# ANOTHER Braumeister inspired system



## xredwood

Well I've ordered and received most of my parts and am waiting on the rest to make my own Braumeister clone and thought I'd throw up some pics along the way.

It is based on a Birko urn with malt pipe. I am going to try to contain the pump and all electronics in the space underneath the base of the urn so from the outside it should look like a stock urn. Initially I will be using it as a manual system, but once it's working adequately as a manual system I'm going to set it up with a BCS460 for automation.

Eventually I'll also be adding a whirlpool attachment but that's still a fair way down the track!

Basically it's a 40L Birko urn with 20L mash pipe. The mash pipe will have a false bottom and underneath that a skin fitting. The skin fitting will be attached to a cam lock fitting with the arms removed (like the Braubushka) to attach it to the pump outlet/main vessel.

The top of the malt pipe has a stainless splatter guard as a filter, then a fish and veggie tray on top to provide support (also had perfect size holes for a 5/16" threaded rod and fits the malt pipe and urn perfectly without any modification) all of which is held down by a piece of stainless flat bar with a centre rod and wingnut. The loops on the flat bar will be for hoisting the malt pipe in and out.

The pump will initially be a LBP but if that doesn't prove powerful enough I will upgrade to a March/Chugger. Temp control initially will be done with an STC1000 with thermowell, then eventually will be controlled by the BCS460.

Here are some progress pics, more than happy to answer any questions along the way.




Malt pipe with handles cut off



Splatter guard with handle cut off and veggie tray (finally something that needed no modification!)



Threaded rod for malt pipe. It's only attached to the malt pipe, not the main vessel to avoid drilling extra holes and the urn has the element in the centre so can't be drilled through.



Might be compensating for something with the centre rod... Better cut it down



Malt pipe with hoist rings and wingnut attached. You can see there is virtually no clearance between the veggie tray and walls of the urn but given that my camlock fittings will need to be slightly to the side I think this should help to keep the malt pipe vertical and sealed. If it becomes an issue, I will cut it down to the side of the malt pipe but I'm trying to avoid buying an angle grinder if at all possible!


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## Bribie G

Looks impressive. When I did an experiment with my old Birko and a "malt pipe" made out of a Bunnings Handi Pail with a perforated bottom overlaid by a fabric filter it worked quite well but I found that there was an unacceptable amount of wort trapped in the soggy spent grain, as opposed to a normal BIAB bag. There was little or no way of getting at it other than a sparge with a jug - have you made arrangements for a sparge, as with a BM?


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## xredwood

Hmmm hadn't got quite that far. Will be an issue with this set up given that it has a very small area to drain out of. Off the top of my head I will have a stand that will hold the malt pipe above the urn to drain and I can rinse/sparge that way. Other option might be something that can be used to squeeze the grain (although I'm not sure what effect this will have on tannins?). If I can get my hoist working I may even be able to get away without the stand and just keep it suspended.


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## NealK

Great work mate, I have a Birko and have been thinking of doing a BM clone with it but haven't got past the dreaming stage. I look forward to seeing how yours comes along.


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## xredwood

I'm after some opinions. I'm concerned that the cam lock without arms system that has to be offset from the centre of the urn because of the element won't provide enough support for the malt pipe. Also I want to be able to attach a whirlpool fitting to the same fitting as the malt pipe to use the same pump outlet after the malt pipe has been removed. I wouldn't think the weight of a cam lock with a compression fitting and relatively short length of copper pipe would be sufficient to seal, even if the malt pipe is heavy enough.

If I use elbows to get the pump outlet in the centre of the malt pipe and use two rods to support and clamp down the filter plates (instead of a threaded centre rod like the Braumeister) and then simply screw the malt pipe in using the skin fitting to the pump outlet/main vessel while recirculating, I can then remove the malt pipe, and attach a whirlpool fitting by threading it in (this will be a pipe from the outlet then curved at the top towards the edge to set up a whirlpool). This would be done towards the end of the boil to sanitize then used during cooling with an immerison cooler to speed the cooling process then to whirlpool to allow trub to move to the centre before siphoning to the fermenter.

Can anyone see why this will or won't work? It is very hard to describe in words what I am thinking so I have attached a diagram of what I am now thinking of doing and would appreciate any feedback.


