Ash's Brewery Progress

[jagerbrau]

Ash what sort of cost was the pipe, been thinking about doing similar. Got bits and peices of SS gear but want to go all SS.

Cheers

 

[ausdb]

Ok im about to cut the HLT coil down to a more suitable length. It is currently about 8m long. How long do you think it should be?

i was thinking about 4-5m long so it gets good heat exchange but isnt long enoguh to worry about too much volume in their and being harder to clean.

Its about 8m long 3/8" tube and has a coil diameter of about 210mm

I would leave it as long as possible, stainless is worse than copper as far as heat transfer goes so play it safe and leave it long at the moment. Being stainless it should not be hard to clean anyway, if you are worried just circulate some warm caustic through your march pump for a while.

 

[Ash in Perth]

This coiled tube cost be $20 something on ebay. you can get it at stainless maunfacturers for less than $10/m usually then you have to get it coiled.

I need a bit fo teh tubing for something else but ill leave it at about 6m at least then. cheers.

Im not using a march pump, but an aquarium pump for now. i might get a march pump later on, jsut need to see how much the element and thermostat will cost me first.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Another update. Did some cutting this morning (and destroyed my cheap grinder) and drilled holes in the kettle and mash ready to have the 1/2" sockets welded to them.

Still have a bit of work to do on the HLT. I cant start drilling holes for the tap, coil or element untill i get the element hopefully next week.

Also have a second Mashmaster thermometer on its way form ross (used the same one in the pics) and a march pump from Process Pumps.

Cheers

Mash tun, HLT, Kettle if you werent sure.

 

[Ash in Perth]

Just finished building the HLT. Got a 2000W element and fitting+cord from Roy at TWOC homebrewing for about $70.

All i have to do now is weld the 5 sockets on and the coil to the keg walls then insulate and im done!

 

[browndog]

Looking good Ash, bet you are keen to give it a run. That is an interesting way you have mounted your element there mate, I have not seen it done that way before.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Ash in Perth]

Every one seems to mount it on the sides. i never saw the point of that becasue you have to flatten it somehow. in the middle, on the bottom means the water should circulate to an extent by itself.

 

[razz]

G'day Ash. Just a small hint when you try to slip the hose over the copper coil for your cfc. There will be a lot of resistance as you push more and more hose over the copper, so you may need to straighten the copper first. That's what I did and it made life a lot easier.

 

[Ash in Perth]

My CFC is stainless steel and i have already coiled it

Its a wide coil so hopefully it will not be too hard.

 

[razz]

In hindsight the tricky bit was the end of the tube digging in to the softer garden hose, so you could try tapeing over the end or something similar. <_<

 

[Ash in Perth]

Ill do that. cheers for the tip.

Basically what i have is a 6m coil. I am tihnking i will put hoels in the side of the hose, about 5.5m apart and then tails of either end to connect to the cold water and drain. by feeding the coil through 1 hole and out the other and sealing with a decent silicon i tihnk it should work pretyt well.

How did you do yours?

Cheers, Ash

 

[mika]

Looking good Ash, bet you are keen to give it a run. That is an interesting way you have mounted your element there mate, I have not seen it done that way before.

cheers

Browndog

Have you looked at an urn lately ?? Picked one up from the roadside collection. Appeared to be totally stuffed and beyond redemption unfortunately But the element was mounted from the bottom.
It was actually fairly flat and followed the bottom of the urn pretty closely, so will be interesting to see how Ash's works out.

I suspect it don't matter much :unsure:

 

[mika]

Looking good Ash, bet you are keen to give it a run. That is an interesting way you have mounted your element there mate, I have not seen it done that way before.

cheers

Browndog

Have you looked at an urn lately ?? Picked one up from the roadside collection. Appeared to be totally stuffed and beyond redemption unfortunately But the element was mounted from the bottom.
It was actually fairly flat and followed the bottom of the urn pretty closely, so will be interesting to see how Ash's works out.

I suspect it don't matter much :unsure:

 

[Zwickel]

..... Just a small hint when you try to slip the hose over the copper coil .....

then it would be helpful to pour in some liqid soap first.

Cheers

 

[FNQ Bunyip]

or a water based personal lubricant of your prefered flavour of coarse...

:beer:

 

[Millet Man]

Ill do that. cheers for the tip.

Basically what i have is a 6m coil. I am tihnking i will put hoels in the side of the hose, about 5.5m apart and then tails of either end to connect to the cold water and drain. by feeding the coil through 1 hole and out the other and sealing with a decent silicon i tihnk it should work pretyt well.

How did you do yours?

Cheers, Ash

Good luck trying to get it on already coiled.

Even when I straightened mine out it was a struggle (~9 m long). If you try to slide it through a hole cut in the side there will be way too much friction.

For the outer coil I used black garden hose and the ends I used 19mm garden hose elbows. Drilled through the ends of the elbows with a 3/8" bit and put them on last. Copper fits snug through the hole and sealed with some silicone.

Doesn't leak and works like a dream taking wort down to 20C using 2 litres cooling water to 1 litre of wort, tap water is about 10C ATM.

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[kirem]

I mounted my element the same as Ash. My element is a long one that folds back on itself unlike Ash's circular one. It works very well. I don't seem to get any stratification.

I am working on making it gas/electric. Gas and electric to get the water upto and change temp quickly and the electric to hold the temp.

K

 

[Ash in Perth]

I am working on making it gas/electric. Gas and electric to get the water upto and change temp quickly and the electric to hold the temp.

Sounds like a good plan. let us knwo how it goes!

I was going to use clear hose but black retic hose would probably do the trick well too. that way fittings can be used rather than dodgy silicon. thanks for the idea millet man!

hmm tommorows job i guess.

 

[Tony]

Looks great ash.

I will be darren for a bit and point out a negative i can see.

Im sure you have it covered but i loke to learn lessons from people who have already stuffed it up and learnt.

Have you considered how your going to seal the top of that open top mash ton to keep heat in.

mine drops temp faster than the herms coil in the HLT can heat it.

I covered the top of the ton and the temp rose and stabalised at setpoint within 15 min, and thats a 40 liter mash volume with a 3 meter coil in the HLT.

just checking youve thought of this.

cheers mate.

 

[Ash in Perth]

dont worry mate i am well aware that i have no idea what im going to make a lid out of. i was thinking maybe some thick plastic sheets cut circular with polystyrene to insulate.