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44gal SS Drums

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Lads , call John isles transport
He will give you a reasonable price for transportation
I might do that once I talk to Jesse.

Happy for the lids to stay on and pick up from wherever.
 
isn't the mash system 1/2"?

a reasonable length of 1/2" tube will create head (resistance), the enemy of Aussie brewers. Why Aussie brewers you ask. it all has to do with electricity frequency. The USA use 60Hz, here we use 50Hz, 20% less, this in effect means 20% less RMP. I know the pumps you currently have but this also applies to Chugger and March.
The most common pumps we use(home brewing in Australia) are probably good to about 80L (mash and I'm being generous). Simply, if your recircing a 150L mash @8LPM it's going to take a long time to recirculate the entire tun once; to hit a set temp your probably looking at having to recirc' twice.

Head (resistance) affects flow, now your pump is going to be at least 1m from the where it is returned, what ever that measurement is, is meters of head. The hose or tube creates further resistance, the longer and smaller (tube/ hose diameter)it is the more resistance. I'd love to quote dead set figures for you but this all goes back to my days doing reticulation and watering systems and we had side charts.

Moad in Newcastle set up a big herms and had these issues(really long ramp times); eventually he got a March AC5SSB (rated to something like 60LPM open flow and not cheap), I believe with the March 815SS C (rated to 30LPM open flow) he was get 7LPM with the 815 through his system.

When I set up this kettle, my mash will probably be around 150L and I'll be using 3/4 hoses and fittings (yep PITA) and either one 5/8" herms coil or 2 parallel 1/2" coils to alleviate any bottle necks also I'll go the new 65w KK pumps (SS head soon to be release and an open flow rate of 52LPM) down side is 3/4" threads.

You have my number.

MJ
 
You could put 2 pumps in series for extra grunt, or 2 in parallel for extra flow
 
a reasonable length of 1/2" tube will create head (resistance), the enemy of Aussie brewers. Why Aussie brewers you ask. it all has to do with electricity frequency. The USA use 60Hz, here we use 50Hz, 20% less, this in effect means 20% less RMP. I know the pumps you currently have but this also applies to Chugger and March.
The most common pumps we use(home brewing in Australia) are probably good to about 80L (mash and I'm being generous). Simply, if your recircing a 150L mash @8LPM it's going to take a long time to recirculate the entire tun once; to hit a set temp your probably looking at having to recirc' twice.

Head (resistance) affects flow, now your pump is going to be at least 1m from the where it is returned, what ever that measurement is, is meters of head. The hose or tube creates further resistance, the longer and smaller (tube/ hose diameter)it is the more resistance. I'd love to quote dead set figures for you but this all goes back to my days doing reticulation and watering systems and we had side charts.

Moad in Newcastle set up a big herms and had these issues(really long ramp times); eventually he got a March AC5SSB (rated to something like 60LPM open flow and not cheap), I believe with the March 815SS C (rated to 30LPM open flow) he was get 7LPM with the 815 through his system.

When I set up this kettle, my mash will probably be around 150L and I'll be using 3/4 hoses and fittings (yep PITA) and either one 5/8" herms coil or 2 parallel 1/2" coils to alleviate any bottle necks also I'll go the new 65w KK pumps (SS head soon to be release and an open flow rate of 52LPM) down side is 3/4" threads.

You have my number.

MJ

I grabbed one of those 65W pumps and am incorporating it into my new build but haven't fired it up yet. Dunno if you've seen one in the flesh but despite being 3/4" BSP threads the bore size on the intake and outlet is the same(or bloody close anyway) as a 1/2" fitting. I grabbed these SS adapters to reduce them down to 1/2" BSP to use more easily available fittings, two delivered for $11 - much cheaper than the few local suppliers who carry such a beast:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/304...4-BSP-Female-to-1-2-BSP-Male/32721864937.html

What have you heard about SS heads coming for these? I asked KK a couple of months ago when I bought the pump and they said there were no plans at the time to bring out an SS head - too busy with Fermentasaurus-related stuff from memory.
 
I grabbed one of those 65W pumps and am incorporating it into my new build but haven't fired it up yet. Dunno if you've seen one in the flesh but despite being 3/4" BSP threads the bore size on the intake and outlet is the same(or bloody close anyway) as a 1/2" fitting. I grabbed these SS adapters to reduce them down to 1/2" BSP to use more easily available fittings, two delivered for $11 - much cheaper than the few local suppliers who carry such a beast:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/304...4-BSP-Female-to-1-2-BSP-Male/32721864937.html

What have you heard about SS heads coming for these? I asked KK a couple of months ago when I bought the pump and they said there were no plans at the time to bring out an SS head - too busy with Fermentasaurus-related stuff from memory.
I spoke with Kee about a month back he said due to interest for the SS head they were going to be producing them and they would likely be available late this/ early next year. Give him a call see if you can tie him down to a release date.
 