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## xredwood

Ok progress time! It's actually mainly done, I just did my first water test and it was leak free first time!

I have designed and redesigned and rethought everything countless times but I ended up going back to basically my original plan. It is a 20L malt pipe with a male camlock fitting mounted to a skin fitting on the bottom that mates with a female cam lock attached through the base of the Birko urn then into a LBP. The drain from the urn is another skin fitting. All fittings are stainless. Here are some pictures!

I just had to throw this one in. The tools available to me were pretty lacking. I used a hacksaw for every cut and without a vice it took forever! Getting through this skin fitting was probably 90 min+



Here is the inside view without the malt pipe so you can see the female cam lock. I have not decided if I'm going to bother taking the "arms" off it yet, I don't really see the need to and this way I can reuse it if I end up changing the design.



Here you can see the view underneath the urn. This is a close up of the pump inlet which is a skin fitting to elbow to barb fitting which then goes to the LBP with another barb fitting. I was going to hard plumb everything but with the small space under the urn it got too difficult. This makes it very easy to remove the pump as well. The pump outlet (to the malt pipe) is just threaded into a coupling which goes from pump to camlock fitting.



This is how the draining will work. It sits nicely on the edge and doesn't take too long to drain, should allow me to start heating for the boil while I drain or even sparge. I will use some kind of pulley system when I figure out how I want to do that.


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## xredwood

Here is a view from under the urn. The only thing I have done so far is add the pump and wire it up. I will drill a hole through the side of the base so it doesn't have wires hanging out the bottom but this worked well for testing purposes. I am also going to rewire the urn to bypass the thermostat when i get my BCS460 but for now it stays as is with an STC1000 used to control temperature.



I took a few videos of the water test which are linked below:

Water test without malt pipe


Water test with malt pipe no filter plates


Water test with filter plates


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## Edak

Looking good.

Edit: you have already considered my concerns. I removed what I posted.


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## ridge runner

Been looking @ doing SIM I to have urn and makes sense to use it with malt pipe. Keen for up dates.


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## xredwood

It's alive! First brew day today. Was also my first day all grain brewing and my first day no chilling. Surprisingly most things went quite well. My mash efficiency was actually slightly higher than expected and my total efficiency came out at 72.2% which I'm happy enough with. 

I did have a couple issues along the way. The worst one was when I was removing the malt pipe, it lifted up the edge of the top plate and filter and a handful of grain escaped into the urn. Ruined my nice clear wort! I have a couple of ideas to fix this up for next time but thought I'd post what I have so far. 

Next I will be adding Matho's controller/Brauduino to control it all. In the video if you see me reaching back behind the urn to plug something in, that's just the pump which worked like a champ. Not too shabby for a $30 LBP! You may also catch a glimpse of Rowdy the brew dog (thinking I'm going to have to name my machine the Browdy or Braudy).

Unfortunately the GoPro gave out towards the end of the mash but you get the important bits anyway.

http://youtu.be/s1E8XqTmApQ


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## lael

Nice work! Looks awesome!


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## ridge runner

Sorry did you cut the bottom of malt pipe, And add a false bottom? I have a crown 40lt with covered element so not sure how I could work a pump in without drilling hole in urn?


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## xredwood

No cutting for me. The base of the malt pipe has a male cam lock fitting and the base of the urn has a female cam lock fitting. The pump is in the space underneath the urn, there's not much in there so leaves plenty of room for a little brown pump or even a march pump. 

The malt pipe has a false bottom just to keep the grain out of the pump and to act as a bit of a dispersion screen.


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## NealK

I have got most of the parts to start my build but the Big W pot does not have very much clearance around the outside. What dimensions are the pot you have used?, where did you get from? and roughly what price was it? 
What was your mash efficiency? (after listening to the podcast I am now aware that total efficiency seems to be calculated in different ways by different people!)
Thanks for the inspiration mate,and thanks for sharing, your build has really simplified the process for me.
I will document my build and post it here too and hopefully I can do the same for somebody else.
Cheers
Neal


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## xredwood

Hey NealK,

My mash efficiency was 81% according to Beersmith.

