Electric bills

[Cheyne_brewer]

Has anyone with an electric brew system and a smart meter worked out what the cost per brew is? It would be interesting to see the results for different systems.

Being a tight wad it’s the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night ;-)

Paul.

 

[An Ankoù]

I don't use an electric brew system, but I can't imagine why any one system would be significantly more efficient than any other. There's still the same amount of heating and boiling to be done so I suppose it's ultimately down to insulation.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Back of an envelope, I typically run the heater (3kW) for 40 minutes at full power then 90 minutes at 40% to hold the boil - so 2kWh + 1.8kWh = 3.8kWh.
On my tariff (EDF energy) at 13.9p/kWh that works out to 53p I think?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

ultimately down to insulation

The amount you boil off, too... latent heat of vaporisation of water is really high: 2,260 kJ/kg (!)

 

[jceg316]

I had to calculate this recently, I used this energy calculator. There are others out there as well but this came up first on Google.

 

[Gerryjo]

Back of an envelope, I typically run the heater (3kW) for 40 minutes at full power then 90 minutes at 40% to hold the boil - so 2kWh + 1.8kWh = 3.8kWh.
On my tariff (EDF energy) at 13.9p/kWh that works out to 53p I think?

You missed out on heating your strike water and heat retention for the mash which is around 30-35p so anyone paying over a quid needs to change their energy supplier

 

[Crappyfish]

It's about a quid all in I reckon that's what mine is

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

It's lost in the noise compared to charging the car (70kWh)

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

That works out a lot cheaper than I thought which is nice . I have a dual tariff meter so can’t have a smart meter, as I do the readings I can just blame any extra on the bills on my wife’s obsession with the tumble drier and dishwasher

 

[Cwrw666]

I did mine a while back - used the smart meter to measure electircity usage in pence from the beginning of a brew through to the end. So that included everything else that was still plugged in - fridge, freezer, lights, radio etc. but nothing high wattage. Came to £1.30 for a 5 gallon brew using an electric boiler for BIAB.

In other words about the same as the crown caps for bottling!

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

I’m dialling back my feigned guilt and planning my next brew

 

[Cwrw666]

Best thing I ever did was get a smart meter. Our quarterly bill used to average out at about £300 with the old meter. It's now about £180 on average. So either the old meter grossly over-read, or the smart meter grossly under-reads.

 

[Cheyne_brewer]

To be honest the original “saves you loads of money” sales pitch on smart meters didn’t wash. I know that if I turn stuff off or unplug then I’ll use less power. I’m not going to get paranoid every time I open the fridge door.

However, my wife wanting a hot tub sends my wallet into palpitations. It wouldn’t be useable as a sparge heater either - maybe a kveik incubator lol.

 

[MmmBeer]

Has anyone with an electric brew system and a smart meter worked out what the cost per brew is? It would be interesting to see the results for different systems.

Being a tight wad it’s the kind of thing that keeps me awake at night ;-)

Paul.

Interesting question. Next time I brew, I'll plug my Grainfather in through my old Maplin power monitor and will post results here. The only part I can't check is the sparge water heating.

 

[Cwrw666]

I think the old meters with the wheel were very hit and miss. Ours must have over-read very badly so we've saved a load. Other people's might also have under-read so they'd end up with higher bills but on average there's only a small saving for most people.
The only thing we've changed is that at the time we had an old fashioned desk top PC. I couldn't believe how much the smart meter said it was costing. Worse still was that it was using nearly as much electric when it was switched off but still plugged in. Windows 10 forced a change though so now I've got a laptop that appears to use no electricity at all...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Best thing is to watch the tariff you're being charged (for all utilities), with the zeal of an axe-wielding maniac. You really can save a packet, and there's really no excuse not to these days.
It's important to realise that the providers' best tariffs are almost never advertised on their own websites (gasp... shock!) and many are only available on price comparison websites.
I can thoroughly recommend uSwitch.com - they are ruddy brilliant.

 

[Leon103]

I am sure my kegerator fridge is constantly running (getting a great build up of ice at the back). I bet that costs more than my peco boiler.

 

[Gerryjo]

I checked my unit price out of curiosity and its 17.59p so its about time for change though not keen on fixed contracts and buyout fees..
We have about 6 companies with 1.61p between highest and lowest higher no contract and lower with contract with a saving of £108 over the year paying £90 a month. Rip off merchants...

 

[Rodcx500z]

Last time i checked on the smart metre it was 98p all in for a 23L brew,

 

[foxy]

Installed solar in 2009, best thing ever, I get feed in tariffs until 2024, an incentive of the federal labor government! The only thing I pay is service to property, now the state labor government are offering half price batteries, I will be getting those and doubling my solar panels in 2024, and get off the grid altogether.