Gas or electric?

CornyKegs 728
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.
N

nyer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2007
Messages
941
Reaction score
32
Location
Merritt Island
I brew all grain in my garage with a keggle and cooler. I use a propane burner now and it's VERY LOUD and it seems like alot of energy gets wasted with propane. I'm also hooked into my home propane system so I really have no idea how much it costs to use it. I also rarely brew in the winter because my garage is so cold with the doors open for ventilation.

I'm looking at maybe switching over to electric for a couple of reasons. I already have 220 wired into my garage and basement. I could brew in the basement in the winter. It would be much quieter.

I'm thinking that the electric is probably much cheaper to operate as well.

Has anyone ever done a real cost comparison between the two?
 
Electric is cheaper, once you have everything built. I think the components cost more, and require a little more work/attention putting everything together, but it also gives you a lot of automation options in the future if you want. With your issues/concerns, it seems like an easy choice, though.
 
Lil' Sparky said:
Electric is cheaper, once you have everything built. I think the components cost more, and require a little more work/attention putting everything together, but it also gives you a lot of automation options in the future if you want. With your issues/concerns, it seems like an easy choice, though.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking for now I would like to just have my keggle electric and then another keggle for heating my mash water. It would be really nice to be able to control the temps. with some type of control system. I would want to be able to upgrade it to a HERMS setup in the future. My father in law is a retired electrician so I would have him wire everything up for me.
 
I would go electric. With a retired electrician in the family I would put him to good use. I also would go RIMS for its efficency. I just finished a HERMS NG build. After doing tests on it I wish I had a place to go electric. Brew indoors w/o the worry of the of gas. Automation coupled with the responsiveness of electric to me is a no brainer. I've never used electric yet. I still can't wrap my pea brain around elements and direct wort contact w/o carmelization and off flavors. Too many are doing it for that to be an issue, just doesn't fit into my logic. Long winded answer.....electric is my vote.
 
nyer said:
I brew all grain in my garage with a keggle and cooler. I use a propane burner now and it's VERY LOUD and it seems like alot of energy gets wasted with propane. I'm also hooked into my home propane system so I really have no idea how much it costs to use it. I also rarely brew in the winter because my garage is so cold with the doors open for ventilation.

I'm looking at maybe switching over to electric for a couple of reasons. I already have 220 wired into my garage and basement. I could brew in the basement in the winter. It would be much quieter.

I'm thinking that the electric is probably much cheaper to operate as well.

Has anyone ever done a real cost comparison between the two?
Click to expand...

Check out the pol's rig.
 
Dog House Brew said:
I would go electric. With a retired electrician in the family I would put him to good use. I also would go RIMS for its efficency. I just finished a HERMS NG build. After doing tests on it I wish I had a place to go electric. Brew indoors w/o the worry of the of gas. Automation coupled with the responsiveness of electric to me is a no brainer. I've never used electric yet. I still can't wrap my pea brain around elements and direct wort contact w/o carmelization and off flavors. Too many are doing it for that to be an issue, just doesn't fit into my logic. Long winded answer.....electric is my vote.
Click to expand...

Isn't the brutus a RIMS? I originally planned to build one of those using propane but then I got thinking about electric. Why is RIMS more efficient?
 
nyer said:
Isn't the brutus a RIMS? I originally planned to build one of those using propane but then I got thinking about electric. Why is RIMS more efficient?
Click to expand...

In RIMS you are heating a very small amount of wort. Depends on the size of your tube. HERMS you are heating a much larger amount of heat exchanging volume. I've seen guys go with a few gallon HERMS vessle, but still much more than a RIMS tube at less than a 1/2 gallon. I did se a guys build that was electric and I really liked his build.

http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Baltobrewer's-Electric-Stand

I think with a few changes that I would make I like the build. Both systems HERMS/RIMS work, but for an electric build a RIMS just makes sense to me.
 
Dog House Brew said:
I still can't wrap my pea brain around elements and direct wort contact w/o carmelization and off flavors. Too many are doing it for that to be an issue, just doesn't fit into my logic. Long winded answer.....electric is my vote.
Click to expand...

Why would an element carmelize wort any more than the bottom of a pot exposed to a 2000 degree flame?
 

Similar threads

BugAC
Going Electric for a vessel, but which one?
Replies
7
Views
1K
doug293cz
doug293cz
Bart Taylor
Top three effort and time improvements to your Biab setup
Replies
31
Views
3K
doug293cz
doug293cz
Yesfan
Thoughts on Blichmann's Boilermaker Surface?
Replies
28
Views
3K
Knightshade
Knightshade
R
For Sale (Indianapolis, IN) FOR SALE....custom built brew stand and ALL of the equipment
Replies
0
Views
620
retiringbrewer
R
R
Hello from North Carolina
Replies
5
Views
331
T Murph
T Murph
InkBird 300

Latest posts

Back
Top