I used this pot:
http://raysoutdoors.com.au/Product/Campfire-Stock-Pot-20L/291883

It's 30cm wide but I don't have a tape measure handy for the height unfortunately. You might be able to find it with a bit of googling. I went for the Birko rather than Crown urn for a bit of extra clearance (Birko is wider).

Keep us posted and feel free to ask as many questions as you want and I can also provide pictures/videos of anything.

Cheers


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## NealK

I have an old 3kw Birko. I can easily fit the camlock in the centre but that means I wont be using a rod to secure the top filters. I have just found the pot online and will have to go to rays and have a proper look. Do you think instead of cutting the handles off they could be bent to point upwards? I am thinking that if I could bend them to be parallel I could use them to attach some kind of crosspiece to hold the filters and also use them for hoisting.
Have you fitted your temp probe yet? I got a 100mm thermowell from KK but it is way too long for what I need. I am going to try to find a 40mm one from somewhere. I was thinking of placing it beside the pump inlet, any thoughts on that position?
Cheers
Neal


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## xredwood

Hi Neal,

It's funny reading these posts and going back to the exact same questions I had. As far as the bending the handles go, you could attempt it but it didn't work for me. I tried everything I could think of and resorted to a hammer, but with the walls of the pot being so thin compared to the giant handles, it ends up bending the pot and doing very little to the handles. 

As far as the cam lock, if you look at mine it's actually off to the side which works perfectly well and also allows a centre rod so that's an option. Having it in the centre would undoubtedly make it easier to get the malt pipe fitting into the urn fitting which is a bit of a weakness of my design, but that can be fixed with a couple extra bolts at the bottom to stop it tilting.

If you want the cam lock in the centre, another idea I looked at was having two rods. Because these are attached to the malt pipe and not the urn, they won't get in the way of whirlpooling or anything for boiling. The issue with that is then you need to either plug up the centre hole of the false bottom and add some larger holes for the rods, or use something else. The two rods could then go up to a piece of stainless flat or round bar with eye nuts on top like in my design which function as lifting points for the malt pipe, that way you are lifting the pot from the base rather than from the top bar which may bend it and in my case it allowed a small amount of grain to escape out the side while hoisting out the malt pipe and ruined clear wort!

I have a thermowell in there at the moment, 70mm from Cheeky Peak because I initially used the STC 1000, but I will be installing a probe for Matho's Controller soon. Having it next to the pump would be fine, but maybe also consider mounting it horizontally through the side of the urn. If you mount it vertically through the base you could run into issues with keeping it covered with enough wort to get a good reading and you are also introducing another hole which has the potential to leak directly over all the electronics in the base of your urn. The advantage to using the malt pipe with cam lock fittings is it raises the malt pipe up off the base of the urn which will allow your longer probe to fit between the two and will work with the low volumes you may get in the urn when you're mashing.

Cheers,

Xander


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## ridge runner

Cheers boys for updates watching your every word. Will start on mine in the next month or two.


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## changchuyo

Looks awesone, congratulations!!! Cheers


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## xredwood

Another update. I now have added one of Matho's controllers (thanks Matho and Lael) and upgraded to ArdBir with a 20x4 lcd (thanks MaxN68).

If anyone is considering it, I highly recommend ArdBir and the 20x4 screen, makes it much easier to navigate the menus and looks great.


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## NealK

Mine is almost ready for a test run! I will post some pics this weekend.


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## xredwood

What design did you go for Neal?


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## NealK

As promised here are some pics of the build so far.
Firstly I stripped out all the old Birko electrics because they were stuffed. I have most of the bits to make Mathos controller but until that is built I will be using an stc1000 with the probe dropped into the urn. I have fitted the probe for the new controller but I am not using it yet.
I have used eye bolts to clamp down the top filters (ikea splash guard + veggie tray) These are capped with eye nuts and these will be used for hoisting out the malt pipe.
Hopefully I will be able take a quick video of my brew this afternoon. 
Any questions or comments are very welcome!
Cheers
Neal


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## xredwood

Nice! I like it. I can see my design in it so of course I like it. I like your mounts on the side better than my centre rod though! My biggest issue is getting the malt pipe in to the main kettle when it's full of water, especially since mine is not centered, still working out a solution to that.

If you need any help when it comes time for the controller let me know. I strongly suggest a 20x4 lcd and ArdBir as well. Congrats!


