Setup design on standard dryer plug..

Hey guys,
Have the money saved up and looking to build my electrical brewing setup, but need some direction as I have limited knowledge of electrical "building". I am looking to do a 10 gallon batch setup off my current 220V dryer plug (?? Is this correct voltage??), as I currently rent and do want to leave a spa panel for someone when the time comes for me to move. Will this be enough power to supply a HLT, MT, and BK with the appropriate heating elements to make 10 gallon batches?? I tried researching this topic, as I feel it has had to come up in the past, but I had no luck. So if this is already out there, please post the links to the threads. Also, please post your builds if you have something similar to this.

- Chris

Do you know what the Amp rating is on the breaker supplying that outlet? Is that the only thing on that breaker (hopefully)? Any guess what wire size they ran to that outlet? Is the outlet 4 prong? A combination of these things will let you know if you're heading in the right direction to use the outlet for double duty.
-Kevin

Kevin - Thanks for the reply. I have an amperage meter at home. I'll test it tonight. I believe it is the only thing on the breaker. Not sure the size of the wire, I could take picture but not sure that would do any good. The outlet is an older 3 prong outlet.

Chris,
I believe the first issue you're going to hit is getting everything you need out of the 3 wire outlet. If you plan to run a panel that controls your heating elements and your pumps, you'll need Hot A, Hot B, Neutral, and Ground. Not knowing how your outlet is wired I'm guessing you're missing the neutral, which would prevent you from safely running anything at 120v.

The wiring SHOULD have a label printed on it that displays what size it is, like 10/3 or 8/3.

Be carefuly using your amp meter - most simple at-home meters are limited to 10A or less - just a heads up.
-Kevin

Kevin - Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I am missing the neutral plug on the dryer outlet. Guess I need to start looking at rigging up a spa panel then. Going to talk it over with some guys in my HB club who are interested in going electric as well.

I rent as well but I have plenty of room in the panel and think I can throw in a 50A breaker and run a line to a spa panel without too much alteration to the main. As Mike Holmes says - do it right. Go with a new breaker and get all 4 wires to your brewing setup.
-Kevin

Luckily my panel is in my garage, where I planned to leave my brew structure. Just saw your post on running a 50A and two elements simultaneously. I was curious to know why you need to run two burners at once? Wouldn't the water in the HLT be heated up for the HERMS? What other water would you need to be heating? I understand the possibility of doing two brews, but if you're only doing one why do you need to head two bodies of water? HLT is holding water at say 163 to heat the HERMS coil, which is heating the wort, which is recirculating via a pump back into the sparge arm. Correct?

Also, I am looking to start slowly acquiring pieces as this build will definitely take time and money. Will the SSR and PID's be the same regardless of the batch size and power I will be running? I was looking at ordering these parts, but want to make sure it is the smart move to do.

My thought on two elements, other than back-to-back brews - if you mash in the 130-160 range and don't raise the temperature of your HLT for mash-out, but want to sparge closer to 170 you have a period of time where you're waiting for the HLT to heat with nothing going on. If the BK had some hot water to boost the temp in the HLT you could go to sparging quicker.
Maybe it's much ado about nothing, but at least having the option to run both simultaneously seems worth while... not to threadjack your question into mine.

SSRs are rated on amperage so make sure you get the right one for your setup. Best I can tell, PIDs have voltage and amperage ratings as well as ratings on what they can or cannot control. The guys over in the Automation thread have some good info.
-Kevin

I'll check them out. Any idea on what size kettles you are looking to grab? Has anyone used Bayou Classic Kettles with good results?

I have a 15gal sanke keg for the BK, a 10 gal rubbermaid round cooler for the MLT, and the HLT is TBD. I'd like to get another sanke for some degree of symmetry.

an option I would suggest is to build a completely 240v control panel and plug your pumps directly into 120v wall outlets. That way you would not have to deal with neutral loads on your existing 3 wire 240v circuit.

BadNewsBrewery - do you get boil over often using the sanke kegs? I was thinking about doing a similar set up, but I feel I'd get boil over all the time. I have 11 gallon kettle that I make 5 gallon batches in now and get close boil overs right now and that is 120% bigger then batch size compared to only 50% bigger then batch size. I do not really want to have to use campden (sp?) tablets.

grandqueso - is the a build that resembles this set up? I am a visual person and would have to see what it entails. Would it be possible to incorporate the setup PID's?

I've never come close to boil over in the 15 gallon sanke keg with a 5 gallon batch. I've done 10 gallon batches that need to be watched but not terrible.

As for the 3 vs 4 wire setup, doesn't a GFCI breaker require a neutral to properly trip?

Yes you need a neutral for the gfci to work. technically a three wire dryer recept is ungrounded. you could wire into it for your pumps, I just prefer to keep away from adding neutral loads on a ungrounded system.