Brew Rig Design

[cdbrown]

Definitely taking a hammering - spent over $1k yesterday just on bits and pieces, but it's pretty much all the parts now. Pics of the gear will come tomorrow to show off the goodies. Hoping to be able to cut the steel over the weekend, if not then chop the tops off the other two kegs and try my hand at coiling the tubing. Still waiting on the electrician for the quote to do some work, and then hopefully I'll have a welding circuit to get the rig underway. Will post up sketch of rig shortly - need to modify slightly to account for the 3-ring burner.

By the way - Big W has the 7.6L pots for sale for about $8 instead of the normal $14. While there picked up a 2 stage water filter for $98 (rated 1-3L/min) and the cheap $8 kettle (which happened to be the same as we've been using at home for a while).

 

[pablodubloon]

Just started aquiring everything to build a brewery myself and have found this discussion really useful. I have one question though. Why can't the HLT be used for the HERMS loop? Wouldn't this be a cheaper option?
Good luck with the build and keep up the posts!

 

[roller997]

Just started aquiring everything to build a brewery myself and have found this discussion really useful. I have one question though. Why can't the HLT be used for the HERMS loop? Wouldn't this be a cheaper option?
Good luck with the build and keep up the posts!

Nothing is stopping you from using the HLT for the Heat Exchanger, however I didn't opt for that setup for the following reasons:

1. I am a tad impatient so waiting for a large volume of water in the HLT to ramp up is not a good option for me.
2. I don't want to wait for lautering too long once I have kept the mash at pre-mash out temperatures - I often use 65 degrees, so I would have to stop circulating and wait for it to hit 78-80 degrees
3. I would have to have more water in the HLT for the sake of always keeping the HE coil covered with water (can be achieved by just using the coil arrangement that copper comes in naturally I suppose.
4. I am looking at using the HE to boost the temperature as I lauter - I figure if I have 4800 Watt of power in the HE I might as well use that to get the temperature of the wort as high as possible before turning on the elements in the kettle. For obvious reasons, this isn't possible with using a HLT as I would be lautering at temperatures that would introduce tannins into the brew.
it would cause tannins to be

Obviously the advantages of using the HLT as the HE is that you save on elements, a vessel and power while also reducing the power requirements to your HERMS system.

Cheers

Roller

 

[cdbrown]

As roller has said - nothing stopping you from using the HLT as the HE. Ramping the mash temps seem to take longer with the larger volume of water. Heating 6L compared to 30L will be far more responsive.

I wanted to keep the HLT separate so I can just use it for strike and then sparge temps. Letting the HERMS control the mash temp with protein rests, ramp to conversion and then again to mash out. I also want to do double batches and will most likely need to top up the HLT for the sparge so using that as a HE may drop the mash temp after adding fresh water.

I picked up all the goodies from my folks on Saturday but unfortunately didn't get to spend much time on it over the weekend (entertaining, footy, constructing swing set). I cut the top off the other 2 kegs so now just need to clean up the cuts, most likely use a bit for the dremel tool to do this as it'll be a lot less noisy meaning I can do it in the evening. Started on the plumbing side of things - a few t-pieces on the pump, screwed in the thread/barb connections into the valves. Need to chop up the s/s allthread so I can start joining the t-pieces and valves together and make some bulkhead fittings. Also pulled apart the kettle which was simple enough. Need to get some drill bits or hole saws to cut the kegs and HERMS pot.

Will try to post some pics tonight of the goodies....

 

[cdbrown]

Goodies pt 1

 

[cdbrown]

goodie pt 2

 

[raven19]

Starting to come together nicely there fella! Keep 'em coming!

 

[cdbrown]

A visit to the big green shed saw me walking away with some gear and a bigger credit card bill. Last nights purchases included some compression unions to connect the copper tubing to the s/s threads, hose clamps to keep the silicone tubing secure on the barbs, grabbed some brass hex nipples as I don't have any s/s ones yet (if I can get some on the weekend, they will be going back).

Tools side of things got some bi metal hacksaws to cut the s/s allthread I have for bulkhead fittings, bi metal holesaw kit (20, 28, 32, 38, 52), dremel grinding bits, grinding disc and some ear plugs (wish I had them before cutting the keg lids).

Decided to test out the hole saw on the 7.6L pot so grabbed 38mm hole saw, dialed the speed down on the drill and went to town on the base of the pot. Took a while to get the hang of what works best but got through the hole wih the help of WD-40. Came out nice and will just need a little clean up.

Any tips on what I can use to house the rear of the element? Jiffy box perhaps?

 

[browndog]

A visit to the big green shed saw me walking away with some gear and a bigger credit card bill. Last nights purchases included some compression unions to connect the copper tubing to the s/s threads, hose clamps to keep the silicone tubing secure on the barbs, grabbed some brass hex nipples as I don't have any s/s ones yet (if I can get some on the weekend, they will be going back).

Tools side of things got some bi metal hacksaws to cut the s/s allthread I have for bulkhead fittings, bi metal holesaw kit (20, 28, 32, 38, 52), dremel grinding bits, grinding disc and some ear plugs (wish I had them before cutting the keg lids).

