Bennachie brewery new build

[pantsmachine]

Damn!! Pants, I wish I had found this thread a few weeks ago – it would have saved me many hours of brain strain…

Your drawing is quite similar to what I have come up with (knicked many of the ideas from other contributors here – thanks very much to you all!) albeit mine is on a scale of between a half and seventh of yours.

I had not thought of a stuck sparge line, will be trying a Leyand CF chiller, no test points and boring old fermenters for the time being.
I hope to use a single pump where you have two coming out of the copper.
I have also knicked Garysmiff’s RIM but am having trouble getting a suitable cartridge heater at the mo.
I am planning to use the second Speck to drive the CF with four extra valves to reverse flow direction so that I can circulate via the boiler for cleaning – it has a max head of 15m so it should work. If not the Nilfisk 150 bar pressure washer will find itself connected up.

What are you doing for the Aerator?
I have got a PT10 of O2 but would prefer a more hygienic injection method.
I used a stainless micro pipe with a very tight constriction to get a fine jet into the liquid before (nitrogen into Guinness clone) but the idea of using an air stone is horrendous – all those nice little voids for nasties to grow in!

Where would the fun be in NOT doing the brain strain? I am not sure what i will be doing for an Aerator. Have not looked into it yet! Expect i will be looking at 1 micron filters or similar, any suggestions(thanks Aleman) feel free as its all a learning curve and i am still very much on the upside of the curve.

I was out quadbiking today with a mate and went in past the Deeside Brewery, nobody there but brewer ok'd for us to have a look round by phone. Nice 10bbl set up(PBC build), hat off to the guy for going for it in such a big way! Bought a few of his beers and going to trial them side by side with some of mine at dinner at my mates on Saturday. Damn these market trials!

[pantsmachine]

Been on the horns of a dilema for tha past few months about where to site the brewery whne its ready. I had been going to build a purpose built job down the bottom of the garden. Couldn't be bothered with all that at this stage so my wife and i gutted the garage today and got the gear in for a test fit to see if it will take up an acceptable amount of space. We are happy. Now where are my pumps....

[WishboneBrewery]

Who's going in the coffin?

[pantsmachine]

Possibly my hopes and dreams?
I have been looking about the net at a few breweries mostly of the painfully intensely stainless steel variety with swank temp controllers lcd's 'n' all that magic gubbins.
At this point(as it does in most DIY proj's i undertake) the old self doubt is kicking in. Lovely though these systems are(i do like a bit of shiney) i can't bring myself to go down that route for 2 reasons.

Answers on a postcard as to why i'm not going full on shiney(leaving myself wide open on this one)!

[befuggled]

Thanks Aleman (sorry about the delay!)
The idea of taking it back out of the FV again is a bit alien - it makes sense on a larger scale, but is probably not on for 25L at a time. Although I have sized the system for 50L max, I am stuck with using one or two 33L FVs for the time being. Having said that, the conical vessels intended for Bio-diesel are looking very attractive...
Thinks - maybe I need a third Speck pump....
But they are only rated at 80C - is hot wort at 80C good enough to sanitise? I was thinking I need 100C. I am using steam-rated Pegler valves so I am limited by the Specks spec...

[pantsmachine]

Jumping into the aeration discussion. I came a cross this site showing a whirlpool chiller, wonder if the wort drop over the cooling period would be enough to aerate the wort sufficently? I think it would be. 2 birds with 1 stone and all that.

http://www.mrmalty.com/chiller.php

I'm not looking for fancy, effective does me every time.

[Aleman]

Back to the aeration question. I've been down all sorts of routes, including in line aeration with oxygen pumping from the Kettle to the FV.

What I do now after using a whirlpool chiller similar to Mr Malty, is simply pump the cold wort to the FV and stick a sanitised finger over the outlet of the pipe (I do think I need to make a custom shiny gadget to replace the finger . . . . either that or stop flaming the finger to sanitise ) this generates masses of foam (especially when directing the 'fan' of wort back into the foam.

