Heating Element Questions

[Gytaryst]

I'm converting over to all electric. I'm going to have heating elements in the HLT and BK and have narrowed it down to:

1). the 240v 5500W ULWD ripple element.
2). the Blichmann 15 gallon Boil Coil.

Are there better options than the two I listed?

 

[jekeane]

One of the biggest considerations in my opinion is a proprietary unit like the boil coil can fade out of production at any time where the water heater elements have and will be around a long time.

 

[wisconsinitebrewer]

I run a 240v 5500W ULWD ripple element on both my HLT and BK. In both cases, they have worked great and I have never had an issue. I cannot speak about the Boil Coil; I have not been around it or used it. Hope that helps

 

[passedpawn]

It's best to get cheap, easily available, and easily replaceable. I treat my elements very badly knowing that if they blow, I can Amazon a new one overnight and replace in about 10 minutes.

 

[Gytaryst]

That all makes sense. Thanks

 

[TexasWine]

Might I suggest a third option?

3. Use two elements on 120v circuits. They could be 1500 to 2000 watts, depending on the amperage of the available outlets. Mount the elements in BrewHardware Hot Rods so they're transferable from one vessel to the next.

Avoiding 240v should save you some money. Plus you end up with portable heating elements you can use anywhere in your brewery (heating water for cleaning kegs, bottles, serving lines, etc). I love my Hot Rods.

 

[Gytaryst]

Might I suggest a third option?

3. Use two elements on 120v circuits. They could be 1500 to 2000 watts, depending on the amperage of the available outlets. Mount the elements in BrewHardware Hot Rods so they're transferable from one vessel to the next.

Avoiding 240v should save you some money. Plus you end up with portable heating elements you can use anywhere in your brewery (heating water for cleaning kegs, bottles, serving lines, etc). I love my Hot Rods.

Interesting. I haven't seen these.

The electric panel is on the outside of my garage on the wall I plan to install the 220 outlet on. If I decided to go the electric route the cost of installing a 220 outlet would be minimal. There are no outlets at all on that wall so even if I wanted to do 110 I'd still have about the same installation costs.

Safety is really my biggest concern. I have a lot of respect for electricity but I'm not at all comfortable messing around with it. The idea of filling big steel drums with water and immersing massive amounts of electrical current into them just has accident waiting to happen written all over it, imho.

After dwelling on it, reading on it, weighing the pros and the cons - I'm leaning more and more toward sticking with propane, (and all the inconveniences that go with it).

 

[SaarB]

I put my system together 1.5-2 years ago. At that time, the element enclosures were still in their infancy, as were SS ULWD ripple elements. Pricing both configurations at that time, I recall it wasn't that much of a delta (factoring NEMA 8/3 and 30 A cord caps). That being said, I am commenting to the performance/reliability of the BoilCoil in a kettle configuration.

I probably have 25-30 10 gal brewing sessions on the system, with BoilCoil in the HLT & BK. In that time I have dry-fired the HLT element twice during the sparge. The boil is over the whole circumference of the keggle, which creates a rolling convection up the sides and back down the center. I also questioned the ULWD, and as a test (please don't try this at home) I fired the coil at 100% during a test heat cycle and reached in and touched the coil. I could put my palm on the coil for about 4-5 secs before it became uncomfortable.

Speaking to reliability, I personally don't have enough brewing hours to give it the stamp of approval on HBT, but a small brewery in town is using the 55 gal coils in their set up ( w/extender rings). They have been doing 15-20 barrels a week for 1.5 years, with no issues on the same coils (dual elements in HLT & BK).

For my system- Sanke/BoilCoil HLT & BK (4500w)
Typical times are:
Strike from 60-165 about 45-50 mins
Mash-out 150-168 about 15 min (via HERMs in HLT)
Boil 145-203 (hour sparse) @ 13.5 gals 15 mins
I know when I was building my setup, I struggled to find the info I was looking for at the time. I am also aware that I would not have been able to build my system without all of you brewers out there, so thank you.

 

[oujens]

Might I suggest a third option?

3. Use two elements on 120v circuits. They could be 1500 to 2000 watts, depending on the amperage of the available outlets. Mount the elements in BrewHardware Hot Rods so they're transferable from one vessel to the next.

Avoiding 240v should save you some money. Plus you end up with portable heating elements you can use anywhere in your brewery (heating water for cleaning kegs, bottles, serving lines, etc). I love my Hot Rods.

Where in your process do you use your hot rods? I've been pondering how I can move to electric. I have an outlet available for an avantco ic 3500 induction burner and my kettle is induction capable, but I was thinking about another vessel for recirculating mash and probably wanting a dedicated heat source for that vessel. I'm assuming for low o2 the hot rods in the mash tun wouldn't be a good idea because you would want to have a lid on it in addition to a cap? I should have gfci outlets on different circuits in my brewing space.

 

[TexasWine]

Where in your process do you use your hot rods? I've been pondering how I can move to electric. I have an outlet available for an avantco ic 3500 induction burner and my kettle is induction capable, but I was thinking about another vessel for recirculating mash and probably wanting a dedicated heat source for that vessel. I'm assuming for low o2 the hot rods in the mash tun wouldn't be a good idea because you would want to have a lid on it in addition to a cap? I should have gfci outlets on different circuits in my brewing space.

I use Hot Rods in the boil kettle. For the MLT I use a kettle mounted (Hot Pod) element under one of Bobby M's BIAB false bottoms.

If using a Hot Rod in the mash you'd need to fashion a way to keep the bag off the element and to bend a mash cap around it if doing low DO. FWIW, I don't put a lid on the MLT, just the mash cap.

 

[oujens]

I use Hot Rods in the boil kettle. For the MLT I use a kettle mounted (Hot Pod) element under one of Bobby M's BIAB false bottoms.

If using a Hot Rod in the mash you'd need to fashion a way to keep the bag off the element and to bend a mash cap around it if doing low DO. FWIW, I don't put a lid on the MLT, just the mash cap.

Do you just maintain mash temp in your MLT, or are you able to step mash as well? Step mash really isn't that important to me, but it would be nice to have the ability. I imagine I might be inclined to do it more often if I had better control of the temp. Thanks for the info!