BMGfan
Well-Known Member
Hey folks,
So I'm an apartment brewer, trying to go all grain for as cheap and dirty as I possibly can. My best bet at this point is BIAB in an 8 gallon bucket with a 1500W element.
I'm not worried about the bucket, the reasearch I've done says that Food grade Polypropylene is fine to boil in.
I'm a little concerned about the element though. My apartment has 15 amp circuits so a 2000W element is out of the question. The math says that it'll take an hour to reach mash temp with a 1500W element and another 30 to hit a boil from that. The fact that it'll be slow doesn't bother me. But I want to know if anyone has done it and if it'll actually get there once losses and stuff are counted.
I do have a second circuit near enough that I could plug into with a short extension cord, so a second 1500W is possible. I'd really like to try and avoid that however as the 12.5A that each element is pulling at 120V will cause real life inconveniences around the house. I don't think that my girlfriend will enjoy not being able to use power in the living room 'cause I'm trying to boil stuff for 3 hours
The apartment does not have GFCI protection on the outlets, so I'll be relying on plug in GFCI adapters like this: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/PO...43?cm_sp=IO-_-Home-_-VTV70300505&cm_vc=HPPVZ3 If there's one available for 220 (I haven't seen one yet) then that may become an option, but for now I'm really only exploring the 120v option.
Thanks guys
So I'm an apartment brewer, trying to go all grain for as cheap and dirty as I possibly can. My best bet at this point is BIAB in an 8 gallon bucket with a 1500W element.
I'm not worried about the bucket, the reasearch I've done says that Food grade Polypropylene is fine to boil in.
I'm a little concerned about the element though. My apartment has 15 amp circuits so a 2000W element is out of the question. The math says that it'll take an hour to reach mash temp with a 1500W element and another 30 to hit a boil from that. The fact that it'll be slow doesn't bother me. But I want to know if anyone has done it and if it'll actually get there once losses and stuff are counted.
I do have a second circuit near enough that I could plug into with a short extension cord, so a second 1500W is possible. I'd really like to try and avoid that however as the 12.5A that each element is pulling at 120V will cause real life inconveniences around the house. I don't think that my girlfriend will enjoy not being able to use power in the living room 'cause I'm trying to boil stuff for 3 hours
The apartment does not have GFCI protection on the outlets, so I'll be relying on plug in GFCI adapters like this: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/PO...43?cm_sp=IO-_-Home-_-VTV70300505&cm_vc=HPPVZ3 If there's one available for 220 (I haven't seen one yet) then that may become an option, but for now I'm really only exploring the 120v option.
Thanks guys