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## xredwood

How are you keeping the eye bolts vertical?


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## NealK

They are held very tightly by nylon lock nuts, then another nut as a spacer, then through the pot, then another nut, then a dome nut to finish it off. I did go a wee bit nuts (pardon the pun) with my nuts!


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## xredwood

That was the only thing stopping me from doing the exact same thing! Just tried my first beer I made from my machine which was also my first all grain. Dr Smurto's Golden Ale. Bloody delicious. Next up and first using the controller is Little Fellas!


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## NealK

Dr Smurto's is a really good first time all grain. I did it on a stove top a couple of years ago and it was bloody good. I am doing my own vienna lager recipe as a trial run. I did get quite a bit of grain coming out of the malt pipe but I managed to scoop it out. I will have to look at another way of putting together the filter and veggie tray. I think I might try a different splatter guard and see if it makes a difference. I think a slightly smaller one that fits inside the pot may be worth a try.


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## xredwood

I had considered cutting the centre out of the splatter guard and using stainless wire to attach it to the veggie tray. I had the same issue with grain spilling out although it only happened as I was trying to remove the malt pipe.


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## NealK

Problem solved!
I used some silicone pipe to make a gasket around the splatter guard and nothing got out.
I also put a $2 splatter guard under the false bottom because a lot of bits of grain came out when the malt pipe was draining on my first brew. This worked very well too but got clogged and the pot would not drain, I used a piece of 22mm id pipe and put it up to the camlock and blew down it to clear the blockage and that worked to empty most of the pot but got clogged again before completely draining. 
So, one problem solved but another one still to be resolved. I did end up with more wort at a higher gravity than predicted and it looks clearer than anything I have made before so I am pretty happy!


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## lael

What pump is that black one?


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## Judanero

Can I ask where you got the veggie tray? And how much it was roughly?


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## boybrewer

lael said:


> What pump is that black one?


It's a solar pump runs off 12V . Go to E-Bay or Gryphon Brewing no affilliation . The most popular are the brown pumps or LBP's .


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## NealK

The pump is this one:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12-Volt-Hot-Water-Pump-12v-15w-PV-Solar-Battery-or-Solar-Panel-100-145ps-/121172004903?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item1c366a1027&_uhb=1
I don't have much pump experience. I broke my lbp fairly quickly (it snapped while I was trying to seal a leak!) This pump feels a little sturdier but it sounds like a very quiet engine revving, it is not running full throttle all the time. I do like it though, it is strong enough to do the job and didn't choke on the bits of grain that escaped on the first brew. 

The veggie tray is from Whitworths Marine & Leisure on Elizabeth St in Melbourne. I saw that other people used this and thought that it just looks like a stainless pizza tray and it costs $39! I bought one and don't regret it. This thing is pretty solid. It will bend with the pressure but that can be fixed by putting a gasket around the splatter guard. Anything thinner than this would be very difficult to hold down on my system


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## lael

That's cool. How does it compare to the lbp?


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## NealK

It seems a little stronger and didn't have any trouble with bits of grain passing through. I like the way it works and it doesn't have any problems with 5.3kg of grain in my malt pipe. I only used my lbp a couple of times before I killed it so It is not really a fair comparison.


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## xredwood

I have always used another splatter guard under the false bottom which also clogged last time. I was considering just putting three bolts around the cam lock fitting to raise the splatter guard up off the bottom of the pot to see if that helps. When it clogged during my last brew I just shoved a piece of allthread up through the skin fitting and it drained fine.


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## shaodw

Neal what kind of element are you using since you stripped out the old birko one. I am looking into turning my keggle into a brau clone but want an element like yours to enter through bottom but stay flat to allow malt pipe whilst containing all cables underneath.


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## NealK

It is the original Birko 3kw element. It was the switch that fried when I had a leak. I took all the switches etc out and wired up the element to Matho's controller.
If I was building from scratch I think I would use one of the bendable elements like the Speidel Braumeister, there are other threads with lots of discussion on these elements and they look pretty impressive to me. I am pretty sure the first braumiser was this kind of element.
Good luck with the build and if you haven't got a controller yet it sound's like Lael is setting up a new batch with a pre constructed pcb and pre-cut box for $145. I have no motive to recommending this other than I bought one of his kits.... and now I have an automatic brewery!


