Husky's Biab Brew Rig

[husky]

I have taken on board TB's comments in the other thread but for the sake of a few kg of grain I still think I will give it a go. In the long term I aim to roll a cylinder to place inside the basket(removable) to create solid walls of the basket and a regular false bottom in the base of the basket. Then using a march pump to take wort from beneath the basket and return it to the top. This should ultimately work the same as 3V. Then maybe add some sort of temp control to maintain/ramp temp as the wort circulates using the electric elements beneath the basket to add the heat required.
These are all purely concepts in my head at the minute but the idea of the thread is to get peoples opinions and ideas so that when I get to the next stage of modifications I will have a good idea of what will and will not work.

As it stands currently my future plans are basically as outlined above, solid wall insert that is removable, standard false bottom possibly a custom as it needs to be 400mm diameter, march pump to pick up wort from the centre of the pot beneath the basket and return it to the top of the grain bed. Possibly without the voile bag at all by this stage.
I would possibly manually add heat in short bursts if the temp of the grain started to drop.
I would really like to automate the recirc HERMS style but that is a long way down the track. Lots more research to be done on the electronics side.

 

[yardy]

As it stands currently my future plans are basically as outlined above, solid wall insert that is removable, standard false bottom possibly a custom as it needs to be 400mm diameter, march pump to pick up wort from the centre of the pot beneath the basket and return it to the top of the grain bed. Possibly without the voile bag at all by this stage.
I would possibly manually add heat in short bursts if the temp of the grain started to drop.
I would really like to automate the recirc HERMS style but that is a long way down the track. Lots more research to be done on the electronics side.

basically a home made braumeister then ?

http://www.braumeister.com.au/Model20.asp

when you ditch the voile bag if you don't get another basket fabbed up with the perf the size that you neeed to go with, get some Invisi-Gard T316 mesh in SS finish before it's powder coated and wrap your basket in that.

any ideas on what size element(s) you plan on fitting ?

Dave

 

[beerbrewer76543]

You could check out my build along similar Braumeister lines

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...mp;#entry701707

Cheers

 

[OLDS2006]

cheap 2mm SS peforated sheet

 

[husky]

basically a home made braumeister then ?

http://www.braumeister.com.au/Model20.asp

when you ditch the voile bag if you don't get another basket fabbed up with the perf the size that you neeed to go with, get some Invisi-Gard T316 mesh in SS finish before it's powder coated and wrap your basket in that.

any ideas on what size element(s) you plan on fitting ?

Dave

I guess it will be very similar.
I have just ordered three of the 2200W 304 stainless elements. Same as craftbrewer have on their website.
I plan to run two of these in parallel to heat the water(4400W) and then the two in series for the boil to get the heat density down(2200W). That is assuming that 2200W is ample to maintain the boil for a standard batch size.
My calcs give a boil heat density of around 50kw/sqm which is close to the lowest heat density elements I could find on the market(around 32kW/sqm).
I have the third one just in case I can squeeze three in there but two will be a push as I will have to flaten the sides locally to fit the elements side by side as these are a non weld in type.

 

[husky]

cheap 2mm SS peforated sheet

Bugger, if only I had seen this before the basket was fabricated! I sent an email asking for an offcut just for the base. With this finer mesh sitting in the base of the current basket I fear the open area will be massively reduced as the holes overlap.
Thanks for the link!

 

[husky]

Elements arrived today. They are the same as these

http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=3853

Im hoping to have two of them mounted this week ready for a trial boil this weekend. Very easy to install for those without welding capability.

 

[yardy]

horizontally as in the braumeister ?

cheers

Dave

 

[Silo Ted]

horizontally as in the braumeister ?

cheers

Dave

No mate, the Brau is a circular ring (not to be confused with a ring of some other shape) element. Granted, it is horizontal.

Husky, how do you propose to run multiple elements (to 4400), are you running them off different circuits, or do you put some heavy duty fuses into your box ? My annoying urn seems to have issues with maintaining a boil, and Im thinking of buying another element to get some reliable boil action going.

 

[yardy]

No mate, the Brau is a circular ring (not to be confused with a ring of some other shape) element. Granted, it is horizontal.

well, yeah..

I had a thought that they could've gone vertically in between the wall of the boiler and the basket but i was thinking out loud..

cheers

 

[husky]

The pot is 450mm diameter and the basket 400mm so theres only 25mm of space between the two and the elements are 25mm diameter. I left a 70mm false bottob beneath the basket to accomodate the elements.
Its an idea that never crossed my mind yardy. After having a good read on the Brau last night it may have been possible to have an element mounted vertically in the centre and an inner tube to the basket. This inner tube could then have been setup as the flow path for the wort which I believe would suit the future automation process better as the heat energy enters the liguid that is flowing. Where as what I was thinking with the elements under the basket, some heat will go into the circulating wort and some will remain to directly heat the underside of the basket.
So in short, they will he horizontal under the basket.

I have a few different circuits I can draw from however I may run a second 15A circuit to the kitchen in the near future. I may just run an extension lead for now from the shed which has its own 15A circuit. It would only be a short lead so shouldn't be a problem.

 

[husky]

a couple of concept pics:

 

[husky]

cheap 2mm SS peforated sheet

Picked up a 1m x 0.5m strip for next to nothing! Hoping to make a 450mm domes false bottom for the main pot if it ever becomes a conventional mash tun one day and also a 400mm false bottom for the mesh basket. Then to get a cylinder rolled for the inner of the basket.

Could not install the elements the way I had planned to having a small section of the pot cut out next week and a piece of flat welded in so the elements can sit side by side and to touch each other.

 

[husky]

Finally progress. Pot modified and elements installed.
Cut the false bottom for the inner basket and also rolled a cylinder to sit inside the basket(not shown as theyre still being cleaned up). This will allow me for now anyway to circulate wort through the grainbed to increase clarity. This will be a manual process for now until I get a stand and pump sorted eventually.
With both elements on it was damn quick to bring 30L to the boil. One element was enough to maintain the boil but only just. Will look at insulating the pot so I dont need to run both elements for the boil.

 

[MarkBastard]

brewporn

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Can't see it in the thread

How many litres is the pot?

Awesome set up

Cheers

 

[husky]

pot is 70L. 450mm diameter x 450mm height. It was a bit of a comprimise knowing that one day Im sure I would like to do the odd double batch. Massive overkill for my regular 20L batch atm.

 

[argon]

love the dual ss elements. I was just going to add one on top of the other for my kettle. But a little welding by the father in law should sort this out with a much neater solution.

Nice one :beerbang:

 

[WhiteWolf]

love the dual ss elements. I was just going to add one on top of the other for my kettle. But a little welding by the father in law should sort this out with a much neater solution.

Nice one :beerbang:

+1 Now all I need to do is find someone that could SS weld a bracket like that one - sweet :super:

 

[leonjw]

+2 ! although i already bought an over the side element to boost my boiling and heating

My pot is aluminium so I think I could get the local boat builder to easily cut and weld a plate in my pot.

was thinking of going RIM system with my biab eventually.