Propane burner - or electric??

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Hoppyland

Hoppyland

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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
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Dumfries & Galloway
Well, I'm moving south from Skye to Dumfries & Galloway.
Not many positives, perhaps. :-?
But one is that I'll have a massive workshop (and, of course, thereby a massive new brewhouse).
It's huge. Amazingly, it is equipped with 36 electric sockets! Illuminated by eight fluorescent tube units. A beast indeed....
I've only brewed in the kitchen before, so I'm asking for advice.
To boil my wort in this utopia, do I go for a propane burner (looks like a 7kw burner can be had for about £22)
Or, should I put in an electric hob?
All advice and experiences most welcome!! :)
Cheers
Bill
 
I would chime in but I don't know gas vs electric rates in your country. As for speed, gas is fast at getting up to temp. But I use both. Gas to get close to strike and boil and I use electric connected to my temp controller to maintain mash temp.
If you use only electric, you'll need a massive KW element and large size requires 240 outlets. So if you don't have them installed you'll need to get them put in. But from what I've heard, over there it's cheap.
 
I brew with electric elements, i did consider gas, but the cost seemed higher going by the anecdotal evidence, and if outside wind shielding precautions against draughts that can diminish performance needed a further investment.

how big a brewlength are you planning? 1 x 2.4-3kw element per 5gallons of beer in the FV is a rough n ready guide to whats needed if you go down the electricity route, tho even for a 5 gallon brew most folk will add 2 elements in the kettle for a degree of redundancy to ensure the brew can continue if a problem hits and to sped up the bring upto bpoil in the first place.
 
It is entirely up to you, both have advantages and disadvantages.. Gas is quick you can control your gas input much better so you can get a rolling boil that isn't over the top and is much more reliable. You need to make sure you don't run out of gas though and you can ventilate. However if you got gas you will not suffer potential cut outs like electricity. Electricity you can add more control to temps and maintaining temps and are not restricted to being outdoors.

I personally for my house setup wanted to go down the ellecy route but I had an ACE boiler which was so dodgy it was practically dangerous so it put me off for life, going down the gas route has been pretty painless and there wasn't much difference in the way of initial cost outlay.. Apart from buying a gas bottle, although on balance I have a 50L pot instead of 30L so I can do full BIAB easier on the gas..

There are arguments for and against, neither are a wrong option.
 
Whereabouts in D&G Bill? My ma is from Dumfries and all her side of the family still live in various parts of D&G, so I know it fairly well.
 
Check what your workshop supply is rated at in the distribution box. Someone may have had additional supply points installed for heavy machinery before, so you may be able to use larger elements. Just because you have a lot of sockets does not mean you can use more power, but is a good indication that the supply may be more than 30A.
Also check if you have RCD protection on them - it may come in handy to save your life later. :electric:
 
Sorry to go a bit OT here but I've been wondering for a while if will be able to get some 5 gallons boiling on a normal electric kitchen hob?
I remember @JapanBrew once mentioning it be good to start heating up to boil whilst dunk sparging in another pot to save time. So do you ever boil on a normal hob?
 
Swissbrew, it does take a long time, well for you young chaps, us older guys it's fast. But we come from a time when watching grass grow was our PS4!!! At least it was high def!!! At least 1080 if you were 4 eyed!!
 
Depends on your ventilation. Propane kicks out a lot of toxic gas I think. So you'd want good ventilation. Not used a 30L electric boiler other than grainfather so can't comment on comparative times to get to boil etc.
 
SwissBrew said:
Sorry to go a bit OT here but I've been wondering for a while if will be able to get some 5 gallons boiling on a normal electric kitchen hob?
I remember @JapanBrew once mentioning it be good to start heating up to boil whilst dunk sparging in another pot to save time. So do you ever boil on a normal hob?
Click to expand...

My ceramic induction cooker took nearly an hour to get 8L to a boil so I'm skeptical that you'd ever get 5G boiling. Though you could have more than one ring on the go if your pots big enough
 
Use both. Simplest answer. Seems expensive at first but pays off on how much worries it takes away waiting or how many issues come about during brewing. Good equipment is worth 10 times its price in costs!!!
 
I ditched the idea of gas due to ventilation issues and running out of gas!!!
I have 3x a 100ltr pots with 2 5kw Camco heating elements what they use in theelectricbrewey.com have a look at there page gives you a good idea.You need a 30amp fused socket to run them and a controller which I am waiting for.Hopefully I will still be brewing beer after being diagnosed celiac.
 
You could go with a portable induction hob like @halfacrem went for. He says that the Buffalo one he went for gets a full batch up to boiling quicker than gas.
 
Thanks folks! Plenty to think about - but events might have overtaken me. We seem to have a breeding colony of 300+ bats in the roof above the main bedroom.
Fantastic to see them emerge from the roost & fly off.
Not so fantastic is the overwhelming smell :sick:
hmmm..... brewing beer suddenly demoted :-(
 
Notlaw said:
Whereabouts in D&G Bill? My ma is from Dumfries and all her side of the family still live in various parts of D&G, so I know it fairly well.
Click to expand...

About halfway between Dumfries & Ayr. Just north of St. John's Town of Dalry. It's a wee place called Kendoon - apparently the 14 houses there were built as part of a Hydro power station in the 1930s. We've just bought one of them - and a load of new small flying friends as well!! :doh:
 
fwiw i started with a peco boiler and it struggled to maintain good boil (outside) did far better under shelter and insulation...


to put things in context


changed to gas


doubled brew length


time dif a bit longer....though not much


as for running out of gas just get a spare


as for price comparisons i cant compare ..i use gas to heat brewery


its nice to avoid the whole "have u seen the leccy bill" thing
 
Notlaw said:
You could go with a portable induction hob like @halfacrem went for. He says that the Buffalo one he went for gets a full batch up to boiling quicker than gas.
Click to expand...

Certainly quicker than my gas hob. Since I've bought it I've only been able to use it once due to work situation. It's a decent bit of kit, but I've not done a comparison against a gas burner. Lots of people use them though and like them.
 
Halfacrem said:
Certainly quicker than my gas hob. Since I've bought it I've only been able to use it once due to work situation. It's a decent bit of kit, but I've not done a comparison against a gas burner. Lots of people use them though and like them.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an option. I guess the whole point with induction is to use an appropriate pot with enough iron content so it actually works.

Have you got any links to the kit?
 

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