Commercial Stainless stove 230v 12,000 Watt - or- Propane?

[Build]

A friend gave me a commercial stove that's all stainless, 2 by 3 feet heating element, 230v 12,000 watts with variable temperature control.

I haven't brewed with it yet and was wondering if it would be a more efficient setup than propane? Would this do a 10 gallon boil?

 

[jeffmeh]

12,000w is more than enough for a 10 gal boil (actually 5,500w is plenty), but there will be some heat loss so you would never really get 12,000w into the kettle. Is it really a square heating element? A typical kettle will be much smaller than 2' x 3', generally not even 2' in diameter, so you will have much heat loss where the element is not in contact with the kettle. That said, I would hate to pass on the stove, so perhaps you could fabricate some type of box with sloping sides that fit snug to the outside of the kettle, to direct that heat back at the kettle wall. If you wanted any fittings, you would have to account for that, perhaps having them in the front and pulling the kettle all the way to the front of the element.

Also, check to be sure that it is made for single phase power, unless you have access to 3-phase.

 

[Build]

The element is a 2x3 feet rectangle. It has a 3/4" thick stainless plate that heats up and goes up to 500F. It is made for single phase 230 volt 60 amp circuit. Would it do two 10 gallon kettles? It seems this would be more cost effective and efficient than my propane burner. It's free so I'll give it a try.

What about welding four stainless sides to the element plate and make a huge square kettle? I've never done more than a 5 gallon batch so this all might be overkill.