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"Biertourist":1t3kwb47 wrote: Gas-fired, and then electric elements have much higher heat densities than steam. Higher heat densities means more wort darkening via Malliard reactions.
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Malliard reactions, yummy the more the better.

"delboy":ciq2sr8n wrote:

"Biertourist":ciq2sr8n wrote: Gas-fired, and then electric elements have much higher heat densities than steam. Higher heat densities means more wort darkening via Malliard reactions.
[/quote:ciq2sr8n]

Malliard reactions, yummy the more the better.[/quote:ciq2sr8n]

great to see no one called it caramelisation reaction <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: -->

&amp;quot;DEMPSEY&amp;quot;:7fi52s2b wrote: Talking of steam jacket as a heating source,has any one ever worked out what is the most efficient way e.g. cost to bring wort to the boil and heat a mash.[/quote:7fi52s2b]
In a nutshell: per kw/h, mains gas is one quarter the cost of day time electricity and half the cost of night time electricity. In terms of boiler efficiency (i.e. turning latent energy into heat) gas is slightly less efficient as some of the heat literally goes up the chimney.

Really any brewer who is brewing during the day time should be using mains gas. The argument isn't as strong for night time, but is still there.

In addition a simple mains gas main can pull a far higher load than regular two phase. E.g. I can pull about 15kW before I trip the 65A breaker on the board but my gas boiler can pull 36kW.

(To cut a long story short "bottled" gas of any sort is more expensive than electricity)