Another '1st AG' Thread...

[HardEight]

So it looks like today was a busy day for 'AG virgins' as another couple of people have already posted their fun of the first day all grain brewing...

Having looked at a lot of pics of people's rigs and read a shitload of stuff about AG on this forum (and brewing in general, thanks everyone!)
Here is my story..

So I started brewing K&K's in January this year... realised there was a heap more to brewing and progressed to partials then stovetop AG and then building an AG rig (It took a few months...)

Here is the result of planning, sorting out what I wanted to use (gas, HERMS), could afford (keggles+esky, kaixin pumps).. would work.. etc

So I went with a Dual Immersion Coil system... 9m of 1/2" copper tube in both the HLT and the BC... HLT for HERMS... BC for slight cooling pre-chiller (30 plate). After I bought the 55L esky I read about RIMS and HERMS systems so I have kept the esky anyway and incorporated the HERMS system with that.. I went with copper manifolds for the esky, slotted for suction and drilled for the top (sits on the grain bed).

So anyway today... 1st brew day... I went with "Operation Mongoose Brown Ale" ... It seemed simple enough...
But I had some issues:

My MLT outlet probe was reading 66 (PID was controlling to that temp)... but i had another probe reading the outlet of the HERMS.. and it was reading 2 degrees higher 68... (when by-passing the HERMS coil)... I stuck an analogue temp gauge in the mash and it showed 67deg.. So I didn't adjust anything, thinking 66, 67, close enough, should I have adjusted the HERMS PID SP a degree lower? What about the next brew I do, is a degree going to make a huge difference?

Anyway, I lifted the mash temp to 75 and mashed out, realising as I was filling the Boil Kettle I didn't fit a pickup tube... too late now!
Got to boil pretty quickly (Italian Spiral burner with HP reg).. boilover... kill the heat... relight the burner... make a facebook post about boilover... boilover again while writing said post... kill heat.. relight... get to rolling boil finally... Easy!.. lol

I took a pre-boil sample but dropped my damm hydrometer (again, 3rd in 8 months).. and a sample post-boil.. so can't tell yet what my efficiency is/was... will get another one tomorrow. I started with 20L strike water, 18L sparge (1-2L loss in MLT from manifold) taking the boilovers into account I ended up with 23L into the fermenter (trub and all: i'll filter it after ferment), add a 1.5L starter... 25L! Spot on to the recipe!


Did I mess up anything (else)?

 

[Hippy]

Very nice looking rig mate. If a one degree variation in your mash temp reading is the biggest problem you had on your maiden brew then I'd say it works as good as it looks(assuming you hit your target OG). I'd be more worried about that shiny new rig rolling down that steep driveway

 

[HardEight]

Another thing... PBW says "Do Not use on Teflon"... does that mean all my teflon tape on all the fittings is going to get eaten?

 

[manticle]

Great looking rig mate. Well done on putting it together

 

[Diesel80]

Farkin'ell Eight, the mars rover has less electrickery in it.

Not a bad bit of kit to start learning AG.

Way to go.

Cheers,
D80

 

[adryargument]

Another thing... PBW says "Do Not use on Teflon"... does that mean all my teflon tape on all the fittings is going to get eaten?

I'm assuming it means Teflon coated pans.
I use pbw... All my fittings are not leaking...

Lovely looking rig.

 

[Truman42]

Anyone else not able to see the images?

 

[MCHammo]

That is a fantastic looking rig there! :icon_drool2:

Dropped my hydro yesterday, too... *a moments silence for our fallen comrades*

 

[AJ80]

Very impressive rig mate. Makes my 3 tier gravity fed brew stand look like something from the 18th century...

 

[Yob]

His car seems to imply it's all CGI though.. now I dont know who to believe

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

Looks awesome mate!!!! I am pretty impressed.

How much did it end up costing you to put that together?

 

[bum]

Got enough plumbing?

 

[justatad]

Noice .Leaves my 30lt lecky boiler for dead!!

 

[HardEight]

So.. went and bought a new hydrometer today and took the readings
Pre-boil OG= 1.037
Post-boil OG= 1.045
The Operation Mongoose Brown Ale recipe says OG = 1.059 (calc)

Does this mean my efficiency was 76%? (45/59*100%)

For the price of the rig.. Their was only a couple of 'big' purchases (Burners, mash temp gauges, chiller: Beerbelly Pumps: Aliexpress)
The rest was a LOT of small purchases here and there. I got a heap of the bits from work, made friends with my local Enzed guy. Bought a heap of fittings from china (eBay). Went to Bunnings more than I should have (control box, manifolds). The stand is an old 4' fish tank stand, the esky was half price from Coles, the kegs were from a friend (who also cut the lids and welded up the fittings for me)

It's amazing what people will do when you mention 'making beer', I owe a few people a few cases

For the plumbing, I read recirculating the HLT makes the water heat up more evenly, and my Enzed friend gave me the solenoid valves. The 'L' Port Valves are actually 'T' Ports so I could position them to flow straight through. Building the plumbing board was a nightmare (much hair pulling). But the end result was good, barely any leaks. But I used a tonne of tape on each fitting to ensure that. Here is the design if anyone is interested:

 

[technobabble66]

Blingin.JPG

His car seems to imply it's all CGI though.. now I dont know who to believe

impressive.JPG

Prioritised spending, Yob: Minimise cash spent on car. Maximise acquisition of kick-arse brewing setup. And some porcelain rosellas.

Big ups, dude.
It's got it all: General black framework/base. Blingy, shiny silver main vessel. Lots of steel pipework & valves. Huge F%^$ off electrical control box. Cheap arse Esky to maintain the ghetto street cred.
V nice build.

 

[thedragon]

Awesome looking set up mate. And I thought that I was clever for plugging in a pre wired stc! Happy brewing.

 

[HardEight]

lol.. the car belongs to the Mrs...

 

[RelaxedBrewer]

1 quick question.

Can you do a sparge with this system?