Planning a new brew rig

[shacked]

Fellow brewers, the day has come and the minister for finance has approved a new brewing set up.

I'd like to be able to knock out at least 2 cubes but preferably 3 in one session, so I'd be looking for 60L at the end of the boil (plus trub).

I like the look of the SS Brewtech gear; I'm thinking of a 76L (20 gal) mash tun (with recirculation) and one of their brewmaster kettles (20 gal but has a capacity of 90L) with a high pressure burner. I could then look at HERMS later. I've already got a couple of pumps and other bits and pieces.

I've got a 40L crown urn that I could use as a HLT but might need to also use the kettle to heat mash water on larger volume / higher gravity brews.

Has anyone used the SS Brewtech mash tun? Is there anything I'm missing? Any advice here would be awesome.

 

[malt junkie]

Have done a colab brew with droid using Brewtech gear, liked it enough, though value for money you might check out: https://cheekypeakbrewery.com.au/mashing-equipment/mash-tuns

 

[mr_wibble]

I've made a 3V HERMS ~150 litre system using Keg King 185 litre pots.
I started it with the kettle, which I used for about a year before getting the HLT and Mash tun.
It took me another 6 months to finally finish the HX and control system.

Biggest batch I've done is a 60 litres of 5% pale ale. But the system has only been online for a few months.
I'd like to try a 150 litre batch one day, but I don't have the cubes.

My impetus was that I never wanted to upgrade again (this was the 4th upgrade)
I drew the line at a single barrel (~164 litres) brew system, just because.

One observation is that the mash tun really wants a bit more than a single batch worth of grain, since it needs enough to cover the filter-plate. It works, but you have to go easy on it.
These KK pots are really big, but just handleable when empty. Absolutely not moveable when full of anything. It's a bit of a reach to get to the bottom for cleaning, so you have to move them to the ground for scrubbing.

 

[Mardoo]

Wibby, what size is your HX in volume, and how much tube at what diameter?

 

[malt junkie]

I've made a 3V HERMS ~150 litre system using Keg King 185 litre pots.
I started it with the kettle, which I used for about a year before getting the HLT and Mash tun.
It took me another 6 months to finally finish the HX and control system.

Biggest batch I've done is a 60 litres of 5% pale ale. But the system has only been online for a few months.
I'd like to try a 150 litre batch one day, but I don't have the cubes.

My impetus was that I never wanted to upgrade again (this was the 4th upgrade)
I drew the line at a single barrel (~164 litres) brew system, just because.

One observation is that the mash tun really wants a bit more than a single batch worth of grain, since it needs enough to cover the filter-plate. It works, but you have to go easy on it.
These KK pots are really big, but just handleable when empty. Absolutely not moveable when full of anything. It's a bit of a reach to get to the bottom for cleaning, so you have to move them to the ground for scrubbing.

I'm with this. Currently, I have a 1v that goes out to 80L, I have a few vessels spare around the 100L mark, my thoughts are to grab the 170L Mash from CP, and further down the line upgrade to the 170L kettle, later to relegated to HLt, then add the 225 kettle. The numbers look big, but I'm brewing 2x 60L batches of 2 house beers each summer(and another of one of them in winter) as it is, I'd like to use those brew days to brew something different and I'd like to do some big collab brews. When I'm done the big brauclone will probably go and I'll have a little 20L clone as back up. 8 cubes stacked at the end of 6 hours saves me doing that same beer for a year or maybe more.

 

[droid]

Fellow brewers, the day has come and the minister for finance has approved a new brewing set up.

I'd like to be able to knock out at least 2 cubes but preferably 3 in one session, so I'd be looking for 60L at the end of the boil (plus trub).

I like the look of the SS Brewtech gear; I'm thinking of a 76L (20 gal) mash tun (with recirculation) and one of their brewmaster kettles (20 gal but has a capacity of 90L) with a high pressure burner. I could then look at HERMS later. I've already got a couple of pumps and other bits and pieces.

I've got a 40L crown urn that I could use as a HLT but might need to also use the kettle to heat mash water on larger volume / higher gravity brews.

Has anyone used the SS Brewtech mash tun? Is there anything I'm missing? Any advice here would be awesome.

I have 3v Ss brewtech with the 76ltr infusion mash tun and 2 x 114ltr HLT/Kettle plus a herms which works fine

40-60ltr batches are no problem at all