# Tonys Ag Brew Rig



## Tony (26/5/06)

Well i have had a bad case of the gunna's in the last year or so.

I have been "gunna" built a frame for all this AG brewing equipment i have gathered so i dont have to work off the floor but it hasnt happened for some reason or another.

I have a control pannel for it and all the gear set up, I have a march pump sitting in its box waiting for it to get built.

Well i welded her up last night. Got called in to a breakdown at work and finnished up at 11pm.

Finished welding her up at 2am this morning :blink: 

Its made from 40x40x2 painted RHS. Used about 12 meters all up.

Now all i have to do is costruct, plumb, wire and paint the thing and i will have a brewery of my own 

Will keep ya all posted with regular updates. Im all motivated now that ive seen it on the stand.

IT MUST BE DONE !!!  

cheers


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## Jye (26/5/06)

Im in the same situation as you Tony, since I got a pump I have been working on the floor to make sure everything works at the same level. I have been looking for old bed frames so I can make something like Justins, but I scores an aluminium frame from uni yesterday that is nearly perfect and will give it a go in the next few weeks.

Look forward to seeing how you put yours together.

Cheers
Jye


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## Steve (26/5/06)

Tony I think your bar and bar stool in the background probably needs an upgrade too! I can just image you sat there scratching your head beer in hand wondering what to do next with the new brewstand :lol: :lol: 
Cheers
Steve


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## Justin (26/5/06)

LOL Steve!

Very nice Tony. She's under way. Will be a ripper


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## Tony (26/5/06)

Im planing to plumb it so i can pump from any vessel to any vessel.

I have solenoids on the HERMS to rotare between heating and bypass depending on the temp of the wort comming out of the bottom of the mash ton.

I have it wired up so that the solenoils can be run in auto mode and switch via the mash temperature or manual operation.

Will have a pickup and return half way up the kettle too to wirlpool the wort around the imersion chiller as it cools.

The HLT has a 3600w HWS element in it and will be switched via a 40 amp solid state relay to holw whatever temperature i want.

that will be handy for step mashes cause i can crank up the temp in the HLT and the mash ton on the temperature controllers and it will slowly heat to the next temperature rest.

I wont be using this for going from a 50 deg to 67 deg step but mashing in at 60 deg and slowly rainsin the temp to 67 or so for lighter lagers will be fun to experiment with.

cheers


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## Tony (26/5/06)

Steve said:


> Tony I think your bar and bar stool in the background probably needs an upgrade too! I can just image you sat there scratching your head beer in hand wondering what to do next with the new brewstand :lol: :lol:
> Cheers
> Steve
> [post="129281"][/post]​



Ive got the 10 tap "harbour Bridge" on order for it.

thats where my 2 year old twin daughters sit and have a beer while daddy plays with brewing 

 

cheers


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## spog (27/5/06)

in the same boat as you tony,gunna get my ag system going, now as per previous post,s i said i am nearly there, well it,s true. just got some minor (to me major) bit,s to tweek.(bit like posting photos of last years trip to nz and waiting for my lad to come home and show me how) SHIT i wonder where the hell he went! :blink:


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## hupnupnee (27/5/06)

Looking good Tony,

BTW how are you going to use that pig shaped keg on the left. I've had one laying around here for ages. Mines got the threaded hole in the middle of the side of the keg?

floculator

tim


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## roger mellie (27/5/06)

hupnupnee said:


> Looking good Tony,
> 
> BTW how are you going to use that pig shaped keg on the left. I've had one laying around here for ages. Mines got the threaded hole in the middle of the side of the keg?
> 
> ...



Hupnupnee

If its the same type as a mate of mine has, its double skinned. He cut off the outer skin and was left with an capsule shape - perfect for a kettle after attack with an angle grinder - but not self supporting.

He had to bung up the hole in the middle and add some legs.

RM


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## Tony (27/5/06)

this one isnt one with the hole in the middle.

It is just like a regular one and i cut the top out and have done many boils in it.

It handles a 50 liter batch with ease.

cheers


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## Tony (30/5/06)

Well i know she aint much to look at yet but its getting there.

I have mounted the wheels and the temperature control panel.

I mounted the mongolian burner today and plumbed in the pilot light on the burner to let some of the hair grow back onto my arm  

Here are some pics

next i will be mounting the mash ton on a hinge so it can be tilted back to clean out the grain without having to lift it down or scoop it out.

Might try to get the HLT wired up and running before friday when im doing my"hoppy wheat beer" and then it will be full steam ahead on the plumbing.