For 25L . . . Paddle or whisk in an electric (cordless) drill . . . 5 minutes sorted

[befuggled]

Thanks Aleman,

I feel another bodge coming on - five minutes with a drill in hand sounds boring so a whisk on some sort of mounted motor drive vill be hatched!
Combining ideas from here, I have already built the CF chiller with recirculation pump to return the wort to the boiler. My intention was to keep as much trub in the boiler as possible. The Mr Malty article highlights hop aroma retention which has to be a major bonus.

I can think of two largely impractical ideas to save your over heater digit.
1) British Standard Finger - these really are made - to test equipment for electrical and mechanical safety.
2) B&Q or similar - bit of plastic with a softer rounded end for smoothing down sealants. I have one spare if you want it, I used it once when doing the bathroom last year but found that my own gob-wetted pinky was much more effective...

[pantsmachine]

Messing around with the welder, chopped down by 5" in height and strengthened the gas burner head frame to accomadate the increased load of the new kettle. Also sold 2 kegs i was not using to fund another purchase or two.

Running total
stainless copper £96 incl delivery
igloo mash tun £110 incl delivery
conical fermenter £92 incl delivery
3 of 3mtr lengths 22mm copper pipe £20
Various copper fitting for manifold builds £20
Carbon steel flatbar & box section for fermenter stand(incl 4 adjustable feet)£16
SIlver paint,drill bits and bolts for above £25
Stainless 1" ball valve £10
2 of 80 ltr opaque HDPE containers c/w lids £26
Temp kettle valve and hop filter fittings £20
Various fittings for mash tun and kettle connection £30
Stainless filter mesh £8
3 of Speck fluid pumps £129
SOLD 2 of pressure barrels
Barrel funds purchased 24V variable power supply to control the Speck pumps and a inline water flow meter so i can monitor volume used.
To date £605

This frame would not support a 450ltr filled kettle!



Not pretty but 5" lower and legs doubled up, survived the me standing on it really hard load test.

All 3 legs have extra plate welded in to stiffen, Also ground down and doubled up the welds over the whole of the frame and a couple of extra stiffeners around the rim support


WOW, that's ugly but it will serve its purpose and the kettle is now solid and supported properly.

[Aleman]

I would have had legs/feet made and welded to the kettle rather than stand the kettle on the burner frame . . . after all if you fill it to 450L with water that's 450Kg and with a 1.050 wort 472Kg.

Looking Good though

[pantsmachine]

I would have had legs/feet made and welded to the kettle rather than stand the kettle on the burner frame . . . after all if you fill it to 450L with water that's 450Kg and with a 1.050 wort 472Kg.

Looking Good though

I agree but at the end of the day i am a tight git and a bit steptoe TBH. See pictures below for confirmation of my being Harry H Corbett reincarnated.

Bored this afternoon and started thinking about sparge wands. By this i mean 1 i can remove on a flexible pipe and clip to the wall when its not in use. Out i went and made something that reminds me of a gents urinal trough. Nonetheless its going to work and quite well i think. 1 mtr long & 100 of 2mm holes

The 2 bits of copper on the ground are simulating my tun internal walls(no really they are). Also the height of the arm is correct for the tun depth. See bottom photo. Put both together and its a decent enough arc and coverage.





Max flow from the kettle would have channeling effect but luckily i can throttle it down and the kettles only for test purposes.


Not going to worry about the finer points of mounting/storing yet. Just glad i made it and the angles of flow work. I know i'm not inventing the wheel here but i was really chuffed when i opened the gate valve and the water flowed through. Sad git!

Running total
stainless copper £96 incl delivery
igloo mash tun £110 incl delivery
conical fermenter £92 incl delivery
3 of 3mtr lengths 22mm copper pipe £20
Various copper fitting for manifold builds £20
Carbon steel flatbar & box section for fermenter stand(incl 4 adjustable feet)£16
SIlver paint,drill bits and bolts for above £25
Stainless 1" ball valve £10
2 of 80 ltr opaque HDPE containers c/w lids £26
Temp kettle valve and hop filter fittings £20
Various fittings for mash tun and kettle connection £30
Stainless filter mesh £8
3 of Speck fluid pumps £129
SOLD 2 of pressure barrels
Barrel funds purchased 24V variable power supply to control the Speck pumps and a inline water flow meter so i can monitor volume used.
22mm end cap
2 of 2mm drill bits
wand mounting clips
To date £609

[pantsmachine]

Continued the fabrication side of things today and built the brew stand. The unit is 1300mmL 600mmW and 920mmH. There is a 7" drop from the Mash tun draw point to the kettle fill point so that should be fine.

