Energy use with electric elements
Energy use with electric elements
Currrently I'm relying on a big 15L pot on my gas stove to boil and heat up my strike water. It's not the best way because I only have one pot to heat strike water. Therefore I'm currently heating it up past the target temperature and then storing it in my fermenter until it's ready to use. There may be a better way to do this, however it's generally working fine at the moment.
Anyway I'm thinking of purchasing this (https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ac ... meter.html) as it would allow me to do bigger batches and also give me a HLT. My only concern is energy usage since it's electricity rather than gas, which is more expensive. Am I calculating this correctly regarding how much energy I'd end up using per brew?
The element it comes with is 2.4kW. Say I use it for 4 hours on a brew day. That would be 9.6kW of energy I'm using? At 13.08p a kWh that means I'm only spending £1.25 on electricity. That seems awfully low so I suspect I've calculated wrong. If that's not low then I guess that's enough for me to go and buy one. In addition would a 2.4kW element be enough to heat up 20L of wort?
Anybody else have any tips when it comes to how they boil and heat up their wort and water?
Anyway I'm thinking of purchasing this (https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/ac ... meter.html) as it would allow me to do bigger batches and also give me a HLT. My only concern is energy usage since it's electricity rather than gas, which is more expensive. Am I calculating this correctly regarding how much energy I'd end up using per brew?
The element it comes with is 2.4kW. Say I use it for 4 hours on a brew day. That would be 9.6kW of energy I'm using? At 13.08p a kWh that means I'm only spending £1.25 on electricity. That seems awfully low so I suspect I've calculated wrong. If that's not low then I guess that's enough for me to go and buy one. In addition would a 2.4kW element be enough to heat up 20L of wort?
Anybody else have any tips when it comes to how they boil and heat up their wort and water?
Re: Energy use with electric elements
A 2.4Kw element will use 2.4Kwh every hour its on so yes 31.4p per hour its on and £1.25 if its on for 4 hours. 1 element will heat up 20l no problem but 2 will do it much quicker. Gas is generally much cheaper to heat on but on a gas burner much more of the heat is lost compared to an element in the liquid, its likely still cheaper but not as much as the price alone suggests.
Re: Energy use with electric elements
Two elements would be better I guess. However I don't feel confident trying to make my own electric boiler and so I'm going to rely on just buying one. Can't seem to find any that have two elements with my price range though.
Re: Energy use with electric elements
If you go to brew builder is doesn't cost to much more or if you get it made by brewbulider and fit £5 kettle elements its cheaper.
- alexlark
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Re: Energy use with electric elements
I use one 2.4kw element in my 33L pot. No problem at all getting to a boil. If you insulate the pot with a camping mat it will get to the boil even quicker.
In the summer I remove the mat once it gets to a boil otherwise it's very vigorous.
In the summer I remove the mat once it gets to a boil otherwise it's very vigorous.
- Jocky
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Re: Energy use with electric elements
No way you need 2 elements for 20 litres. 1 is plenty.
Ingredients: Water, Barley, Hops, Yeast, Seaweed, Blood, Sweat, The swim bladder of a sturgeon, My enemies tears, Scenes of mild peril, An otter's handbag and Riboflavin.
Re: Energy use with electric elements
Brewbuilder only seem to offer metal pots though. I can't find anything about getting one made.
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Re: Energy use with electric elements
He will make them, don't know why they're not on the site anymore. Send him an email. Failing that, the Malt Miller also does them.
Best wishes
Dave
Dave
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Re: Energy use with electric elements
The best place to get him is via twitter message , but he is very busy usually. He can custom build you virtually anything, I've just had a 100l thermos bottom drain HLT off him