When its all done i will have to pull it all apart and paint it. No point painting the frame while im rolling it on the concrete and drilling and tapping away now is there.

cheers


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## MHB (30/5/06)

Tony
I am building a bigish boiler pot, could you tell me how much clearance do you need from the bottom of the burner to the underside of the kettle?
I like the amount of air available through the punch plate burner support.

MHB


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## Tony (30/5/06)

I have a ring welded on to bottom of the kettle to give me about about 3 inches clearance.

3 or 4 inches is perfect i recon, too close and the flame is smothered.

these puppies throw a fair flame.

the perfirated plate is 316 stainless thanks to working in the food industry h34r:

I like it cause it will let lots of air through but deflect somo of the downward radient heat that these burners produce.

will see how it goes on friday. I have to make a mod to it so i can get in to light the flame. I cant get at it with the kettle on top :unsure:

cheers


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## MHB (30/5/06)

Tony
A plumbing supply or good hardware might have a pizeo(?) electric spark igniters, they use them on hot water systems and gas heaters, comes with 300-400mm of wire, just press the little red button.

MHB


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## Tony (31/5/06)

yeah i was thinking of going that way.

Another gadget for the rig 

cheers


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## Tony (1/6/06)

turned on the gas and lit the main burner.

I seems to stave its self and a pool of un-burnt gas sits under the kettle. It comes out the vents under the kettls and licks of flame run up the side of the kettle.

I think i need to move the burner down a coumpe of inches to let more air in and seperate the flame from the kettle.

It only does this on high flame. I am doing a brew tomorrow so i will se what happens and fix as required.
cheers


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## Tony (4/6/06)

Yep the burner mounting needs attention.

It wouldnt let enough air circulate and i couldnt crank up the flame.

It boiled it well but i had lots of orange flame and soot everywhere. Maybe this is the problem people have when they complain of soot. I had it under bricks with the kettle sitting on them and it worked fine.

I will drop the burner 2 inches for more air and see how she goes.

Will post a pic when done

cheers


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## ausdb (4/6/06)

Tony said:


> Yep the burner mounting needs attention.
> 
> It wouldnt let enough air circulate and i couldnt crank up the flame.
> 
> ...



Tony is that stainless ring actually welded to the base of your kettle, or is it removable? If its removable then try removing that and seeing if it makes a difference. I went from using a 50L keg that still had the chimb around the bottom to a flat bottomed stock pot with a variety of different burners. I can easily get 55L of wort to the boil with only three rings of a 4 ring burner going with the flat bottomed pot yet when using the keg I used to use a blowtorch (more output than a nasa and louder!) to get the same thing happening. I also messed around with setting the keg on bricks and trying the various combinations of burners and the ring around the base of the keg seems to prevent complete combustion.

hth


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## Gopha (4/6/06)

Tony
Regarding your Mongolian Burner.
The burner must run flat out to prevent sooting.

If you are using a pilot light you sould incorporate thermocouple linked to flame fail gas valve, this would make for a safer installation. From memory a mongolian burner has 200 a megajoule output and can be quite scary on a windy day.
Cheers
Gopha
Tony,
Further to my previous reply regarding the sooting of your burner also check that is meant for LPG,
a natural gas burner will work on LPG but you get very long soft sooty flames.
If you are interested i can post some photos of a burner set up with flame failure.
Cheers.
Gopha


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## Tony (4/6/06)

Gopha.

I used it many times with no sooting probs and it will run low without soot as long as you dont get it down to orange flame.

ausdb.

very good point.

It seems with these burners you need max flow of air to get them working.

the ring is welded on but would be easy to remove with a grinder. Problem is it doesnt have a flat bottom to mount it on, hence why i welded the ring on there.

might get a hole saw and do some drilling to increase the airflow potential of the ring to let more flame burn under it and also i think lowerein it will let more air in.

Now that i look at the set up its very restrictive.

like a 1 inch exhaust on my 5 Liter ute.

THe ute has a 3 inch open exhaust, the rig needs one too 

cheers


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## Tony (9/6/06)

OK

Just dropped the burner 2 inches

this gives me a great airflow potential and it worked 

It is roaring like it did when i had it on bricks with lots of blue flame and heat being produced.

It doesnt run flat out as the flame pools and spills out the sides but it doesnt need to under 50 liters. It does it easy.

