Me New Brewin Rig

[popmedium]

WOW. I think I just busted my pants. This is incredible work and maybe I'll try teach myself to weld now...

j

 

[hando]

Thanks Parks. I think box frame looks nice. Its absolutely overkill in this instance - 50x50x3mm, the thing weighs a ton. Wouldnt mind castors, but it doesnt need to move much so meh, i like the solid look.

paid a little over a hundred for steel. Next time i'd do it in stainless me thinks.

Hando, the plumbing moves around somewhat, but losely speaking the right pump is for malt liquor (mash recirc, whirlpool, and final transfer to carbouys) the left pump is for water (moving sparge water, chiller water). The "brewin" pic below is sparging and transfer to Kettle. The sparge water goes through the herms coil then into the Mash-Tun to flush, and normally the line out of the right pump would go straight into the Kettle ball valve. oh and from left to right: HLT, Mash-tun, Kettle.

Chilling with this 6mm s/s coil is slower than when i had 10mm copper chiller. But so far it goes:
25litres room temp water, slow whirlpool (20mins)
25litres 2c water, fast whirlpool (20mins)
25litres 2c water, no whirlpool (20 mins)
Down to 22c. Would be quicker if i blasted mains pressure tap water first, and this with using an ice slurry for the last 25litres and it can go to 14c, though ive only brewed one lager on it so far.

Im not too concerned about an hour to chill, this suits me at that time of the day (having a beer, getting fermentors into gear, cleaning up).

Thanks sim... the "moving hoses" explains it.

With the chiller, you could probably try to bend those tabs around using a vice or pliers, but it could be difficult to do. You wouldn't want to mark and gouge the steel either which would create little nooks and crannys which would be a pain to clean. Or you could get rid of them altogether and replace them with stainless steel wire. Can you get your hands on some? Did you get rid of your copper chiller? The BN podcast on metals which affect your beer, explains that copper in your kettle is beneficial to the yeast. Something to consider anyway.

I need to learn welding too lol

Cheers

 

[sim]

Or you could get rid of them altogether and replace them with stainless steel wire.

The BN podcast on metals which affect your beer, explains that copper in your kettle is beneficial to the yeast. Something to consider anyway.

i like the s/s tabs because they hold the coils apart nicely, just need to shave them down a bit. I did breifly consider the s/s wire, the guy from the steel shop had that idea too, but ruled it out from a cleaning point of view (lots of little turns and crannys), and i wondered if it would be sturdy enough to hold the shape.

I got rid of the copper immersion to avoid copper oxides, but i still reason a little piece here or there would be easy to maintain (you dont need much!) but as yet havent found the perfect place for some.

Yea, welding is mad fun

 

[sim]

A few updates to the rig:

Ive brewed on it a handful of times now. Biggest pain has been the 8mm stainless immersion vs the old 12mm copper one i had, and the compression fittings that attatch to the coil are dinky.

First of all I got the powerboard of the floor! I call it the crate bench. I might put some little castors on it for a laugh so it can wheel around.

I welded some brackets onto the frame to mount the pumps horizontaly. Although they worked in the vertical position they are quieter now which must be a good thing.

Pumps

I aquired a plate chiller and mounted that, which got me thinking - plate chiller is just another form of heat exchange - so i used it with my sparge water to heat the mash a la Herms, and it worked a treat! Still no fixed thermometer control but was just going by the temp of the sparge water.

Plate "heater" in action

Wasnt sure how quickly it would chill as it was my first time using a plate chiller, so i ran a first pass into the HLT (was hoping it would create a second whirlpool for cold break but too slow i think), leaving me the option of a second pass into the fermentor. I didnt actually need the second pass but good to test the idea - it will come in handy with lagers and beers with a lot of trub. I used 50 litres of 5c water to 40 litres of wort and hit 23c.

Apart from a drop in efficency last brew doing a heavy-on-the-oats stout, its really nice to brew on. Next up will be some thermometers, and possibly inline oxygen for aerating.

 

[sim]

A few new things going on. First up insulation for the Mash-tun. Waltzed into Clark Rubber and found what i needed. Its not fire retardant or anything, but certainly heat proof, and one layer does the job - doesn't drop more than 0.5 a degree in the hour, if that. I had another occy strap down lower but it perished from the heat of the kettle, still holds nicely. The lid and also below the tun have insulation.

Also, ive put in a sight for the wort return (thanks Big Nath). Nice to see what the clarity of the wort is like before i route it to the kettle.

The pic above shows my plate chiller doubling as a poor-mans herms - sparge water in the HLT is raising from sac to mash-out (about half an hour). Super chuffed with this, its working well, but still yet to see if i will get a problem raising with unconverted starch (ie from protein rest to sac)...

Main reason i'm updating is the wort return in the Mash-tun - super happy with this. A bit of stainless bent in a right angle connected to a slotted spoon with silicon o rings. It distributes wort very nicely, and is somewhat adjustable depending on where the height of the grain bed is.

 

[adraine]

Theres an immersion chiller which doubles quite reasonably as a herms, and at the moment he lives in the kettle and doesnt move all brew day. I dont mind it that way, the hot coil stays put, in Kettle for the whole boil, but it means i still end up pumping sparge water from Kettle to HLT.

coil in boil

OK now i have a stiffy! Where did you get that coil with the seperators? I WANT ONE!

 

[sim]

heh. The coil is from Brewers Choice, also found at KegKing and Craftbrewer. The spacers were made by Terry at RussAll on Pickering st. They were a bit of a once off to say the least - if i had of paid by the hour they would have been worth much more than the coil! If your buying steel or need fabrication done, i totally recommend these guys.

I dont actually use it anymore as it was struggling a bit on double batches, fine for single though. Plate chiller all the way, Booya!

 

[adraine]

heh. The coil is from Brewers Choice, also found at KegKing and Craftbrewer. The spacers were made by Terry at RussAll on Pickering st. They were a bit of a once off to say the least - if i had of paid by the hour they would have been worth much more than the coil! If your buying steel or need fabrication done, i totally recommend these guys.

I dont actually use it anymore as it was struggling a bit on double batches, fine for single though. Plate chiller all the way, Booya!

Ahh its the coil used for the Jockey boxes. I was wondering about wether they would be suitable.
Im looking to use one in my HLT or 4th vessel for a herms setup.
Thanks for the feedback.