Brewhouse Electric Brewing Systems in craft beer brewing
- Jul 09, 2021
- 128
- tiantai
Craft Beer Brewing is an application where the electric version is more energy efficient than the gas version. The reason is that the liquid is heated directly from the inside rather than forcing the heat into the liquid through the vessel from the outside. Much less energy is wasted. At 10 cents per Kilowatt-hour it costs about 25 - 50 cents per hour to run an electric system. Performance can also be very impressive. Starting at 55 deg F, you can raise the temperature of 15 gallons to 170 in 35 minutes. This is also typical of 30 gallons with two heating elements.
People with no experience with electric brewing systems often assume that the heating element in direct contact with the wort results in a greater degree of carmelization or even scorching of the wort. This is not the case. The heating element is surrounded by a cloud of vaporized water, and as long as it is fully immersed the temperature will not rise above a certain point.
We have done a great deal of research and development of electric brewing systems for home brewing applications this past decade. We have experimented with many materials, wattages, system configurations, power control solutions, and have built thousands of controllers and systems. Our design philosophy is high-performance without complication.
The most common type of 3-vessel electric brewing system for home brewers is HERMS (Heat Exchange Recirculating Mashing System). The first step in the all-grain brewing process is to heat a good-sized volume of water. It makes sense to place a heat exchanger in the hot liquor tank and use the heat for the mash tun too. Re-circulating the wort through the heat exchanger gently heats the wort, minimizes temperature variations within the mash tun, and helps improve the efficiency and clarity.
Most HERMS systems are designed to recirculate continuously, and maintain mash temp by controlling the HLT temp. This results in a slower rate of change since you have to move the temp of both masses. The Wort Hog EBC-330 provides independent temperature control of the HLT and the Mash. Mash temp is maintained automatically by turning on the pump to recirculate the wort through the heat exchanger when the temperature drops below the set-point. This lets you operate in a variety of ways. HLT temp can be set close to mash temp to have the pump run longer/more often during the mash, or the temperature differential can be increased to have more heat energy on tap for high-performance step-mashing.
The Wort Hog EBC-350 is more of a RIMS controller, but operates like a typical HERMS controller, with the Mash temperature dependent on the HLT temp. Without a heating element plugged into the Mash/Kettle output, the mash side PID would be used for monitoring the mash temp. This controller can run two heating elements at once, and requires a 50A outlet.
The new Wort Hog series controllers utilize the built-for-brewing Auber EZ Boil controller with Mash and Boil modes. This controller brings advanced features like timer functions, alarms, linear power control in Boil mode, and more. Simple menus to navigate, still easy to use.
Typical brew house efficiency for 3-vessel systems using 15 gallon vessels is 76% for 10 gallon batches, 80+% for 5 gallon batch size.
People with no experience with electric brewing systems often assume that the heating element in direct contact with the wort results in a greater degree of carmelization or even scorching of the wort. This is not the case. The heating element is surrounded by a cloud of vaporized water, and as long as it is fully immersed the temperature will not rise above a certain point.
We have done a great deal of research and development of electric brewing systems for home brewing applications this past decade. We have experimented with many materials, wattages, system configurations, power control solutions, and have built thousands of controllers and systems. Our design philosophy is high-performance without complication.
The most common type of 3-vessel electric brewing system for home brewers is HERMS (Heat Exchange Recirculating Mashing System). The first step in the all-grain brewing process is to heat a good-sized volume of water. It makes sense to place a heat exchanger in the hot liquor tank and use the heat for the mash tun too. Re-circulating the wort through the heat exchanger gently heats the wort, minimizes temperature variations within the mash tun, and helps improve the efficiency and clarity.
Most HERMS systems are designed to recirculate continuously, and maintain mash temp by controlling the HLT temp. This results in a slower rate of change since you have to move the temp of both masses. The Wort Hog EBC-330 provides independent temperature control of the HLT and the Mash. Mash temp is maintained automatically by turning on the pump to recirculate the wort through the heat exchanger when the temperature drops below the set-point. This lets you operate in a variety of ways. HLT temp can be set close to mash temp to have the pump run longer/more often during the mash, or the temperature differential can be increased to have more heat energy on tap for high-performance step-mashing.
The Wort Hog EBC-350 is more of a RIMS controller, but operates like a typical HERMS controller, with the Mash temperature dependent on the HLT temp. Without a heating element plugged into the Mash/Kettle output, the mash side PID would be used for monitoring the mash temp. This controller can run two heating elements at once, and requires a 50A outlet.
The new Wort Hog series controllers utilize the built-for-brewing Auber EZ Boil controller with Mash and Boil modes. This controller brings advanced features like timer functions, alarms, linear power control in Boil mode, and more. Simple menus to navigate, still easy to use.
Typical brew house efficiency for 3-vessel systems using 15 gallon vessels is 76% for 10 gallon batches, 80+% for 5 gallon batch size.
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