ranco ETC (for starters) - Again, I see a HERMS as 'keep the temperature in control' not as 'heat it up' system; still will do boiling water for step-mashing (until I win the lottery :cross: and buy AnheuserBusch and only brew IPAs, Rauchbiers :mug:, and RISs :ban:).
 
I am only looking to get my strike water and sparge water heated in decent time. I have a cooler mlt and a Blichman burner for boiling. I want to stop using my burner and multiple vessels just to move hot water around. If I get a new boil kettle I can use my existing keggle for my HLT.
 
I am only looking to get my strike water and sparge water heated in decent time. I have a cooler mlt and a Blichman burner for boiling. I want to stop using my burner and multiple vessels just to move hot water around. If I get a new boil kettle I can use my existing keggle for my HLT.

If your HLT is 15 gallon and you are mostly doing 5-6 gallon batches, then an eHLT with one 1500-2000 watt element on a dedicated 20amp service should fit the bill for what you are looking to do. With a cooler a recirculation system is not necessary for maintaining temps, and if you want to do a step mash, you can just heat your infusion water in your kettle, while your HLT is heating your sparge water. There are a lot of inexpensive stainless kettles out there, I think more beer has 10 and 15 gallon 304SS kettles with two ports for under 150, and spike brewing has even less expensive options.
 
I have an EHLT that i built out of an igloo 10 gal cooler. It has a 1500 Watt 120 V element and is controlled by an auber PID. It works fantastic. It takes a bit to bring my well water up to strike in, but if i pull hot water from the faucet, i have water to strike temp in 30 mins, and then my sparge water is ready in plenty of time. I lately have been doing 10 gal batches with it.
 
I use a 110v HLT built from a 60 qt pot that I added insulation to. It takes for freaking ever to get up to temp, about two hours or so with 8 gallons of water in it. It's a 2000W element as well. I always end up adding boiling water to it to speed things along. Once its up to temp tho it has no problems.I'd imagine two elements would speed it up a lot but I only have one circuit where I brew. That's half the reason I let my wife talk me into moving next year so I can have a 220 EHLT. I'm an electrician by trade as well and it may be cheap to add a new circuit DIY style but who wants to get in the attic in July in Houston?
 
I use two 120v heat sticks (2000 and 1500) and have no problem hard boiling 12 gallons of water, so for a hlt, even herms hlt, I don't think there should be any problem with just a 2000. make sure you have a 20 amp plug
 
I have a 120V 2000 Watt element in my brew pot and my trick is to put the pot on the electric stove & plug in the element at the same time. Once I reach boil I turn the stove off & let the 120V element do all the work.

Once I get all the parts together I'll build myself a RIMS tube out of stainless steel pipe and a 120V 1650 Watt element. It along with a pump will recurculate the liquid through my cooler mash tun.
 
Back
Top