Decided to test out the hole saw on the 7.6L pot so grabbed 38mm hole saw, dialed the speed down on the drill and went to town on the base of the pot. Took a while to get the hang of what works best but got through the hole wih the help of WD-40. Came out nice and will just need a little clean up.

Any tips on what I can use to house the rear of the element? Jiffy box perhaps?

Jaycar has some nice aluminium project boxes that are a perfect size, unfortunately they are pretty expensive si I went with the gray plastic ones they had, I'm hoping there won't be enough heat at the base of the element to heat them also I'm using 1"BSP bulkhead fittings and they are quite sizeable as will absorb a fair bit of heat. If that doesn't work I guess I'll fold up a few boxes out of some s/s sheet.

cheers

browndog

 

[leiothrix]

I used an ali box from jaycar - HB5063. $12.95 and no danger of it melting.

It does get pretty hot during use. I wouldn't trust plastic. Even if the plastic doesn't melt/burn, it might get hot enough to deform. Especially as the way that I have mine mounted has the element going through the box and sealing against it.

Rob.

 

[Yeastie Beastie]

Any tips on what I can use to house the rear of the element? Jiffy box perhaps?

I used an original housing off an old hot water service I turned into a fireplace for the shed.
It doesn't really need to house the element head, but more cover it to keep the water off and stray fingers off.

Have a look here to see how I built my pot and there may be some useful info from others there too.

 

[cdbrown]

Over the weekend I managed to drop into TWOC (didn't realise he has so much stuff on offer) and picked up the 1/2" BSP S/S nipples to join the valves to the t fittings. Also picked up a massive s/s mash paddle - no more broken plastic spoons. Have nearly finished all the plumbing around the pump, although I migh have to pull some of it apart again to put on more thread tape as it's a bit loose where I want the valves to end up.

Drilled out the hole for the element in the HERMS, inlet and outlet for the kettle and the outlet of the HLT. Need to do the mash tun outlet - did you guys just drill a hole where you thought it would match up with the false bottom or measure it some how? Also need to do the inlet and outlet of the HERMS, temp guage on the HLT and MLT, element for the HLT and clean up all the holes. And of course get some boxes to house up the back of the elements.

 

[cdbrown]

Got on the tools last night with the grinder and a cutting disc and cut all the pieces for the brew frame except the support for the burner and herms as I'm not sure how I'll mount them yet. Originally used the thicker cutting disc, but once I switched over to the spar thin diss I got for cutting the S/S I wished I'd started with them - was so much quicker. Anyway cut 12 lengths of 300mm for the top and bottom supports, 8 lengths of 450mm for the verticals and 4 lengths 1600mm for the main beams. They'll need to have the ends ground back so they are all even and square. Also hit the top of 2 of the kegs with the grinder to clean up the hole and they came up nicely ready for to be finished with the dremel. Also took a pic of the valving arrangement around the pump.

Tonight I hope to finish off grinding out the other keg, drill all the holes and clean them up, cut the allthread to make up the bulkhead fittings and install the valves. Depending on the time test out the PIDs.

 

[cdbrown]

Been a while without any updates. Finally got a double 15A plug (on 32A circuit) installed last week but yet to test the welding machine. All the holes in the kegs are drilled. The coil for the HERMS has been hand rolled and have gone for a coil in coil setup. Outer coil is 6m and after I cut the inner coil back I should end up with 10m in total. The coils have been soldered together at the bottom so that the top of each coil will be the inlet and outlet which need to be done.

Still trying to figure in my head the best way to wire up the elements. I picked up some aluminium boxes to house the connections and think I might use a terminal block in each to connect the wires to the 15A cord, then have the cord going through the wall of the box with a grommit. Originally thought I might try and mount a plug to the box wall but that's turning out a challenge to find the male and female plugs that will fit and be rated 15A.

Need to clean up the ends of all the steel pieces and tack weld the frame together. Unfortunately it's not going to look too different to pumpy, franko or any of the other single tier frames. Also need to get my hands on some s/s 2mm rods to weld the keg fittings.

 

[unrealeous]

I used an ali box from jaycar - HB5063. $12.95 and no danger of it melting.

I started out with largest one of those, but in the found found it far too small to fit everything. 3 solid state relays, switches, plugs, micro-controller plus all the wiring - not to mention the heat dissipation issue.

I'm now using an ABB box - an order of magnitude more expensive, but no one gets into this hobby to save money.

 

[cdbrown]

The ali box is only going to be mounted to the mlt to house the rear of the element and some wiring. all the switches, relays, heat sinks and PIDs will be in a large box.

Where did you get the ABB box and what size?

 

[unrealeous]

Where did you get the ABB box and what size?

It's a SR3215 - 300x250x150 - from John R Turks in sunny wollongong.

 

[leiothrix]

Originally thought I might try and mount a plug to the box wall but that's turning out a challenge to find the male and female plugs that will fit and be rated 15A.

Jaycar sell 15A IEC plugs and sockets. Not sure if they will fit though.

Rob.

 

[randyrob]

that looks like it's going to be one fun bit of gear to prime not to mention strip down and clean h34r:

 

[cdbrown]

Cheer Rob,

I actually picked up 2 of the IEC 16A male plugs the other week thinking I could mount them on a side wall of the box. Trouble is I then couldn't find the associated female plug. Looking on Jaycar I see they don't sell the female plug but a 2m mains lead instead.