Electricity costs?

Just beginning to transition from extract to AG. Small batches for now, indoors. I got a 24 quart kettle and will be doing 2.5-3 gallon batches, likely BIAB for a while. Only thing is, it takes forever to bring the water to a boil (tested with ~4 gallons in it). Add in heating to strike temps and the full boil, I'm looking at having the range on high for about 2 hours or so. Has anyone taken a look at how much approximately they're spending on electricity? If it's a ton it might make sense to look into an outdoor rig, even though I would really really not like to go down that road yet if possible.

I'm sure the electricity to run your stove for 2 hours is way less than the cost of the propane for a batch. There are many reasons to move to a propane burner from a stove, but saving money on fuel is not one of them.

I have used my stove and looking at some range top elements online it looks like the standard is a 2000 Watt large element. You should be able to look at your electric bill and see how much it costs per KwH. Then calculate the Wattage * hours used to get an approximate of how many KwH you will use. I believe the 2000 watt rating is how much electricity it uses in an hour. So if you use the stove for three hours straight you will use 6KwH to make the beer. I pay about ten cents a KwH so for me that would be about sixty cents. Use the stove for 5 hours, about a buck.

I was using 5-10 dollars in propane when using a turkey fryer burner. Not the best out there but most people agree they get 1-4 batches per tank depending on burner and how they get the tank filled and around 16-20 per tank you are spending more than electric. I'm thinking of building a heat stick to supplement the burner so I can heat up strike water with the both of them and boil with just the heat stick to decrease the cost of propane and still be able to work outside when it is nice. Or move faster when on the stove.

I think that cost wise you will have to spend a little to get a good electric set up. However what you get in convenient and reliability is an awesome trade off. I hated the inconvenience of running for propane. The cost of propane is more per brew (without equipment costs). Electric is quiet, reliable with an unending supply and safe to walk away from. You can tell the PID what to do and walk away for an hour and things are all set when you get back.

By the way if you are moving to AG full boils you will need to upgrade to either large gas hungry burners or current thirsty ebuilds.

Hardware costs shouldn't be a factored in dollar per dollar IMO, here is why:
From my perspective the electric build has two sides, 1. the entertainment value of design and building process; 2. the continued benefit of ease of brew use each session once you get your set up completed.

Point being, you not only get the entertainment value of the design, wiring, fabrication.... you get to use it when you are done. So yeah I probably spend ~500 on my electric controller, spare elements, and spare parts. But I consider the build and the hardware costs part of the fun because I enjoyed the process. Had I not been working on the ebuild myself, I would have been seeking something else out for entertainment, which would have cost money.

I received a lot of help on the forums and from my Bro in law electrician, but it was a fun great experience that I now get to exploit with every brew session. IMO - WELL worth it.

Nashbrewer said:

I have used my stove and looking at some range top elements online it looks like the standard is a 2000 Watt large element. You should be able to look at your electric bill and see how much it costs per KwH. Then calculate the Wattage * hours used to get an approximate of how many KwH you will use. I believe the 2000 watt rating is how much electricity it uses in an hour. So if you use the stove for three hours straight you will use 6KwH to make the beer. I pay about ten cents a KwH so for me that would be about sixty cents. Use the stove for 5 hours, about a buck.

I was using 5-10 dollars in propane when using a turkey fryer burner. Not the best out there but most people agree they get 1-4 batches per tank depending on burner and how they get the tank filled and around 16-20 per tank you are spending more than electric. I'm thinking of building a heat stick to supplement the burner so I can heat up strike water with the both of them and boil with just the heat stick to decrease the cost of propane and still be able to work outside when it is nice. Or move faster when on the stove.

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Thanks to all you guys. Nash, that's perfect. Thanks for spelling that out for me. It makes sense. I just spent all this time yesterday bringing water to a boil and thought "Oh no I haven't factored this in". Glad to see I didn't overlook something important. Cidah, thanks for the response. But I'm not getting into all that yet. Simple, BIAB, stovetop batches for me. Maybe an Igloo MLT on the horizon. But I'm always thinking about the future rig and I think I may go electric....eventually...

SenorPepe said:

Thanks to all you guys. Nash, that's perfect. Thanks for spelling that out for me. It makes sense. I just spent all this time yesterday bringing water to a boil and thought "Oh no I haven't factored this in". Glad to see I didn't overlook something important. Cidah, thanks for the response. But I'm not getting into all that yet. Simple, BIAB, stovetop batches for me. Maybe an Igloo MLT on the horizon. But I'm always thinking about the future rig and I think I may go electric....eventually...

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Right now I am only using my electric rig as an HLT and a BK. You may not be in for the bigger step now, but when you do check out the ebuilds and people will help you who know a lot more about electricity than me.

Good luck!

