Home Distiller

what are your opinions of gas burner vs. electric heating element. I am currently using gas but have really been thinking about switching to electric. I would like you know the opinions of you guys who have used both.
KS

This has been discussed on another thread pretty indepth. But I'll just hit over the highlights.

Electric is safer bottom line.

Gas is cheaper especially if you buy it straight from the gas company and not Lowes or some big box store.

I disagree that electric is safer, particularly if yer runnin' a partial fill.

Gas doesn't present the power controll problems some are faced with when usin' electricity.

The only place where I think electric heat has gas hands down is in efficiency. And that is only when the electric heat is internal.

For me it is a matter of being a lazy bastard more often than not.

We grill with gas 3 maybe 4 times a week (keeps the heat out of the house). So I bought extra bottles to make sure that I always had an extra or 2 with fuel.............WRONG.

NOW,,,,,, I always have,,,,,,many empty bottles and still no gas for the grill beyond whats connected.

Electric helps me insure that I can complete my runs. And I now have a new controller so hopefully I will soon realize the full potential of my equipment.

I prefer gas over elect myself.More mobile and simple and safe to use. If done correctly.

Important advantage in my opinion is the steady power gas delivers while electric heat cicles if you don't buy a very good (and expensive) controller.

In my region also plays a roll the independence of electric power which is a mess here, there is no week in the year where we didn't have a failure.

in some areas of the u.s. electric companys will report spikes in electrical use to help root out illegal activities. a keg boiler at 4500 watts start up and a lower run wattage might not trigger any more suspicion than a few good days of welding, but any probable cause in a pinch is still probable cause. cob

I say, it may be more expensive to get set up for electric, but electric is way more efficient than gas. when your running gas, how much heat is escaping and rolling out from around your boiler? electric, not near as much. Gas, more mobile. No open flames with electric, less chance of fire. I ran gas in the beginning, and once I switched to electric, I will never go back. I had to go to town to get gas, $20+ for a fill. And that tank would last 14-18 hrs. guessing? My electric setup costs on average .35 cents hr.

I run with gas. I converted my burners to natural gas from propane (now I don't have to worry about running out). I ran electric at first and hated it, to long to heat up, and kept burning out elements on my all grin washes. As far as heat loss I wrap aluminum foil around the base and run low fire.

For me electric is ok for a making neutral stuff in a column or fractioning still. I prefer gas for a pot still and anything good enough to go in a barrel. Also consider how much you distill is it worth the cost of a electric setup.

Regardless of what wants to BELIEVE-gas-be it natural gas or propane IS the way to fly! It is far more efficient and takes less time than electric.If one has no backyard,or is "trapped" in an apartment, then electric is their only avenue-but certainly not mine! And natural gas eliminates having to "drag" the propane tank back to Home Depot-but hell that is about 10 minutes for me!

well I think I will stick with Gas after reading all of this..
Thanks guys

Does anyone know if you can change over your fish cooker to natural gas.

gpwgyrene wrote:Regardless of what wants to BELIEVE-gas-be it natural gas or propane IS the way to fly! It is far more efficient and takes less time than electric.If one has no backyard,or is "trapped" in an apartment, then electric is their only avenue-but certainly not mine! And natural gas eliminates having to "drag" the propane tank back to Home Depot-but hell that is about 10 minutes for me!

You have never ran a good electric setup then. Also, gas may be more efficient for an external element, but if your running an internal immersed element, that is more efficient. I run a 5500w element, and it costs me roughly .35 US hr. to run it at 100% power. it takes only 40 min to heat up 12gal of wash, then it is down to 40-50% for the remainder of the run. which will last as long as 12+ hrs. So if you think about it, if I ran at full power for 10 hrs, that would cost me about $3.50. it costs roughly $20 to fill a lp tank, There is no way you could ever get 60+ hrs of run time out of a 20lb tank of lp.

I run gas, but have a cut down 200L steel barrell as a shroud. It makes a massive difference to efficiency. I'd guess 20+% quicker start up times and I run the flame much lower than I used to during the run. It also keeps the flames contained and less likey to cause a fire

"Does anyone know if you can change over your fish cooker to natural gas.""
I believe most you can, but it depends on burner. you'd need to change the jets/orifice. NG is 5 lb ,,propane 20+

Around here its 3 on nat and 11 on lp that's inches on water column .

where Im at we have both high and low pressure NG and LP , low or domestic Ng is 5" water= .18 psi? , high is 5 psi..
propane ,, low or (domestic) is 11" of water (.4 psi?) high is 10-30 psi. high pressure is used out side cookers/heaters/hot tubs/industrial etc.(high BTUs) low is used for domestic appliances. best check with supplier as NG can very. also when changing to NG you should increase the size of supply lines.some burners will not burn right after converting,due to air supply.
forced air mite be needed.

