Boil Time

[Doc]

Yeah something along those lines.
However mine had got to come apart easily for storage after use.

Beers,
Doc

PS: Will those wheels hold 80 odd kilos (40 litres in HLT + 40 litres in boiler + weight of all equip) ?

 

[Justin]

That's a very good point and the answer is no! They were a (very) cheap option while building so it could be moved around by one person. They are soon to be upgraded to metal suckers with bearings, in the meantime it is wheeled into position and chocked up on a couple of planks on that side. The castor wheels are sufficient on the left side.

Cheerio.

JD

 

[big d]

top pic justin
mine will be a steel fabrication job.
something about wood and fire has me worried.knowing my luck the thing would catch on fire .

cheers
big d

 

[Justin]

I would have liked it to be steel but $$ and weight and workability factored into it. As you can see the HLT is electric and only the kettle is gas. I was a bit worried about excess heat and where it would vent and how much the wood would heat up when I was building it but it runs fine. The wood is actually not that close and barely even gets warm, so it's not a worry.

 

[crackers]

nice job justin,
might set mine up the same way.

cheers
crackers

 

[jayse]

yep looking good justin.
there is a great spot just under the mash tun for a control panel.
firstly a nice thermostat for the hlt and a digital thermometer for the mash tun.
the skies the limit.

 

[Justin]

I'm onto that already Jayse. Here is my thermostat, picture might be a bit small, never know quite how big they are going to be? It's a Johnson Controls Capillary bulb thermostat (30-121oC). I have a mate who can wire it up to throw a couple of solid state relays to power the two elements in the HLT. Just waiting to drill another hole to mount the thermowell. To keep things moving in there and give an even temp distribution throughout the tank (thus making my thermostat more accurate) I'm going to hook up a windscreen wiper motor to a paddle and sit it on top.

Trying to find a digital thermometer with a remote probe but not happy with what I've found so far. The search goes on. Considering 2" dial bimetal from Ambit, about $30 instead.

Also, sight glass.

Where does it end.

JD

 

[Justin]

Whoops

 

[Wasabi]

Justin,

Great set-up!

How high is the top of the Esky, um I mean Mash Tun in that pic? Just trying to get an idea of the size of it.

 

[Justin]

Thanks Wasa.

I'm 5'10" and I can just peer over it and stir. At the moment however I just stand on a milk crate for comfort when stirring in the grain. I may make a small 2 step ladder that hooks onto the side or perhaps cut 3-4in off the base and drop the whole system down a few inches-I didn't factor in the wheels when I build it, they were an after thought. I was just going to make a small trolley to prop it up on to move it but ended up adding some wheels to the frame. Hmmm. Anyway, will do that one day when I'm bored.

The plan for the HLT as I said above is to make it so I never have to go up there so height for that was never an issue. The HLT will be all automated and with a thermometer and sight glass I can fill it with water while it's up there and drain out what's left afterwards before pulling it down.

Basically I built the system with a size restriction (it all packs up inside the frame, 2 fermenters included). I live in a 2 bedroom flat/bottom half of a house with a decking area out the back where I brew so I don't have much room to spread out when I'm not doing a brew. So it's stored inside when not in use as the back of my house isn't very secure. Plus I brew on my own 99% or the time (although to date have only done one brew on it (Bavarian Dunkelweizen), out of fermentors at the moment, waiting to free some up too brew again) so taking the lifting part out of the game was important for me. Thanks for the feedback. I look forward to doing a few more brews soon. Waiting on a fridge for lagering also

Cheers, Justin