Is there a reason most people don't run kettle heater and MLT heater at the same time

[mattoak]

So in designing my brewery I am going to use a 120V heating element for my e-HERMS and sparge water, and a 240V element in my boil kettle. I was assuming that I would have the ability to run both of them at once (using a separate wall circuit for the 120V heater than the 240V supply). I noticed most people seem to run one or the other and not both. Is this just because most people's breakers and wiring won't allow more than 30 or 40 amps and they use one power source?

If I power the 120V heater from a separate wall outlet that is rated at 20A, is there anything wrong with running the system this way? Is there any real benefit to being able to run them both at the same time?

I figured I would heat the mash water in the kettle and e-HERMS/sparge water in the MLT at the start of the brewing before mashing in, and then have the ability to hold the sparge water temp constant for fly sparging while simultaneously starting to heat the wort in the kettle. Is this unnecessary?

 

[bemerritt]

Most people opt for a 240v element in the HLT for faster heating times. What size batches are you planning on?

 

[mattoak]

5 gallon...no interest in doing 10 since I have a 2 tap kegerator and like having two different beers on tap and 10 gallons takes me a while to drink as it is.

I also already have a 120V element so I figured I'd use that in the HLT (which is an igloo cooler so it won't lose much heat) to keep the temp right and use the higher power one (4500 or 5500W) in the kettle.

That and only having a 5 gal HLT is why I said I would probably heat the initial mash water in the kettle and then transfer it over to MLT so it heats faster before mash in. At the same time I only have a 7.5 gal kettle and I'd like to be able to start heating the HLT water in the HLT during the mash water heating. Although I guess I could heat up 7 gallons to mash in temps, then transfer the right amount into the MLT, send the rest into the HLT, and then turn on the HLT heater and top off the water to the amount I will need to sparge with slowly as it heats up and controls the recirculating mash temps.

Will a 5500W heater be powerful enough that I don't need to start heating the wort before fly sparging is complete? Or is fly sparging too slow of a process to be able to do that? I used to batch sparge and turn the flame on as soon as I had around a gallon of inital runoff and allow that to start heating up as I finished the sparge so there was less waiting around. I'd like to be able to do this, but want to also be able to keep my sparge water int he HLT at the correct temp...but it is also in an igloo cooler so it might hold temps pretty well.

 

[Kiel]

a lot of people run 2- 5500 watt elements so it's at the borderline for a 50 amp circuit. I'm planning to run a 5500 and a 4500 to be able to run both

 

[kal]

I figured I would heat the mash water in the kettle and e-HERMS/sparge water in the MLT at the start of the brewing before mashing in, and then have the ability to hold the sparge water temp constant for fly sparging while simultaneously starting to heat the wort in the kettle. Is this unnecessary?

It'll save you a little bit of time during the brew day but not much, maybe 20 mins.

Most people only want to be able to run both at the same time in order to do back to back batches.

Kal

 

[dannysk]

If you are doing multiple brews in the same day it might save time but with only brewing one brew a day, I don't see why it would be necessary. Map out your brewing schedule by vessel and see if it is really needed. For me, it is not necessary. Cheers.

 

[mattoak]

I guess it isn't necessary. It would make my wiring much cleaner only needing one input power source. Thanks guys.

 

[BadNewsBrewery]

I have mine set up to be able to run both at the same time, but unless I'm brewing back-to-back I rarely have both on at the same time. If it was significant extra effort or cost, I wouldn't go for the dual-supply and would opt to keep the simple single power supply, one element at a time technique.