You have two different NG pressures supplying your house???? Never heard of that. That means two gas meters and two separate gas lines run through out your house. We only see 2+ PSI NG lines in commercial situations, as to where they then put a pressure regulator at the fixture to be served (usually only on the boilers)......

FROM E&G




"the ave pressure on the customers side of the meter is 1/4 pound or 7"of water col.. If you look at the average gas appl in your house most will not take much more pressure than that .. Some customers do need up to 5lbs these are usually for generator and pool heaters..
I assume that there is a regulator after the meter or individual regulators at the appliances ...
the pressure before the utility owned regulator and meter can be from 1/2lb(low pressure) all the way up to 150lbs in which case there is usually more than 1 regulator before the meter .."

I have both gas and electric, and just did two stripping runs of 25 gallons of Gerber. I was running fast and taking everything after the fores, down to 20% ABV for a spirit run in my Bok.
I operated on 3750 watts,internal elements.First quart was 65 ABV, it took 8 minutes to collect. the 24th quart ended just under 20 ABV and took 10 minutes to collect. I have usually stripped with propane, but the temp in my shed was 97F when I started, so electric with everything insulated was the way to go. After that experience, I will always strip with electricity.

C. Morrison wrote:I operated on 3750 watts,internal elements.First quart was 65 ABV, it took 8 minutes to collect. the 24th quart ended just under 20 ABV and took 10 minutes to collect. I have usually stripped with propane, but the temp in my shed was 97F when I started, so electric with everything insulated was the way to go. After that experience, I will always strip with electricity.

Thats an interesting bit of parody.
We have some members with lil teenie weenie elements that work well for spirit runs, but would take several life times to heat a full strip charge.

So they strip with gas and use the electric for the spirit run so they can optimize the best use of their gas.

Just an observation.

I used to work on the gas stove top, but when I moved we didn't even have an oven at our new place, so I went and bought a 750 W hotplate, it works good for small stripping runs, and when I get enough low wines, 5L? maybe more? I'll borrow a friend's gas burner for a bit, and run em low and slow. I really have to say that gas is more responsive, but a little more dangerous and expensive. And for Electric it's cheap, and controllable, but bad for a power outage (Thank goodness I live on the coast and only have to worry about those during hurricane season). I say it's all personal preference, and what you're after.

For anything up to the size of a 13 gal Mile Hi can, I'd use a 1500W hot plate. Easy to use, regulate and store, and hooks up to regular household current without any need to screw with your household wiring.

Above that, I'd recommend the Bayou Boiler, which runs on nat gas. The stove base is well shielded on 3 sides, and the ~25 or so jets keep the flames very focused for added safety. Run a silicone hose from your still's output to your collection container 5 feet away, and the safety margin between gas and electric is negligible. Cheap to run, no having to run out and buy tanks for each run.

I am running a 4500w element, and i wont soon go back to propane. Its nice to sit inside, surfing the forums, and watching your still. Talk about comfort!

Never was too handy at installing heating elements in a boiler... Anyone wanna point me in that direction or PM me something new to learn?

TK Spirits wrote:Never was too handy at installing heating elements in a boiler... Anyone wanna point me in that direction or PM me something new to learn?

What do you need to know...??? There are several topic related to electric kegs in these forums... Try searching for "electric keg"...

kenfyoozed wrote:I am running a 4500w element, and i wont soon go back to propane. Its nice to sit inside, surfing the forums, and watching your still. Talk about comfort!

Agree totally with KFy. It's the LACK of comfort stillin' outside in our Canadian winters that dictates electric heat for me - frequently the winter daily highs are only -15C (-5F). Usually much too much sun outside for a laptop too. For much of last summer it was too hot outside at +35C (+95F) - can't beat stillin' inside with AC, using electric. Don't want to be tied to just Spring and Fall for stillin'.

Gas is quicker to heat up. BUT... I'm in no great hurry and electric is (arguably) much safer, never runs out (outages are VERY rare) and is definitely much cheaper.

A no-brainer for me in this location.

likkerluvver wrote:Gas is quicker to heat up. BUT... I'm in no great hurry and electric is (arguably) much safer, never runs out (outages are VERY rare) and is definitely much cheaper.

Mine heated an 8 gal wash in 30min. Not bad if you ask me.

kenfyoozed wrote:

likkerluvver wrote:Gas is quicker to heat up. BUT... I'm in no great hurry and electric is (arguably) much safer, never runs out (outages are VERY rare) and is definitely much cheaper.

Mine heated an 8 gal wash in 30min. Not bad if you ask me.

Sounds great KFy. I'm about to install 5500w in both my 30L (6.6usg) boiler and a 70L (15.5usg) keg.

That should give me faster warm-up than many gas setups (but some are quicker).

Definitely good enough for me too. (Plus: safer, cheaper, never runs out, etc.).