Brewing with electric questions plus ideas

[neo82087]

For 7 gallons my 4500 watts is too vigorous. I duty cycle at 80%. It comes to a boil very fast and I'm sure it would be fine for 10 gallons

 

[BrewBeemer]

For 7 gallons my 4500 watts is too vigorous. I duty cycle at 80%. It comes to a boil very fast and I'm sure it would be fine for 10 gallons

I can see 4500 watts boiling 7 gallons without any problem it's the 13 to 14 gallon boil for 10 1/2 at end of boil without the long wait that concerns me.
I'm liking the two element design of 3500 and 4500 watts for fast heating then maintaining a boil with the 3500 or 4500 watt element.
As I was told before, try it with different wattage elements as they are cheap.

 

[Qdog]

keiths....my buddy and I are looking into making a setup very similar to yours. One question.....what is involved with controlling your heating element....what is your setup external to the keg to control everything.....thanks for the help.

 

[keiths]

keiths....my buddy and I are looking into making a setup very similar to yours. One question.....what is involved with controlling your heating element....what is your setup external to the keg to control everything.....thanks for the help.

I will post some new pictures of my setup Monday as I dont have the internet at home, I live in the sticks. I rebuilt my rig this past week and made it a one tier and moved the control box to the side. I use Auburn pids & 25 amp ssr's to control everything. I have a wiper motor setup to stir the mash. I use a power supply from an old switch ( I am a computer tech and have access)to step the volts down 120- 12v.I use my laptop to run the timing program.And a Shop vac to suck out the mash when its done makes clean up easy.I only use a single march pump, I dont fly sparge. I would be glad to help you with what I can.

 

[jkarp]

A single tier, single pump electric setup sounds interesting. Looking forward to seeing it.

 

[keiths]

Well here are the new pics of my rebuild.

 

[bpbrewer]

Hi. I am curious if anyone has tried this electronic brewery controller for electric brewing. I am researching my options and thought it looked cool:

http://www.ohiobrewingtechnologies.com/

Any thoughts or experiences?

 

[Sawdustguy]

I must say I am jealous of you guys who can go all electric. I just wish my home had more than 100 amp service. No way would the SWMBO spring for the dinaro to increase the service just to brew electric. I guess it's natural gas for the rest of brewing days.

 

[leboeuf]

Man I'm in the same boat... but with 60 amps.... I think there may be some kind of law on it's way that will force our power company to upgrade systems older than 65 years... The meter will cost almost as much as doing all the house wiring and panel? Right.... I think I was quoted 5g's for only the meter, I was going to do everything else involved.

On the upside I have gas spigots everywhere, even behind my fridge lol. Maybe I should stop fighting it and just get an absorption fridge...

 

[Bobby_M]

I must say I am jealous of you guys who can go all electric. I just wish my home had more than 100 amp service. No way would the SWMBO spring for the dinaro to increase the service just to brew electric. I guess it's natural gas for the rest of brewing days.

Maybe she'd like to get into making ceramics... honey, don't you need a kiln in the basement?

 

[lazybean]

I am an Electrical Contractor. If you want to consider looking at going all electric in a residential area its easy to calculate how much power you are going to need, and how much you have available.

For heating loads it is simple Volts x Amp = Watts. So 220volts x 20.5amps = 4510 watts.
Your wife's curling iron is usually 1500 watts, so it would be 110v x 13.6a

It gets tricker for any motor, since motors dont use Power the same. Most small motors like transfer pumps are around 1/8hp and are 110volt @ 2amps.

It is always best to 220 volt motors and heaters. since they automatically use electricity from both Phases. If you have a 100 amp service to your house, you can not exceed 100 amps on ether of the 2 phases or the Breaker/fuse will pop. This means if you use lots of 110 volt equipment, you have to make sure you balance the different loads across the 2 phases.