Equipment Needed

[Kyle]

In the parts lits picture in the manual, the cord type drawn is 120v, no indication of amperage, but the manual says not to use an extension cord as it will weaken the current and take longer to cook, and odd way of saying that it takes alot of current and an extension of the wrong gauge may melt and burn.

[fakr]

Well, the manual says that it takes no more than 55 minutes to get oil up to 400F (204C).  That's not bad at all considering you'd want sparge water at 170F.  
One big draw back I see with the unit though is the temperature control.  The manual says the unit will drop 5C before turning back on...so thats not the most accurate.

Anyone see a big issue with a 5C drop?  I guess if you timed your sparging right, you could just wait for the unit to turn back on to heat up to 170F?

[Richard]

Specific heat capacity of water is much higher than cooking oil. Liquid water is 4.18 Joules to raise one gram by one degree celcius. Vegetable oil is 1.6. So to raise the temperature of 6 gallons of canola oil to 204C from 18C (assuming 100% efficiency) you need 21K * 1.6 * 184 = ~6 Mega Joules. For the same quantity of water to 100C from 18C you'd need 23K * 4.18 * 82 = ~8 Mega Joules... Slightly higher energy required, despite the lesser temp range.

If it takes an hour to get up to 400F, it's going to take longer than that to get a boil going (assuming it's insulated enough that it can ever reach that point). Sparge water might be ok.

[DandyMason]

Yeah Im thinking I like the idea of it... since it would save me from going up and down a flight of stairs with 5 gallons of wort... But doubt it would work all that well.  

Thanks for the input though! I will likely be heading to home hardware and purchasing a regular stainless steel brew pot... along with a thermometer.

[Jake]

This is what I really want to do in the future Dan, and I know that a couple people in the group are looking to do the same thing:

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/heating-element-kits

It's a heating element from a water heater; requires a 220 volt outlet. I guess it has no problem bringing 10+ gallons up to boil in no time. Looks like you can buy the pre-assembled kits for $200 bucks.

Does anyone know whether if I bought this, if it would work without the electric brewery control board? Is there any way that I could just control the heat output without the control board? I wouldn't mind having somehting like this, but am not willing to do the whole electric brewery build .... can it be regulated manually in any way?

[Kyle]

yes, I will be using a manual control in mine.

Basically all you need is the following:

220v 30a GFCI (so as not to kill yourself): inline ones are VERY hard to find, but a spa-panel bought in the US will run about $50
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100686230/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Control panel using pulse-width modulation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation
they are very easy to build, and variable duty is the best format. Or, you can buy them for about $10 for US-based ones or:
http://www.canakit.com/5a-motor-speed-controller-pwm.html
which may be cheapest once you factor in shipping

Regarding diagram below: this is my plan, but it is for hypothetical, illustrative purposes only neither I nor FCBA accept ANY liability related to its implementation
This is hypothetical, not electrical advice and I am not an electrician

[Jake]

Tell ya what, you build yourself one and survive, and I'll pay you to make me one  

[DandyMason]

Thats some pretty intense stuff that is completely over my head hahah.

One more question... Is there ANY hope in finding one of those portable electric burners that could actually boil 6 gallons?

[Kyle]

I've been looking for a while, believe me. The best if you don't want to get into electronics is probably this:

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/Electric-Kettle-Controller-4-Wire-306p3594.htm

You will still need GFCI

[DandyMason]

Yeah thats pretty interesting....

I think for now I will be going to a propane burner. Save some time and electricity...

So if I go ahead and buy this...

http://www.walmart.ca/Outdoor-Living/Ga ... rkey-Fryer

... I may need to somehow treat the aluminum pot? Or would you guys recommend just going to a stainless steel set up?

[Dave Savoie]

that pot will be perfect its tall and skinny I even got good rolling boils with my pot exactly the same as that one

[JohnQ]

Save some time and electricity...

Just so you know, I'm pretty sure that though you may save electricity, you are not likely to save $$.
From what I've read, although propane has many advantages, the energy cost balance is significantly in favour of electric.

JQ

[Richard]

I think Hawoh currently has the most significant electric rig. He'd probably be able to comment.

[DandyMason]

Would never have guessed propane can be more expensive than electricity... Stove top boiling is back in the running.

In case you guys havent noticed, im pretty damn cheap...

[Dean]

Save some time and electricity...

Just so you know, I'm pretty sure that though you may save electricity, you are not likely to save $$.
From what I've read, although propane has many advantages, the energy cost balance is significantly in favour of electric.

JQ

I may be completely wrong, which is possible as it's kinda my job to know this but I haven't needed to know in quite a while ...but I don't think that's correct. It's much cheaper to heat this base with oil than with electricity (right now we're using NG)

while you probably don't want to heat your house this winter with propane I think you're better off money-wise boiling 5 gallons of wort on a propane burner than on your stovetop.

here's some figures:
1 gallon of propane = 27 Kwh electricity
$/KwH X 27 = $/equivalent gallon
20lb tank = about 4.5 gallons propane
I'm hearing rumours that Costco fills a 20lb tank for just over 10 bucks?

I only know what the federal gubment is paying for electricity this year ...someone who's at home take a look at your last power bill and post what they're paying per KwH, I'm going to guess 12-15 cents ..if that's the case then that's an equivalent $18.23 a gallon against $10 for propane

Add to this the fact that the stove runs much longer than the propane does to get the liquid to boil ..particularly on a flat top stove. And that exhaust hood is not running for free either.