Heating water

[JamesF]

Reading through postings it seems as though some people heat water in their boiler and transfer it to the HLT from which it can be used for mashing and sparging, returning to the (now empty) boiler from the mash tun whereas others have heating elements in both the boiler and HLT so they can be heated independently.

Either way is probably far more efficient than what I've always done with my boiler effectively also being my HLT, meaning I have to sparge and drain the MT into a temporary container before returning it to the boiler once the sparge is complete, but have I interpreted the situation correctly, and if so what are the pros and cons of each method?

James

[Fil]

imho a hlt is a luxury brew kit item, not a necessary..
yes with gravity/pumps it can let you start the boil heat up a little sooner and may involve a tad less humping about on a brewday. and you may find investing in one may? increase the complexity of your brewstation setting up a 3 tier arrangement or fitting pumps to facilitate its full use??

generally the hlt is heated as sparge temps are often higher than strike temps, though maybe with not the same power as used in the kettle as its not needed especially if you use a timeswitch to kick off the initial heat up for an early brewday start... a hlt without active heating may be a bit more work to use involving using the boiler to reheat the sparge volume before the sparge, though would let u use a smaller vessel as u would only need to cater for your max sparge or strike volume

[BenB]

I've just ordered a new stainless 50L to make a PID controlled HLT. At present I have been preparing my total liqour volume in my boiler and heating to strike temp in that then whilst doing the mash transfering the remaining liquour to my electrim thing (which isn't big enough to hold the entire volume). It works but it's a bit of a pain. Much easier to have a seperate HLT. As said keeping the boiler as the HLT and draining the wort into an intermediary vessel (IE bucket) works, it's just another bucket to have to clean and another transfer stage where oxygen might be introduced. And it's not shiny shiny

A 3 tier gravity system doesn't work so well of course when the bottom stage and the top stage are the same vessel

[Dave S]

I've been using a 2 vessel system for the past 3 years, whereby I heat the mash water to above strike temp, run off to MT then let it cool to strike temp. This then also warms up the MT. While the mash is on I heat the total sparge liquor. Once the mash is finished I top up with the first step volume for a batch sparge, then run off into my FV. I then top up the MT with the remainder of the sparge liquor and empty the FV into the boiler and turn on the heat for the boil. The second sparge is then run off into the boiler.

While this system is not ideal it has worked well for me. I'm planning in the New Year to move to a 70 litre gas powered boiler, when I will use my current Buffalo 40 litre boiler solely as a HLT. My intention is to brew 50 litre lengths in the open air of my garden.

[JamesF]

Now I'm going to have a dedicated space for brewing I'm planning to use an HLT as there's plenty of room for one. Looks like it would be a good plan to have one heating element in the HLT and two in the boiler then.

James

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Yes, that would be a good plan, if you can fill the HLT with hot water even better, I fill mine with water heated in the combi boiler.

[JamesF]

Unfortunately from that point of view I'm only going to have a cold water feed to the brew shed. It shouldn't be a problem initially however to put in a timer to kick off the heating before I get out of bed or for when I knock off work for the day.

James

[Fil]

fwiw you can get lower kw inline electric water heaters, i have a cold water supply upto my brewshed and its plumbed to the hlt via one such heater rated only 3kw..



the plumbing is a dogs dinner cos i retrofitted a pressure valve.. and im no plumber..

[JamesF]

fwiw you can get lower kw inline electric water heaters, i have a cold water supply upto my brewshed and its plumbed to the hlt via one such heater rated only 3kw..

So is that heating the cold water on demand? Or does it store some water and heat that for later use? I'm just browsing the ones on the Screwfix site and it looks as though they work by heating stored water.

James

[Fil]

no tank - hot water on demand..
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dafi-in-line- ... 1325125286

actually 3.7kw my bad, so not a 13a plug in job, it needs installing on a 16a spur behind an issolating switch, as my brewshed is fed by temporary 16a extention leads on a brewday its not covered by part P afaik Lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala