Largest Electric Setup

[Chugmaster]

What is the largest electrical setup that anyone has ever successfully put together on here?

I recently purchased three 100 gallon stainless stock pots that I am going to set up. I am considering going electric so that I can automate and brew indoors.

I'm guessing that I will probably be able to do 70 gallon batches with a boil volume of about 83 gallons.

I realize that using 9000w will take me about an hour and a half to bring my wort to a boil.

Has anyone had any experience with a setup of this size?

 

[mattd2]

At 2 bbl I would think the probrewer.com forum would be your best bet for help. What are you planning to do with all that beer? I have heard of breweries of up to 5 hL being done with electric but remember that the large kWs required for them means fairly hefty electrical suppliers in the realms of an industrial project
Couple of links for you:
http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25716&highlight=electric
http://www.probrewer.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=25879&highlight=electric

 

[Chugmaster]

Thanks. I guess that I'm teetering on the line between homebrewer and nanobrewer.

What am I going to do with all that beer? I have a lot of friends who have recently realized that there's more to life than Coors Light.

So what I'm getting is that any size is possible and you will eventually get a boil... It just might take longer depending on how much power I'm able to crank out.

Still curious to hear what the largest setup is within this community.

 

[mattd2]

Are there any restrictions on annual volumes in Canada? Here in NZ we can brew as much as we like (I think).
Yes it will take longer to boil with a smaller element but if you go to small the heat loss will take to much of the energy and your boil will not be too good.
There are a few 1 bbl setups at least on here, have a look in the "show us your brew sculpture" thread.

 

[Bsquared]

You might want to contact Brewmation, they sell U.L. certified all electric control panels for 1 to 7bbl breweries.
http://www.brewmation.com/3bbl.html

I think they have it at 24K watt's/tank for a 3bbl system, or 4 6K watt elements.

 

[brans041]

I hope you have a good electrician to wire that all up. Also you have to keep in mind that the vessels lose heat as well. I have a 3000 watt induction burner and it struggles to keep 10 gallons boiling.

9000w at 210volts is 42amps normal in home service is 150amps here in the US, so that would use all your home usage assuming 9000 per kettle.

You would have to upgrade your service, that is a pretty penny.

 

[Burgs]

Username: Chugmaster