Don Burke's New Brewery

[donburke]

I am well into the construction of my 3 vessel brewery, its my first 3 vessel brewery

I have been brewing full boil volume 20 odd litre BIAB batches over the last 12 months with good results

I decided to build a 3 vessel system so I can brew larger batches, perhaps less often, but it seems the right thing to do

I have a brewstand being welded, which I hope will be ready next week

Its made of 50mm stainless square tubing, and has an adjustable height subframe housing 3 x 23 jet mongolian burners

Driving the brewery is a march pump fitted with elbow joints, camlock fittings and 2 lengths of silicone hose

I have 3 robinox 98 litre stainless pots with sockets being welded in them for the following configuration

HLT
- stainless pickup tube into compression fitting to ball valve with camlock

MLT
- domed false bottom into barb into plastic hose into barb to ball valve with camlock
- recirculating entry 2/3 up the pot with stainless pickup tube into compression fitting to ball valve with camlock

KETTLE
- all stainless hopscreen into compression fitting to ball valve with camlock
- whirlpool entry 2/3 up the pot with stainless whirlpool tube into compression fitting to ball valve with camlock
- 24 metres of 12mm stainless tubing wound into a coil permanently fixed in the kettle with compression fittings to ball valves (in and out) with camlocks


The 24 metre coil in my kettle will serve as a herms coil during the mash and then a cooling coil at the end of the boil;

As a herms coil, I plan to;
- mash in as normal in mash tun
- fill kettle with water and heat to desired mashout/step temp
- when ready to step / mashout simply recirculate the mash liquor through the coil, reheating water to compensate the cooling effect
- when done, pump the hot water in the kettle into the hlt where it will be ready for sparging at the right temperature

To use as cooling coil simply flow cold water through the coil at the end of the boil whilst whirlpooling

I will update with pictures as the build progresses and also my results

Here are some pics of the fittings I received from beerbelly today, i'm getting excited now ...

 

[Cocko]

It seems you are well versed in the dark art of shameless bragging..

Well, so you should be - sounds awesome mate, PLEASE keep us posted as it comes together!

Cheers

 

[donburke]

It seems you are well versed in the dark art of shameless bragging..

Well, so you should be - sounds awesome mate, PLEASE keep us posted as it comes together!

Cheers

i might look like a dick if the cooling/herms coil dont work as intended, then i'll be an example of what not to do

plus my wife does not share the excitement i have, and i have to share my joy with someone .... :icon_cheers:

 

[Cocko]

my wife does not share the excitement i have, and i have to share my joy with someone .... :icon_cheers:

Hence our membership here mate! Amen!

HA.

SHARE, POST, ETC!

pics are best.... keep 'em comin.


:icon_cheers:

 

[schooey]

3 x 98L robinox?

Dude.... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Post some pics of your updates!

 

[Greg Lawrence]

3 x 98L robinox?

Dude.... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Plus all the bling in the photos. That shit dont come cheap.
Looks like about $700 -800 there.

 

[unrealeous]

Plus all the bling in the photos. That shit dont come cheap.
Looks like about $700 -800 there.

Home brewing - an expensive way to make cheap beer.

Looks awesome - it will be worth every cent. Looking forward to seeing more photos.

 

[WarmBeer]

Plus all the bling in the photos. That shit dont come cheap.
Looks like about $700 -800 there.

Looking at his username, he may or may not have had a long-running gardening show on the telly.

If that is the case, I'm sure money's not an issue.

Plus, how awesome would it be to have another well know Aussie personality homebrewing. Just adds credibility to our craft.

 

[DanRayner]

Looks/sounds fantastic Don!

One thing though, are you planning to use hop flowers or pellets? The hop screen you have there from beerbelly is really good at screening out flowers but does very little to hold back the finer hop stuff from pellets - you may be better off just having the pick-up and turning it out toward the wall of the kettle for when you brew with pellets.

