Finally converting my SsBrewTech 10g kettle to electric

[TandemTails]

I have a 110v 2000w heating element and decided I'm tired of buying propane. I just bought a weldless 2" TC fitting and a carbide bit so I can hook the heating element up to my kettle. I'll be the most interested to see how quickly I get to a boil and what kind of boil I end up with. I'll probably need to adjust my boil off rates in Brewfather.

Anyone else convert their kettle to electric this way?

 

[JeffersonStateBrewing]

I did this 5 or 6 years ago, used two 220v elements. Worked great. I changed my set up to welded tri-clamp Ferrels. I did mine for distilling. I dunno how fast or even if you will get a boil with that element, beyond my knowledge and/or experience.

 

[TandemTails]

I installed my 2" TC fitting today and currently have it heating up 8 gallons of 60'F water. I want to see how long it'll take cold water to get to a boil, as well as ~140'F water to a boil (to roughly approximate wort after mashing).

 

[TandemTails]

Just to follow up. I'm a little disappointed that this isn't a viable option for brewing. It took an hour to go from 60'F to 140'F and then an additional hour to get from 140'F to boiling. I also use the word boil very loosely. It was more of a light bubbling directly above the heating element. This would definitely not be remotely vigorous enough to cause any significant evaporation.

At least with the TC fitting I can simply cap it and continue using propane. I'll revisit this if I can get a 220v outlet installed and actually have a higher powered heating element.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

Yeah at 120V your 2000w element is only putting out 500W I believe. If I’m wrong I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will be along and correct.

 

[doug293cz]

Yeah at 120V your 2000w element is only putting out 500W I believe. If I’m wrong I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will be along and correct.

According to OP, the element is rated 2000W @ 120V. If it were rated 2000W @ 240V, then it would only provide 500W @ 120V.

Just to follow up. I'm a little disappointed that this isn't a viable option for brewing. It took an hour to go from 60'F to 140'F and then an additional hour to get from 140'F to boiling. I also use the word boil very loosely. It was more of a light bubbling directly above the heating element. This would definitely not be remotely vigorous enough to cause any significant evaporation.

At least with the TC fitting I can simply cap it and continue using propane. I'll revisit this if I can get a 220v outlet installed and actually have a higher powered heating element.

These times are consistent with what I observe for a 1600W element heating up ~6 gal of water.

Large amounts of evaporation is not the point of the boil. The important things:

1. Killing off microbes
2. Isomerizing hop alpha acids
3. Conversion of SMM to DMS (which quickly evaporates)

All depend on temperature, not boil-off amount or rate, and boil temp is the same whether barely bubbling or volcanic.

Brew on

 

[TandemTails]

Yeah at 120V your 2000w element is only putting out 500W I believe. If I’m wrong I’m sure someone more knowledgeable will be along and correct.

This is the element and controller I'm using: Still Controller 110 Volt with 2000 Watt Element - Mile Hi Distilling

I don't know enough about electricity to figure out what the actual output of it is on 110v, haha

 

[TandemTails]

According to OP, the element is rated 2000W @ 120V. If it were rated 2000W @ 240V, then it would only provide 500W @ 120V.

These times are consistent with what I observe for a 1600W element heating up ~6 gal of water.

Large amounts of evaporation is not the point of the boil. The important things:

1. Killing off microbes
2. Isomerizing hop alpha acids
3. Conversion of SMM to DMS (which quickly evaporates)

All depend on temperature, not boil-off amount or rate, and boil temp is the same whether barely bubbling or volcanic.

Brew on

Your points are valid. It's just with my setup I'd have to start using a lot more grain on each brew day if I don't get much boil-off. I'm using a 10g igloo cooler mash tun and have the grain crushed about as small as I can without getting stuck mashes. My efficiency is already pretty low (68-70%) so not getting the evaporation would make it significantly worse

 

[Mac MacFarlane]

Could try adding some insulation around the kettle might help with heating times and boil.

