My New Steel Timber Clad Brewery

[gdanby]

Ok, 5 months after I started the upgrade after completely under-estimating the amount of work required, I've done my first brew on the new equipment...



50l SS HLT timber clad, 30l Mashtun (existing), 70l SS Boiler with twin Haden Elements, 50l SS timber clad fermentor. The extractor was obtained free of charge after a kitchen showroom was throwing it out.

I'm most proud of the fermentatation vessel. A standard 50l marmite stockpot, surrounded by 12m of heating cable and 12m of cooling pipe, with a 5" stainless steel thermowell.



Then a few layers of aluminium foil to prevent the heat and condensation creeping into the 30mm of insulation and timber. The timber was mitred to the correct angle, dowel holes drilled, then all glude together.



The cooling pipes are connected to a Maxi chiller using quick disconnects and the heating cable via a kettle lead to the ATC-800+ along with the temperature probe. For my first brew on this equipment, I set the target temperature to 19C and it held it perfectly well. I decided to then dry hop and crash cool to 7C, which it reached in a few hours and is holding it without stressing out the Maxi too much. The ambient temp is about 16C. If this continues to work well, then I should be able to brew lagers and belgian beers at the right temp.

It took a few weeks to sort out all the minor leaks and snags with the stainless steel fittings and pipework, but I'm now one happy brewer!

[chris2012]

Love the timber - looks very fancy!

What did you use for the heating cable and where did you get it from? I've not seen that kind of thing before.

[barneey]

I used a soli heater on mine

[gdanby]

As barneey has said, Its Parasene under soil heating cable so its fully water proof and I've read that people use it for many other uses such as reptile cages. I got it from ebay for about £35 and it's only rated at 150W, so it heats the pot up gently. I couldn't think of what else to use - perhaps a brew belt would have done, but this heats the whole pot up rather then just a part of it.

[chris2012]

Cheers, looks very handy. I assume it's not possible to cut it down to the size you want though?

One thing I've been thinking of for my fermenter, is to use one pipe wrapped round the fermenter that can both heat and cool.
By making use of a Maxi beer chiller + a heating element.

[gdanby]

No, you have to buy the right size heating cable for your pot as unless you have the right equipment its not possible to join. I did think about a single pipe that routed through either a heater or chiller, the only concerns I had were the number of valves I'd have to install. If it wasn't done right, you'd get hot water gravity circulation like in your house central heating. I'd be really interested if you did it though...

[Belter]

Is there a tutorial somewhere on how to joint wood this way?

[barneey]

To put it in simple terms, work out how many piece of timber you want, lets say 4 so the calculation is 360 degree / 4 = 90 / 2 = 45 degrees to each piece. Mine was 24 so again 360 / 24 =15 / 2 = 7.5 degree on every piece.

Just plain the timber to what ever bevell you decide, you can either then "biscuit" joint the timber + glue or use a screw / dowell jig to join them.

The difficult part is timber preparation, but choose the timber wisely if your going to this much effort. An alternative is to buy a timber oak barrel to convert but you will need a barrel to suit the pot.

[chivelegs]

I considered not looking at this thread because of the title as I knew I would feel inadequate! Ah well, back to my Heath Robinson setup.

[gdanby]

I created a spreadsheet to work out the number of panels, the length of each one and the angle I'd have to bevel them out at. I did this with a circular saw with a fine toothed disc. Probably would have been better with a router, but I tried to make do with the tools I had to hand.

I made up a dowel jig with a block of wood and short length of stainless tube, before I discovered that toolstation actually sold them !



The wood was the planed redwood from Wickes, which was supposedly easier to use than the normal pine, but I didn't think there was too much in it. Then a coat of antique pine stain and 2 coats of yacht varnish to provide the waterproofing.

[barneey]

There is also quite a good how to thread on an old polymoog thread viewtopic.php?f=6&t=35594&hilit=timber&start=30 , which also has a link to a trend tool http://www.trend-uk.com/en/UK/trend/con ... e&id=15426

When I did mine they were glued and biscuit jointed so were very difficult to hold in a true circle until everything was fitted together ( rather like an arch and key stone) , I dare say IF I ever did another I might just use the pocket approach.

What ever approach you use I`m sure gdanby will agree there is quite a bit of work that goes into to making one, but the end result is worth it.

BTW gdanby if your looking for any metal bands for the pot metaloffcuts on eBay have quite a good range of stuff + first 2 cuts are free http://stores.ebay.co.uk/metaloffcuts?_ ... 7675.l2563

[gdanby]

Thanks barneey I'll take a look at that I was looking for some steel strips to finish them off - I've searched for strapping and banding, but couldn't find anything suitable without buying it by 100m !

BTW, just kegging the first brew with it now. 5 days fermenting at 19C with Nottingham Yeast, then 3 days crash cooling at 7C with the dry hops. Its crystal clear and after only a week in the cornie should be ready to drink...

[barneey]

NP the stuff I`m using on the boiler is this with two fee cuts = 3 pieces postage is a bit steep tho

[darkonnis]

Quick question about the Maxi Cooler, are you using a solenoid valve to control the flow of cold water into the FV? Or do you simply turn on/off the cooler via STC like you would a fridge?

[gdanby]

I did the old trick of wiring the recirc pump in the maxi off a seperate plug controlled by the ATC. The cooling/compressor in the maxi is switched on all the time.