Gas or Electric?

[Chris]

What do you use and how long does it take to get a 23L batch up to mash temp.

being based in Wellington without a garage im very 50/50 as gas is quicker? but wind has a big effect and cant be used inside. Electric i can use inside so can brew rain or shine? but is slower?

[Dave W]

My electric HLT takes 50-55 min for 40L to hit 75 deg from welly tap temp?
Just a standard hot water urn that I wrapped insulation around.
I'd go electric kettle as well but I don't think I could feasibly get as good a boil as the 23 tip Mongolian burner gets.

[Chris]

Thanks for the info, i was looking at the 2200watt element on trademe, are they any good? unfortunately i dont own my own place but was hoping the extractor fan would do the trick. 

I could go gas but working 13hr days i dont want to rely on a day off and weather to line up for a brew day every 2 weeks

[Grant R Baker]

I used electric up to the point the wiring crack open and shorted out. Looking at the design of the element and its wiring it was always going to happen. Yep, not all elements are wired the same, but since I was spending money I looked at the options and  switched to Gas..

Covered front porch means I can brew most days except when it is like today (Blowing shit sideways). Quicker on the boil, needs some practise to maintain the boil without boiling over.

Only real down side is running out of gas 40mintes through the boil... pain in the arse... so either check before starting or have a 2nd bottle spare.

[Scarrfie]

Chris you can try turning up your hot water cylinder the night before, should get to around 85°C and it is a pretty efficient way of heating mash or sparge water. I mostly just use the 55°C tap water with a little extra from the jug to do a 50°C rest and heat up the rest of the mash water by filling the pot from the hot tap. No extra waiting time at all and the same applies to the sparge water.

My 26L pot takes 30mins to boil the wort, although the electric range is right under a window for letting the steam out. I do wonder how many brews before I kill the element, but heck that is a benefit to renting :-) 

[Kerry Davis]

Hi Chris,

I live in Wellington also (Apartment) and after brewing on my deck with gas a couple of times I got fed up with the hand holding involved with keeping the burner lit (gusty northerlies on my deck don't help!), and scoured the interweb for electric ideas that I could use indoors in my bathroom/wetroom.

The first iteration involved purchasing a couple of 2000W heat sticks from evilBay and using those as my heat source. They worked well but were not earthed (accidentally found this out!), so went searching again and found a thread on an Aussie brewing site which used cheap Kmart Kettle elements (NZD$13). So out to Porirua I went, bought a couple (plus a spare just in case), took them apart and installed them (2x2000W) into my 70L kettle - 6 brews in and I'm having zero issues.

Did a 20L brew yesterday and from the initial filling of the kettle (cold tap water, 32L) to dough in took an hour, so about 35min to strike temp (71.7C).

[Chris]

oh yeah, great info! so you would recommend getting a couple kettles and using the elements out of them over the link above for a stick as you called it?

I did notice a few other people had done that also, seeing their photos

[Kerry Davis]

I'm just really giving you options, but for me it was the way forward and allowed me to brew independent of the Welly weather!

Here's a link to a pic of the OZ Brew forum creation that inspired me to do the same and will give you a better idea as to where I'm coming from:

http://imgur.com/xn0eu

[mattd2]

How is the element fitted to the kettle? Got anymore pics or underneath, etc?

[Chris]

the element i pulled apart has a silican washer and 3 bolts forming a weldless fitting 

i do however have the same Q on your location, i like the idea of the side fitting but unsure if those little bolts will be about to support the levering forces that will be implied on it.

[mattd2]

Cheers Chris, yeah sounds like what I did - drill a large hole in the pot and fit the element through that like it was in the kettle. My issue with this is then needing to raise the pot up to allow for the plug to fit underneath, but a post below seems to have solved that with the right angle power cord!

[Chris]

I have taken Kerry's suggestion, but had a few unanswered questions, so i thought for $14 ill go to the warehouse and just buy one. Pulled the kettle apart, disabled the switch (remove a spring) and its done, i got a 2200watt element and will buy another, will upload photos if anyone wants them?

Thanks for all the suggestions

Chris

[Kerry Davis]

Excellent - I thought about doing a side fitting which would a) make plugging them in a bit easier and b) not have to elevate the pot off the ground to clear the element housing. In the end I chose not to as I didn't want to restrict the wort chiller or indeed the bag (BIAB) so I think I made the right choice.

To allow a little less clearance I sourced some right angle IEC computer cables from here and also as I BIAB I cover each element with a stainless mesh 'sock' - works like a charm.

I think you'll enjoy the switch.

Cheers!