Rims/brewtroller Brewery Upgrade

[mschippr]

Hi,

I have decided to upgrade my brewery to a RIMS three vessel system controlled by Brewtroller. I chose brewtroller since it works out to be a similar price once you consider buying two PID's and other components and allows for future growth.

I will make two new 50L vessels. One will be electric HLT and the other a gas heated kettle. I will use my existing kettle as a MLT with my existing beerbelly false bottom.

I've ordered my RIMS tube, 2x 2500w elements and pump (March 809) and need to order all my weldless fittings. What im having issues with is the best way to plumb the system. I will be using camlocks on the vessels and camlocks on the hoses.

The image below is the components in my system including vessels, pump, RIMS, and plate chiller. Can anyone suggest the best method to plumb the system so i dont have to reprime the pump, and if i should be using two way valves, etc.

Thanks,
Mark.

 

[razz]

The good thing about using camlocks and silicon hose is being able to move your components around until you find the best format for your brewing. You will need to determine if you will have all three pots at the same level or one up and two down. With only one pump and a RIMS you will find that three pots at the same level can be problematic i.e. batch v's fly sparging. I'm not sure what you mean by two way valves?

 

[raven19]

Hi mate, not sure if you looked at my March Pump setup closely the other day, but I have an input on the inlet side of the pump for a standard hose to clip onto. This allows me to prime the pump easily anytime during the brew.

I just went with simple 3 piece ball valves rather than mucking around with 2 way valves, etc.

I also considered a hard plumbed solution, but after seeing a few other brewery setups including pics of Pumpy's latest, I went with just camlocks and hoses. Makes for easy changes on brew day and easy cleaning too.

Edit - There is a Pic here that sort of shows it - post #92.

 

[hsb]

Does the kettle stand outside of the automated aspect of your RIMS? ie; You just dump your Wort into the kettle and when ready, fire up the gas and boil as usual? Or is that Brewtroller controlled as well?

I'm pondering making a (slow) start towards RIMS and have a similar setup to yours, will bookmark this thread, best of luck. Personally, I'm inspired by getting a bit fed up of the hassle of hitting Mash temps using a HLT with over-the-side Immersion element that is always tricky and rarely consistent (though still turns out decent brews)

 

[MeLoveBeer]

Everyone is different, but if you're setting it up as a 2 tier, then I was going to put together something like this. If you are looking at putting together a 2 tier, Screwtop has an awesome setup well worth replicating.

Since that original thread, I've taken my plans in a totally different direction and am going single tier automated (with the ECC BCS-462)

 

[mschippr]

As much as i dont like to be a "copy cat" i really like raven19's 2 tier brew stand so i will probably try something similar. The only consideration i will have is to position the gas burner for my kettle a safe distance away from anything that could burn. I would like to make the system nice and compact but also practical.. haha.

I dont really want to hard plumb much, im happy with going the hose route. I ordered the 809 PL-HS march pump and a 815 impeller for it. Theres some threads around from the guys at march saying it'll give a good headroom increase which may help with wort velosity in the RIMS also. FYI, im no scientist or engineer for that matter.

I dont plan on automating the kettle side of the brewery at this stage.

When i said "2 way valves" i meant those ones with three outputs but realise now i used the wrong name.

I had planned on ordering some silicon hose but it adds too much to the weight in shipping, i'll stick with my wire wound hose with the cam locks.

Raven any chance you can take a closer pic of your pump plumbing for me? Looks like a good setup, your definately more of an "engineering" type than myself.

 

[razz]

You sound like you know what you're doing Mark, good luck. For the cost of three way valves you can get between 2 or 3 (or even 4) regular s/s valves.

 

[mschippr]

Pictured are shiney bits from my existing system that will be used. The kettle in the picture i was never really happy with due to its width, I got about 20% boil off which was annoying. It will make a much better MLT.

Pictured is my existing system ready for a brew. I'll still use some components of it also. The esky will be reused for carrying beer to BBQ's and the like.

