New Ag Brewing Gear

[thunderleg]

Gave my new brewing gear a trial run on the weekend. Worked OK. Need to make a few minor adjustments and build a frame, but otherwise it works fine. Got 79% efficiency.

Mash tun is typical rubbermaid with Phils 12" stainless false bottom. I found a nice little float valve and plumbed it into the lid. Level it very easy to adjust. Hands free fly-sparging!

Kettle is 50L stainless 'vessel'.

The HLT still needs a thermometer, sight glass and maybe some insulation. It started life as a stainless header tank for a rainwater system. Friend of my dad had it made but never used it. Around 70L with a nice snug fitting lid and a 1/2" bsp spigot welded near the bottom. Free!

It tore it a new orifice with a holesaw and fitted a 2.4kW hot water system element. The element is powered through my triac-based still power controller. The triac in the power controller is rated to 16A continuous, so I may upgrade to a 3.6kw element in the future if it proves too slow to heat up.

Cheers

Ben

 

[thunderleg]

The float valve. Polycarbonate tubing is a tightish fit in a grommet fitted to the lid.

 

[thunderleg]

Another pic of the tun lid.

 

[Simon W]

The float valve is a great idea, well done thunderleg.

 

[GMK]

Gave my new brewing gear a trial run on the weekend. Worked OK. Need to make a few minor adjustments and build a frame, but otherwise it works fine. Got 79% efficiency.

Mash tun is typical rubbermaid with Phils 12" stainless false bottom. I found a nice little float valve and plumbed it into the lid. Level it very easy to adjust. Hands free fly-sparging!

Kettle is 50L stainless 'vessel'.

The HLT still needs a thermometer, sight glass and maybe some insulation. It started life as a stainless header tank for a rainwater system. Friend of my dad had it made but never used it. Around 70L with a nice snug fitting lid and a 1/2" bsp spigot welded near the bottom. Free!

It tore it a new orifice with a holesaw and fitted a 2.4kW hot water system element. The element is powered through my triac-based still power controller. The triac in the power controller is rated to 16A continuous, so I may upgrade to a 3.6kw element in the future if it proves too slow to heat up.

Cheers

Ben

[post="107263"][/post]​

SOunds good - but i would look at swapping the kettle and HLT around.
It would be well matched then and you can do double and big batches no worries.

Hope this helps

 

[thunderleg]

I thought about doing that but the HLT is made from pretty thin material and doesn't have any handles. I boiled 45 litres without any trouble, which is perfect for my two 25L fermenters.