I spoke with Kee about a month back he said due to interest for the SS head they were going to be producing them and they would likely be available late this/ early next year. Give him a call see if you can tie him down to a release date.

Great news - was scary as **** screwing those adapters onto the plastic head, was sure I was gonna either break something off if I went too hard or wind up leaking everywhere if I was too gentle. Felt like a real step backwards from the little pump with SS head.
 
I've got quite a few 3/4" BSP camlock, 3/4" hose barb and tri-clamp fittings left-over from my build if you need some high-flow stuff for a reasonable price.
 
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are you fellas just using silicone pipe to move the mash between vessels? also, what are you using for a false bottom?
I'll be using a large (150-200L) technni ice cooler as mash with a manifold, the 44 will be HLT; need to save some pennies for the kettle, burners and pumps. Lets call it a longer term plan.:bigcheers:
 
I personally think at this level of brewing we'll do better to contemplate a heated mashtun with a stirrer. Don't circulate the wort. Circulate the hot water from the HLT around the mashtun and stir the mash. Probably still need a honkin' pump though.
 
I personally think at this level of brewing we'll do better to contemplate a heated mashtun with a stirrer. Don't circulate the wort. Circulate the hot water from the HLT around the mash tun and stir the mash. Probably still need a honkin' pump though.
A BFC in the BFT? with a stirrer. ... Be alright for round Tuns but I think in a square one you'd have uneven heat spread.

you just want me to get a perty 170L SS mash Tun.... and end up divorced and on the street begging for a sip of XXXX!

hmmm the risk vs reward ....
 
Last time I looked the new 65w KK pump has about the same specs as a march 815 PL-C. Ebay has some much bigger mag drive pumps that would be better if more pressure and flow is required.
The mash tun discussion is timely. I'm currently building a big mash tun. Options I threw around were:

1 - Round stainless tun with a 50mm or so thick water jacket. Install 2 x 2400W elec heaters in the water jacket and recirc the heated water. Mainly to hold temps, don't think it would ramp all that fast without recircing the wort

2 - Round stainless tun no jacket with a rectangular manway for spent grain removal, this makes it less conjusive to water recirc in a jacket so instead use a 1kw heat belt wrapped around the single skin mash tun to maintain temp only

Option 1 would have been more fun but spent grain removal took priority as I don't want to be tipping tuns. Every micro I have seen does single infusion mash with a 78-80 degC sparge. I'm going to go this path and see how it goes, if no good will add a herms recirc where I don't think flow is as much the issue as having enough power to put in. Get a big enough temp rise then low flow is ok as I want to prevent a stuck mash. I will be doing gravity sparge/lauter and no HERMS initially which is inline with the micros I have seen so there must be some merit in it, suspect we could do this for the case swaps also, the 2400W we use does bugger all ramping at that volume so just mash and do a hot sparge for mash out.
 
Last time I looked the new 65w KK pump has about the same specs as a march 815 PL-C. Ebay has some much bigger mag drive pumps that would be better if more pressure and flow is required.
The mash tun discussion is timely. I'm currently building a big mash tun. Options I threw around were:

1 - Round stainless tun with a 50mm or so thick water jacket. Install 2 x 2400W elec heaters in the water jacket and recirc the heated water. Mainly to hold temps, don't think it would ramp all that fast without recircing the wort

2 - Round stainless tun no jacket with a rectangular manway for spent grain removal, this makes it less conjusive to water recirc in a jacket so instead use a 1kw heat belt wrapped around the single skin mash tun to maintain temp only

Option 1 would have been more fun but spent grain removal took priority as I don't want to be tipping tuns. Every micro I have seen does single infusion mash with a 78-80 degC sparge. I'm going to go this path and see how it goes, if no good will add a herms recirc where I don't think flow is as much the issue as having enough power to put in. Get a big enough temp rise then low flow is ok as I want to prevent a stuck mash. I will be doing gravity sparge/lauter and no HERMS initially which is inline with the micros I have seen so there must be some merit in it, suspect we could do this for the case swaps also, the 2400W we use does bugger all ramping at that volume so just mash and do a hot sparge for mash out.
I think the set up at cocko's with the 2 HLT's above the tuns was and will be the best set up we can run for that system. The issue is mash temps and steps and how to achieve that without a huge electricity draw. At home here I have 20amps total to play with so with 140-160 batch size the only option is gas, if I make any great leaps forward I'll let you know.
 
I have found a solenoid control valve suitable for LPG. Could be used in a gas herms with a big burner. Use the control valve to regulate gas pressure to a temp setpoint on a PID control. Or use 2 or 3 on/off gas valves to apply different set pressures to respond to output temps. Easy as and fun but time and $ required.
IMHO we don't need to recirc at all except for the end just to set the bed but this could be gravity into a bucket for a set volume until wort runs clear.
 

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