The Electric Brewery Build Begins..

[Doubleplugga]

hi Doglet. I see you finally pushed the purchase button, no looking back now. I didn't really have any major problems during the build. Just take your time tapping the heat sink and measure 3 times and cut once!! I did have a small issue when i first powered up, the PID's and the pump switches didn't work so i traced it back and realized i had missed a jumper cable on the neutral bus, connected one up and all was good to go. no other real dramas mate. wiring up the volt and amp meters was a bit confusing at first but then i realized you can take the backs off of them and see the + and - etc.made more sense then. any problems Doglet just PM me and i will do my best to answer mate. Enjoy the build, it was very satisfying!

Nev. Yeah all up the system has cost me quite a bit. I could have saved money i suppose by buying plain pots instead of Blichmanns but i didnt want to. I have worked my arse off for the past 19 years, especially the last 7 or so and decided to treat myself. My wife was also happy to have me spend the money as brewing is my only real hobby. All up i would say by the time i finish, the build would have cost probably the wrong side of $4500. I was fortunate to have access to a US postal address for alot of the parts so i saved somewhere in the vicinity of 6-700 dollars on shipping.

 

[searly333]

Hey Plugga,

I've been inspecting The Electric Brewery site for a while with interest and am now seriously considering going ahead with the build.

I was wondering if you bought your Blichmanns from the US or local?

When you say you had "access to a US postal address", does this mean you used a freight forwarding company like "MyUS" or "Ship To It" for postage?

And finally how much did shipping set you back either including or not including the pots?

Cheers, Luke

 

[Doubleplugga]

G'day mate,

I bought all 3 blichmanns from the US. 2 i had delivered to perth costing around 680 bucks delivered i think. it was nearly 200 dollars cheaper to order them from the US than it was to get them from the Aussie distributor! the 3rd pot was free shipping within domestic US so it cost me nothing.

Now my US address was basically a mate who now lives in the US. I get my gear delivered to his house and he works for an airline freight company so he puts it on the plane for me when the plane does the US,Hong Kong, perth Sydney route. it costs me nothing (except a few beers when we catch up) and there is a note attached to it with my details and i get a call when it arrives and go and pick it up. I was pretty lucky.
I also had the control panel kit, elements, temp probes, HERMS coil delivered this way. shipping for these items to Aus would have cost me around 500 dollars due to weight and size but within the US it cost me 55 dollars. so all up with one pot and all the other kit i have saved around 750 bucks in shipping so far. hope it helps mate

Scotty

 

[searly333]

Yeah thanks for that.

That sounds like a pretty good arrangement you've got going there!

I'm after the 55 gallon kettles and they're $670 in US and $1200 here. Absolutely ridiculous!

I've used MyUS in the past to buy wakeboard gear and it was a pretty good setup. Might get the dimensions and weight of the gear and see if they can give me a rough idea.

Cheers

 

[Doubleplugga]

A quick update on my progress guys. I finally found some spare time in between house reno's ( thanks to the crappy Perth weather today).
So decided to punch the holes in the Blichmanns. It couldn't have been easier to do, spending the extra money on quality punches and a step drill bit made it so much easier. Will post some pics of the kettles with the heating elements and some other bits attached after I have cleaned up the kettles and find some more time.
Cheers



the greenlee step drill bit made light attaching the cutting part of the punch
work of the kettles. to the inside




the punches cut through easily leaving a two smaller holes for ball valves for the
perfect hole with no rough edges. HERMS coil



showing the size difference between all 3 Blichmanns punched and ready
hole for element and temp probe in boil kettle for the fittings

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Well the rain is good for those inside the man shed jobs
Nev

 

[tanukibrewer]

Plugga you have the best air freight rate going!!!!!!!!Pots look nice too

 

[Doubleplugga]

Yeah it was great while it lasted but he has now left that job for a better one!!!!! Oh well, back to paying normal rates I guess

 

[Doubleplugga]

Last update on the build for quite a while guys. have to take off away for work again. going to be a pretty long stint. Had a tiny bit of time today so I put the 5500W element, temp probe and hop stopper in the boil kettle. Now I will obviously be putting the Blichmann temp probe in the kettle as well but it will be purely for looks. the temp probe you see in the pic will be the one going to the control panel boil PID. Can't wait to see how the hop stopper goes.




thanks to everyone who has shown an interest in my build, and Doglet, good luck with yours mate I know you will enjoy it.
As soon as I am home again it will be full steam ahead with the Double Plugga Brewery!!!!

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Have to say seeing the control panel yesterday I was pretty impressed. Like something the North
Koreans wish they had...

Catch ya in a few months mate.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Just read this from start to finish very impressive.... Any chance of an update?

 

[Doubleplugga]

G'day JoeyJoeJoe! No updates for the moment mate as I have been working away from home since my last post. Will be back in around a months time so will be finishing off the build and posting plenty of progress pics. It sucks as I had planned to have it up and running by now but not being at home doesn't help.
New finish date is hopefully by the end of December and first brew by the new year. I have all the bits required now except a stand and the hosing which I will grab as soon as I return.

Thanks for the interest mate

 

[Doubleplugga]

G'day AHBers. about update time on my new brewery build. have been away for a while working but finally found some spare time in between house reno's. The pics are not that good but its the best I can do at the moment. The kettles are all good to go and so is the panel. Got a stainless steel stand for it which was the perfect size. just need to get some more silicone hosing and get the 32amp power socket out the back and it should be good to go. The pic is a rough layout of how I think it will go, need to do some trial and testing with it. Has taken a while to build but I am hoping to be brewing by the new year.

inside the mash tun showing the slotted false bottom the stand and rough layout





the HLT with SS coil the boil kettle

 

[Doubleplugga]

The title should now say electric brewery build 99% complete! Just doing a test run now guys using water only unfortunately. Everything running ok so far, no leaks or electrical dramas touch wood. Will post some pics later on

 

[Doubleplugga]

couple of pics below for those interested. everything going well. no leaks and control panel works a treat. It's so good to be able to just punch a temp into the PID,s and then let them do all the work! First brew day should be happening in the next few days, thanks to all those guys that followed the thread.
Its a bit hard to see in the pic but the control panel photo is just showing the temps in the HLT and Mash tun.

Cheers
Scotty

 

[keifer33]

Its a thing of beauty mate. Good to see it finally together and ready for use.

 

[Doubleplugga]

cheers mate, it was a long build!

 

[Mardoo]

Seriously inspiring! Well done DP. I think I'm about two generations away from that sort of setup, but I WILL get there

 

[Doubleplugga]

Just keep going bit by bit Mardoo.

Cheers

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Looks great Cats, gleaming. Is that part of the original triple their being reused to hold the control station? Little bit of all grain history being passed on.