1 element x 4 elements

[mendesm]

EDIT: I posted this in the wrong forum by accident. It was meant for the Electric Brewing forum. Please move it accordingly. Thanks.

Forget about the monetary part of it, is there any benefit of running 4 elements in a series + parallel setup as shown in B instead of the usual 1 element setup (A)?

It would put only 1/2 the power in each element while still providing the same power into the liquid being heated. This is similar to what is done to speakers so that you can use lower wattage ones while still pumping out the higher power intended by the setup. One could use 120v elements in a 220v setup (While I have a background in electronics, if you choose to do this, you'll do so at your own risk).

Perhaps a better distribution of heat into the liquid for larger setups?

Yes/No/Maybe/What are you smoking?

 

[mendesm]

No one?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Seems like overkill. Low watt densidty or ultra low watt density elements are available. I just don't understand why you want to do this? More elements to clean, purchase, and install. Most elements work excellent at the designed wattage. Sounds like fixing a problem that doesn't exist IMHO.

psst...pass it this way

 

[mendesm]

Seems like overkill. Low watt densidty or ultra low watt density elements are available. I just don't understand why you want to do this? More elements to clean, purchase, and install. Most elements work excellent at the designed wattage. Sounds like fixing a problem that doesn't exist IMHO.

psst...pass it this way

Not really trying to fix anything

I was working on my guitar amp over the weekend and the thought came up about the heating elements.

To be honest, the only 2 uses I could come up with were:

1) if you're using a really wide/fat kettle, having 4 elements this way will increase the heating surface area as the wort is swirled in the kettle. The way I thought about the setup would be for the 4 elements to be mounted sticking up from the bottom of the kettle.

2) in a rims setup, if you mount the 4 elements in a way that the wort enters the tube and flows over the 4 elements, one after the other, MAYBE, you can heat up the wort faster (say to raise the mash temperature up to mash out temps) without risking any scorching.

All the cons you mentioned are valid. But it was just a "what if" question.