Bought $96 worth (well they were $147 but they gave them to me trade price B) thats the benifit of being a tradie) of ball valves, nipples, couplings, tee's, barrel unions and compression fittings

I have the 1/2 inch pipe benders from work. Might get a bit of work done on it over the long weekend

I also mounted to mash ton on a 316 SS hinge so i can tip it back easily to hose out. Pic of the hinge is included.

It was cold out so better pics will be forthcomming when its a bit more complete. Will be rough wiring it and running it to work out any bugs. Then when its running right i will strip, paint and finnish it prolerly.


here are some pics

cheers


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## ausdb (9/6/06)

Tony said:


> Just dropped the burner 2 inches
> 
> this gives me a great airflow potential and it worked
> 
> ...



Get the holesaw out too Tony and drill the holes you were talking about and it will work even better!


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## Darren (9/6/06)

Tony,

I found that the first two or three boil-overs blocked a few of the jets on my mongolian burner. From then on I had no sooting problems. 5 years on still going strong. Brings 75 litres to the boil in 20 mins.

cheers

Darren


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## Tony (9/6/06)

ausdb......

Am planning on it. It will let the air in but it has nowhere to go when its burning now.

I have some 30 mm holes cut in 4 corners of the ring but will have to cut more. The ring is 4mm thick 316 stainless so i might take it to work and attack it with the plasma cutter i think.

Darren. they are awsome burners hey. I can batch sparge and have 40 liters in the kettle before i turn it on and it will boil in 15 min no wories.

My 3 ringer took 45 min.

1/2 hr is 1/2 in my books.

also getting clearer beers since i have better boil too.

cheers


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## roger mellie (9/6/06)

Impressive bag of SS bits there Tony - I could do with some of those 1/2' Tee Pieces

RM


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## Darren (9/6/06)

Tony,
I had 25mm x 30cm slots cuts into the bottom of my HLT. The flame laps out nicely.

My kettle is round bottomed .

cheers

Darren


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## Tony (9/6/06)

Roger..... they are chrome plated brass.

SS would have cost me $20 eash per fitting.

I dont have $1000 to spend on the brew rig.

I did work out that brewing ir myself saves me over $2000 in beer a year.

mmmmmmmmm is that good or bad.

I say Good 

cheers


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## Tony (9/6/06)

Ohhh one thing i will add...... Im thinking of just venting the ring at the back to premote heating at the back of the kettle. This should give me thermal currents in the kettle to circulate the wort while its boiling.

Its just a plan at the moment.

cheers


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## Tony (14/6/06)

Well i have consumed 2 of those bags of fittings so far and almost finnished.

used about 4 rolls of thread tape, 2 of them got used by my twin daughters, what a mess  

I have all the inlet lines to the pump plunbed in and have the xmas tree on the pump outlet half done but will need some more fittings to finnish it off. that will be the 3rd bag.

It will allow me to pump from any vessel to any vessel, i hope 

cheers


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## Chatty (14/6/06)

Tony, the first photo (of the whole set up) won't load - apparently it isn't available. Could you try posting again?

Ok, no fear. it's decided to work properly now. Calm down folks 

Chatty


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## Tony (17/6/06)

well i finished the plumbing :chug: was a big job but worth it.

All that is left is wiring in the solenoids, PT100's and elememt and it should go.

Im hoping on getting some cables roughed in tomorrow for testing and tyding it up later on.

Will give it a "dry" run so to speak with just water to check for leaks and work out thermal masss of the pipes ect for brew day.

My wife looked at it and said............... you can build that but you cant paint the wall in the hall  

I replied......... well.......... i'm good at doing this  

I still have lots to do. It still needs the drain outlet plumbed in and hard lines to the chiller in the kettle with a line to run hot water to the HLT when it starts cooling the brew for cleaning up or a quick start to a second brew for the day B).

and then the painfull bit.

It will need to be stripped down to nothing again so i can paint the frame. 

I have included pics of the plumbing, the mash ton setup with the hinge for easy removal of 10 to 12 KG of grain and my sight glass that mounted above the inlet to the march pump.

cheers


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## spog (17/6/06)

10/10 nice setup :beerbang: cheers....spog.........


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## Stuster (17/6/06)

Wow. :wub: 

That is amazing, Tony. :super:


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## browndog (17/6/06)

Spectacular Tony, I bought myself a welder a while back on the pretext of repairing a trailer etc, but in the back of my mind all I thought was "brewstand". I've studied pics of Pumpys brewery and the plumbing looks pretty straight forward, but yours seems to have a few added bits of piping there, mind explaining to the novices how it works?


cheers

Browndog


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## Tony (17/6/06)

OK...... explain.

