I just bought a rims brewery from a good friend who is getting out of brewing due to health reasons. I am a reasonably experienced all grain brewer who has only thus far used propane and stove top for brewing. I know enough about electric and wiring to be dangerous, so I’m going to have some more skilled/qualified people help me set this thing up.
My friend brewed numerous batches on this system and assures me that it will be safe. All of the elements are powered through gfci breakers and the pump will of course go through a gfci outlet.
I guess I’m having a hard time figuring out how these heating elements are going to function safely. After all, they are metal- why won’t I get zapped by them? I know it’s just like a hot water tank or a hot tub, I just don’t understand the process.
It seems to me that there’s a lot of metal, electric, and water in my future. I really don’t want my hobby to kill me. Any advice from other electric brewers out there would be most appreciated.
Rest easy.
Just like the heating elements on an electric stove, the electric wire is imbedded in your kettle elements where it can’t touch (short out) to the outside of the element. The electric elements should NEVER malfunction in such a way as to electrify the water/wort or kettle. Nonetheless, for safety purposes a properly constructed electric kettle has a ground wire connected to it. Any short to the liquid or to the metal will follow the easiest path which is the ground wire. Since you have GFI breakers, they detect any electrical leakage at the ground wire and instantly trip. You would never even feel a mild shock if this happened.
The pump acts the same way, with any potential short circuit going directly to the ground wire and tripping the breaker.
You are much safer brewing with electricity than you are with explosive propane. And your heating costs are much lower. And you can brew indoors without asphyxiation concerns (you still want an exhaust fan to get rid of the high moisture generated by the boil).
Congrats on your new electric brewery.
Uncle
Welcome to the electric world! No worries as there are lots of resources that are easy to understand when working with electric brew rigs. My favorite resource has been http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/
There is also a forum there totally focused on electric.
I’m currently wiring my own panel for a RIMS system.
I guess I was feeling overwhelmed the other day. My friend that sold me his brewing stuff was a bachelor for a long time, so he didn’t mind spending $ on brew stuff. Looking at all the equipment and contemplating the radical change to my brewing process was freaking me out.
I realized that I can use what I have and some of the new stuff to put together a pretty kick ass propane system until I can properly install and set up my new system.
Check out homebrewtalk’s electric brewing section on their forum too. It’s pretty active with a lot of experienced brewers and builders on. That’s where I learned to put together my simple electric BIAB setup.
About a year ago I switched from propane to electric. It’s been a great improvement: No running out of propane. No hauling tanks to be refilled. No shivering in the cold/sweating in the heat/shielding from the wind/dodging the rain. Etc …
Try the electric system before you convert to gas; you may find it’s a better alternative.
After a cool down period, and thanks to the insight here, I’m warming to the idea of an electric setup. I am going to use the new gear to beef up what I’ve been doing, mostly so that I can take my time with the electric system and do it right. My friend built a pretty complex system- I’m not a complex kind of guy. There’s some stuff that’s going to go and some that I’m going to add gradually.
