Power for 15 gallon double thump setup?

[Stags]

Hey guys. I’m getting the itch to build something.

Question for those of you who run triple 15 gallon kegs as a double thump- what power source are you using? I’ve got 2x 2000 watt elements- concerned that may not be enough power.

[Bolverk]

That's be enough for the run (i run about 3500w after warm up), but you're going to have a slower than average heat up time.

Say your running 10 gal in the boiler and 5 gals in each thumper. You're looking at about 1.5 hours to first drips @ 4kw.

[Yummyrum]

I’ve only started using mine but agree with Bolverks figures .

I have 80litre boiler ( 21.5US Gal ) boiler with 15 gal keg thumpers and I was putting 60litre charge ( 16 US Gal in it )
I have a 6kw element and it took just over an hour to get first drips . But my controller causes the lights to flicker ( which annoys Mrs Yummy) so I disconnected one element and ran it on 4kw .( Less flicker when using controller) Which was too fast .and for me around 3000 watts was better .

The next day , still had one element disconnected and heat-up took longer , just over 1.5 hours .

Sure, faster warmup with a bigger element is helpful but is 1/2 hr a deal breaker on a 6hr run ?
I’d hoped that with a slower heat-up that it would stop the foam up during heat-up .
The slower heat-up still foamed up and required a shut down to settle the boil .

My takeaway points are , a bigger element will speed up heat-up time but regardless , you will need to turn the element way down once the first drops appear .

Off topic but I would recommend you add an easy vacuum break between thumpers and boiler as I had to shut down several times and had to break tri clamp connections to stop suck back . Not difficult , but opening a valve would have been easier.

[Bolverk]

Half hour ain't a deal breaker for me.... especially if I already had the elements lol.

[Stags]

Thanks for the feedback gents.

Sounds like good to go with plan A.

I do as a matter of habit pop a seal in each vessel at shut down but I also install positive and negative pressure relief valves in all closed units.