Show us your brewrig

[H0U5ECAT]

So, I'm hopefully about to aquire some SS vats for my all grain setup.
What are other peeps thoughts on these?

1 x approx 75 ltr for boiling w/ ball cock float HLT vat
1 x approx 200 ltr double walled w/ agitator vat (mash)
1 x approx 100 ltr double walled Boil Kettle Vat

All have drainers at the bottom and stainless steel ball lock valves

porn or overkill?

 

[Tahoose]

How much and where from?

 

[mb-squared]

Not sure what exactly you have in mind, but typically you'd want your HLT to the biggest vessel (or at least as big as your BK). The Mash Tun doesn't need to be as big, and certainly not the biggest in my experience.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

Tahoose.... I'll never tell.

 

[user 17974]

MT definitely shouldn't be the largest, but I'd swap it all round so HLT is 100L, MT is 75L and Kettle is 200L if those are the sizes you are stuck with (otherwise get 3x 200L pots!). You should be able to do 100L+ batches easily with this config, though you'd need to refill the HLT and heat it from scratch during the Mash to get enough sparge water to fill that 200L kettle, and heating that much water in an hour or so to sparge temps might be a challenge without a hefty heat source.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

Wouldn't the mt be the biggest? Grain and water take up more space than water alone.

 

[mb-squared]

no, HLT should be bigger than your MT. For example, I brew 50L batches and typically mash with 25~30L of water + ~10kg of grain = ~40L of total volume in the MT (in fact I think it is usually closer to 35L -- I'm just going off of memory here at work). But your HLT needs to have your full boil volume + whatever amount the grain absorbs (assuming that your preheat your water in your HLT). It's gotta be big. The BK needs to be bigger than your final volume to allow for a good rapid boil -- and that takes some room too.

 

[user 17974]

exactly what mb-squared said, though you can trade size in the HLT if you are happy to do two separate heating sessions:
1. Heat enough water for the Mash prior to starting
2. Heat enough water for the sparge during the Mash.

I tend to heat as much as possible during step 1 on my 100L system but it's not enough for a full batch. When I add the extra water for step 2, the water in the HLT is already partially heated so I can easily heat enough sparge water before the mash has ended.

 

[Camo6]

Put simply: your kettle needs to hold your mash liquid and sparge liquid combined.

One way to avoid needing a large hlt is to go a stand alone HERMS and use that to heat your mash water while the hlt heats the sparge.

 

[MastersBrewery]

Have to agree with mb hlt should be at least as big as BK and if you stretch final volume of bigger beers you'll be topping up the hlt during mash. On brew day too much hot water has never been uttered by a brewer.

 

[GalBrew]

Also keep in mind that if you have to do multiple hot liquor steps and multiple sparges (if you batch sparge) because your vessel volume won't allow it to all happen in one step, it is a massive PITA and will drag your brewday out. Design your system to require the least amount of work if you can.

 

[user 17974]

I typically do one heating session for a 60L batch but if I want to push my system to the limits and get an extra 20L I need to do two HLT steps. So I agree with everyone else here, just pointing out the issues that occur due to various limitations in a system.

I guess the thing you really need to decide before designing your system is, what is the largest batch size you want to produce, then work backwards from there...

 

[H0U5ECAT]

So if I switched around the agitator to fit the current bk, ergo, 200 bk and 100 mt, then it should be a decent set up?

 

[MastersBrewery]

So if I switched around the agitator to fit the current bk, ergo, 200 bk and 100 mt, then it should be a decent set up?

If the MT was set up as Camo said; with separate HERMS or even rims you'd be ok, what sort of brew length are you looking to achieve?

 

[H0U5ECAT]

I always like to go in overkill.
What can the general 50ltr 3v systems pull out of a boil?
40ltr? 30ltr?

 

[user 17974]

Before I upgraded to my 100L system I used 50L kegs and could get 40L in a batch if I used no-foam and a bit of top-up water. It can be very dicey though and boil overs can be painful if you get scalded by boiling wort.

 

[user 17974]

Another thing to take in to consideration is how you are going to clean everything once you are finished. Depending on how you clean your system is going to depend on how much hot water you're going to need.

During the boil I refill my HLT and heat it to about 80 degrees C which I then use to run through the entire system with some sodium-percarbonate. First, fill the MT to the top and recirc, then move it to the kettle and let it sit for 10 mins or so. I then dump the water out at give the kettle a good scrub while its slowly emptying.

This is another reason to have a larger HLT. As my vessels are all the same size, it's no concern, but if you have different sizes, you're going to need enough hot water to potentially fill your largest vessel for clean up.

 

[poundy]

Building new Hermes, here is a shot of the framework.

 

[Camo6]

Building new Hermes, here is a shot of the framework.

That looks horrible. You're lucky I'm willing to give you scrap prices for it. I'll pick it up this arvo... h34r:


Top notch mate. Is the step for a shelf?

 

[poundy]

The step is where the ends of the burners come to, will also mount some valves there on the pump manifold