jlevac Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 Ok I've had a major hiccup and had to find a new space and now I have a new puzzle to figure out. We are doing 100-125 gal mashes. Direct heating the water to bring it to mash temp isn't a real option right now so I was wondering what good options are out there? 100 gal hot water heater that is commercially made, convert a SS tank with 5500w elements, instant hot water heaters? I'm all ears. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldSpye Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I think your direct electric option might be good. It's easy enough to take a stainless tank, drill a couple holes in it for a standard NPT connector and throw a couple elements in it. Since it's just water the elements should last a good long while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteB Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 In my opinion get an instant water heater either electric or propane or diesel fired but make sure it can be run at high temperature. Small domestic run at too low temp. I have diesel one (biodiesel) that produces steam when run with slow feed water. May be safety issue for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountySeat Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 You could go with a direct element heater water tank and heat the water up and then dump into a separate vessel for mashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donutboy Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 What's your worse case scenario water temp coming into the building? How far do we have to go to get to you there? Where I live I never get over 48 degrees coming into the building. I hear in Florida it's in the mid 60s Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telluride Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Just installed 2 x Rinnai R98lsing with commercial controller and ez connect, should get about 6-8 gallons a minute of 170ish degree water. The heaters were cheap, $1085 with free ship on build.com. Install isn't cheap, but contractors, plumbers and electricians never are. The heaters can hit 185, and they work at altitude.... we are at 8750 above sea level so that was important. I have an easy little steam generator(made from triclamp parts, level switch, solenoid valve, water heater and PID, also has a pop off valve and pressure gauge for safety reasons) for raising and holding mash temperature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mendodistilling Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Wardburners.com is where I got my burners for a stout tank beer brewery. I use it for direct firing the hot liquor tank and recirculate wort through a passive coil from the mash Tun which does not have direct fire. 100 gallons is not that much and most hot water heaters will put out 5-15 gallons per minute max so it will still take some time and you could use direct fire at about double the rate and it be cheaper overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG Thermal Consulting Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Just curious, how much KW do you figure, if you use electric, non contact, water heat. Are you running 230/3/60 or 460/3/60? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlevac Posted May 31, 2014 Author Share Posted May 31, 2014 Just curious, how much KW do you figure, if you use electric, non contact, water heat. Are you running 230/3/60 or 460/3/60? Both 230 and three phase are available in my space. I was thinking using 3 5500w elements on 230/3/60. Direct heat involves too much regulation (municipal) approval for me. I want to stay away for it. I must say that instant hot water heater is interesting. Water temp can get pretty low in the winter (Canada)...i'll measure the temp this am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Telluride Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 I ran into the same problem with my county. They didn't have any interest with direct fired anything in our distillery, so with the exception of our tankless water heaters in a different room, I don't have fire, its all electric, originally we were set up to run direct fired mash tun and still. Looking back on it all, I wish I would have run a large steam boiler, which I might do down the road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MG Thermal Consulting Posted June 1, 2014 Share Posted June 1, 2014 An 18 Kw temp control unit with 1 HP pump, you are getting up to $10K (the only thing I had pricing on was a hot oil controller, which is much hotter and a much higher pressure unit). I can look into it more this week and give you a better budget. Also, I have a contact in Toronto I get larger chillers from who may know of someone around there. Otherwise, the company I was thinking of builds all sorts of electric temp control in Buffalo, N.Y. Close to you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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