Otherwise love ya work - bring on more pics!

EDIT: I gather the "other" Don Burke lives in Kenthurst - but I could be wrong, I'm not much of a paparazzo

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Looking at his username, he may or may not have had a long-running gardening show on the telly.

I've got to be honest, I thought this thread was about that Don Burke the gardening personality starting a micro (was thinking, gees that guy wouild have the freshest hops in his brews).

your build looks the goods mate...

 

[schooey]

EDIT: I gather the "other" Don Burke lives in Kenthurst - but I could be wrong, I'm not much of a paparazzo

He used to.. Sagars Road, had a mate that lived just up the street from him back in the 90s. Not sure if he is still there though...

 

[hsb]

Thanks for sharing, exciting times! Love to see some pics of your stand when it's complete and the rig taking shape.
My BB hop screen is great with flowers or plugs and with pellets, my whirlpool seems to get the majority out, as I use them in concert with hops/plugs.

 

[donburke]

Home brewing - an expensive way to make cheap beer.

i have justified it to myself this way ...

i brew beer for my father's house, my father-in-law's house and my house, collectively the 3 households consume on average a total of 3 cases a week

3 cases / week @ $50/case = $7,500 per annum for about 1,200 litres

the grain, hops, yeast, water, gas and electricty to make our beer cost between $1 and $2 a litre

thats a total of no more than $2,400 per annum + our time (we dont count our time coz its a hobby right !)

considering 12 months of beer, instead of spending $7,500, we spend $2,400, that leaves $5,100 to spend on gear, which i hope will last longer than 12 months

i am actually saving money from this hobby after about 9 months, and whilst i could have saved more, its still a saving, every other hobby i've had cost me money !!!

 

[raven19]

Good luck with the build Don.

+1 to more piccies!

 

[donburke]

Looking at his username, he may or may not have had a long-running gardening show on the telly.

If that is the case, I'm sure money's not an issue.

Plus, how awesome would it be to have another well know Aussie personality homebrewing. Just adds credibility to our craft.

sorry, i am not the don burke from the telly,

i have had a keen interest in gardening for many years and my friends gave me the nick name

 

[donburke]

Looks/sounds fantastic Don!

One thing though, are you planning to use hop flowers or pellets? The hop screen you have there from beerbelly is really good at screening out flowers but does very little to hold back the finer hop stuff from pellets - you may be better off just having the pick-up and turning it out toward the wall of the kettle for when you brew with pellets.

i have used only pellets up to now, and might start using flowers from now on,

do you whirlpool ? does the whirlpool push the hop debris into a cone along with the cold break ?

if i have too much debris coming through i might raise it a little and sacrifice a couple of litres

 

[DanRayner]

i have used only pellets up to now, and might start using flowers from now on,

do you whirlpool ? does the whirlpool push the hop debris into a cone along with the cold break ?

if i have too much debris coming through i might raise it a little and sacrifice a couple of litres

Excellent idea - a couple of litres is not enough to worry about. But you're using a coil chiller? Which means a little hop debris is not going to create the same problem that it would for a plate chiller

I whirlpool in a 70L robinox and it works just fine. Whirlpooling in your 98L pot will be a doddle

 

[donburke]

I've got to be honest, I thought this thread was about that Don Burke the gardening personality starting a micro (was thinking, gees that guy wouild have the freshest hops in his brews).

your build looks the goods mate...

given my yield of 1st year chinook this year was 88grams wet, i dont think i'll have the opportunity to find out

thanks

 

[donburke]

Thanks for sharing, exciting times! Love to see some pics of your stand when it's complete and the rig taking shape.
My BB hop screen is great with flowers or plugs and with pellets, my whirlpool seems to get the majority out, as I use them in concert with hops/plugs.

do you have the hopscreen touching the bottom of the kettle ?

 

[DU99]

Least if it all fails you can grow plants in it..all the best with your venture