Well Here It Is. The New Brewery

[browndog]

Justin,
Where might one pick up polycarbonate tubing ?

cheers

Browndog

 

[Justin]

Any good plastics place will have it. Look under "Plastics-Wholeslrs and Mfr's" in the Yellow pages or the several Plastics heading before the one mentioned. Give them a call and ask for polycarbonate tube. Most of the big adds under there have polycarbonate listed in the ad. It's about $6 p/m I think if I remember right. Pretty common stuff.

You could use acrylic. My first one worked for a while but I boil in my HLT on occasion and it clouded and later cracked at the water level. By polycarbonate, clear, strong and good to about 135C.

Cheers, JD

 

[vlbaby]

fantastic work justin!
I especially like the whirlpool setup you have going. I think i'll be keen to try something similar in my own rig, if you dont mind me being a copy cat.

vlbaby.

 

[Justin]

No worries vlbaby, we're all copy cats really. Unfortunately, nothing on my system is really that unique and has been scrounged/plagerised off here or many other homebrewery websites and forums. Just when you think you have come up with a unique idea, someone else has already done it .

Ah doesn't matter anyway, take what you can, tweak it to your own situation and use it. No point in making the same mistake as someone else if they have already tested the idea. Half the fun of homebrewing I think, helping others out.

Yeah, I think I like the whirlpooling idea. Looking forward to employing a manifold specifically designed for the purpose, should improve it even more. The cooling side of it worked really well. I chilled in about 20mins to 18C without stirring the chiller once-which you really have to do if you want your immersion chiller to be efficient. Once properly plumbed in I'll be able to chill without removing the lid.

The actual whirlpooling of the trub to form a cone I hope will work better. I removed the chiller at 18C and continued to whirlpool with the pump. While I was getting a whirlpooling action I think my manifold was directing the flow to the bottom and disrupting the cone of trub so that's why I'd like to try it with a 90 degree bend pumping wort parallel to the sides of the kettle.

I'll report back next time I brew and have it properly set up.

Cheers mate.

 

[joecast]

very nice justin. you really have been busy!! glad to hear it all worked out ok.
joe

 

[Tseay]

Excellent work Justin- You've saved us all a lot of design work. Now its off to the welding course for me !

T

 

[PeterS]

Nice work Justin. It appears that we were both working on a similar set-up at the same time and borrowed some ideas from the same source. I too borrowed AndrewQ design but ended up with a HERMS system that I pinched from Batz. I found it difficult to fly sparge on a single tier and ended up raising my MLT to facilitate gravity feed from MLT to Kettle. I am going to try Batch sparging next as I like the concept of a single tier set-up that eliviated climbing up steps or what not.

With my first test run the other day, I must say how nice and clear the wort appeared after a bit of recirc in the HERMS. It beats worrying about temp variations as well as I just set my recently bulk puchased temp controller in the HLT to the desired temp and wathed the resultant clear wort flowing through.

Just as a suggestion re polycarbonate tubing. I bought an extra lenght and cut it up to about 6" pieces. I than inserted these pieces in the connecting tubes somewhear near the ball valves. This way you can see your throughput clearly and observe if there is any air in the system.

I also use Brass quick disconnects, however I am a bit concerned as these connectors are designed for a higher pressure water flow. Whilst it appears to work OK with no leaks, there might be some air let in the system which is a bit of a worry. We will see how it goes as I know a lot of others are using it also with no apparent problems apart from the fact that it gets a bit hot to handle sometimes.

The only issue that I had with my first test run was that my CCFWC got blocked very quickly. This is also another new addition to my system and I just had to adjust to using it. I use a braid pick up in my kettle that let too much trub through from hop pellets. Since my first run, I purchased an inline filter that I hope will take care of this.

It never ends Jason does it?. My next project before Christmas is a kegging setup. Good luck with your future endeavours.

Cheers. :beer:
PeterS....

 

[mongo]

Thanks for the info Justin. I am onto it.
Your set up really is great.

 

[Ross]

Nice work Justin. It appears that we were both working on a similar set-up at the same time and borrowed some ideas from the same source. I too borrowed AndrewQ design but ended up with a HERMS system that I pinched from Batz. I found it difficult to fly sparge on a single tier and ended up raising my MLT to facilitate gravity feed from MLT to Kettle. I am going to try Batch sparging next as I like the concept of a single tier set-up that eliviated climbing up steps or what not.

With my first test run the other day, I must say how nice and clear the wort appeared after a bit of recirc in the HERMS. It beats worrying about temp variations as well as I just set my recently bulk puchased temp controller in the HLT to the desired temp and wathed the resultant clear wort flowing through.

Just as a suggestion re polycarbonate tubing. I bought an extra lenght and cut it up to about 6" pieces. I than inserted these pieces in the connecting tubes somewhear near the ball valves. This way you can see your throughput clearly and observe if there is any air in the system.