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## xredwood

Hi Neal, any progress on the grain issues? I had grain both spilling out the side and through the camlock yesterday, very frustrating! I'm concerned the splatter guard will just clog again so wondering if you have thought of anything. 

Does the silicon hose seal well enough to the splatter guard? Does your splatter guard just sit on top like mine or have you cut it out?


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## NealK

I now wrap the false bottom in my original BIAB bag that I used with the bigw pot and it works perfectly at stopping the grain from getting out the bottom hole :unsure: .
I still get some grain coming out the top seal though.
I have done 5 brews and to be honest, I (and others) have not noticed any off flavours in the brews.
My next plan is to smash the lid and use the metal rim, cut down the splatter guard, insert it where the glass was and keep it in place with some food grade silicone. this will obviously be a perfect fit for the pot and hopefully keep the grains inside.
Please let me know if you find a better fix.
Happy brewing!


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## xredwood

My only concern for that would be managing to keep the mesh in the lid solidly enough that the grain doesn't just pull it back out of the lid frame. 

I'm in two minds at the moment. Either go to a brew easy type set up or BIAB in the malt pipe so there is no chance of grain escaping, but in order for that to work it would have to be completely contained in the bag. 

I suppose another way would be to cut out another splatter guard and attach it to the veggie tray using stainless steel wire. That way you are only needing to seal the veggie tray to the pot. I would think this combined with a silicone hose seal might be a winner?

I was trying to avoid using Swiss voile and keep it all stainless but I think the mesh is just too fine. Maybe the simplest is Swiss voile with draw string around the veggie tray and same thing around the false bottom? I also don't think I've had any off flavours from the grain escaping but I'd still like to solve the problem!


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## xredwood

Any progress NealK? My latest thought was just to use a BIAB bag to completely contain the grain within the malt pipe and either use the same stainless filter on top with the bag open or try to cinch the top as tight as possible and just have it between the false bottom and veggie tray on top. Any thoughts?


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## NealK

I have fitted the splatter guard to the lid rim but I still think I will need some kind of brace across the top to reduce the warping of the veggie tray. I will probably try and put something together and test it this weekend.


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## Blind Dog

Genius the lot of you. Would love to gave half of your ability, patience and persistence


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## xredwood

It's really not as hard as it probably looks Blind Dog! I have no expertise or experience with anything mechanical, electrical or brewing. I just looked at how other people did it, tried it myself with a few tweaks that I thought might make it easier for me, and ended up with this. To put it together probably took a couple of hours for the vessel and then a couple more for the controller.

I had never soldered a single thing before I put the controller together, just watched a quick YouTube video then gave it a crack. If you're considering doing something similar, I highly recommend it. Gives you plenty of little hurdles along the way, but at the end something you made is making beer that you get to drink!


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## MastersBrewery

Blind dog,
there are a few of us in sydney who have built or are building similar clones. Your more than welcome to drop by and have a look at mine have a brew day, thats what I did, went to Laels watched his system running, copied all the good bits . Also having done it Lael and I can point you to local sources. The other thing lael is Looking at is a complete kit of all parts to build from scratch.(not sure if this will go ahead but asking won't hurt either)

MB


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## xredwood

I've had another thought that I'd like some opinions on. What if I cut the mesh out of the splatter guard, sandwiched it between two veggie trays, bolted the lot together then used a silicone hose to create a seal between the malt pipe and the veggie trays then clamped the lot down with the stainless bar and wing nut? Seems like it wouldn't give much chance of the grain getting out I hope? 

I'm also going to cover the inlet at the bottom in stainless mesh as a last chance to stop grain leaking out the bottom during draining.

Can anyone see why this might be a good or bad idea?


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## NealK

I don't see the need to cut the mesh out of the splatter guard, I think it should fit between 2 veggie trays without cutting it up? I am going to try making a a cross this weekend and will report back on the effectiveness. 
As for the bottom, wrapping the false bottom in swiss voile has totally fixed that issue for me and it also makes it all much easier to clean.
The extra expense of a veggie tray can be easily justified as they have lots of uses and don't need to be modified so I am very interested to see if 2 veggie trays will stop the warping.

