Home Brewery Design Advice

[chode84]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of designing my first home brewing system and was hoping for some advice on a few things. I've attached an image above of the plan so far. I was planning on a two-tier system with the mash tun on top and the kettle/HLT below. I decided on this design as I thought it would save room horizontally and make better use of room vertically in case I have to end up moving back to the city for work in the near future. Is there anything wrong with doing it this way as opposed to have them side by side?

Secondly, I will obviously need a pump and I plan on getting a march pump, but Im a bit clueless as to how it should be plumbed. Im assuming I need to be able to pump the hot liquor up to the mash tun and also be able to recycle the mash, but is there anything else I have to pump? Also, is it a bad idea to pump the wort from the kettle to the fermenter as opposed to gravity feeding it? Will it suck out bits of hops and so forth?

Many thanks for any help!


Chode

 

[Banshee]

Same as my set up. I have HLT and kettle on bottom and lauter tun on top. I only use my pump for the sparge water transfer and then let gravity do the work. For first runnings I put into a small pot and recycle. And from kettle to fermenter I also use gravity, no need to pump.

 

[raven19]

...but is there anything else I have to pump? Also, is it a bad idea to pump the wort from the kettle to the fermenter as opposed to gravity feeding it? Will it suck out bits of hops and so forth?

Are you planning on chilling one day? If so you will want to pump from kettle thru chiller then either back to kettle or straight to fermentor.

Your hop screen / pickup tube design will be key to avoid the break / hops issue you mention above - the hop bits wont effect the pump, but they will affect a future plate chiller (for example).

There are a number of different ways to plumb your system also - take a look in the Brew Rigs Thread or individual build threads in the Gear and Equipment section for further ideas.

 

[yardy]

Hi guys,

I'm in the process of designing my first home brewing system and was hoping for some advice on a few things. I've attached an image above of the plan so far. I was planning on a two-tier system with the mash tun on top and the kettle/HLT below. I decided on this design as I thought it would save room horizontally and make better use of room vertically in case I have to end up moving back to the city for work in the near future. Is there anything wrong with doing it this way as opposed to have them side by side?

Secondly, I will obviously need a pump and I plan on getting a march pump, but Im a bit clueless as to how it should be plumbed. Im assuming I need to be able to pump the hot liquor up to the mash tun and also be able to recycle the mash, but is there anything else I have to pump? Also, is it a bad idea to pump the wort from the kettle to the fermenter as opposed to gravity feeding it? Will it suck out bits of hops and so forth?

Many thanks for any help!


Chode

a few ideas and pics here http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...23&hl=yardy

 

[amiddler]

Chode

If your not sure how you want the plumbing yet go with stainless hose tails or barbs and silicon hose, then if you want to change something or add a plate chiller, HERMS, it is simple to get another hose tail and another meter of hose.
I have had my pump about a year and if I had of hard piped things in the begining it would have cost me a fortune for the amount of changes I have made to my pupming system. One day I will settle on something and hard pipe it all.

Drew