I also use Brass quick disconnects, however I am a bit concerned as these connectors are designed for a higher pressure water flow. Whilst it appears to work OK with no leaks, there might be some air let in the system which is a bit of a worry. We will see how it goes as I know a lot of others are using it also with no apparent problems apart from the fact that it gets a bit hot to handle sometimes.

The only issue that I had with my first test run was that my CCFWC got blocked very quickly. This is also another new addition to my system and I just had to adjust to using it. I use a braid pick up in my kettle that let too much trub through from hop pellets. Since my first run, I purchased an inline filter that I hope will take care of this.

It never ends Jason does it?. My next project before Christmas is a kegging setup. Good luck with your future endeavours.

Cheers. :beer:
PeterS....

[post="87271"][/post]​

Peter,

time you borrowed a camera & posted a few pics... Otherwise, get the invites happening & we'll take 'em for you ;-) hint, hint ...

 

[Jase]

G'day Justin,

Great looking setup.

With birthday and christmas around the corner, I've decided to mention that brewing gear would be a great present.

I like the idea of the disconnects. Any chance of getting a close up pic of the disconnects and valves connected together?

Cheers,
Jase

 

[Justin]

I'll try. Will have to borrow the camera again. Will try to do it by early next week if you like. I'm not at home at the moment.

Cheers. Justin

 

[Jase]

I'll try. Will have to borrow the camera again. Will try to do it by early next week if you like. I'm not at home at the moment.

Cheers. Justin

[post="90035"][/post]​

That's would be great. Thanks mate.

Cheers,
Jase

 

[Batz]

Nice work Justin. It appears that we were both working on a similar set-up at the same time and borrowed some ideas from the same source. I too borrowed AndrewQ design but ended up with a HERMS system that I pinched from Batz. I found it difficult to fly sparge on a single tier and ended up raising my MLT to facilitate gravity feed from MLT to Kettle. I am going to try Batch sparging next as I like the concept of a single tier set-up that eliviated climbing up steps or what not.

With my first test run the other day, I must say how nice and clear the wort appeared after a bit of recirc in the HERMS. It beats worrying about temp variations as well as I just set my recently bulk puchased temp controller in the HLT to the desired temp and wathed the resultant clear wort flowing through.

Just as a suggestion re polycarbonate tubing. I bought an extra lenght and cut it up to about 6" pieces. I than inserted these pieces in the connecting tubes somewhear near the ball valves. This way you can see your throughput clearly and observe if there is any air in the system.

I also use Brass quick disconnects, however I am a bit concerned as these connectors are designed for a higher pressure water flow. Whilst it appears to work OK with no leaks, there might be some air let in the system which is a bit of a worry. We will see how it goes as I know a lot of others are using it also with no apparent problems apart from the fact that it gets a bit hot to handle sometimes.

The only issue that I had with my first test run was that my CCFWC got blocked very quickly. This is also another new addition to my system and I just had to adjust to using it. I use a braid pick up in my kettle that let too much trub through from hop pellets. Since my first run, I purchased an inline filter that I hope will take care of this.

It never ends Jason does it?. My next project before Christmas is a kegging setup. Good luck with your future endeavours.

Cheers. :beer:
PeterS....

[post="87271"][/post]​

Peter,

time you borrowed a camera & posted a few pics... Otherwise, get the invites happening & we'll take 'em for you ;-) hint, hint ...

[post="87308"][/post]​

hint. hint ...

Batz

 

[PeterS]

Following an earlier comment by me that I have no camera to take a picture of my brewery, AndrewQ and Batz stopped over to Ross's place to have a look and see.
No more excuses now as they took some photos.

Like justin, I started off being a monkey see monkey do and took particular notice and seeked advice from Batz and AndrewQ as to how should I set up my Brewery . I started a system that was a single tier than modified it as a two tier to facilitate gravity feed from MLT to Kettle and finished up with a HERMS system. It is not quite finished yet, thinking of adding a windscreen wiper motor as a stirer and as is the norm it is forever and ongoing project. I used to call my Brewery Desert Dusk but decided to change it to Oasis Brewery as it is an Oasis amongst a lot of junk and I look forward to spending some time there every day. I am glad that the picture does not show the rest of of layout underneat the house next to my car.

 

[AndrewQLD]

And a very nice system it is too Peter, we had a sample of a couple of beers, the standard house beer was a pearl, very easy to drink and the Pilsner was superb. You've done a great job Peter.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Ross]

WOW!!

You kept that gem a secret - looks fantastic... When's open day :chug:

cheers Ross...

 

[Batz]

Yes great brewery you have there

And the lawnmower beer was very nice , I wouldn't mine seeing that recipe....please?

Batz

 

[KoNG]

Preeetttyyyy...!!!
when i grow up i want abrewery just like yours....


ps. time to change the signature to reflect the new 'oasis brewery'

 

[warrenlw63]

Peter.

That's one classy rig.

Warren -

 

[johnno]

Very nice Peter.

Also given me a good idea with the way the pump is set up.

johnno