 

[doug293cz]

Your points are valid. It's just with my setup I'd have to start using a lot more grain on each brew day if I don't get much boil-off. I'm using a 10g igloo cooler mash tun and have the grain crushed about as small as I can without getting stuck mashes. My efficiency is already pretty low (68-70%) so not getting the evaporation would make it significantly worse

I think the required additional grain will be less than you think, and it can be easily calculated using my spreadsheet. What is your sparging process, and what are your typical values for:

• Grain bill weight
• Boil-off volume
• Post-boil volume
• Mash efficiency

Could try adding some insulation around the kettle might help with heating times and boil.

This will definitely help.

Brew on

 

[TandemTails]

What is your sparging process, and what are your typical values for:

• Grain bill weight
• Boil-off volume
• Post-boil volume
• Mash efficiency

For mashing, I do an initial 60 minute mash with about 40 percent of total water (3.5 gallons for the last batch i brewed). After that, I do two batch sparges (1.1 and 3.9 gallons each). I've found that the two batch sparges work best for getting the most efficiency.

For a 5 gallon (post fermentation) batch, I typically use about 8-9lb of grain for a beer in the 1.050 range.

My boil-off rate with propane is usually about 1.5 gallons per hour

Post-boil volume is usually around 5.7-5.8 gallons

Mash efficiency is around 75%

My other option would be to get a second heating element, something like a HotRod and plug that into a separate circuit in the house. I'll check out your spreadsheet and see what it would take to up the grain bill, thanks for linking that!

 

[Bobby_M]

It's unfortunate that you didn't ask if a single 2kw element would be enough because you could have avoided spending all that money and still being disappointed. When it comes to stills, since they are semi-closed systems they will boil with lower wattage.

The sweet spot for boiling 7-8 gallons is about 3000 to 3300 watts and that's without even needing a power controller like you bought there. When a customer of mine is limited to 120 volts, my recommendation is a pair of 1650w elements run on two circuits.

It's also unfortunate that you went with a 2" TC since there are way more element options at 1.5" TC but you can still work around that.

You've already come this far, put another element in there. Run one on full power and then use your controller to fine tune the boil with the other element.

 

[doug293cz]

For mashing, I do an initial 60 minute mash with about 40 percent of total water (3.5 gallons for the last batch i brewed). After that, I do two batch sparges (1.1 and 3.9 gallons each). I've found that the two batch sparges work best for getting the most efficiency.

For a 5 gallon (post fermentation) batch, I typically use about 8-9lb of grain for a beer in the 1.050 range.

My boil-off rate with propane is usually about 1.5 gallons per hour

Post-boil volume is usually around 5.7-5.8 gallons

Mash efficiency is around 75%

My other option would be to get a second heating element, something like a HotRod and plug that into a separate circuit in the house. I'll check out your spreadsheet and see what it would take to up the grain bill, thanks for linking that!

Ok, I set up a simulation with the following parameters:

Grain bill: 9 lb​

Weighted grain potential: 1.037​

Grain moisture: 4%​

Post boil volume: 5.75 gal​

Boil off: 1.5 gal​

Grain absorption rate: 0.12 gal/lb​

Sparge steps: 2​

OG: 1.050​

​

The calculated values came out as:

Total brewing water: 8.33 gal​

Strike water: 3.5 gal​

Sparge 1: 1.1 gal​

Sparge 2: 3.73 gal (I swapped the sparge 1 & 2 volumes, but it had no effect at all)​

Conversion efficiency: 96 - 97%​

Lauter efficiency: 93%​

Mash efficiency: 90%​

​

I then dropped the boil-off to 0.5 gal to simulate a your new electric system. Things that changed were:

Total brewing water: 7.33 gal​

Sparge 2: 2.73 gal​

Lauter efficiency: 91.4%​

Mash efficiency: 88.4%​

OG: 1.049​

​

I then calculated the additional grain required to get the original OG of 1.050 with the new boil-off volume, and it came out to 9.2 lb.

Your reported ~75% mash efficiency is not consistent with the other data you have provided (weights, volumes, and OGs) so you might want to look at how you are making your measurements, and what software is calculating your mash efficiency.

Brew on

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