Well today we hooked up our newest completely non-essential piece of brewing equipment. A compact LPG tank-less water heater. With this thing we will be able to cut both time and propane out of normal brewing sessions. In our process I figure we will save about 60 minutes a session. I am not sure what the propane savings will be, but it should be pretty great too.
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| Mounted to the side of the brewing stand |
The hook up should have been easy, but of course we had a small hick-up. It turned out our propane pressure was too great for this thing. After 30 minutes of messing with the thing and being unable to get it to light, we turned down the gas and poof... it lit up just like it should.
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| The stand still fits in it's storage spot |
The results were beyond my expectations. According to the documentation, this unit can do a 77 degree rise at 1.8 GPM. I didn't test the temp of my ground water, but I know it is under 70 at this time. And it will only get warmer until about early fall. At the documented rate I should get a max of 144 (less if my ground water is < 70). In our first test we filled the mash tun with 9 gallons of 160 degree water in less than 10 minutes! EZ-mash!!!
To install we tee'ed off our existing gas plumbing. So now we have a single tank that services 3 burners and a tank-less water heater! We have a few changes to make. For example we will hard plumb the filters to the water inlet. However the initial test is very promising! More scientific tests to come!
7/22 Update:
I have brewed a ton of beer using the water heater including two big group brews with 40 gallons brewed each time. All the mash water came out of the water heater.
A couple of brew sessions ago I took the temp of my ground water. It came in at 62 degrees and we were filling the HLT with 165 degree water! So we were getting just over a 100 degree temperature rise! That is with an unmodified EZ-202. There is a check/safety valve that can be bypassed, but I see no need.
We are very careful with both the flow of water and gas. It will shut off if the water GPM is too low. It will not light if the gas pressure is too high. It will also shut off if the water hits ~176. Even then we are still careful. It seems you can melt this thing if you get too aggressive with it. But pumping out 160-165 strike and sparge water at 1.5 GPM is no problem at all!
So far I would have to say this is probably the best brewing equipment investment I have made. Saving an hour on each brew day for a mere $200 investment is a big win in my book.
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Great writeup! They told me that it had a max of 140...but you didn't have to change or override a sensor to get it to 165? I saw the instructions on the limit switch bypass and also I know that eccotemp sells an 85C bypass switch that would probably work but it'd be nice not to have to do any of that to reach strike temps!
ReplyDeleteYeah, thats correct, I have not done any modification to it. When I purchased it I thought I would have to make the bypass or recirculate in a closed loop to get to strike temps. However that has not been necessary.
ReplyDeleteI have done a few brews this winter and with the ground water temps plunging it has not been as great. I still get the 100 degree rise, but only output around 140. No big deal though, I just raise the temp the rest of the way in my kettles.
The only change I still need to make in this set up is to install a dedicated regulator or gas needle valve in line just before the water heater. I have all my burners and the water heater all plumbed to a single propane tank. The problem is that the tankless is very sensitive to the gas pressure. If the flow is greater than a quarter of the way open, it will not light. So I have to dial back the gas when using this. Thats no good when say I have my boil kettle going at the same time. It really kills the boil.
Anyway, I am still very happy with this!
Were you able to add the water filter inline? Does that affect water pressure at all? Thanks for the write up. Looking into this affordable water heater thanks to you.
ReplyDeleteI do run a three stage filter system in line and it is no problem at all.
ReplyDeleteThis is still one of my favorite components of my home brewery!
The one modify When i even now must create with this build would be to install a dedicated regulator or gas filling device device with collection ahead of the river heat tank. We've all the burners along with the hot water heater all plumbed with a one gas container. The problem is that this tankless can be quite sensitive towards the gas force. In the event the flow is usually greater one fourth of the means open up, it doesn't lighting. Thus I've got to call back the particular gas when using this kind of. I mean zero good any time point out We've the boil pot proceeding simultaneously. It truly eliminates the particular boil.
ReplyDeleteRheem Water Heater
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