I am not really stressing too much about the grain escaping as I (and others) have not noticed any off flavours. It is an issue that I would like to resolved but if you could taste the German pilsner that I am drinking right now I don't think you would be disappointed!


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## NealK

Okay, here is what I have put together this morning for less than $5











Some aluminium channel cut and slotted to make a cross. This feels really sturdy!
I will give it a test run tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

Link for part

http://www.bunnings.com.au/metalmate-rcr-12-x-12-x-1-5mm-1m-aluminium-channel_p1079307

If it works well I may think of sourcing some stainless but for testing purposes aluminium is easier to work with and cheaper.


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## Edak

How did you go? Lael and I use stainless cross bars and they still bend so I would have thought that aluminium channel would also bend.


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## NealK

Did a brew today and not a single bit a grain escaped from the malt pipe. 
I think the combination of the cross piece on top of the veggie tray and the splatter guard fitted to the pot lid rim is a winner.
I smashed the pot lid last week and cut the splatter guard as close to the edge as possible, then I used food grade silicone to stick the mesh in to the lid rim where the glass used to be. It is not pretty but seems to work very well.
I know cutting the splatter guard for this purpose is definitely worth it, cutting it to sandwich between two veggie trays I still think would be unnecessary as the rim will help with rigidity (a little) in that set up.
I used Selleys 401 silicone to stick the mesh in to the pot lid rim. It is definitely food safe and can be used as adhesive and or sealant. It comes in the big cartridge type tube and I used shit loads of above and below the mesh. It is seriously feckin' ugly but as I said very effective.
The cross pieces did seem to stop the warping and they functioned as I expected them to but I think the fact the mesh in the pot lid rim would need to bend by at least 5mm before anything could escape was the real fix. 
Both of these upgrades have worked exceptionally well together and I would recommend them even though this is all based on 1 brew.
Where do live xredwood?I am in the western suburbs of Melbourne. If you want to come and have a look you are more than welcome mate.


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## xredwood

I'm in cairns so that's a no go I'm afraid! I'll have to make a bag for the false bottom since I don't have one never having done the whole BIAB thing. Does your bag completely enclose the false bottom or just underneath? The lid for my malt pipe is metal and I don't have an angle grinder so that won't work for me. There isn't enough give in the rim of the splatter guard so I think I will cut out and sandwich. I fit the silicone hose to use as a seal between the veggie tray and malt pipe so just have to wait to get into the shop for the veggie tray, order some grain and see what happens. In the mean time I'll keep drinking my delicious pale ale and golden ale!


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## NealK

I put the false bottom inside an old BIAB bag, but if I was to look for a replacement, I would just wrap the false bottom (over the top and tuck it underneath) in a square metre of swiss voile. It filters well and the false bottom only needs a rinse after each brew.
I also reloaded the software for the controller and it now works perfectly.
Today was the most breezy brew day I have had. Everything worked worked as it should and clean up was quick and easy.
Happy days!


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## xredwood

I've made a few changes to the Browdy since I first posted the photos based on lessons learned over the last few brews so thought I would post some new ones.

I had an issue with grain getting past the false bottom and going through the drain so I tore apart a small stainless steel strainer and covered the skin fitting as a last line of defense.



These bolts on the side are to keep the malt pipe upright and to make it easier to fit the malt pipe into the pump outlet in the urn. It's still fairly difficult at times when the urn is already full. What I do now is add all the water so I can still use the calibrated sight glass on the urn, then before the water gets scalding hot I add the malt pipe and start recirculating. When it comes time to add the grain the water drains out fairly quickly, otherwise I just get a glass jug to empty out a couple liters.



This is the latest change. I bought a second vege tray to sandwich the stainless mesh which I cut out of a splatter guard in the middle. I hold the whole thing together with some stainless bolts and wing nuts to allow easier cleaning. Still haven't tried it out, fingers crossed! The added benefit will be added rigidity.



Here is the new filter assembly, you can just see the mesh in this photo.



And here it is complete.



I also had issues with wort escaping out of the side under the top plate and a small amount of grain escaping as well so I added a rim of silicone hose to provide a better seal.


