The Mallee Mash House

[kirem]

Here are some first pics of the partly completed brewery. The top is the HLT, underneath the HLT is the tipping mash-tun and off to the right the kettle.

 

[devo]

nice work, impressive.

 

[warrenlw63]

Kierem

Looks good just wondering if steam from your HLT and boil kettle is going to have any detrimental effects on your mill or does it have S/S rollers? :unsure:

Warren -

 

[kirem]

crankandstein three roller SS.

Still some plumbing including solenoids to be done, the pump mounted and the smarts installed.

I have had a slight re think on the kettle design and will probably add a whirlpool and immersion chiller into the design as well.

The vessels will also be insulated and it will have a set wheels added to one end so I can pick it up like a wheelbarrow and move it around.

 

[razz]

Well done kirem, I'm envious of the tip and dump mash tun.

 

[bugwan]

Top work kirem, looks great. How have you attached the tipping arms on each side of the mash tun? Welds or otherwise?

Good to see some stainless porn again. Good luck with breaking it in...!

 

[Voosher]

umm should be Mallee Mash House, can't work out how to fix a typo in the topic title

I dunno.
The "Malle Mash House" has something of a Belgian ring to it.

Nice work, whatever you choose to call it.
:beer:

 

[mika]

Just thinking out loud... is it a good idea to have the mill dropping straight into the mash tun ? What happens if you want to run it thru for a second crush ?

 

[kirem]

With three rollers I haven't yet needed to run the grain through a second time.

 

[jimmyjack]

That looks like a sensational set up!! Just be mindful of doing a crush to close to your boil and chill area. Many a spontaneous infection can occur from grain dust landing on your wort. Perhaps a quick hose down or air blast of the area will stop that. However in saying that I usually crush within 2 o 3 meters of my set up and never had any probs

Cheers JJ

 

[kirem]

How have you attached the tipping arms on each side of the mash tun? Welds or otherwise?

the arms extend all the way through the keg. The walls of the keg aren't thick enough to weld arms onto and have a chance of holding a full mash without bending.

 

[mika]

Those are 50Lt size kegs aren't they ?
I've seen another tipping setup where the arms were welded to the keg. Think the trick is to have a fair size doubler plate of probably 2mm thickness. Or maybe even a complete load ring to run around the keg at the point the arms are attached to prevent any localised flexing of the keg wall.
Mind you the one I saw just had the ~1" tube welded directly to the side of the keg from what I can recall...don't know if it's still that way, it was a reasonably new setup when I saw it.

 

[Guest Lurker]

That looks like a sensational set up!! Just be mindful of doing a crush to close to your boil and chill area.

Cheers JJ

Hey Kirem. Looks great, but it would be a shame to make great beer on it and have some grain dust drop in the kettle. I would be inclined to do a quick water spray after crushing as JJ says to make any dust less mobile.

 

[kirem]

This is how I have planned to do the plumbing. I haven't worked out how I can add an adjustable sparge arm that won't interfere with the tipping design. Any ideas, perhaps a detachable or flexible return line?

It is all in stainless 1/2inch pipe with a copper coil in the HLT. The exposed lines will be insulated, either that stuff they put on hot water heater pipes or that wrap that can go on exhaust manifolds and turbo plumbing in vehicles.

The hose from the bottom of the mash tun to the pump is flexible and just long enough to allow the tun to tip.

Solenoid 1&2 turn on and off to use the heat exchanger or not and are controlled via a PID controller and temperature probe on the return line into the mash tun.

Solenoid 3 is the line into the kettle and isn't really necessary, could be a ball valve, but might be handy down the track for a bit more automation

Solenoid 4 is for doughing in and fly sparging. The mash tun will have a level switch on it to control the fly sparge level.


The red lines are my first thoughts on a whirlpool setup. I read somewhere that the return should be at 30 degrees to the tangent and half way up the vessel. I could use solenoids or ball valves for this.

The drawing on the photo is very dodgym I hope it makes sense.

Any ideas or potential problems?

Kirk

 

[ant]

This is how I have planned to do the plumbing. I haven't worked out how I can add an adjustable sparge arm that won't interfere with the tipping design. Any ideas, perhaps a detachable or flexible return line?

Have your sparge arm connected through a lid for the mash tun using silicone tube, so you can remove it when tipping. To make it height adjustable, just drill a snug fit or use a hose clamp on the silicone hose and slide it up or down through the lid.

What sort of solenoids are you looking to use?

 

[kirem]

1/2 inch bsp SS

 

[kirem]

I went with the plumbing design I posted.

I also got a 2 inch high ring welded into the bottom of the kettle. It sits about an inch from the edge. The pickup sits in the area between the ring and the wall of the kettle. I hope this will help keep the solids in the centre away from the pickup.

I choose to use ball valves for the whirlpool path for the time being.

It should be complete by the end of the week in time for a weekend brew.

 

[ArnieW]

Hi Kirem,

good work with your brew rig. I'm guessing that by the weekend you will have ball valves in it rather than solenoids. A solenoid that is suitable for brewing can be massively expensive - the types that you get for watering systems have a pin hole and diaphram that requires back pressure (like mains water pressure) to make them operate. The pin hole means that just a small fragment of grain will block them up

Below is a photo of my latest project - a motorised gate valve.



It is just about ready for a test, I just have to finish the control board. I think it will be a goer, and apart from the valve, will cost about $35 in parts.

To the left there are open and close push buttons (red and black). Underneath the gate valve handle is a drive cog that is linked to a geard motor to the right of it. Runs on 12V and takes about 8 secs to open or close.

Did you have any specific solenoid in mind - do you have a part number or web reference, or is it just something you'd like to do in the future?

cheers and happy brewing, Arnie

 

[kirem]

The solenoids are SS off of a decommisioned centrifuge here at work.

I got the engineering department here at work to find something suitable.

 

[ArnieW]

The solenoids are SS off of a decommisioned centrifuge here at work.

I got the engineering department here at work to find something suitable.

Wow Kirem,

half your luck :beerbang:

I'm now green with envy.

cheers, Arnie