Unfortunately I can't brew indoors even once I go electric...simply no room. However I'm tired of propane and want to go electric.
I don't have any available 240 circuits but do have room if I wanted to pay for one...but then I'd need to figure out where to put the outlet as I change brewing locations depending on the weather...if it's nice I'm in the backyard, if not I'm in the garage.
All of my 120 circuits are 20 amps so I'm leaning towards using those for my electric brewing needs. I have a dedicated circuit in my garage and I have another outside my house. I could run another extension cord from a 3rd circuit inside the house if required.
A bit about my setup...
I have 2 15G spike v3 kettles and a 10G AIH kettle I use when I sparge (only for 10G batches). I brew mostly 5G batches but the occasional 10G batch. I tend to have pretty large preboil volumes (~8G for 5G batch) due to heavy hopping and a strong desire for clear wort in the fermenter. I try to do double batch brew days whenever possible.
I have an amazon bucket heater I use to preheat my strike water.
I have a single chugger pump that wears many hats including all the transfers, continuous wort recirculation, and whirlpooling. I may add another pump in the near future to assist with double brew days.
I also currently use an 1800 induction burner to manually control mash temps. My buddy gave me another induction burner that is 1800w as well that I currently don't use.
So that's all my equipment and the relevant processes.
I'm looking for suggestions on converting my boil kettle to electric...the following are things I've been pondering.
120v options
- 2250w hot rod along with spare induction. Pros, no modifications needed on my kettle, portable. Can use the hotrod for heating liquid as well. Cons, would need at least 3 circuits if using both burners, hot rod, and chugger. Also manually controlled
- install 2 elements in my BK. I'm a novice at this...do I do the 240v elements and run them on 120? Can 1 controller handle both elements? What's the best way to get them in my kettle? I live close enough to spike that I could get them to do the work if that made sense. Cons would be the elements are dedicated to this kettle only, cost due to controller(s).
240 option
- suck it up and get the 240 outlet installed on the exterior of the house. Put a 5500w element in the kettle with a controller. Question here is how long of an extension cord can I use with the 240v outlet?
Any assistance with this decision is much appreciated. I've been pondering this for the past 6 months or so and have been all over the place with what I think is the right direction.
I don't have any available 240 circuits but do have room if I wanted to pay for one...but then I'd need to figure out where to put the outlet as I change brewing locations depending on the weather...if it's nice I'm in the backyard, if not I'm in the garage.
All of my 120 circuits are 20 amps so I'm leaning towards using those for my electric brewing needs. I have a dedicated circuit in my garage and I have another outside my house. I could run another extension cord from a 3rd circuit inside the house if required.
A bit about my setup...
I have 2 15G spike v3 kettles and a 10G AIH kettle I use when I sparge (only for 10G batches). I brew mostly 5G batches but the occasional 10G batch. I tend to have pretty large preboil volumes (~8G for 5G batch) due to heavy hopping and a strong desire for clear wort in the fermenter. I try to do double batch brew days whenever possible.
I have an amazon bucket heater I use to preheat my strike water.
I have a single chugger pump that wears many hats including all the transfers, continuous wort recirculation, and whirlpooling. I may add another pump in the near future to assist with double brew days.
I also currently use an 1800 induction burner to manually control mash temps. My buddy gave me another induction burner that is 1800w as well that I currently don't use.
So that's all my equipment and the relevant processes.
I'm looking for suggestions on converting my boil kettle to electric...the following are things I've been pondering.
120v options
- 2250w hot rod along with spare induction. Pros, no modifications needed on my kettle, portable. Can use the hotrod for heating liquid as well. Cons, would need at least 3 circuits if using both burners, hot rod, and chugger. Also manually controlled
- install 2 elements in my BK. I'm a novice at this...do I do the 240v elements and run them on 120? Can 1 controller handle both elements? What's the best way to get them in my kettle? I live close enough to spike that I could get them to do the work if that made sense. Cons would be the elements are dedicated to this kettle only, cost due to controller(s).
240 option
- suck it up and get the 240 outlet installed on the exterior of the house. Put a 5500w element in the kettle with a controller. Question here is how long of an extension cord can I use with the 240v outlet?
Any assistance with this decision is much appreciated. I've been pondering this for the past 6 months or so and have been all over the place with what I think is the right direction.
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