Minimum Watt Heating Element

[reuliss]

I'm considering an eHERMS HLT for 5 gallon set up. I live in an old house with oudated electricity, so I'd like to put as little demand on the electric system as possible. I'm considering using a propane burner to get my HLT in the neighborhood of my desired temp and then kick on the heating element to maintain that temp. If I operate like that, can I get away with one of the 120V, 1500 to 2000W elements to maintain temps and maybe get it to heat up water 10-20 degrees if I wanted to do a step mash? In other words, could I get away will a less powerful element if I use a burner to do the lion's share of the work?

 

[bumble86]

A 1500w element will raise 5g of water 1*c approx. every 53 seconds. So, from a protein rest to high mash temp you'll be raising 16*c. That is about 15-16 minutes depending on efficiency, temp loss, yadda yadda.

 

[reuliss]

A 1500w element will raise 5g of water 1*c approx. every 53 seconds. So, from a protein rest to high mash temp you'll be raising 16*c. That is about 15-16 minutes depending on efficiency, temp loss, yadda yadda.

Right on! That's really helpful. Thank you!

 

[BigFloyd]

Do you have the house panel capacity to wire in a 240V GFCI spa panel off of a main panel 30A twin (240V) breaker? You really want to have a GFCI somewhere between your rig and the main house panel for safety's sake. The 50-amp spa panel presents a nice option.

By running a 240V element vs a 120V, you will be drawing half the amps for the same wattage output or the same amps for twice the element output.

 

[Jersh]

I'm in a similar boat and had a similar question, so I'm glad to see the replies here. I too am in the planning process for a portable eHERMS system. I have a nice 8 gallon stainless kettle that I want to use for the coil/as a HLT for fly sparging, but I don't want to drill through it to install the heating element. I happen to already have a 1500W heat stick, so my plan is to just rig up a simple bracket to hold the heatstick in the kettle. I will heat 5 gallons to close to whatever temp I need for the eHERMS, and then when I want to get the liquor to temp for the fly sparge I'll just preheat an additional 2 gallons to whatever temp I need to raise the whole lot to sparge temp