The bad things about e-brewing

[ReuFroman]

I'm still in the building stages. But I can say time seems to be the biggest "drawback". I have spent hours thinking drawing and redrawing and redrawing and redrawing for every aspect of your system. I'm thinking I have about 50 hours thinking and drawing before a hole was cut.

When I say drawback I mean really don't mean it to be as bad as the word actually means. I love thinking about out my system all the time.

 

[passedpawn]

My new kettle's element is also removable, but with 3" tri clamps. It definitely sucks cleaning an element in the kettle when you can't see the bottom half of it! I hated that about my old kettle.

Your friend is a genius and also a little crazy! I would love try that but wouldn't want to risk it. How many times do you figure he's done that?

Don't know. He's a member here. I'll ask him to chime in.

 

[brewmcq]

I'm still in the building stages. But I can say time seems to be the biggest "drawback". I have spent hours thinking drawing and redrawing and redrawing and redrawing for every aspect of your system. I'm thinking I have about 50 hours thinking and drawing before a hole was cut.

When I say drawback I mean really don't mean it to be as bad as the word actually means. I love thinking about out my system all the time.

I'm sorry that you've already invested so much time in the thinking process... especially since P-J has already so generously taken all the guesswork out of it for us.

My build is an exact copy of his Single Element BIAB 30A PID and was inspired by johnodon's Official E-BiaB Build Thread.

I was honestly about to pull the trigger on a turnkey single PID system, but the simplicity of P-J's design made it a no-brainer for me. So instead of dropping $300 or $400 on a prebuilt system, I sppread the cost over several months and built my own. One of the selling factors for me has been the fact that if something goes wrong, that I know that I will be able to find replacement parts (I got everything from Auber), and I'll know how to troubleshoot it.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

I am the one that has burned crud off elements, I would do a video, but that would be lawsuit bait ;-) Do we have a standard disclaimer here? This has the equivalent danger of a heat-stick... ***I would sternly recommending anyone doing this unless you are willing to accept the risk of burning down your house and injuring or killing yourself or others***

OK, what I have is Camco ripple elements mounted in nice element guards (stilldragon 2" tri-clamp ones) to hold the elements, and a PWM controller with a knob to vary the power. This is in my control panel with a big E-Stop button that I am within reach of. I do this in the evening or at night to see the red glow better, (I might be able to just use 120VAC on a 240V element with more time), I start off at about half power and I see the crud dry out, then smoke builds and a faint glow appears... I back off the power to keep a dull, faint glow... The first time I stopped here, and the crud did not come off, so I went a little bit brighter on the glow.. I never went to 'red-hot poker' or 'Home Alone charcoal starter'... I did not need to... I then let the element cool, I have stuck it in a bucket of water without damage, but do not need to, ii I would not... I then use a wet scotchbrite pad, rag, or carboy brush to remove the now soft gunk. I have done this a half dozen times, it has had no visible effect on the element, I think I could get good results with lower power over a longer period of time if you mounted the element... Come to think of it, I may try doing this inside the Boil Kettle and it would be inherently safe, other than light smoke... and easily visible... notice I said *I* in every step above, not *you*... I am not recommending you do this because I am not willing to be responsible for your actions in a litigious society

 

[kombat]

(and in the meanwhile, the SWMBO uses my Blichmann for canning... win-win).

Just a word of caution to anyone reading this: I have a Presto pressure canner, and the warnings specifically say NOT to use it with a propane burner, as the metal is not rated to handle anything above 18,000 BTU. It will soften, which is not something you want when it contains several liters of superheated sugary liquid and glass under 15 psi of pressure.

 

[brewmcq]

Just a word of caution to anyone reading this: I have a Presto pressure canner, and the warnings specifically say NOT to use it with a propane burner, as the metal is not rated to handle anything above 18,000 BTU. It will soften, which is not something you want when it contains several liters of superheated sugary liquid and glass under 15 psi of pressure.

And a word of advice for anyone who thinks that my SWMBO and I are raving idiots who don't take the time to read warning labels on sh*t:

 

[kombat]

That's why I specified the brand name of my particular canner.

I had assumed yours was a different brand (safe for such uses), but I didn't want anyone reading your post to assume ALL canners were safe to use on propane burners.

 

[srice]

Be sure to check out Bobby's latest hardware at BrewHardware.com He has added a tri-clover setup which is silver soldered to your kettle so that the element can be easily removed. I've only got 2 brews on my system, but I plan to retrofit my kettle so that I can pull the element out for cleaning and so that I can replace it quickly and easily if I have an element failure.

 

[clearwaterbrewer]

If you run your e-brewery off 240, it's not portable at all. Even with 120, you can't brew in the woods.

That's about it I think.

mine uses a 30A/50A RV plug... semi-portable, looking to make more portable.. I look forward to taking it to the 24 brewathon this year... Electric Brewing in the woods... (but I get your point)

-mike

 

[waffle418]

I really want to see the camlock disconnect on the elements. You have my mind in a tizzy!

 

[passedpawn]

I really want to see the camlock disconnect on the elements. You have my mind in a tizzy!

I should have said tri clamp. I took a picture and added some notes. I haven't had my buddy (clearwaterbrewer/mike) help me weld the ferrule to the kettle yet. Mike got these for me and I love them - thanks Mike! Can't wait to put them to use.

 

[BradleyBrew]

Ash tray beer... it ain't good and wouldn't score high as a "specialty beer" in a competition.

