Electric Extract

Hello all,

I'm a first-time poster but long time lurker/researcher here on HBT. I've been impressed by the knowledge of the folks in the community here, especially when it comes to electric brewing.

Anyway, I've got about 10 all-grain batches under my belt and just haven't been impressed with the last few batches. I'm currently brewing with a propane-fired keggle, a cooler mash tun, etc. but don't have a pump or stand right now. The whole process screams for a nice stand/system. So...

My goal for the winter is build a beautiful electric brewery like Kal's from theelectricbrewery.com. Awesome website and a very helpful guy.

In the meantime, I am going to go back to extract while building the dream brewery. I want to focus on starters, ferm temp, kegging, etc. I do however want to build a 15 gal e-kettle for boiling extract batches.

Does anyone here do full-wort boil with extract elements? Any pitfalls ie scorched wort or damaged elements?

Without delving too far into the AG vs extract debate, will I see any differences using a heating element inside the kettle vs propane fired-kettle?

Thanks, all!

Oh Yea.. You will see a difference. Scorching the wort is far less of a problem than using a gas fired rig - IF - you use low density heating elements. I'd recommend going electric. You will never look back after doing that.

BTW, full boil with extract is the way to go. I'd also suggest that you use DME instead of LME. Your chances of making better brews is way ahead of the game just doing that.

Welcome to the forum. I sincerely hope you enjoy participating here.

If I can help you in your adventure I will try.

Wishing you the best.

Make sure you shut the elements off when you add in the extract. If you get extract right on them, I am betting it will scorch. I have scorched onto the bottom of a kettle on propane because I added extract and didnt get it stirred in fast enough.

Joshua

Welcome to the forums, Brassmonkey.

I've been following Kal's website for guidance building my E-HERMS as well. I'm hoping to get a few pics up this week. I just got my kegs back from the welder and stand is ready to go, just need to build the control panel. Maybe some photos could help you out. Best of luck.

Here's some shots of my ten gallon SS kettle with a 5500 watt 240 volt element. It gets up to boiling FAST and can maintain an open boil easily at a 60% cycle.




Here's the only pictures of the inside I have, but it's before I added the element.

+1 jfkriege
Turn the elements off when you add the extract and get it good and dissolved before firing it up and you will be fine.

As for high density vs low density.... I've used ultra low and high watt density and have not been able to detect any scorching from my RIMS tube or BK. The only real benefit a low density element provides is they are a bit more forgiving if dry fired.

Thanks all for the great information. I figured turning off the elements during the extract additions would be the best option, but thanks for confirming.
Awesome responses from some of the great minds on this forum.

P-J, Code, JfKrieg, thanks for the advice. Maltose, it'd be cool to see some pics of your newly welded kegs. klyph,is that a two vessel system like a brutus 20e?

I'm convinced that electric is the way to go, even while i tinker with extract for the next few months. Seems like once you get past the initial fear of zapping oneself the possibilities are endless.

BrassMonkey said:

klyph,is that a two vessel system like a brutus 20e?

Click to expand...

Not really, I use the kettle for the HLT for mash/sparge water. I drain the first runnings from the mash tun into a seperate 3 gallon vessel, then after the single sparge infusion from the kettle I put the first runnings into the now empty kettle and it is the boil kettle from then on.