Fast heating

[Cheshire-cheese]

I'm looking to decrease my brew time. My current, labour intensive, set-up takes a good working day to get to pitching in.
My current electric boiler is a brupaks one and is quite under powered.
Any idea how long a 8.5kw gas burner will take to heat a pot of water to strike heat (for a 5 gal brew)?
I've not used gas before, is the kw rating equivalent to the kw of an electric element?
I assume it must be, kw are kw after all.
I think the brupaks boiler was 2kw or less, so I assume about 4 times the power will do it in about a quarter of the time?

[AnthonyUK]

You could add another element to the brupaks boiler to get it up to temp quicker.
The element from 'basic' kettles that most of the supermarkets sell work OK for £5.

[BenB]

If you've got a combi boiler you can full the mlt from the hot water tap. Hybrid power

[sbond10]

Yes kw is kw but with gas you lose some power to outside factors.
The 7.5kw burner that Hamiltons and the malt miller seel is great value for money and is apprently capable of bringing 80 litres to the boil.
If you look in the extras tab you should find a strike water calculator that also has a kw calculator to help you roughly work how long it will take to reach your desired temp. But as said gas is never 100 per cent (a wind sheilding is essenial) so the calculator works on perfect conditions.

[alexlark]

Using the Combi has been the best change I have done to all grain brewing. I can get hot water in the tun @ 60c before I even get it on the hob. Talk about saving time!

[GrowlingDogBeer]

Agree with other that Hot Water out of the Combi is an excellent way to heat your strike water. Thats what I do all the time.

[djbadger]

I heat strike water with electric and set it on a timer so its ready when I need it. Obviously helps if you have a thermostat, but I haven't at the moment so I make sure I'm around after 30-40 mins and it is well on its way. That saves time.

For boiling I use the Hamiltons 7.5kW mentioned earlier and for my usual length of about 60l it seems to take ages (almost an hour) to get to the boil on its own and then the boil is not that vigorous. I have tried butane and propane (with the appropriate regulator) but no difference. My boiler also has an element in it so I now wire it up and use both, with a shield to prevent the wiring getting flamed by the gas burner. It's a bit iffy probably but it don't half speed things up!

[sbond10]

You using any sheilding for the burner

[Cheshire-cheese]

Thanks chaps. Still undecided, but if I go for gas, then I'll look at shielding.

[critch]

this might help...
http://processheatingservices.com/water ... alculator/