 

[raven19]

Raven any chance you can take a closer pic of your pump plumbing for me? Looks like a good setup, your definately more of an "engineering" type than myself.

Should not be a problem mate, will get something posted up this week.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Is it your intention to pump wort through the plate chiller, or are you going with gravity? That'll make a difference.

If i cool, i do so via gravity, and therefore i dont actually have to re-prime the pump at any time during the brew. Just the initial prime and then the pump stays primed for the whole brew till the kettle is full. (adding sparge water to the lauter tun by grravity)

So i dont see any need (or at least dont need myself) any fancy three way valves or extra inlets etc.

Oh, i also think you will be better served by using pt100 or cu50 RTds as your sensors rather than thermocouples, they are far more accurate in the range of temperatures you need for mashing. I'm using thermocouples and the work OK but have some cu50s waiting to be installed because i thionk they are going to give me significantly tighter temp control. Although, i have no idea whether they are the appropriate sensor types for the brewtroller.

 

[technoicon]

just to jump in on this thread a little.. reading the specs on most silicon hose's they are only rated for 65C. do they work fine at higher temps? 80-100C?

I want to build a similar system

 

[WarmBeer]

just to jump in on this thread a little.. reading the specs on most silicon hose's they are only rated for 65C. do they work fine at higher temps? 80-100C?

I want to build a similar system

Are you sure you're not confusing silicon hose with the clear vinyl hose you can get from Big Green Shed?

Food grade silicon is rated to far above 100 deg, the specs on one of the sponsors sites says -100F to 500F (-73C to 260C).

I personally wouldn't use the vinyl hose in my brewing even if it was food safe, as it tends to collapse on itself when warm, making transfers difficult.

 

[technoicon]

I was looking at the "Helical Wire wound PVC hosing" from beer belly. the grain and grape stuff is what I want.

 

[mschippr]

In the picture the hose i have is Helical Wire wound PVC hosing from beerbelly.

Its rated at 65 degrees but seems to be ok so far pumping 100 degree stuff through it. I would like some silicon hose but im not sure where to get it in Australia.

Can anyone recommend a cheap silicon hose retailer?

 

[MeLoveBeer]

the grain and grape stuff is what I want.

I regularly use the 1/2" stuff from G&G right through my brew rig with boiling liquid and its fine.

 

[WarmBeer]

I was looking at the "Helical Wire wound PVC hosing" from beer belly. the grain and grape stuff is what I want.

Yep, that's the stuff you want. Just be sure to "measure twice, cut once", at $20 per metre you don't want to order your lengths only to find they're 50mm too short for your setup

Edit: Craftbrewer has it slightly cheaper, but cost of delivery for me makes G&G the overall bargain winner

 

[mschippr]

Ok, I put in the order for the fittings today, im using NPT for the new vessels due to price. I'll reuse my BSP fittings for the pump, MLT, and chiller but will need to get a couple of new BSP fittings to complete the requirements.

Does anyone have these fittings spare they want to sell?

7x SS Hose Clamps
4x Camlock F
1x Female T Piece
1x 90 Degree Male/Female

I've put a new copy of the working diagram below also:

 

[raven19]

I was looking at the "Helical Wire wound PVC hosing" from beer belly. the grain and grape stuff is what I want.

I can confirm the silicon hose works fine in my brewery and I pump boiling wort through it to sanitise my chiller towards the end of the boil.

 

[raven19]

Can anyone recommend a cheap silicon hose retailer?

You dont want cheap mate, you want quality hoses. I used Craftbrewer when I ordered a heap of other goodies a while back.

Rest assured the hoses if looked after will last a long time.

 

[mschippr]

You dont want cheap mate, you want quality hoses. I used Craftbrewer when I ordered a heap of other goodies a while back.

Rest assured the hoses if looked after will last a long time.

Are the craftbrewer silicon 1/2" hoses (12.95/m ) the same quality as the grain and grape version (19.95/m)?