Brew with it............ no probs.

Explain it :unsure: 

here we go.

left to right are HLT, MT and kettle.

htere are lines running from each of these vessels to the inlet of the pump. each one is isolated by a ball valve. they all meet up and feed through the sight glass so i can see i can see if there is liquid in there and run down to the inlet of the pump (the bottom). This allows me to pump from all 3 vessels.

Now..........

the outlet of the pump has 4 taps running from it.

the first one that goes strait up runs to the HERMS. I can draw from the mash and the temperature of the mash liquor as it exits the mash ton will determine wheather it bypasses of passes through the HERMS. this lin returns to the top of the mash.

Ith second one that faces back will be the drain. THis will be used to pump out the crap when im cleaning up.

The third one that faces up is to underlet to the mash ton. I have fallen in love with this method. pump from the HLT into the bottom of the tom that is already filled with the cracked grain. I can pump onto the top too via the HERMS bypass line.

the 4th tap from the pump outlet is the line to the kettle. When im finished mashing i open up the relivent valves and pump to the kettle. there is a third valve (blue handle) on the kettle. this is a gravity feed out to feed the firmenter. I have found i get a lot less crap from the firmenter if i slowly gravity feed it out instead of the pump smashing the break back into the brew.

hope this helps.

cheers


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## Tony (17/6/06)

OK here are some pics with some green lines to follow/confuse  

cheers


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## Sunday Brewer (17/6/06)

Really Nice Work Tony !

bless

Sunday Brewer


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## Zwickel (18/6/06)

Tony thats not fair 

Now I dont like my stuff anymore.

Great work mate, its a kind of "Beer Monument" 

Cheers :beer:


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## FNQ Bunyip (18/6/06)

WoW fantastic set up Tony.. :beer:

How do you quickly undo the mash tun / ton ? Barrel union ??

:beer:


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## browndog (18/6/06)

Thanks for the explanation Tony, much appreciated. I've a few questions. 

1 With all that amount of plumbing, how would you accurately measure water from the HLT for the mash or is the amount in the tubing insignificant? 

2 When pumping the wort to the kettle, must you quickly close the valve between the pump and the kettle as the last of the wort leaves the pump?

3 How would you go about cleaning all the tubing? do you need a drain tap down by the pump?


cheers

Browndog


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## kirem (18/6/06)

Very nice Tony, good job BOB.

I love the hinged mash tun. I have a similar solution. I will take some pictures and post them later today.

My brewery goes to work (again) this week to have the SS plumbing done.

I am currently looking at PID control and LPG solenoids for the HLT and Kettle. I am not worried about temp control for the kettle, I would just like to use the least amount of LPG to boil the wort.

K


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## domonsura (18/6/06)

Tony, I like your rig, good work!
As far as the vent holes goes, I made a ring similar to yours, and I found it necessary to cut 10 vent holes to allow air flow in, and also take a few scallop shapped cuts out of the ring where it meets the vessel to allow a path out, if you understand what i mean..heres a pic.. You can see the vents below, and then the little scallops letting the burn back out.





(not sure if that will work...)
Couldn't get it to burn properly without the vent holes, As soon as I took the little scallops out it burned like a champion!
I like the hinges on the mashtun, that would make the cleanup a WHOLE lot easier!

Best of luck mate!

Edited: Stuffed the image path up......


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## Tony (18/6/06)

thanks folks.

Its still a work in progress.

Bunyip...... yep barrel unions. I have a few of them in the ststem. they make it easy to break the lines to get t oa blockage or to remove parts.

Browndog.

1. The plumbing will only hold a few hundred mills. I dont really wory about accurate water calculations any more. I brew to have 52 liters in the kettle after chilling. with 7 liters/hrevaporation and a 75 min boil i usually need 62 to 64 liters in the kettle at the start of the boil.
I just mash in to somewhere inbetween 2.5 and 3L/KG (i dont think it makes much difference and at the end of the mash i flood the mash with hot water to rais the mashout temp and help thin it out to make draining it out easier. This is them pumped to the kettle.
I then batch sparge by filling the mash ton to the top again and pump this to the kettle.
I usually end up being a few liters short so i top it up from the tap and then boil it down so if in 2 or 5 or 3 liters short i just top it up. easy 

2. i have found with the davey pump i have been using that ti will hold the wort in the kettle at bay when it stops but yeah, its best to close it off and stop the pump once she runs dry.