I built the stand larger than the footprint of the mash tun so i will have a 400mm table at the rear(oppostie to wort draw point) for general brewing stuff(hydro's jugs etc). The level down from the tun will be for grains etc. I have got a load of chipboard flooring so i will cut and fit some of that until i can get some stainless sheeting for the 2 levels. Good fun building it and only 2 blisters when i forgot and tried to move the stand at the point i had just welded!

Anyone know of a lacquer or similar i can use to spray my copper pipes to keep them from oxidising externally? I know this isn't anything like a show system but i would like to swank up the bits i've got!






I realised the benefits of building your own stand when i was working out the level i wanted for good flow from tun and access to clean out without a ladder.

Running total
stainless copper £96 incl delivery
igloo mash tun £110 incl delivery
conical fermenter £92 incl delivery
3 of 3mtr lengths 22mm copper pipe £20
Various copper fitting for manifold builds £20
Carbon steel flatbar & 25mm box section for fermenter stand(incl 4 adjustable feet)£16
SIlver paint,drill bits and bolts for above £25
Stainless 1" ball valve £10
2 of 80 ltr HDPE containers c/w lids £26
Temp kettle valve and hop filter fittings £20
Various fittings for mash tun and kettle connection £30
Stainless filter mesh £8
3 of Speck fluid pumps £129
SOLD 2 of pressure barrels
Barrel funds purchased 24V variable power supply to control the Speck pumps and a inline water flow meter so i can monitor volume used.
22mm end cap
2 of 2mm drill bits
wand mounting clips
Cutting disc £5
Paint £10
30mm box section 14mtrs,end plugs and adjustable feet £38
To date £662

[pantsmachine]

Finished the brew stand yesterday and knocked a couple of holes in my overback. I will fit the overback in the next couple of days. I think i'll fit a sight glass to it for east monitoring of Liqour used. Also ordered a couple of switches and a small JB to mount the switches on. These are to control the pumps. Had a tremendous urge to brew when transferring my grains to the blue sealed bucket for storage under the stand! I am not letting myself brew any more until the 1st run on the system that keeps me moving on it.





Running total
stainless copper £96 incl delivery
igloo mash tun £110 incl delivery
conical fermenter £92 incl delivery
3 of 3mtr lengths 22mm copper pipe £20
Various copper fitting for manifold builds £20
Carbon steel flatbar & 25mm box section for fermenter stand(incl 4 adjustable feet)£16
SIlver paint,drill bits and bolts for above £25
Stainless 1" ball valve £10
2 of 80 ltr HDPE containers c/w lids £26
Temp kettle valve and hop filter fittings £20
Various fittings for mash tun and kettle connection £30
Stainless filter mesh £8
3 of Speck fluid pumps £129
SOLD 2 of pressure barrels
Barrel funds purchased 24V variable power supply to control the Speck pumps and a inline water flow meter so i can monitor volume used.
22mm end cap
2 of 2mm drill bits
wand mounting clips
Cutting disc £5
Paint £10
30mm box section 14mtrs,end plugs and adjustable feet £38
Pump control switches £4.20
Plastic box for transformer and switches £12
Rubber grommets for sealing cables in JB £2.20
To date £681

[adm]

Looking good there! Wish I could weld.

[befuggled]

I have used Rustins paint-on lacquer on the cold pipes and Hycote clear varnish on the hot pipes.
BUT I don't know if either or both will work long term yet!
The Hycote is for pimping car/bike engines at up to 450 of 650C, depending on what you read. It has to be baked before use at lower temperatures, so I don't know if 80C will be enough.

I should be getting some of it up to temperature soon, so I will let you know when it drops off...

If anyone knows of something they have used before and works, I am sure we would both appreciate it!