Electric elements vs gas

[Secla]

Has anyone worked out the cost difference between using electricity versus gas to boil with ?

Is it relatively safe to use propane in a indoor environment ?

[sbond10]

Well I used around 50p worth of gas yesterday that's including cleaning that's for an extract batch of 8 litres. Seem to remember when I did an 15 litre boil it was around 80p
I've thought about electric but I don't think my house electrics are up to running 2x2.4kw plus my washing machine use around 70p a time would expect a boil n mash to need around 2 quid

I don't think propane can be used inside gives off carbon monoxide I believe

[jack_c]

I have a 40l buffalo boiler (2.4 kw). Last brew (starting volume 35liters) took around 45 mins to get to mash temp. I boiled the resulting sweet liquor for 1 hour.
Elec is 10.9p / kWh and total time "on" was 1h45m. If I round up and say 28p/hour - I spent less than 49p.
More worried about the water meter consumption for the Wort chiller (I hope less than a bathful was used).

Edit: It took maybe 45 mins extra to bring the sweet liquor up to boil- I don't have the laptop out and access to my brew log. Assuming it was 45 mins, total cost increases to less than 70p.

[stu-le-brew]

Has anyone worked out the cost difference between using electricity versus gas to boil with ?

Is it relatively safe to use propane in a indoor environment ?

Can't comment of costs for gas vs electric, but have been using a gas burner for the copper for more than five years - no problem with gas burner inside but it has to be near an open door.

IMO the gas burner offers many advantages, I have a digital controller for the HLT so sparge water is kept at the correct temperature, then I start collect the beer from the mash tun (I use a 10ltr plastic bottle to collect from the MT) and get the boiler on immediately, which I could not do if both heaters were electric.
Usually the brew is coming up to the boil as I pour the last of the beer in from the mash tun - saves a lot of time for me.

[Wonkydonkey]

The thing I have found, but I should have guessed it really, gas when burnt properly, makes heat-CO2-H2O if not burt properly (red flame) CO ( Carbon monoxide) so the window or door must be open to have good ventilation
My gas cooker ring was around 1.5-2kw just about ok for 30lt boil. I have a 7.5kw propane ring, but the heat was not all going where I wanted it to, 1/2 hr later the concrete was still warm. Another day the wind/ draft was a pain.
So I've gone electric, it may cost a little more. But it's horses for courses cos I can't really do outside and I can' t do gas bottles inside.
But what I have done since is a 60lt brew which cost about 3-3.5hrs of a 3kw element, at what ever unit price, I think it works out a bit better for me as I do 1/2 as many brews. I save on time but not much in cash.

[Wonkydonkey]

Elec is 10.9p / kWh

Jackc. Can I ask what tarif/ company your on/with. I think mine is double that.

[dloper]

I went electric because it was much easier to insulate my kettle. A 200 litre brew uses 6kw for 7.5 hours. At approximately 15 p per unit, that's £6.75 per brew, or 3.375 pence per litre. I also end up with enough hot water for cleaning. I wonder how much I'd be using gas, in an un-insulated kettle?

[Jocky]

Gas vs Electric depends heavily upon your setup - neither is better, but both have advantages.

Go onto a US brewing forum and you'd think that electric brewing is about as safe as shortening your morning routine by mounting a toaster above your bath. Equally if you google 'propane house explosion' you'll find lots of images of (timber framed) houses turned into splinters, which doesn't seem to bother anyone. So I guess it's down to what you know.

With proper precautions, both are quite safe. For electric, as long as your electrics have been tested in the past 10 years, you have proper earthing in place and as long as you know you're not overloading a circuit then everything should be fine.

Propane needs really good ventilation - nobody will recommend you to use it inside.

Here's my view on the two options:

Electric:
++ Compact
++ Efficient
++ Can be used indoors

-- You need to be near electricity
-- Larger brewpots can require a lot of power, and household circuits may need work to include this.
-- Electricity can be expensive.
-- Needs extra equipment to control the heat output


Gas:
++ Very portable
++ Big burners can heat massive volumes
++ Can use any pot on a burner

-- Requires bottle and burner
-- Can be inefficient when windy


For me, smaller setups make a good case for electricity. Bigger setups make a better case for gas.

[themadhippy]

Go onto a US brewing forum and you'd think that electric brewing is about as safe as shortening your morning routine by mounting a toaster above your bath.

yea but they use strange electrickery that’s half the voltage of the uk so needs double the current to get the same amount of watts,meaning bigger cables and connectors ,they do have a 240ish v system but that needs 2 phases ,not sure if everybody gets that delivered to there door, and then youve got the added complication of using double pole switching on everything

[jack_c]

Jackc. Can I ask what tarif/ company your on/with. I think mine is double that.

First Utility...

[Kev888]

When comparing energy prices, keep in mind that gas burners and fully immersed electric elements are not of equal energy efficiency - due to the losses (hot gas escaping etc) you need a higher wattage gas burner than the electric element to heat at the same rate. Its hard to predict exactly how much though since a lot about the burner setup, wind shields and shrouds etc can make big differences in efficiency of different gas powered boilers. IMO bottled gas works out a bit more expensive, but not so much that it has a massive impact on the price per pint.

Jocky's list pretty much summarises my thoughts on the pros and cons too. Overall, I prefer electricity for its clean, quiet nature and effortless availability - at least if you have decent elements which don't give you grief. If you wanted to do BIAB its also arguably easier to use permanent insulation for the mashing stage. And personally I find it more desirable to use in the house than a portable propane setup. If you're potentially wanting to get into automation and/or aspire to something like a DIY Braumeister clone, then electricity would be my first choice.

However... I'm moving to gas because I can't guarantee an electrical supply able to safely run two elements wherever I brew - and a big burner is cheaper and quieter than a ~6kw generator. I got a burner with a flame failure device (cutout) which in theory makes it safer for use in semi-enclosed areas (in my case an open garage) - whether all the moisture and spent gasses from the burner (in addition to the usual wort evaporation) make that a good idea probably depends on how the ventilation is managed.

Cheers
Kev