Brewed: It's Electric

Mission Accomplished...

The first successful electric kettle brew is in the books.  It went off without a hitch, that is, we made beer!  This was the 8th brew of our "Legacy" beer, the Hefewitzen.

After some discussion with Tom, the owner of the Thirsty Brewer and president of Wootown brewing club, about the electrical element, I was initially concerned about using it in its current configuration.  When I told him about the new setup, he asked if I was running the element at 110V rather than the manufacturer recommended 220V.  He asked because many brewers that go the direction we have gone with our setup have seen issues with scorching of the wort due to the heat density of the element.  I thought this was not a problem due to our use of an extra low density (ELD) element.  Tom mentioned that even those that used that type of element would still see scorching of the wort (in the past).  He also thought that if recent brewers using our particular setup might not see scorching because of new materials used to make the low density elements.

This made me a bit anxious about using the element at 220V, but I decided that if there was going to be scorching, it would be during this first brew due to its light color and high flaked grain percentage.  I thought that if it became a problem, I could construct a new circuit to vary the input voltage to the element.  I could use a switch to connect one or two phases to the element depending on the mode it was going to be used in.  For HLT mode, it could run at 220V as I would only be heating water.  In kettle mode, it could run at 110V to reduce scorching.  The second mode, I thought, would work well because the wort, as it is sparged from the MLT, is already at about 170 degrees F.  So, despite the low voltage and therefore power, the wort would still be able to reach boiling in an acceptable amount of time.  It would also be a viable solution because all of the equipment in the circuit can be used at 110V or 220V.  However, after Sunday's brew, we saw no scorching and realized that we also had a cleaner kettle than we have had in the past after a brew.  We speculate that the propane burners excess heat traveling up the sides of the kettle caused scorching along the outer walls and therefore caused the build up.  This build up is not present after our brew this time.  The element, being completely submerged the entire boil probably helped keep the wort at boiling and kept if from scorching.  I now think we can just use the element at 220V.  I think I will still consider the alternate mode if we end up seeing scorching after other brews.