Ok, I turned on the HLT at 8 AM this morning. The temp of the water in there was 65. At 10:30 it was at 170, it may have been there for about 15 minutes or so. My mash temp was 152, and I fly sparge with 170 water. Once the coil in the boiler is covered, I turned on the BK. When done fly sparging the BK was at 180. It took about an hour and a half to get to a boil. I totally forgot to take a picture of the boil, I am sorry.
I would guess that 2 coils in each kettle would cut heating my strike water from 2.5 hours to an hour and 15 minutes, and getting the boil going in probably closer to 30 minutes as I could turn them on as they are covered. With my current panel and setup, I would just have to switch the cables around as I have 50 amp service and the panel can fire 2 elements at a time.
I did plan ahead and had an extra wire pulled and have 3phase available, so when the time comes to upgrade to 2 or 3 bbls, I will have to have the extra wire hooked up and will have to upgrade to 3 elements per kettle, and get a new panel, but we are a ways away from that.
Hope this helps!
I would guess that 2 coils in each kettle would cut heating my strike water from 2.5 hours to an hour and 15 minutes, and getting the boil going in probably closer to 30 minutes as I could turn them on as they are covered. With my current panel and setup, I would just have to switch the cables around as I have 50 amp service and the panel can fire 2 elements at a time.
I did plan ahead and had an extra wire pulled and have 3phase available, so when the time comes to upgrade to 2 or 3 bbls, I will have to have the extra wire hooked up and will have to upgrade to 3 elements per kettle, and get a new panel, but we are a ways away from that.
Hope this helps!