3. there is a drain tap on the pump outlet that i havnt plumbed in yet. I ran out of copper tube. Basicly i will pump clean water through everything at the end. Will be collecting the initial hot water from the imersion chiller in the HLT for this. 50 liters of 80 deg water should do the trick. 

I am excited at the prospect of firing this puppy up. I hope it works ok 

cheers


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## Tony (19/6/06)

well got all the electrics hooked up tonight and gave it a quick run.

Leaked like an old ford.

I found a few fittings missing thread tape and fixed it up.

Teps were spot on, HLT heats up as required, pump pumps everywhere is suposed to.

oooooooooo im all excited.

will be working out thermal masses before the sunday maiden voyage.

I hope its not a titanic clone.

cheers


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## Ash in Perth (19/6/06)

hey not all old fords leak, mine doesnt.

Cant wait to hear how it all goes.


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## Tony (19/6/06)

thanks wally, there are a few icebergs in tamworht latly, its cold enough.

will take a few pics of the pending disaster as it happens 

Ash...................... there is no help for you.

How will you ever be a great comercial brewer if you can never get to work due to a crap car.

get a holden!

ahhhh ive always been a holden boy but my first car was a little '78 ford escort and it was tops 

123km hr terminal spped down hill in 4th. yeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaa 

the ute winds off the clock past 240 

cheers


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## poppa joe (19/6/06)

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH..... Now you done it Tony(.....leaks like an old Ford.... )
My "37 Ford does not leak as much as your setup.Ford Owners Unite.....
Cheers
PJ


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## Franko (19/6/06)

Very nice work there Tony your an Inspiration good to see the "BULLS HEAD BREWERY" taking shape
well done


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## Tony (20/6/06)

AHHH i knew id get a bite on that one 

all in fun 

cheers

Oh and franko, i will be sticking a label on there somewhere when its done.


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## Steve (20/6/06)

Holy crap Tony!!! I saw a few pics earlier on in the thread and then stopped following the thread...Jeesuz - that thing reminds me of my old high schools boiler room! Sensational effort. Wish I knew how to use more than a hammer, screwdriver and one of those spanner socketey rachety things! :blink: 
Cheers
Steve


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## big d (20/6/06)

Looking good tony.Only thing i would suggest you change in the future would be the location of your control box.Other than getting hot under there i reckon a more user friendly working height will be appreciated after you get tired of bending down to turn on/off etc.

Cheers
Big D


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## Tony (21/6/06)

yeah i thought about that big D but it fitted under there so thats where it went.

once its up and running improvements can start.

cheers


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## Tony (25/6/06)

Well i ran a brew through it today.

I made an American wheat so th speak... omly i used NZ Nelson Sauvin hop flowers all the way.

I will start with the recipe. without the rice hulls its 70% wheat, 30% ale malt.

Bull Head Wheat Ale

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 52.00 Wort Size (L): 52.00
Total Grain (kg): 11.20
Anticipated OG: 1.047 Plato: 11.77
Anticipated EBC: 7.4
Anticipated IBU: 24.3
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
62.5 7.00 kg. JWM Wheat Malt Australia 1.040 4
26.8 3.00 kg. JWM Traditional Ale Malt Australia 1.038 7
10.7 1.20 kg. Rice Hulls Australia 1.000 0

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
20.00 g. Nelson Sauvin Whole 11.80 12.4 First WH
35.00 g. Nelson Sauvin Whole 11.80 10.3 15 min.
32.00 g. Nelson Sauvin Whole 11.80 1.6 2 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.10 Oz Irish Moss Fining 15 Min.(boil) 


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale


I underletted and all was well, hit the temp on the head but when i started to recirculate the temperature controller for the HERMS wasnt set up right and it wouldnt read the right temp or recirculate through the heat coul in the HLT.

I cut the puwer, pulled the guts out of the controller and set the dip switches to the right spots (there had to be something i missed) and stuck it back it.

by then the temperature of everything had dropped and the mash was running at about 62 or 63 instead of the 65 to 66 i wanted. NEver mind. I notice the 3 meter coil in the HLT isnt as efficient as i had hoped and the return mash temp was to cool to heat the mash up. Especially as the ambient temp was about 6 deg.

I slowly turned up the heat in the HLT till i got a mash return temp of 67 deg and what do you know the mash bed started to heat back up. It needed to be about 72 deg in the HLT to get this.

The other problem i found was that the heat from the mash just went strait up as i had no lid on it because of the mash return going in the top.

