Whats cheaper Gas/Electric

[dubboy]

Hi there,
i am thinking about going in to AG and already have myself a 70ltr boiler with 2 asda kettle elements in it and am thinking that if i have this on for an hour and the elements use 2400kwh each that is going to bump up the leccy bill a bit so what i was wondering is whether gas would be a better option?I know i will have more out lay getting a large enough stock pot and a burner but is it cheaper?
Cheers dub

[Davej]

Looked at this one too.

A 2.4KW element uses 2.4 KWatts per hour
If a Kilowatt hour is about 11 pence then 2.4 x 11 = 26.4 pence per hour
If you have 2 elements 4.8Kw x 11 = 52.8 pence

So I if it takes an hour to bring to the boil and a 1.5 boil time. Total 2.5 hours x 52.8 = £1.32 Doesnt sound like much to me!

Have I missed something? Why use bottled gas?

Dave

[Aleman]

I use gas, and a 19Kg cylinder lasts me about 5 brews . . . at 22 quid a refill . . . OK my brew length is 18 Gallons so price per pint is reasonable, but It could be a lot better.

[Aleman]

Chris is right my Burners are about 30% efficient, electricity is probably around 85% . . . . in a well insulated boiler.

The reason I went Gas was that I brew outside, and with big volumes (I was looking to move to 2BBL) it was cheaper to use gas that install a proper electricity supply

[chris_reboot]

who is your leccy provider?
mines 16.59p per kwh.

so my costing is something like (very approx) for a 5 gal brew:

2x elements for 60 mins for liqour = 4.8 x 16.59 x 1 = 79.63
1 x element for 90 mins for boil = 2.4 x 16.59 x1.5 = 59.72
Total brew cost = £1.39 ish

All things considered, still cheaper than a 3kg kit beer when grain&hops added onto that

[chris_reboot]

yes, I had quoted 'worst' rate so therefore my max cost.

think discounted was about 13-odd pence

either way, still cheaper than kit brewing for me

[dubboy]

Cool i could say how much our leccy is per hour but that has just put my mind at peace .
I suppose it was the shiny bug getting to me and i must resist .
Cheers dub

[chris_reboot]

I brew in the kitchen (and on a budget) so costs are important to know, but shiny stuff and gas burners are too expensive/not practical for me!

[WishboneBrewery]

I'm glad someone asked this question.
I was thinking about Gas for when we move house, and have the possibility of getting a plumbed-in natural gas supply for brewing... would that work out cheaper than Bottled Gas but still not as cheap as Electric?

I may have to look more seriously about fitting a couple of Kettle elements to my Stock Pot boiler (Though its kinda Thick Aluminium, wonder if I'd struggle making the elements seal?)

[dubboy]

The main reason why i ask was because i can get a 47kg bottle from work for £39 which i thought was a good price but it looks like i shall stay with electric for now and see how that pans out.
Cheers for the info though

[adm]

I use a 60L boiler and a big F.Off Bullfinch burner (like Aleman's, but a single version as opposed to double). I do 5Gal brews, and the last 19Kg cylinder refill I bought has so far done 19 brews and still has a little (probably enough for one more brew) sloshing around inside. I think I paid about £24 for the refill, so it's not too bad at around £1.20 in propane per brew. Mind you, that same refill was £34 a few months ago when the propane price was higher.....

I only went to gas as I have a very thick walled boiler and didn't want to go to the hassle of making holes for elements in the side of it!

[confused]

I have a thick walled 70l aluminium boiler and had no problem getting immersion elements to seal. The first one I went to the hassle of beating a flat panel before drilling the hole. The second one I didn't and found no problems. I decided against kettle elements as i was worried about them sealing and holding with the finer and shorter threads.

I use both elements to get to the boil, which takes about 40 mins for my 50l batch then one element is sufficient to keep a good roll.

Our electric is on a fixed tariff at present so I don't worry too much about cost, though that fixed tariff is getting expensive so we will move soon. Working on an average of 15p per kwH I estimated about £1.40 per brew which sounds reasonable to me, especially if you think that is 2p per pint in the cornies plus a few "free samples".

[harvs]

I use a plastic boiler with a couple of kettle elements. But for my initial liquor I use hot water from the tap (combi boiler) so it's quicker & more efficient than heating all the way up in the boiler with cold water.

Also, when boiling you'll probably only need one of the elements on, so will half the cost compared to using 2!