The cost of electricity

[Thatch]

I didn't want to hijack the poor gents story about:: I recently got the bad new myKothe 250L 60 gallon electric still is drawing enough power to change my commercial class and I'm about to experience an almost 1000% increase in electric uses. 

However since a lot of new folks read this forum I would like to give a vote to electric.  We  have two electric stills.  One is a baine-marie which is our strippng still and the other is direct fired.  We are fortunate or unfortunate depending on how you look at things.  We use a lot of electricity since we are a malt house as well as distillery and we are also an add-on to an existing company.  In any event, we pay a little over 5 cent/Kwh for electricity.  So, when I do a 20 hour Vodka run on my 500 liter spirits still that is equipped with 18 kw heaters it costs me less than $10 for the run.  And, I am sqeezing out 190 proof to the very end.  If you do the math, you will say:   AHA, he is wrong!  But, my still does not run its heaters full out except for heat-up.   I am generally at 9-11 Kwh.

The cost of electricity is just another thing you need to check along with water, sewer, occupancy, etc before deciding on your location and equipment.  For me, even though I have natural gas available I will likely stick with electric when it comes time to upgrade.  BTW, we use a natural gas tankless water heater for mashing.

[Southernhighlander]

5 cents per kW is a great price for electricity.  You have a great point concerning electric verses nat gas steam boilers.  I spend a great deal of time helping my customers decide on their equipment needs by giving them all of the info that I can concerning operating costs etc.  The cost of nat gas is low compared to electric however the cost for purchasing and especially installing a high end steam boiler is really high.  For a 150 gallon still it can take 15 to 20 years for a low pressure steam boiler to pay for itself compared to a Baine Marie heating system on an electric still and it's daily electrical use.  I have sold over 150 electric baine Marie stills and I'm not sure how many electric baine marie mash tuns and evan lauter tuns.  We have sold several Baine Marie stills in 300 and even 500 gallon capacities and they work great. 

Our Open System Pressurization Modules turn baine marie stills into self contained electric steam stills.  They are easy to add to existing bain marie heating systems and if the baine marie's jacket is strong enough, our OSPM will give you the ability to produce up to 14.5 psi steam in the jacket.  Since steam's heat transfer coefficient is so much greater than oil, there is a great deal of energy savings over time.  We have OSPMs that only produce up to 6.5 PSI for lighter built baine marie jackets.  Since the OSPM produces pressure as an open system, no UL listing is needed for the still.  

[DTL]

On 3/12/2019 at 5:57 PM, Southernhighlander said:

5 cents per kW is a great price for electricity.  You have a great point concerning electric verses nat gas steam boilers.  I spend a great deal of time helping my customers decide on their equipment needs by giving them all of the info that I can concerning operating costs etc.  The cost of nat gas is low compared to electric however the cost for purchasing and especially installing a high end steam boiler is really high.  For a 150 gallon still it can take 15 to 20 years for a low pressure steam boiler to pay for itself compared to a Baine Marie heating system on an electric still and it's daily electrical use.  I have sold over 150 electric baine Marie stills and I'm not sure how many electric baine marie mash tuns and evan lauter tuns.  We have sold several Baine Marie stills in 300 and even 500 gallon capacities and they work great. 

Our Open System Pressurization Modules turn baine marie stills into self contained electric steam stills.  They are easy to add to existing bain marie heating systems and if the baine marie's jacket is strong enough, our OSPM will give you the ability to produce up to 14.5 psi steam in the jacket.  Since steam's heat transfer coefficient is so much greater than oil, there is a great deal of energy savings over time.  We have OSPMs that only produce up to 6.5 PSI for lighter built baine marie jackets.  Since the OSPM produces pressure as an open system, no UL listing is needed for the still.  

Hi southernhighlander . Can i have more info about the OSPM , can you add it on a existing bain marie electric heating ? Let me know if you can help me . Thank you 

[MG Thermal Consulting]

That's why I like to offer the glycol coolers to customers in the North, I have guys in ME, VT and CT not even turning the chiller on from NOV-MAR.

For Thatch's case, probably save 3-5 HP/hr every day all winter.