Wolfy's 3v Stainless Home-brewery Build Details

[homebrewkid]

any chance of a rough build cost or do you want to keep that private?

cheers: HBK

 

[Wolfy]

LOL, nothing about privacy, but I'm not sure I want to know.

Itemizing and adding things up, it looks like the total price will be about $750-1000
That's the total cost price, assuming that everything is purchased-new and nothing is re-used from a previous setup.
However, the actual total depends if non-purchased items are included or not (Eg hole-saws were borrowed but would have cost $50 to buy, and in theory the electric power-tools could also be included etc).

 

[WarmBeer]

Nothing says "simplicity" like a square metre of random stainless bits'n'bobs.

I envy you not your post-brew cleanup :lol:

 

[Truman42]

Hey Wolfy whats the internal diameter of the barbs on your female camlock fittings?

I have some and the diameter seemed to be quite small.
I had problems trying to prime my pump and blamed the camlock fittings coming out of the mashtun but since taking them of I still have dramas so curious to know what yours are?

 

[Wolfy]

Hey Wolfy whats the internal diameter of the barbs on your female camlock fittings?

I have some and the diameter seemed to be quite small.

I've not measured them but have noticed the same, in hindsight I should have purchased the female camlock - male-thread (rather than female camlock and hose barb) and attached the silicon hose around the male thread and got significantly less flow restriction.

 

[DanteHicks]

Was the Chickpea Marsala nice?

 

[sponge]

I've not measured them but have noticed the same, in hindsight I should have purchased the female camlock - male-thread (rather than female camlock and hose barb) and attached the silicon hose around the male thread and got significantly less flow restriction.

Exactly what I've done with my camlocks. Female parts for hoses have male threads, with the silicone tube being pushed over the top of the threads and secured with a hose clamp.

I looked at the barbs for a little bit, but decided on the thread option due to the reduced flow rate through the barbs


Sponge

 

[Truman42]

Im still having priming problems bit I think the reduced barbs may have made it worse.

 

[Wolfy]

Was the Chickpea Marsala nice?

Don't know yet, that one is unopened, but I try to keep a collection of the Indian-pocket-meals in the cupboard, just add some microwaved-rice and at about $1.50 each they make a simple, quick and tasty dinner.

Exactly what I've done with my camlocks. Female parts for hoses have male threads, with the silicone tube being pushed over the top of the threads and secured with a hose clamp.

I purchased the camlocks 6-8months ago before I realized would have been better to do it that way (spreading the new-brewery purchases over almost a year means SWMBO does not really notice the overall cost).

 

[Truman42]

........(spreading the new-brewery purchases over almost a year means SWMBO does not really notice the overall cost).

Im with you on that one brother..

 

[leahy268]

(spreading the new-brewery purchases over almost a year means SWMBO does not really notice the overall cost).

+1 to that too.. Although might be over a couple of years for me before I'm done.

 

[Wolfy]

#10: Fittings (revisited x2)

I want to stop talking about fittings and get down to brewing just as much as anyone reading this probably wants the same, however I thought it wouldn't hurt to be honest about some of the risks of being a tight-arse when buying fittings.

I mentioned earlier that the first batch of Chinese fittings were not that great quality, they'll still work fine and I'll use the fittings in non-critical areas like the sight-glass on the HLT, but still the workmanship was a bit shoddy:

The other thing to realize is that fittings do not appear to have a standard size. While they are all 1/2 inch fittings, and all mate together without much issue, the outside diameter, length and even thread-length of the fittings can vary depending on where and when they were purchased:

Each of these fittings is lined up exactly on the edge of the bench, however each is longer, taller or have longer thread-length than the other. Again it's not a major issue, however, it's something to consider if you're designing stuff that depends on specific size fittings.

In the last update I washed all the fittings (sodium percarbonate, citric acid then water rinse) and put then on a towel to dry, sure they had a few drops of water on them, but I thought nothing of it. However when looked a day later the external-body-bolts on the 3-piece ball-valve have rusted:

These were supposed to be all 316 grade stainless, and while the bolts are stamped 'A2' - which means they should be 304 grade stainless - they're clearly not if they've rusted after drying with a few spots of water on them. Interestingly these were purchased from two different Ebay vendors, so I'd guess that either the manufacturer or distributor has cut some corners or something. Both vendors were quick to offer refunds, I'll pull them apart and remove the rust and be more careful, but I presume the external-body-bolts are some inferior grade of steel which will easily rust when it gets wet, so will likely need to be replaced.

