Wife won't let me brew on the stove anymore (just moved to a new house) but she's given me the go-ahead for the garage brewery I've wanted since I started brewing.
Of course I've done lots of reading here, especially the DIY section on the HERMS/RIMS, electric/propane etc etc. Initially I wanted to go all electric for efficiency reasons; however, I want to do most of the work myself and don't have much confidence with household electricity. I'm also lacking a 50A dedicated circuit and the desire to add one to my panel.
That being said, I've thought up an electric/propane hybrid solution. It will be a three-vessel single tier Brutus 10 style system...MLT, HLT and BK; recirculating mash etc. My theory is, I want to use a single burner between the HLT and BK, that will be mounted on a slider and able to transition to heat either the MLT or the BK. The system will utilize the burner to heat the strike water to the appropriate temperature. Then, after dough in, I'm hoping to recirculate through the MLT while keeping the temperatures consistent with a typical 120V 1500W low-density element.
The burner would then be transferred over to the BK for the boil. My question is, will the 1500W element be able to maintain my mash temperature and also be able to bring the water up to mash out temperatures?? I'll be using 15G Sanke's for 10G batches.
Any thoughts or feedback??
Of course I've done lots of reading here, especially the DIY section on the HERMS/RIMS, electric/propane etc etc. Initially I wanted to go all electric for efficiency reasons; however, I want to do most of the work myself and don't have much confidence with household electricity. I'm also lacking a 50A dedicated circuit and the desire to add one to my panel.
That being said, I've thought up an electric/propane hybrid solution. It will be a three-vessel single tier Brutus 10 style system...MLT, HLT and BK; recirculating mash etc. My theory is, I want to use a single burner between the HLT and BK, that will be mounted on a slider and able to transition to heat either the MLT or the BK. The system will utilize the burner to heat the strike water to the appropriate temperature. Then, after dough in, I'm hoping to recirculate through the MLT while keeping the temperatures consistent with a typical 120V 1500W low-density element.
The burner would then be transferred over to the BK for the boil. My question is, will the 1500W element be able to maintain my mash temperature and also be able to bring the water up to mash out temperatures?? I'll be using 15G Sanke's for 10G batches.
Any thoughts or feedback??