BrauWhirlio - Braumeister clone with whirlpool

[Davethebrewer]

Thanks for the kind words.
Have not put any grain through yet, waiting on some silicone seal for the malt pipe and also have to install drain tap which I think I will mount towards the rear going on how the rice settled..
Did not spare much expense, but well under the $2500 cost of a braumiester. Having said that I am fortunate to have access to a TIG, scrap stainless, pipe bender, roller and lathe.
Pump from Tesco, 3000w u bend element from Cynebar ($55), fittings from Blackwoods and whitworths.
Malt pipe was hard to source, finally found small offcut of 220mm pipe, welded the lifting tags on.
Cheers
Dave

 

[spog]

wow,nice work,very nice...cheers..spog...

 

[neo__04]

What fitting are you using there that the centre rod goes through? How does it seal up?

Building a similar thing myself, just making sure i got all the parts sorted

 

[real_beer]

Fantastic job :beer:

 

[notung]

Great job Dave and thanks for sharing. Do you fit the whirlpool attachment in through the hole in a skin fitting? How does that go getting it down with hot wort?

 

[Davethebrewer]

Hi
Yes whirlpool pipe into the skim fitting which was drilled out for neat fit, can be a bit of a juggle getting the pipe too mate, but not too bad. I've done 4x brews now and will update this thread when I get around to it, I am still getting my routine down and always forget to take pics on brew day as I get under the pump...
Cheers
Dave

 

[Davethebrewer]

And I answered Neo's question earlier via pm :

"The "disc" at the bottom of the pot is a blank plate used on tri clover type fittings, I only used that as it was available to me and was able to put an o-ring in the groove to seal against pot."

Cheers
Dave

 

[Davethebrewer]

I've had a few enquiries on my brew rig lately and I'm long overdue for an update..so here goes..
After I finished my rig it sat idle for a bloody long time, had a few other things going on and probably put it in the too hard basket for a while..
I finally got my finger out and had a crack, I learnt two valuable lessons from my first attempt..
1. Never start a brew session on a Sat night when you are already pissed.
2. If it tastes like crap out of the fermenter then don't waste your time bottling.

I really don't recall a lot about my first attempt, my memory got vaguer as the night wore on, I had issues with the malt pipe clamp, I had issues with the controller..namely I misunderstood the number of steps I needed programmed, my PID control was overshooting, my boil temp was set to max and was too vigorous, I was loosing heaps of volume in the boil and was topping up with cold water... And so it went on, I woke up in a sweat the next morning, had no idea if I put it into the fermenter and could not recall pitching the yeast, went downstairs, thank god an empty yeast packet on the floor and a fermentor in the fridge @18deg.
Turned out tasting very harsh...I don't think off, just harsh.
And that was my first attempt at brewing.

 

[lael]

Yeah, my first attempt on my first brau clone rig was a disaster too. Good for learning That malt pipe looks a little sorry - been there too. What thickness is the plate and how much grain did you have in what capacity malt pipe?

 

[Davethebrewer]

First up I was annoyed I took no data through the session, so made up a spreadsheet to record my brew session.
Went to work on the PID, could not really get the loop to respond as per a guides I found and tried to follow on tuning, I ended up with PID setting of 70-1-0... So no derivitave.
I worked out a scale for my temp control as it is pretty much spot on at room temp but drifts out to around -4 deg at 100deg..
So have now set my max boil at 96.5 and get a gentle rolling boil, still plenty of evaporation.
I have adjusted the mash step temp set points to allow for the deviation from the sensor.
I made a new pipe clamp, much better, here are a few pics from my second attempt

 

[Davethebrewer]

Hi Lael
The plates are only 1mm thick, would have liked thicker but was all I could source, they work ok though as long as you have the support, my mash pipe is not very wide though, so you could run into trouble with a larger diameter pipe.
My max grain bill is around 5.2kg, the bottom plate is 50mm or so off the bottom of the pipe.
Given the small diameter and tall height of my pipe I'm glad I went with the march pump, reckon I would have problems with a smaller capacity pump.
A pic of my second brew attempt, DSGA, two weeks in bottle here, really not sure about it...lol...tastes good but a bit harsh, a lot better than my first attempt but not sure, I'll give it a couple of weeks.

 

[Davethebrewer]

Happy to report my Dr Smurtos Golden Ale has improved out of sight now at 4weeks in the bottle, I'm learning as I go, but now know not to judge a beer too early!

 

[grimpanda]

Very tidy, especially the new top filter/malt pipe clamp.

Couple of questions - how is your bottom filter held in place?

And how are you draining the wort to your fermenter? I can't see any sort of outlet/ball valve, but I might just be overlooking the obvious...

Cheers,
Gabe