 

[notung]

Buyer beware: cheap Chinese stainless. I'm really quite surprised to see spots of rust after their first clean. Thanks a lot for the posts wolfy. I'm not planning to build a 3V rig at any time in the future but I am really finding your posts, with all their luscious close ups, super informative and enjoyable. Keep it up! :beer:

 

[Wolfy]

Buyer beware: cheap Chinese stainless. I'm really quite surprised to see spots of rust after their first clean.

Exactly, however the refund for both has already been processed, so I can't complain about that.

 

[TSMill]

Exactly what I've done with my camlocks. Female parts for hoses have male threads, with the silicone tube being pushed over the top of the threads and secured with a hose clamp.

I looked at the barbs for a little bit, but decided on the thread option due to the reduced flow rate through the barbs


Sponge

Other option is to use female threaded camlocks, coupled with a 1/2" hose tail which will give you a larger orifice than the barbed camlocks.

 

[samward]

Other option is to use female threaded camlocks, coupled with a 1/2" hose tail which will give you a larger orifice than the barbed camlocks.

That's what I am doing for the system I am currently building. I also found that the hose would often get cut up trying to get it over the male thread (I was originally using SS nipples as I could only get female threaded camlocks). Getting the silicon hose over the 1/2" (ID) hose tail seems to do less damage.

 

[Wolfy]

#11 Ball valves
Blog rant

Even after their bath in sodium percarbonate, the ball valves still had a rather nasty chemical/grease/manufacturing smell to them. Since I didn't want this in my beer, I pulled them apart and gave them a good internal clean and removed all the industrial-type grease that was packed around the ball and seals. When reassembling them I used a very small amount of food-grade keg-lube, but since they will not be turned on or off very often, it was probably not necessary. Interestingly, now that I've disassembled, cleaned and reassembled them, they actually open/close much easier than before - which is a surprise because usually I break **** when I pull it apart or it never goes back together the same.

Ball valves are probably the most common type of tap or valve used in home-brewery situations, because they can be disassembled and cleaned inside and out. 3-piece valves have more pieces and are slightly easier to clean when pulled-apart, however the 2-piece valves are just as easy to disassemble and with a rag or brush very easy to fully clean inside.

3-piece ball valves are disassembled by undoing the 4 body-bolts, and while this allows the valve to be taken apart while one end is still attached to the fitting. When reassembled two Teflon seals hold/seal the ball in place as well as providing a leak-proof seal between the three pieces of the valve. 2-piece valves are disassembled by unscrewing the two body parts, so as well as the two Teflon ball-seals, 2-piece valves have an additional smaller (and somewhat insubstantial and apparently easier to mangle) Teflon seal between the two body pieces.

Both 2 and 3-piece valves can easily be disassembled for full cleaning, and while the seals in the 3-piece valves do appear more substantial, 3-piece valves are also about 30% to 50% more expensive than similar 2-piece valves.

 

[Wolfy]

#12 Sight Glass
Blog info

A sight-glass on the HLT will help measure water into the mash and also be a visual reminder for me not to let the element in the HLT run dry. The kits from BrewHardware look good, however due to their length, postage is not very cost effective, and the similar kits I could find locally are about $60-70. In addition the information about Polycarbonate and it's relation to being food-safe did not fill me with confidence. So using the concepts from BrewHardware's kit, the sight 'glass' for the HLT is very simple; a couple of stainless elbows and nipples, a few washers, a length of silicon hose and hose clamps to hold it in place:

Since the silicon tube is not very transparent, I borrowed the little ball-thing from a kitchen kettle and added a couple of small washers that sit on the elbows so that it does not float away or get lost:

 

[Fish13]

Please i do hope you used gloves with the eta-2na

 

[kymba]

Please i do hope you used gloves with the eta-2na

keep going...