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## xredwood

Due to the wider rim on top of the malt pipe now, I have changed the plan slightly and am going to start putting the filter assembly on top upside down. In order to prevent blocking up any of the holes, I have put bolts on my stainless bar and I use a nut and washer to space out the attachment on the centre rod as shown here.



And finally here is the whole thing installed in the urn. First brew on the revised system will hopefully be in about a week. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be anywhere in Cairns that sells grain so I'll have to spend another $25 on shipping!


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## Blind Dog

MastersBrewery said:


> Blind dog,
> there are a few of us in sydney who have built or are building similar clones. Your more than welcome to drop by and have a look at mine have a brew day, thats what I did, went to Laels watched his system running, copied all the good bits . Also having done it Lael and I can point you to local sources. The other thing lael is Looking at is a complete kit of all parts to build from scratch.(not sure if this will go ahead but asking won't hurt either)
> 
> MB


MB

Just read your post, not sure why I missed it. Thanks for the offer. I was following a bunch of threads here and elsewhere for quite a time, but decided just to suck it up and get a 20L BM at the end of last year. Still love to see other peoples ingenuity though, so would love to see your system or others in operation one day. Maybe a mega Sydney BM/BM clone brew day?


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## MastersBrewery

Blind Dog said:


> MB
> 
> Just read your post, not sure why I missed it. Thanks for the offer. I was following a bunch of threads here and elsewhere for quite a time, but decided just to suck it up and get a 20L BM at the end of last year. Still love to see other peoples ingenuity though, so would love to see your system or others in operation one day. Maybe a mega Sydney BM/BM clone brew day?


hmmm a mega moster brau day, ummm I think Lael's and mine each draw 4800w we're going to need a place with lots of power circuits!! But I'd say it would be awesome!


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## angus_grant

Nice work on the double veggie tray setup. I've just noticed this last brew that my veggie tray is starting to warp a little from clamping the malt pipe down. And I'm getting wort escaping out the side of the splatter guard I'm using.

So 2 nice solutions (hopefully) that I am going to use as well.

I might try the silicon tube to seal the top of the pipe first as this may solve my wort escaping out the side problem.

Well done.


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## angus_grant

So have you done a brew with the double veggie tray setup?

I'll be duplicating the setup in 3 weeks. Going camping this Saturday morning and coming back Saturday afternoon so no time for a trip to Whitworths to grab another tray for 3 Saturdays (no time for brewing either so no big loss I guess). I also want to look at pulleys and such while I am there for pulling the malt pipe out.


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## xredwood

Hopefully brewing tomorrow, will let you know


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## xredwood

Finally got a free day to brew. The new lid and seal was a huge success! That combined with the mesh over the pump outlet meant not a single bit of grain escaped my malt pipe.

In fact the only issue I had in the brew today was the malt pipe somehow locked into the cam lock in the urn and I couldn't get it out. After lots of swearing, smashing around, splashing wort over the sides and huge frustration, I got it out. I think it's time to take the arms off the cam lock because I nearly lost the whole batch.


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## angus_grant

Nice. Consider your idea stolen...


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## xredwood

The only thing I would do if I had the right tools is cut out the middle of the bottom vege tray so that it's just the rim with the mesh sandwiched between the two trays and leave the top tray as is. Grain gets wedged between the bottom tray and mesh which makes clean up a pain without taking it apart.


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## Edak

If you do get a couple of husks stuck between the mesh screens is that a big problem? I mean if you only have about 5 husks in there would it make a difference to anything? Disassemble and clean it once every 5 to 10 brews I say


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## xredwood

It's more like 200 than 2 but I don't think it's s big issue. It's not too hard to dismantle with the wing nuts


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## angus_grant

I only brew once every few weeks so the extra 5 minutes it will take me to dismantle the two plates is no big deal to me.
Will hopefully be off to Whitworths this Saturday to grab an extra veggie plate and some stainless screws.
And perhaps some thingamebobs and dohickeys to build something to lift the malt pipe. My current "armstrong" method is not the safest.


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## angus_grant

Well, I built mine and have put 2 batches through it. A winner!! Nice idea xredwood

Only used the extra seal on my last batch as I was forcing the issue with 6.3kgs grain in my system. A bad decision: wort fountains, popped my bottom seal three times, stuck recirculation, etc, etc...

Will stick to my max grain 5.75kgs.


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