Advice - Simple Electric Brewing

Coming to you all for advice/resources on planning and setting up an electric brewing system for next year. At the moment, I use propane to brew on a standard burner. Next year I will be moving to Boston & into a condo that will be restricting me to either stove top or electric brewing. I'm opting for the latter option but really have no idea where to start. I have visited other build threads & theelectricbrewery.com but they all seem to be way more than [1] I am capable of furnishing and [2] I need, and a bit over my head.

What would be ideal for me is just a gravity fed 3 vessel system. I would be purchasing two 15 gallon Blichmann kettles & making use of my current mash tun. Are there any homebrew stores that convert standard Blichmann kettles to adapt to the heating element? Or would I have to make those cuts myself? Also, is a control box necessary when using electric heating elements or could one just rely on the brewmometers of the vessels?

Thanks in advance!

Jonathan

Its pretty easy to cut holes in kettles...if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself many LHBS will do it for you; however, don't expect them to do anything more than cut the hole for you. You'll have to figure out how to install the element yourself. I suppose it would be possible to wire it to an on off switch and manually switch it...but, I bet few if any would recommend this, especially when wiring it to a temp control is not too difficult and much more accurate than mechanical temp dials.

For me anyway, my foray into electric brewing started by making a simple combination BK/HLT vessel and adding in two 2000w/120v elements. You can also use heatsticks.

I heat dough in water with the vessel acting as HLT, transfer to cooler and mash. After the mash, I transfer the wort to an intermediary vessel, then back into the HLT/BK for the boil. Or, go no sparge and eliminate the transfer step. If you decide to expand, change the elements over to 240v and then build a dedicated BK and MT. Controlling/holding temp is where technology really starts to play into it. You just have to have a good thermometer and shut off the elements when you've hit your target. For the boil, just let er rip!

For apartment/condo, I really like jkarp's Brutus 20 design...it's simple and space saving.

Thanks for the replies! I am not a building saavy kind of guy, so alot of the builds on here I dont think I would be able to replicate in the least bit.

Could one use a cooking controller (http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=44) as a controller for a simple ebrew system? Plugging the heating element from the kettle to this should be able to regulate the HLT correct? For the BK, I suppose it doesnt really matter the temp.. and if it did, say the boil was too vigorous, could one just switch plugs & unplug the HLT and plug in the BK into the controller?

Sorry if I am completely missing on this, just have no experience in technical stuff such as this.

If budget is an issue, I'd skip the Blichmann's in favour of a keggle or other kettle setup and use the money saved to get at least one pump.

auberins controllers do work, but you would need the one with the SSR output and an SSR. The pre-build ones are meant for much smaller volumes of food being cooked, and are only 110v

hoptualBrew said:

Thanks for the replies! I am not a building saavy kind of guy, so alot of the builds on here I dont think I would be able to replicate in the least bit.

...

Sorry if I am completely missing on this, just have no experience in technical stuff such as this.

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What you're looking for would be best provided by High Gravity. It's spendy, but that's the cost of having someone else do the labor. You can order everything from them and they'll punch all of the holes you want punched. And they can even help you design what you want for a system.

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-c269.htm

Simpler yet. Induction range with Keg Koozy on a Bayou 62 quart pot.
I've boiled 11 gallons. Could probably do more, but haven't tried.



You'll need a 240V / 20amp outlet, but they are common for air conditioners.
Or you could wire up an 30amp to 20amp adapter cord and use a dryer outlet.

AnOldUR said:

Simpler yet. Induction range with Keg Koozy on a Bayou 62 quart pot.
I've boiled 11 gallons. Could probably do more, but haven't tried.

You'll need a 240V / 20amp outlet, but they are common for air conditioners.
Or you could wire up an 30amp to 20amp adapter cord and use a dryer outlet.

Click to expand...

I've been looking at that induction burner and didn't know how much it could boil.

Thanks for posting.

How long does it take to bring your 11 gallon volume up to boil temp?

Haven't timed it. I stay pretty busy cleaning up from mash while it's getting to a boil. I'd guess that it's about a half hour from mash-out temps to boil with 11 gallons.