2 things to address before next brew.

1. make a lid that has a slot in it that will cover the top of the mash ton and still allow the sparge arm to sit down in the mash.

2. insulate the bottom of the mash ton. It needs a plastic bag filled with foamafill in there to stop heat loss at the bottom of the mashton.

other than that it want great. 

it will take me a few goes to get the temps right but i will just brew beers that are tollerant to a bit of temp fluctioation.

I was very impressed with how clear the wort ended up after at least 1/2 hr recirculating. 

I have also added pics of the filter bad similar to the ones ross sells but its finer. About 20 micron i think. I use it to catch the break out of the mash. It works well too.

cheers


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## Darren (25/6/06)

Looks like a NZ wheat Tony!!

Nice pics too.

cheers

Darren


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## Pumpy (25/6/06)

Tony considering about a year ago this is where you were with your brewery , and you were making some fantastic beer with the simplest of gear .

You have done a great job and taken it a huge step forward

Pumpy


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## Jye (25/6/06)

Tony said:


>



ah... I wondered what this was from your previous pics  

Part of my mash return is made from polycarbonate and it is fun to watch the mash clear as it recirculates.

American wheat :beerbang:


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## vlbaby (25/6/06)

tony, 
sounds like your getting your getting the feel for the way your system behaves. You'll sort it all out in time, you seem like a pretty smart cookie to setup what you got. Looks like something NASA built!  

I had very similar problems with the temperature when i first fired up my own. I eventually reprogrammed my system to monitor the return wort temperature and modify the HLT setpoint in response to this. Only problem with this was that my HLT temperature at sparge time was not what i wanted. This prompted me to build a seperate HERMS chamber ( which is simply a coil of copper in a s/s kettle), in order to achieve a good level of control without stuffing with the HLT temperature.

Anyhow congrats on the maiden run of your new rig. :beerbang: 


cheers


vl.


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## Darren (25/6/06)

NZ wheat I would say. What is American about it? h34r: 

Maybe it is the "405"?

cheers

Darren


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## Jye (25/6/06)

The yeast


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## Darren (25/6/06)

Ah, neutral yeast! Not really american though as there are many neutral flavoured yeasts. I always associate American styles with the hop "flavor". Still looks NZ to me! Tony, what part of your brewery have you taken the "405" through?



cheers

Darren

Darren


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## Tony (25/6/06)

Jye.... i found these bronve and glass sight glasses in the store at work. Hell they had dust on them, they needed a job to do  it works great to. you can see the liquid level going to the pump and if it flow gets a bit slow you can throttle back on the pump outlet and watch it come back up to regulate the speed of the flow.

VL.... I have spent many hrs stewing over this, I know how you feel. Should the temp be taken at the ontlet of the mash or the return from the HERMS. 

should it control the HLT temp or the distance between the moon and my arse multiplied by 3.14 ?

worked out today the HLT tank has to be 5 deg hotter than the temp i want to mash returned at. I had the mash and the HLT set at the same temps today and got a 4 deg drop in temp in the mash....... bugger.

I heated it back up, the 3600W element in the HLT heats the water up a 10 deg in just a few minuites so temp differences arnt a wory in there when it comes to sparging.

I recon i will get close next brew and after that..... look out.

Oh and pumpy........ your not the only one with pictures to play with  

hehehehehehehehehe


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## Tony (25/6/06)

I wouldnt call it an american wheat

Id call it a NZ wheat for sure. I was only refering to the typical style. I agree with darren as american beers usually need amarican hops. 

I will coment the hops smell and taste great in the wort. Will be interesting to see how they turn out.

the 405 is taken through a bronze sight glass i got. Its got the recirculeatin wort from the mash in it. Clear hey 

If you look back on pics of the rig its on the inletto the pump located under the mash tom in the middle.

cheers


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## Pumpy (26/6/06)

Tony said:


> Oh and pumpy........ your not the only one with pictures to play with
> 
> hehehehehehehehehe



Well done Tony I asked for that , 

Hey that guy with the Solar panel for a sex machine gets in on all the Brew day pics.

God look how young Ducati Stu looks in that  

Pumpy


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## warrenlw63 (26/6/06)

Tony said:


> Oh and pumpy........ your not the only one with pictures to play with
> 
> hehehehehehehehehe




:lol: :lol: Mmmmm... Pumpy appears a good sort. :wub: 

Warren -


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## Pumpy (26/6/06)

Thats 'Pumpette' :blink:


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## Tony (26/6/06)

ahhhh i love a good stir.

just an update.....

the Nelson Sauvin Wheat Ale was just getting a slight white foam on it when i got home from work and was bubbling every 30 seconds. Temp was 19 deg.

