The Brew Stand Configuration Thread

[Cortez The Killer]

I've been looking at brew stands for the last little while, with the hope of building my own in the near future, and there seems to be a myriad of possible configurations, features, addons etc

I'd like to develop a thread that encompasses
- firstly a poll of stand configuration
- pictures of people's setups
- infomation of the plumbing of the stand (quick disconnects, hoses, pumps, design etc)
- clever ideas that people have incorporated into their design (be it in stand configuration, plumbing etc)
- any other relevant infomation / features that helps members

This may seem a little ambitious, but even if with end up with a thread of links to brew stands it'll be a good resource for people looking at design / constructing / upgrading their currently brewing setup

Cheers

 

[Pumpy]

Single tier /march pump IMO is the way to go

 

[Zwickel]

Single tier /march pump IMO is the way to go

+1 :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Barramundi]

is that how you describe your computerised beer making monster zwickel, simply a single tier one pump device ...has more wires and controls than a german battleship ...

 

[matti]

I have got a 3 Tier system.
It is basically shelving with HLT-Mashtun-Kettle.

HLT -40 litre Crown electric urn.
Mashtun-36L Keepcold circular esky with 9" false bottom
70 L SS kettle on a Rambo burner
linky

Little crude and time consuming perhaps.

As for fly sparging or batch sparging.

I tend to fly sparge more often then not as I have found I eke more out of the grain on my system.

Matti

ps less valves to muck up this way LOL

 

[Zwickel]

...has more wires and controls than a german battleship ...

hahahaha....yeah, thats really a monster. But it makes peace, not war

referring to the sparge: I do a first batch sparge and a second fly sparge, so I cant complain about the efficiency.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[sqyre]

Hi, 3 Tier, Gravity Fed for me.

The chiller coil is plumbed in and its water flows back into my main watertank.

I have plumbed up the hotwater system to it so i can fill the HLT directly with hot water (no lifting buckets) with a 3600 watt element so i can bring 20litres to the boil in approx 15min. This allows me to heat up each water addition to temp individually instead of Boiling all my water at the start and adjusting it to temp.

Plus all the cool water that flows before the hotwater comes through the line is also diverted back to my water tank.

The mash tun is hinged and with handles for easy dumping of spent grain and washing out. (i pinched this idea from Tony.Great idea!)

And i have also plumbed in a water gun for washing out which also has a mist setting for controlling boilovers.

Each vessel has the same 3/4 inch hose fitting so the same 2 foot hose gets connected for draining from one to the next.

And i only have to step up 2 steps to add and mix the grain.. after that there is no more lifting/climbing.

During sparging i have large stainless bowl with holes in the bottom that sits on top of the mash tun for tipping the sparge wort back into. We just use a 1 litre jug. Mrs Sqyre is about 5 foot and she does it with ease without using the stairs.















Sqyre. :icon_cheers:

 

[Zwickel]

Squire, that is very impressive, its a sculpture, beautiful :icon_chickcheers:

So there are many ways leading to the goal.

Just to see how my my idea for a one tier/one pump brewery is, Ive made a drawing:

http://www.elcom-mayer.de/bier/Brewing_Concept.pdf

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[MHB]

Zwickel
I dont see any way you can run/pump hot wort through the heat exchanger to sterilise that circuit.

Heat exchangers being the #1 source for infections in a brewery you might want to revise that.

MHB

 

[Zwickel]

Zwickel
I dont see any way you can run/pump hot wort through the heat exchanger to sterilise that circuit.

Heat exchangers being the #1 source for infections in a brewery you might want to revise that.

MHB

no worries mate, after all Im going to recirculate hot caustic soda through all used tubes and equipment. It recirculates for at least 30 mins. followed by a rinse with hot citric acid.

You may take an endoscope to have a look inside the chiller, you wont find any debris left in there

Cheers :icon_cheers:


PS ahem....I do that already since more than 6 years with the same chiller, never had any infection :beer:

edit: spelling

 

[Screwtop]

Single tier /march pump IMO is the way to go

+1

No selection for Yes, 1 tier 1 pump

 

[Cortez The Killer]

+1

No selection for Yes, 1 tier 1 pump

How do you fly sparge with a single tier / 1 pump?