"simple electric brewing"

Sounds oxymoronic to me


Also - the steel in the blichmann kettles is pretty thin and wimpy, cutting holes in that is super easy compared to the megapots/update international/supersteel


Some advice from a guy who knew little nothing about electric before building a system. Great learning experience, take your time with it and build your control panel, no matter how big or small, BEFORE you cut holes and install elements. Your control panel will take time and life will get in the way delaying your completion (i.e. no brewing if you have elements with no control panel installed).

IMO, take your time and build the electric set up you want to grow into. Don't build the minimum find you want a herms or a rims down the road. You will waste a lot of time and effort.

AnOldUR said:

Simpler yet. Induction range with Keg Koozy on a Bayou 62 quart pot.
I've boiled 11 gallons. Could probably do more, but haven't tried.

Click to expand...

That kegkoozy that you have, was it custom made for your pot? Or did you just get a standard one and roll the top down?

CidahMastah said:

"simple electric brewing"

Sounds oxymoronic to me

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I'm working on an"All In One Pot" electric brewery. Should have it finished up by next weekend. I'll post DIY thread,when I'm done. There is at least one person that did a 120V version using two 120V elements on two separate breaker circuits. Mine is 240V which will work on a dryer circuit if you are moving to a condo.

In the mean time, here's a pic of my kettle, I used the spuds by Brewhardware.com and soldered them in. It was easy.

stamandster said:

That kegkoozy that you have, was it custom made for your pot? Or did you just get a standard one and roll the top down?

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Standard Koozy with holes cut for the valve and gauge. Zipped up and rolled down. Works well.

CidahMastah said:

"simple electric brewing"

Sounds oxymoronic to me


Also - the steel in the blichmann kettles is pretty thin and wimpy, cutting holes in that is super easy compared to the megapots/update international/supersteel


Some advice from a guy who knew little nothing about electric before building a system. Great learning experience, take your time with it and build your control panel, no matter how big or small, BEFORE you cut holes and install elements. Your control panel will take time and life will get in the way delaying your completion (i.e. no brewing if you have elements with no control panel installed).

IMO, take your time and build the electric set up you want to grow into. Don't build the minimum find you want a herms or a rims down the road. You will waste a lot of time and effort.

Click to expand...

Agreed. I made the jump from 5 gallon extract brews with a partial mash thrown in here and there (like 2-3 times) to all electric, 10 gallon batches, HERMS system.

It can be done with a gravity fed system, but 15 gallon pots/keggles/kettles/whatever get really heavy when filled with liquid or 15-20 lbs of soaked grain.

Pumps are not expensive. They'll make life easier with less lifting and they can be used to run wort through chillers or stir your liquid around your heating element.

I'd recommend a control panel build. If you're only running one element at a time, you can get away with a single PID and just plug in the element you're using.

You can build this thing in a tool/tackle box or you can do a metal enclosure and make it look like an industrial control system.

I had no experience with all grain, minimal experience with electricity and wiring, and practically none with doing layout/design work on the panel. I asked a lot of questions and took longer than I should have, but my first 10 gallon batch is 4 days into primary fermentation and I loved the build and learning everything along the way.

Good luck.

Bensiff said:

You'll have to figure out how to install the element yourself. I suppose it would be possible to wire it to an on off switch and manually switch it...but, I bet few if any would recommend this, especially when wiring it to a temp control is not too difficult and much more accurate than mechanical temp dials.

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Actually I did this for quite a while for a boil kettle. I recommend it as a very economical way to start electric brewing, after testing/studying to discover the appropriate amount of power needed for your volume. I put a toggle switch right on the element enclosure and just switch it off at the kettle.

Thanks for all the replies! I think I have found what I am looking for. At first, I would like to set up a plug-n-play control system such as the electric kettle controller found on HighGravityBrew.com. I plan on getting two 15 gallon Blichmann kettles with conversion for heating element and thermowell (HLT + BK) & just using my igloo cooler that I use now for MT. All gravity fed at first on a woodwork/metal framework build. I think this should set me up with a basic ebrewery with room for modification and expansion over time. Thanks again for all your guys' help.