I calculate my average electricity cost for my electric setup is maybe a buck per brew...it's super cheap as an ongoing expense, that's for sure

While the arguments in favor of electric brewing in this thread (and elsewhere) are powerful, they are not necessarily exhaustive. Personally, I would LOVE to go electric*. Nevertheless:

1. The "fun & entertainment" part of DIYing a brewing setup is true for a number of home brewers, not so much for the rest of us. For instance, while I possess the skills to wire the controllers, etc. for an electric brewing setup, I have no inclination do to so. This is only partly related to #2 below.

2. Even a DIY electric brewing setup is costly. And by this, I mean >$2K. I have read threads on HBT and other forums by a number of people who confess that they seriously underestimated the cost of an electric brewery. While this may be rationalized by "I had fun," or "I learned things," this does not contradict the initial statement.**

3. Not every homebrewer brews enough to justify building or buying an electric setup. My brewing volume given the consumption of my SWMBO and myself, some to family, and the six-pack here and there in trades or gifts amounts to no more than 15 - 18 5 gallon batches a year. It's pretty much of a stretch to justify an electric brewhouse for that much beer. That may well change for me due to advancing age, but that's my situation now.

4. It should be included that there ARE homebrewers who simply don't have the electrical service to provide an adequate electric supply. I am not one of those, having 200A to the house and 100A to the garage, but I'm mentioning it anyhow.

*NB: I define electric brewing as brewing in vessels with fixed electric elements, such elements controlled by devices regulating time, temperature, the flow of pumps, etc. Rather than describe such equipment myself, the DIY version can be seen on The Electric Brewery site, and the off-the-shelf variety by the Speidels Braumeister. Therefore, I specifically exclude from my discussion (for a number of reasons I won't elaborate on here) all sorts of non-fixed "heat sticks" and the like.

**NB: I reject the "but it's cheap" arguments of those people who bought all sorts of expensive components on eBay or a garage sale for $25 for a box load. Or got them at work for free. Or found them by the side of the road. Pretend there are those of us who never seem to find these wonderful treasure-troves.

Rico - I sort of see where you are coming from, but in no way did my Ebuild come close to $2k. You don't need to have pumps, etc. to have a functional ebuild that will heat strike water and boil wort.

It all depends on what you want to to build. I won't belabor the issue; however if you want to use one pot as your HLT and BK, you only need one element. From there you need one PID and a project box and a few other things. I estimate, my ebuild costs, including mistakes and buying multiple double parts for spares when something goes up to be under $600, certainly no more than $700.

If you don't like DIYer - well then don't get into an ebuild. Plain and simple.

I agree that it isn't a necessity. But, IMO, it is WAY more convenient and a WAY more enjoyable brew experience (I can sit and hear people talking vs. the jet engine burner).

That said I share a brew setup with my buddy, and we brew a lot, some weekends 20Gs. So I agree that your frequency of brewing plays in. Brewing with a buddy, cuts equip costs in half... When my buddy isn't around, I can still brew 10G batches

One other thing about electric that is nice. If you ever start doing 90 minute or longer boils, you aren't cursing the sound of the propane jet engine as it rips through your fuel.

CidahMastah said:

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One other thing about electric that is nice. If you ever start doing 90 minute or longer boils, you aren't cursing the sound of the propane jet engine as it rips through your fuel.

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The cost of propane is problematic; I don't pretend that electric isn't much more efficient / cheaper to use. I have devised a workaround that involves doing some heating of water on the cooktop in the house before moving it to the main pot over the turkey fryer burner, such that I can get 5 or so batches from a 20 lb. tank.

But, as I stated at the beginning of my post, I'd LOVE to go electric, I just can't see any way to justify it for me. Now, if I was cranking out 20 gal batches like you, I'd be there tomorrow!

rico567 said:

The cost of propane is problematic; I don't pretend that electric isn't much more efficient / cheaper to use. I have devised a workaround that involves doing some heating of water on the cooktop in the house before moving it to the main pot over the turkey fryer burner, such that I can get 5 or so batches from a 20 lb. tank.

But, as I stated at the beginning of my post, I'd LOVE to go electric, I just can't see any way to justify it for me. Now, if I was cranking out 20 gal batches like you, I'd be there tomorrow!

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totally get it. Maybe I am cranking like that so I ensure I get my cost per use down Let's just hope I don't put on 50 lbs in the gut and suffer a coronary in the process! ha

For the record, I didn't switch to electric brewing to save money. Saving money on fuel costs was just a small bonus.

TB

I just got done building a 2.5 gallon electric kettle for my small pilot brews. I also brew 5 gallon batches on a RIMS set up with propane. Since I already had the control panel it was a no brainer and the electric kettle FOR ME was just fun to build. So was the RIMS. I guess what im getting at is that I never once factord in how much money im losing or saving when I built both rigs I just built them cause it was fun and I like to tinker. It's also pretty cool to fill up water and flip a switch or 2.