Cheers

 

[Swinging Beef]

No selection for Yes, 1 tier 1 pump

But I have none, and dont have any short term plans to get one, neither.
Thats what we have outdoor furniture for.
"Dad, why is all the furniture sticky?" :icon_drunk:

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Here is a large collection of brew stand setups

http://www.brewzilla.nl/?brewhalla

Cheers

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I've noticed that most people have the HLT above the M/T + Kettle in a 2 tier system

I was think of having the M/T above the other two - so that only the mash and sparge water would need to be pumped

Is there a benefit to have the HLT above the others?

Also does the march pump have the capacity pump through the outlet valve (eg to underlet a mash tun or fill a kettle from the tap)

Cheers

 

[brettprevans]

I based my design on pumpy and Bonj's. Keleiny has the monther of simplicity 1 tier + pump setups. He even transported his to the recent Vic caseswap in his ute. brillient and simple.

 

[nifty]

I've noticed that most people have the HLT above the M/T + Kettle in a 2 tier system

I was think of having the M/T above the other two - so that only the mash and sparge water would need to be pumped

Is there a benefit to have the HLT above the others?

Also does the march pump have the capacity pump through the outlet valve (eg to underlet a mash tun or fill a kettle from the tap)

Cheers

My HLT is above the mash tun and kettle. I underlet from the HLT to the mash tun using gravity through the inactive march pump (in the reverse direction of the pumped flow), which has the added benefit of priming the pump as it goes.

nifty

 

[Kleiny]

Kleiny has the mother of simplicity 1 tier + pump setups. He even transported his to the recent Vic caseswap in his ute. brillient and simple.

Here it is

just two hoses that can be connected to any outlet with brass tap fittings or just over the top of the vessels
as CM2 put it simple but effective

 

[Mitchell]

2 Tier. HLT on top. Works for me. Gravity sparge and mostly gravity from mash to boiler with the pump used at the end for the last few litres. Mostly the pump is used to push from boiler, through plate chiller, to fermenter.



Gallery pics

Try and arrange a mash tun that hinges somehow to dump spent grain straight into wheel barrow etc. Very handy. Mine has a middle section that hinges on the back edge of the frame and I have some steel straps that clamp the mash tun to the frame (these are under the insulation and not really visible in the pics btw). I wanted the mash tun to be easily removable. In retrospect that seems a little unnecessary and welding it to the hinged section would have probably worked fine

I put in adjustable height burner rigs because I wasn't sure exactly what height I wanted them mounted (had someone else build the frame). Now that the burners are in they stay the same height all the time.... I still like the adjustable height thingy but it doesn't get much use.

I put in two gas bottles mostly because I couldn't be arsed messing about with gas line plumbing. Glad I did. Gas lasts twice as long. If one runs out the other one is there ready to bring home the boil.

I went for plastic quick disconnects for all my fittings and am having some issues with them sticking when hot. Have replaced more of their seals than I'd like as ripping them apart when hot seems to be hard on the seals. Tried some keg lube I had lying around and that buggered my seals even faster (seemed to make them nice and stretchy ...and loose). Open to suggestions on that one. At the moment I'm thinking of switching to SS disconnects.

 

[Pumpy]

2 Tier. HLT on top. Works for me. Gravity sparge and mostly gravity from mash to boiler with the pump used at the end for the last few litres. Mostly the pump is used to push from boiler, through plate chiller, to fermenter.

View attachment 23118

Gallery pics

Try and arrange a mash tun that hinges somehow to dump spent grain straight into wheel barrow etc. Very handy. Mine has a middle section that hinges on the back edge of the frame and I have some steel straps that clamp the mash tun to the frame (these are under the insulation and not really visible in the pics btw). I wanted the mash tun to be easily removable. In retrospect that seems a little unnecessary and welding it to the hinged section would have probably worked fine

I put in adjustable height burner rigs because I wasn't sure exactly what height I wanted them mounted (had someone else build the frame). Now that the burners are in they stay the same height all the time.... I still like the adjustable height thingy but it doesn't get much use.

I put in two gas bottles mostly because I couldn't be arsed messing about with gas line plumbing. Glad I did. Gas lasts twice as long. If one runs out the other one is there ready to bring home the boil.

I went for plastic quick disconnects for all my fittings and am having some issues with them sticking when hot. Have replaced more of their seals than I'd like as ripping them apart when hot seems to be hard on the seals. Tried some keg lube I had lying around and that buggered my seals even faster (seemed to make them nice and stretchy ...and loose). Open to suggestions on that one. At the moment I'm thinking of switching to SS disconnects.

That is One nice brewery Mitchell

Pumpy