Industrial electric steam kettle

I saw an ad on craigslist for a 10 gallon electric steam kettle:

market forge 10 gallon electric kettle

I figured I'd use it for a BIAB setup for 5 gallon brews.

When I went there to look at the thing I noticed that he also had for sale a 30 gallon electric steam kettle:

blogett 30 gallon electric kettle

Now I'm thinking of possibly getting both. How could I make best use of both of these things? One could be an HLT and the other a boil kettle or what? It'd be ideal to brew the largest amount in the shortest time. I have a TDD-3 kegerator with 12 perlicks hooked up to it!

Looks like that 30gallon is 3 phase? You might want to look into that. He might have that wrong, but if that's right you would need three phase power to run it.

It looks like they are both 3 phase if they're 208v.

I was just curious about something. Can three phase steam kettles be converted for home use and is it worth the trouble? I always found the idea of using them interesting.

The specs say:

Standard voltage options
208 VAC, 3 phase, 60 Hz
240 VAC, 3 phase, 60 Hz
208 VAC, 1 phase, 60 Hz ( 20 & 30 gallon models only)
240 VAC, 1 phase, 60 Hz ( 20 & 30 gallon models only

This is the 30 gallon model we're talking about here. So it looks like it CAN be 1 phase. Whether it actually is I don't know.

The 10 gallon one doesn't have a "1 phase" option in its specs so that one is probably a no-go.

This 30 gallon is a 15kW model which draws 72A at 208V, 68A at 220V in single phase. It only draws 40A in 3-phase mode.

I somewhat doubt 72A is doable in my house. What gauge wire would be required?

I was going to talk to a local electrician tomorrow as well. For all I know, 3 phase might very well be available at my house?

jsguitar said:

I was just curious about something. Can three phase steam kettles be converted for home use and is it worth the trouble? I always found the idea of using them interesting.

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Yes, it interests me in that I would think that these suckers probably neatly and efficiently knock off the heating times for very large amounts of liquid. I wonder why there isn't homebrew equipment that utilizes this manner of heating liquid. Maybe it's overkill. How quickly would 30 gallons of liquid come to boil from a gas burner?

Overkill? No such thing I say!

Well maybe someone knowledgable of these will chime in. If it'd work with your home electricity and you decide to go this route then I'd be very interested in your updates on how it all works out. I assume there's a good reason these are used in the food industry for reasons that would also apply to brewing.

These are typically very expensive kettles. 650 is pretty cheap for one and you might want to be careful buying to make sure its not defective or worn out. They go for thousands brand new.
In my opinion, you could get a kicka** electric kettle going at home for that price and be just as happy with it and it would be all new materials.

hatfieldenator said:

These are typically very expensive kettles. 650 is pretty cheap for one and you might want to be careful buying to make sure its not defective or worn out. They go for thousands brand new.
In my opinion, you could get a kicka** electric kettle going at home for that price and be just as happy with it and it would be all new materials.

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Not 15kW that will boil 30 gallons w/o scorching: double-lined kettle where the electric element heats the outer pressurized water/antifreeze which steams the inner wort. I think a steam kettle would knock brew times in half given how quickly they bring things to temperature.

I'll probably end up passing on this thing given the 3-phase problem. I'm meeting with an electrician Monday to discuss things. What you're suggesting is probably what I end up doing. I hope to have a small-scale CIP brewery in the unfinished part of my basement in some way or other.

I went back to get more information on these 2 kettles and they are both manufactured by Crown Food Service Equipment in Toronto. The Crown brochure states:

The kettle shall be equipped for operation on:
208 VAC, 1 or 3 phase, 50/60 Hz. *
220 VAC, 1 or 3 phase, 50/60 Hz. *
240 VAC, 1 or 3 phase, 50/60 Hz. *
415/240 VAC, 3 phase, 4 wire, 50/60 Hz.
380/220 VAC, 3 phase, 4 wire, 50/60 Hz.
* Phase is field convertible.

Notice the "Phase is field convertible" asterisk. This implies to me that it would just be a matter of rewiring or a simple replacement of some kind to convert to 1-phase.

Both kettles are currently configured 208V 3-phase.

While I was figuring out how to handle these things, the seller upped the price to $950 and $1650 on me. That's out of the range of what I'd want to pay. The electrician I spoke with (I spoke to 3 actually) said these were no problem to setup 1-phase and would throw that part in for free (I was going to setup my basement with 240V high amp feeds).

After looking into the matter further I figure I'll hold out for a natural gas steam kettle. This would end up being the cheaper route altogether for me. if I can find a usable one cheap.

Keep your eye on ebay, there are good deals on steam kettles there, but they can be expensive. You will hardly see them for less then 800 in the 40 gallon range but they are out there.

There are these 180Qt pots on ebay too.

You could probably set up a killer electric system with them.