Sorry, just notice this topic is covered in
"Does anyone use gas burners?"
Gas or electric? (Ignore: topic covered below)
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cwrwfawr
Gas or electric? (Ignore: topic covered below)
I am planning my brewery and wondered if anyone had any recommendations on whether to use propane or electric boilers.
Sorry, just notice this topic is covered in
Sorry, just notice this topic is covered in
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UserDeleted
Depends on various factors.
What size are you going to brew? Bigger batches need more heat
Where are you brewing? If brewing outside you need more heat or insulation
How Patient are you? if you are happy with taking a long time to reach a boil then you don't need as much heat.
For 25L brew length then 3KW is fine and is best supplied by an electric element, indeed if you insulate the copper well then you can go to 57L. Adding two elements gives you the ability to reach boiling faster and is probably the limit for a ring main (Especially with other equipment on it as well). In the commercial world single phase is used up to 1 BBL (Three elements supplied on their own 16A spurs from the fuse box) Above that its getting to be more economical to run 3-Phase.
I was brewing on a 3BBL system recently which used a dual bullfinch Burner (2 By 19kw gas burners) which took about 1/2 and hour to reach boiling and then one of the burnewrs was more than sufficient to maintain a good rolling boil.
Personally I prefer the controllability of Gas, although you can get power controllers to fit to your electric boilers which give you just as much control. For my brew plant at home I went the gas route, but thats because I want to increase my brew length from 40L up to 200L plus without it taking any longer than it currently does. To run in the electricity supply to the brew shed for that capacity was just totally out of my price range.
What size are you going to brew? Bigger batches need more heat
Where are you brewing? If brewing outside you need more heat or insulation
How Patient are you? if you are happy with taking a long time to reach a boil then you don't need as much heat.
For 25L brew length then 3KW is fine and is best supplied by an electric element, indeed if you insulate the copper well then you can go to 57L. Adding two elements gives you the ability to reach boiling faster and is probably the limit for a ring main (Especially with other equipment on it as well). In the commercial world single phase is used up to 1 BBL (Three elements supplied on their own 16A spurs from the fuse box) Above that its getting to be more economical to run 3-Phase.
I was brewing on a 3BBL system recently which used a dual bullfinch Burner (2 By 19kw gas burners) which took about 1/2 and hour to reach boiling and then one of the burnewrs was more than sufficient to maintain a good rolling boil.
Personally I prefer the controllability of Gas, although you can get power controllers to fit to your electric boilers which give you just as much control. For my brew plant at home I went the gas route, but thats because I want to increase my brew length from 40L up to 200L plus without it taking any longer than it currently does. To run in the electricity supply to the brew shed for that capacity was just totally out of my price range.