That was 24 hrs from pitching. 4 hrs later it has 2 inches of foam and is bubbling at a rate of one bubble every 5 or 6 seconds.

oooooooooo shes taking off fast.

I dropped the temp back to 18 deg.

this WLP001 needed 100% wort volume as head space to hold the foam it produces. And that was in the starter that was made with dry light malt extract to 1.030.

this is protein rich 1.046 (70%) wheat ale.......

Oh god i think im going to need a blow of tube.

ahhh i have tomorrow off....... if there is a mess on the lid when i get up i will clean it up and get a coke bottle blow off tube going .

cheers


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## Tony (28/6/06)

ahhhhh ive had a few beers and i couldnt resist 

all in fun boys 

cheers

edit: net crashed on me, re loaded pic


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## Tony (28/6/06)

while i sorted out my internet problems i had time on my hands 

cheers 

ahhhhhhh im in a good mood.......... i couldnt help myself 

hhehehehe


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## Tony (29/7/06)

Here is an update on the system.

I found that i was loosing lots of temperature when recorculating through the HERMS coil. The slightest breeze ment i needed the HLT at 72 to 74 deg to keep the mash temp at 66 deg and this ment the returning wort was at about 67 to 68 deg.

I made a dry stout with it last and mashed it at 65 deg to get good attenuation but after the wort got heated too much to hold the temp right it only went from 1.046 to 1.018 with WLP001.

So i have come up with a few things to help.

First i will recirculate hot water through the system to reduce the initial high temps i need when mashing in and i insulated the pipework that holds the wort to reduce heat loss.

Problem is i wont be brewing with it till next year now as my new job is keeping me away from home all week.

Here are some pics of the insulation.

cheers all


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## Pumpy (29/7/06)

Tony the *Bulls Head Brewery * is looking great , you must be like Casey Jones driving that Steam engine with all them levers switches and buttons .

What are your Solenoids controlling are they SS 

What make are they 

Can you use just on the water and not the Wort ?


Pumpy


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## Tony (29/7/06)

hey pumps 

The solenoids are stainless. They are ASCO brand ones.

I aquired them from my last job.

I use them on the HERMS and they switch over automaticly to either pump the wort through the heating coil in the HLT or bypass it depending on the mash temp.

cheers.


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## Pumpy (29/7/06)

Your a legend Tony .

hope you looking settling into the new job well.

look after the Tamworth Flash and the Ugliest cat in the world ( I lost the pic of that perhaps you can post another to scare everyone .

Suppose you no longer in Tamworth .

No more boot scootin !!

Pumpy


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## Rocket (30/7/06)

Looks good Tony. 
Only one question and that is why didnt you put the HLT on a higher teir and use gravity to fly sparge and therefore halving your plumbing hardware? 
Doesn't fly sparging give a better efficency?
Also if you reciculate your mash through your HLT and your hot liquor is at at mash temp (say 66c) then you have no need for solinoid valves as your mash can not exceed the desired temp?
Then when it is time for sparging increase the HL to your required temp for sparging?


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## Tony (30/7/06)

yeah pumps, settling into the new job ok. I dont have access to a computer down in the hunter valley yet so only posting when im home in tamworth on weekends.

And i never boot scooted...... i hate country music. glad to see the last of it.

Rocket: I did it couse i had the stuff and i could 

also because each brew is different, they flow differently which means that setting on that temp wont always work. If i have a fast flowing bed it will heat the mash quickly and stop the heat loss but if it is slow it might not be able to cope with heat loss in the system (some mornings i dough in and its -1 or -2 deg c ambient) so i need a hotter HLT than mash temp as it looses a couple of deg during recirculating.

Also went with single tier cause i like to batch sparge. I used to fly sparge but found that efficiency didnt change and when i went to batch sparging and it doesnt channel any more.

cheers and good points made mate.

Oh here is a pic of the flash and the cat


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## rockitbob (30/7/06)

Hey Tony,
Dont you have tempurate control (theremostat) for your hot liquor tun. If so you can adjust the HLT to the temp you want your mash. When I strike my mash (lets say i want it to start at 66c) i will heat the HL to desired temp (using a digital thermostat) which is higher than my mash temp and when i have mashed in I now have room in my HLT to add some cold water to bring it down to 66c and reciculate. My thermostat then keeps my HLT at a constant 66c or what ever the temp i want it.
If my HLT is at lets say 70c and i want 66 in mash and im reciculating wont it activate more of the beta enzyms as they are in the mash liquor which is travelling through the heat exchange?