I e-brewed for about a year. After HD, LWD, & ULWD elements I said forget it. Went to propane and I'm a happy camper. My e-keggle is a great HLT!

 

[passedpawn]

Ash tray beer... it ain't good and wouldn't score high as a "specialty beer" in a competition.

I e-brewed for about a year. After HD, LWD, & ULWD elements I said forget it. Went to propane and I'm a happy camper. My e-keggle is a great HLT!

I don't doubt your experience at all, and I don't blame you for changing back to gas. But do you think that is the experience of all other electric brewers?

I vaguely recall a thread in which someone (you?) brought this up. I wonder how many others have had this experience?

 

[BradleyBrew]

I'm just giving MY experience. I'm not trying to push anyone away from their "dreams" but it is a possibility of having limited success.

 

[junkyard brewer]

Thanks all for sharing.

I have yet to read anything that would sway me away from going electric.

 

[brewmcq]

I'm just giving MY experience. I'm not trying to push anyone away from their "dreams" but it is a possibility of having limited success.

No more or less limited that LP or NG...

 

[GotPushrods]

10 minutes into the mash on my first brew on my electric rig, someone drove into a transformer and POOF! No more power. The whole town was "dark".

So I wrapped my kettle (eBiaB) with an old sleeping back, RDWHAHB.

When the power came back on 30 minutes later, I'd lost a whole 3 degrees.

Be honest, you were at least a little freaked out for a couple of minutes that you blacked out the whole grid.

I know I'd be thinking to myself ... "Oh $(@*.... OH $(#@*.... OK it wasn't me.... no way.... be reasonable.... it's a coincidence... "

 

[brewmcq]

Yeah, I did.

And my first response was a very Evil Villain sort of laugh... the SWMBO thought I'd lost my mind.. lol

 

[BradleyBrew]

No more or less limited that LP or NG...

Disagree

 

[brewmcq]

Of course you do, and that's your right.

Heat is heat, regardless of the source.

 

[BradleyBrew]

Of course you do, and that's your right.

Heat is heat, regardless of the source.

I just think that the heat from direct heating (element directly in the wort) is not the same from in-direct heating (Burner heating the kettle, heating the wort) and has a higher degree of difficulty to get right equaling a increased chance of scorched wort. The surface area of the bottom of your kettle is much greater than the surface area of a element.

 

[passedpawn]

I just think that the heat from direct heating (element directly in the wort) is not the same from in-direct heating (Burner heating the kettle, heating the wort) and has a higher degree of difficulty to get right equaling a increased chance of scorched wort. The surface area of the bottom of your kettle is much greater than the surface area of a element.

I did the calculation once. The total surface area of the ripple elements is about 1/3 of the bottom of a keggle. So, another way of looking at that is the heat per square inch is about 3x what it would be if the same energy was coming into the keggle from the bottom.

So, you're right, it's not the same.

Those who use propane, though, do have similar problems. You might be surprised to learn how many extract brewers have burnt the extract because they didn't stir enough and it caramelized on the bottom of their pot using .

 

[BradleyBrew]

I did the calculation once. The total surface area of the ripple elements is about 1/3 of the bottom of a keggle. So, another way of looking at that is the heat per square inch is about 3x what it would be if the same energy was coming into the keggle from the bottom.

So, you're right, it's not the same.

Those who use propane, though, do have similar problems. You might be surprised to learn how many extract brewers have burnt the extract because they didn't stir enough and it caramelized on the bottom of their pot using .

Yes, I can see where LME directly sitting on the bottom of a kettle would scorch.

 

[Begin2Brew]

One thing I do consider is if one component (Relay, Transformer, SSR, PID) then the entire system is shut down until it is replaced.

 

[ReuFroman]

One thing I do consider is if one component (Relay, Transformer, SSR, PID) then the entire system is shut down until it is replaced.

That really depends on your set up. You could do a biab set up if you had to. I think most of the plans I have seen are set up to work independently. You have to get creative but it could work out.

If your PID goes out you can always work it where one PID controls the system, it would be crazy but could work.

 

[junkyard brewer]

One of these Marines are not like the other. Gee...there is one in every crowd.

One negative comment out of the hundreds posted across the net. Seems to make me wonder...though, that is exactly what I was HOPING to find. There had to be someone out there who didn't like it. I thought more than one person would chime in though! That is great news!

Semper Fi

 

[LandoLincoln]

One thing I do consider is if one component (Relay, Transformer, SSR, PID) then the entire system is shut down until it is replaced.

Yeah, I definitely thought about that. I purchased a backup SSR, because it seems like those components are most likely to wear out. If one of my PID's went haywire, then I could use the other one for the rest of the brew day by swapping plugs. It might be a good idea to invest in a backup contactor as well.

 

[passedpawn]

One of these Marines are not like the other. Gee...there is one in every crowd.

One negative comment out of the hundreds posted across the net. Seems to make me wonder...though, that is exactly what I was HOPING to find. There had to be someone out there who didn't like it. I thought more than one person would chime in though! That is great news!

Semper Fi

Nothing is 100% On Amazon they have book reviews. No matter how good you think a book is, there are always people who didn't like it. Always. Those people aren't wrong though.

Semper Fi!

 

[cpl-america]

whatever, that book sucked no matter who you are!

HUA

 

[ScubaSteve]

Price is a big downside....possibility of electrocution increases as well....but there are risks with any method.

In the end, you have to do a little ORM.

Semper Fi