Poll-->Best Brewery Power Source

[usarcher]

I suppose solar would need to be electric but would be off the grid so I would consider it "other".

I'd like to see how anyone is brewing solar.

Last summer I had solar panels installed on my house which is tied to the grid. They generate enough to cover my annual electricity usage. I recently received my Colorado Brewing Systems setup, so I voted electric but would classify myself as solar.

 

[Aeverman123]

I have brewed gravity with propane, single tier with pumps with propane and now electric. Although all have their advantages and appeal I prefer electric for the efficiency and control.

 

[augiedoggy]

Now I bet if you asked this in a forum full of crafty or commercial brewers I believe the overwhelming response would be steam...(question remains on how to make the steam). I use electric and find it to be the best of what Ive used but steam would have benefits..

This poll is pretty biased too since many who vote may not have used multiple methods... Also some people know nothing about electric and are unwilling to learn or even consider it. Many are afraid of what they dont know. (or brew while drunk and dont trust themselves).. So They defend their choice

 

[augiedoggy]

i fail to understand why you are so happy that the heat transfer from an electric element to water is more "efficient" than a flame on the bottom of a pot??? Seems like an irrelevant point to me...

it is all about cost - how much does it cost to boil 10 gallons of wort for an hour or so??? here in southern California, i did the math and the increase in cost for electric brewing was somewhere around 8-12 dollars per batch (for me - your electric rate could be different).

I went with NG and have observed the cost to be nearly negligible. Granted, if electricity were cheaper, i do absolutely concede that using Electric has many advantages - quiet, less waste heat and no issue with carbon monoxide. Creating an electric brew rig i think is somewhat more expensive and risky if you do not absolutely know what you are doing. That said, i wish i could go electric, but my sensibilities with cost pushed me to NG.

so for me in Southern California - it is NG.

Cheers!

Jim

Good point... That said your paying some crazy costs for electric out there... It cost me less than $3 to brew 10 gallons with my 3 element 3 vessel system with electric... I know the costs would be triple if I went propane but I really dont know what they were when I used NG all I remember is it didnt work as well and was a lot more work to control.

Another good point is The fact that the electric is way more efficient means its less wasteful... and depending on how the electric is generated its a lot cleaner too... and its not like you guys in california dont need one less fire burning... (sorry bad taste in humor)

 

[augiedoggy]

Still do some brewing stovetop (strike water and sparge), so natural gas along with propane burner. Both are cheaper boil-to-boil in our consumer area.

Where in western NY are you because I live smack dab between buffalo and Niagara falls and brewing with electric is way cheaper than the couple times I used propane... I also doubt there ius much cost difference between electric and gas but I have a feeling the electric would be cheaper since its less than $3 in electric per brew for me, possibly much less.

 

[augiedoggy]

I'm in Orange County, just north of him, and worst case scenario is approx. 35 cents a KwH. I figured a while ago that if I ran a 5500 Watt element for 2 hours @ 100% it might cost me approx. $3.50.

? his profile states hes in western NY.... last time I checked im in western NY and orange county is 5 or 6 hrs east.

I pay with delivery (which costs more than the gas) and BS charges around 6-7 cents a kwh considering my last bill was $99 and I used 728kwh (I have a reef tank and hot tub to power as well)

 

[gromitdj]

? his profile states hes in western NY.... last time I checked im in western NY and orange county is 5 or 6 hrs east.

I pay with delivery (which costs more than the gas) and BS charges around 6-7 cents a kwh considering my last bill was $99 and I used 728kwh

From what I can tell JimWard's profile says he's in San Diego, CA. Which is 2 hours south of me.

ETA: @lschiavo and I were discussing JimWard's statement, Not GHBWNY's. There's an Orange County over here, too.

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Steam FTW

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Also, I pay the 2nd highest rate for electricity in the country, second only to Hawaii. With a 10,000W brewery, 5 refrigerators, 6 computers, and a 10,500W indoor sauna...our electric bills are HUGE.

 

[augiedoggy]

From what I can tell JimWard's profile says he's in San Diego, CA. Which is 2 hours south of me.

ETA: @lschiavo and I were discussing JimWard's statement, Not GHBWNY's. There's an Orange County over here, too.

Gotcha... My apologies

 

[lschiavo]

Also, I pay the 2nd highest rate for electricity in the country, second only to Hawaii. With a 10,000W brewery, 5 refrigerators, 6 computers, and a 10,500W indoor sauna...our electric bills are HUGE.

Really? Electric rates are that high there? What are you paying and why so much? They are not bad by us and you're not too far away.

A yooper sauna should be wood

 

[Tiber_Brew]

Really? Electric rates are that high there? What are you paying and why so much? They are not bad by us and you're not too far away.

Lowest I've seen here in 14 years is $0.22/kWh, not even sure the highest, but our average electric bill is ~$400/mo. Friends in the area report bills averaging around $300/mo (that's w/out electric breweries and saunas...)

As to the "why" part: it has to do with politics, logistics, and failed promises. There's a lot to it, and I'm tired of hearing more promises as they close more power plants and fire more people. I've heard rumors of some Canadian company buying the rights to our portion of the grid that has some grand plans.

A yooper sauna should be wood

No arguments here. This Yooper wanted to be able to time and program his saunas according to his schedule. This thing rivals most fancy hotel saunas.

 

[Crazyeyes]

@ 8.34 cents per KWh in the Pacific Northwest, its electric all the way, I like my brewery powered by coal dust and baby salmon! Electric is easy to control and precise, I just finished electrifying my HLT with a 5500w herms setup and can't wait to get my boil kettle off the gas, and sucking down 11,000 watts of precisely controlled electricity.

 

[Bobby_M]

My service is tiered but if I take my total bill and divide by kWh, I'm paying average of 14 cents.

Heat 8 gallons of strike from 60-160 on 5500watts takes about 20 minutes (1/3rd of an hour) 1.8kW x .14 is 25 cents.
1 hour mash. The element comes on for about 3 seconds every 5 minutes so that's about 1-2 minutes of use. Not even worth counting.
Ramp 150-212 to boil, 13 minutes of full power. 1.19 x .14 = 17 cents
Boil for 60 minutes at 65% output. 5500 x .65 = 3575 wH 3.57 x .14 = 50 Cents.

92 Cents per brew for 6.5 kWh of usage.

All direct fire gas flames are running maybe 40% efficiency if you're lucky. The best price I can get here for a 20 pound propane fill is $16. If you can manage 40% efficiency into the kettle (you won't), you'd need 55,000 btu of gas to do the same work I outlined above. That's about 2.6 pounds of LP that costs me $2.08 not including the gasoline to go get the fill.

Usage costs aside, I would still vote electric even if it were twice as expensive as the next cheaper option. Zero emissions, quiet, safer, more controllable via automation.

 

[jddevinn]

Electric is great to a certain size, then steam is much better!

 

[Bigfly]

I brew indoors and the gas burner set off the CO monitor every time I brewed. So I went to a 3500 watt Avantco induction range/cooktop. I have a 2kw photo-voltaic array on my roof that produces about 1/3 of our electricity.