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## rockitbob (30/7/06)

I have tested my liquor that returns to the top of the mash and is the same or 1 degree less than the HLT temp. 
Might be because I have insulated plumbing.


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## Tony (2/8/06)

true.

thats why i nisulated it 

cheers


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## Tony (8/9/06)

Well the rig is getting pulled apart this weekend.

It will be loaded into the ute and shipped to the hunter valley where i hope it keeps up its good work.

I will be doing some more work on it when it gets there like insulating the mash ton and HLT, a bit more work on insulation of the mash recirc piping and adding a caravan plug for power in, an extrrnal isolator for the HLT element and maybe a timer to fire up the HLT before i get out of bed 

Might have to do a bit of work on the burner under the kettle to inprove efficiency of the flame, its still not reaching full combustion of the gas. Needs more air flow i recon, some holes around the kettle base and a bit lower with the burner. 

Will keep you all informed

cheers


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## Tony (11/9/06)

well its stipped down and loaded up ready for the trip tomorrow morning.

looks like i have a stoaway 

cheers


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## Franko (11/9/06)

Drive Carefully Tony
will adjust your logo with its new home for you
Franko


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## Tony (12/9/06)

thanks mate

Will get those things posted for you this week

its been hectic

cheers


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## FNQ Bunyip (12/9/06)

Tony if thats all you take in each load it could be a long time to the end of this move.. 

Take care hope your brewing again soon...

:beer:


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## Tony (15/10/06)

Well the house has sold and we have to be out by 1st december :huh: 

Oh boy this is going to be fun.

I figured the bottles (700 or more of them) would not be "remouvilist" friendly

So in the ute they go and off the newcastle tomorrow morning.

Will be a fun trip..... not. The ute is almost on the bumpstops.

I wonder how many i will loose.

I was considering getting rig of them but i figured if i did i would want them back so off for a drive they go.

Ohhhh here we go here we go here we gooooooooo!!!

I hate moving


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## The Scientist (15/10/06)

You should have just brought them all to my house Tony, i'd look after them for ya :chug: 

Then you would have only needed to go 500m and the road is pritty good between our houses :lol: 

Cheers mate Tamworth will miss you  

TS


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## Ash in Perth (15/10/06)

are they full or empty? if they are full i know a good way of lightening the load and making the trip more enjoyable...


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## Tony (16/10/06)

95% empty ash....... already worked out how to empty them 

TS........ thats a good point but it would be a long drive back to bottle a batch and i am wondering if you could refrain from sampling them 

cheers


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## Tony (13/12/06)

Well the Rig is back together and ive started making some changes.

I have added a caravan style plug and an isolator for the HLT element to the side so there is no power lead hanging off it to trip over.

Ive started insulating the Mash Ton and i have installed a PT100 temp probe and digital display to read the mash return temperature accuratly.

I just didnt trust that little dial one 

My garage is a mess at the moment but will be a great place to brew once its all sorted out.

Cheers


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## browndog (13/12/06)

Tony, it looks like you have been living in that garage for years mate  

cheers

Browndog


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## Tony (16/12/06)

Well the Mash Ton is all insulated.

I even insulated the HLT to try and use less power.

I had a stainless lid i found for the mash ton so i insulated it with some foam to keep the temp stable in the mash. It should work better than when i used it with no insulation and no lid and all the heat just "radiated "out. Especially on tamworth mornings at 4 deg when i was brewing.

Im giving it a run tomorrow arvo on something very simple and "teething problem" tollerant  

Summer Keg Ale

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 54.00 Wort Size (L): 54.00
Total Grain (kg): 11.20
Anticipated OG: 1.048 Plato: 11.92
Anticipated EBC: 8.1
Anticipated IBU: 27.1
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential EBC
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
100.0 11.20 kg. TF Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt UK 1.037 5

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
30.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 9.8 First WH
34.00 g. Pride of Ringwood Whole 9.60 15.7 60 min.
60.00 g. Pacific Hallertau Whole 6.50 1.6 2 min.


Extras

Amount Name Type Time
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.10 Oz Irish Moss Fining 5 Min.(boil) 


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Here are some more pics of what i have done to it. to get it ready  

cheers


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