Electrical Brewing

[Kbar]

OK. After having regulator issues this cold winter in the garage brewery and tired of buying propane, I am thinking of making the move to an electrically fired BK.

HLT and RIMS are EC, 4500w and 1500w. My question is for the EC brewers. Does it work in the BK? I have seen Kal's setup, but not the pros and cons spelled out. Thanks for your feedback.

Any data on time to boil? scorching? element life? extra cleaning?

[Ozwald]

There were a couple BN shows about that. You may also want to check out BBR's 4/29/10 episode. I don't brew electric, but I've heard of plenty of people whose entire system is electric. The biggest issue I've heard of is getting rid of the condensation. I've also heard it's cheap as hell when compared to gas fired systems.

I'm thinking about building a heat stick for my HLT, but more for getting it up to temp via a timer so it's ready (or close to it) when I get home from work. I'd still run it off from propane for the actual brew day. No real electric plans beyond that.

[cornhole]

I am brewing electrically.

My BK is a converted keg. 220V 4500W element, extra low density, s-curved. I am boiling 12-14 gallons without any problem. As far as scorching, no indications in the flavors in my beers. I was expecting a lighter SRM on a couple of my recipies, but I am not sure I can attribute the darker colors to carmelization in the boil. I haven't boiled 12-14 gallons with propane so I don't have a reference point. I am not disappointed with the amount of time to get to boil. Maybe 30 minutes. What is really nice is that it is QUIET!!!

I haven't got around to building the HERMS module yet, still on the to do list. I did just get a March pump, so that project is making it's way to the top. I expect to avoid any scorching in the HERMS if I can keep the wort moving through.

[baltobrewer]

I'm 100% electric. My BK uses a coiled spa heater (~7000W) and the HLT uses a 5500W hot water heater. The HLT is controlled through a thermocouple/PID control that reads the HLT water and adjusts to setpoint. The PID and pumps are wired to a rotary timer that turns the whole rigamarole on early am on brewday and gets bizzy heating my strike water. Way convenient, as I wake up and mash in. The BK is a bit more convoluted, as it uses a rheostat control wired thru a diac to regulate the voltage, so I have more than just an on-off switch to regulate 7K watts... Electric costs are so minimal I can't see a difference in my utility bill, and I've tried to spot it. My MT is not heated. I use a convoluted CFC as a central heat exchanger to circulate the wort thru. During the mash I keep the HLT at mash temp +5 degrees, and this holds my mash rock steady by circulating the HLT water thru the outside of the CFC.

Hope that made some sense...

[Kbar]

How about cleaning the element? Issues with always having the element protrude into the BK? Element life? etc.

I guess I need to boost and confidence to do it. Thanks for your help!

[Monster Mash]

You'll have to clean the element the same as you do the boil pot, it won't be any more difficult. The element will last a very long time as long as you keep it wet while it is turned on, it's no different then heating water.

[spiderwrangler]

as long as you keep it wet while it is turned on

Just like a good woman...

[Schroom]

I've always brewed with electrically. I started with a single plate stove, but now I've got Speidel Braumeister 20L.

I have never had any problem with scorching (2,5kW element). My brewday take about 5-6 hours including cleaning up after brewing. It takes about 15-20 min to get from mash ut to boil. The element does get a layer on it after a few brews, but I all comes off with a bit of PBW. I usually clean well after each brewday, and then I give it a real good cleaning with PBW after 10 brews or so. Again, never tasted any off flavours (and I've brewed pilsners, saisons etc on my system).