110v boil kettle

I only have 110 in my shop so I cant use 240, but was wondering if I used a hybrid of gas and electric would it work. Basically I have 2 options, a 1500w element or a 2000w element. If I brought the wort up to boiling temps, could I maintain it with one of these 2 elements. I would raise the temp with the gas, then shut it off and let it boil on the electric for my 60 or 90 minutes. Will either work.

I'll tell you in the morning

I've got a 1000w element on a timer. The element is a bucket heater that will heat to boiling. I'm going to have it turn on at 0600 for a 0800 kickoff. I'm hoping the element will get me in the neighborhood (it's 35f in my garage so I don't expect a boil) and my SQ14 burners will take care of the rest.

I use 2000 W heatsticks. One stick will maintain boil of 5-8 gallons.

Do you not have both hot sides of the circuit in your shop? If you do, voila, 240V.

Are you thinking of using a HIGH WATT DENSITY 120V element in wort? Scorching will be a concern, unless you use a 240VAC element on 110VAC...

120VAC elements are weak... 1500W or 2000W... AND they are HIGH WATT DENSITY, not good to have in wort, scorching sugars.

I'm planning on trying out hybrid gas/electric. After a trip to THD, I should have my 2kw heatstick done today.

Pol, I hear a lot of back and forth on the scorching issue. Some say it will (or could) scorch the wort, some say it can't happen.

Do you know if anyone has done any testing on the scorching issue?

Cpt_Kirks said:

I'm planning on trying out hybrid gas/electric. After a trip to THD, I should have my 2kw heatstick done today.

Pol, I hear a lot of back and forth on the scorching issue. Some say it will (or could) scorch the wort, some say it can't happen.

Do you know if anyone has done any testing on the scorching issue?

Click to expand...

I just ran my first brew through my 6 gal 120V 2KW electric kettle yesterday - a relatively high gravity oatmeal stout. No scorching whatsoever. In reality, the watt-density of a high density 2KW 120V element isn't that much higher than a 4.5KW 240V low density one.

I still need to do a more delicate beer to be 100% sure, but there definitely wasn't a trace of any kind of burning on the element and the wort on this stout tasted just like it had in previous brewings.

Here's a vid of my kettle doing a 5gal test boil:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpSczqBTpPE]YouTube - 5gal Electric Kettle[/ame]

My next brew will be a very light colored blond ale. I plan to try the heatstick out on it, so it will be a good test of the scorching issue.

Sorry to hijack, but for my electric HLT, it seems to take a long time to get 7 gallons to 170*. I am using a 200W 120V HWD element. Aside from going to 240, what options do I have to up the power?

Ryan_PA said:

Sorry to hijack, but for my electric HLT, it seems to take a long time to get 7 gallons to 170*. I am using a 200W 120V HWD element. Aside from going to 240, what options do I have to up the power?

Click to expand...

Yeah, you're gonna need more power. What about a heat stick? If your kitchen is relatively modern, code requires it to have two separate 20A circuits so you should have the juice.

I only do 3 gal batches so I never need to boil more than 5 gallons. It takes my kettle right at 60 minutes to go from 50 deg to boil. Any more and I'd definitely have a heat stick to shorten the time.

Ryan_PA said:

Sorry to hijack, but for my electric HLT, it seems to take a long time to get 7 gallons to 170*. I am using a 200W 120V HWD element. Aside from going to 240, what options do I have to up the power?

Click to expand...

Did you mean 2000 watt?

If you have access to a second 20 amp 120v circuit, you can add another 2000 watt element.

Cpt_Kirks said:

Did you mean 2000 watt?

If you have access to a second 20 amp 120v circuit, you can add another 2000 watt element.

Click to expand...

Sure enough 2000W.

I was hoping it could be done by swapping the element, as it is a miracle that the house did not burn down or shocked myself.

ScubaSteve said:

I'll tell you in the morning

I've got a 1000w element on a timer. The element is a bucket heater that will heat to boiling. I'm going to have it turn on at 0600 for a 0800 kickoff. I'm hoping the element will get me in the neighborhood (it's 35f in my garage so I don't expect a boil) and my SQ14 burners will take care of the rest.

Click to expand...

As an update, I did this in a 20F garage, using a converted keg; open and uninsulated. I was only able to get the HLT up to about 140F....If I covered it and added insulation.....and it wasn't so damned cold, I bet I'd be up to strike temp.

Among many other projects, I'm looking at getting some reflectix.

I have found that insulation is key when using 2000w heatsticks. I usually wrap my kettle w/ a blanket or towel to speed up the process.

I am currently doing a 7.4 gallon boil (5 gallon batch) and I am running my ULTRA low watt density 5500W element at 65% to keep it rolling nicely.

This element has about 50W per square inch... it is putting out nearly 3600W to keep a nice boil going. If I drop it to 50%... it will not even really boil (2,250W)

Cpt_Kirks said:

My next brew will be a very light colored blond ale. I plan to try the heatstick out on it, so it will be a good test of the scorching issue.

Click to expand...

I used my new heatstick for my "Sweet Blond Ale". I used it to help heat the strike and sparge water, I used it to adjust the heat of the mash, I used it to bump up the heat at mashout, and I used it to help with the wort boil.

It worked like a champ! The kitchen stove will barely boil 4 gallons. With the stick, it was ROLLING, QUICK!

The beer in the better bottle is very pale, I saw no signs of scorching. We will see for sure in a few weeks when it hits the keg.

The Pol said:

I am currently doing a 7.4 gallon boil (5 gallon batch) and I am running my ULTRA low watt density 5500W element at 65% to keep it rolling nicely.

This element has about 50W per square inch... it is putting out nearly 3600W to keep a nice boil going. If I drop it to 50%... it will not even really boil (2,250W)

Click to expand...

Yeah, 5 gallons is the maximum boil with 2KW in my extensive testing. 5 gal batch brewers really need to plan for 240V or multiple elements.