funny cartoon (oh..and my equipment)

[beermonsta]

Just in case you don't see the daily mails cartoons...


Credit to Stoney (the cartoonist)

Just thought I'd say my thanks to the many people on the forum where I have gained ALL my knowledge on to build the following...
PS if you have any questions/thoughts ...don't be shy


sparge arm

I am most proud of this simple invention, I thought Phils sparge arm is great (I'll be building one soon) but this is my version...lets call it "Ben's Spinning sparge arm" (unless someone else has already invented it .
Top of picture is complete arm, bottom is one split. Made from 10mm pipe with 2mm holes drilles, ends hammered flat and rolled over. The clever bit is removing the rubber seal on the inlet part of the T (john guest 10mm fitting) removes all friction for spinning. If well balanced it turns with little head of (strike) water and the spray arms can be adjusted by twisting the angle thus altering the spray pattern/speed of spinning.

Next up...

hopstopper up side down
Just look at all those slits - no probs here with filtering trub (can you guess I don't do things by 'alf)

hopperstopper

and now the right way up (it fits in a 10 gal boiler BTW)

Next up

IC
split/double coil for extra cooling efficiency (25m of 10mm copper!!!) notice the coils don't overlap but are split apart slightly (my thinking behind this is to increase cooling area. It's very efficient (especially with 10 gal brews where its fully submerged). I wouldn't recommend making 10mmx10mm copper spacers though to seperate the individual coils - although very rigid it was a pain to solder them all!!! - if your going to do it, use a strip of copper and run it all the way down 1 side. Still want to make a CFC though - I believe they are the dogs danglies. Went against a counter flow pipe configuration as the cleaning issue was more effort plus I don't (yet) own a pump.


mashtun
Coleman cooler
extra insulated (too much heat loss on early brews) - also a pain for loosing heat quickly when doughing-in due to large surface area.


mashtun manifold
Did I mention I have a copper fettish. My own fault - I was paranoid about "stuck mashes" after reading many post here before I started brewing - maybe this is a tad OTT?!
I think I used a full 3m piece of 15mm copper here. Fortunately I had bought a bulk load of 90's and T's for when I re-plumed my mums central heating
cutting slits was done on a band saw at work - not a problem - reaming the burrs from the inside afterwards was VERY tedious. Not again.

Well that's about it...or is it...I will be selling most of my gear soon. No - don't panic, I've not given up...

I HAVE THE SHINEY DISEASE

already bought the thermo-pot 50ltr,
and when the 50, 70 & 100ltr cooking pots arive I shall be setting about converting them too.
Did I mention the 500ltr steel conical fermentor? - No? well maybe another time.

Good job I'm building a big shed to put it all in (SWMBO keep happy policy

take it easy
Ben

[MightyMouth]

Looks good but I would mention that your mash tun manifold looks a little close to the wall of the tun, this might lead to channelling down the walls reducing the efficiency of the sparge.

[beermonsta]

hmm, only 60% of the tubing is next to the wall of the mash tun, 40% criss-crosses joining it all up. All of the copper is slotted, With a combination of the spinny sparge arm my mash effieciencies are always very good. Usually end up a few point higher than the target gravity (still need to make some minor adjustments on my sparging quantities though which should compensate).

Why do so many people put their grain filters (tubular form) next to the rim? - Thats why my design does that. I can see where you are coming from but with the criss crossing plus sparge water being 'scattered' it would be odd for it channel.

[MightyMouth]

If it works then it works, its just an observation some people have made in the past based on experiences. Most seem to recommend minimum 1 inch away from the walls.

[escapizm]

Beermonsta nice set up, I'd be interested in making ic as yours for my 60 litre boiler bucket. I have a hop and grape one that's a bit small. Any details would be appreciated as I can't quite get my head round the parts required or how the two rings connect?

Thanks

[beermonsta]

escapizm - 'tis dead easy.

Buy...
1 roll of 10mm copper tubing (I got mine form screwfix as they where cheapest at time, but local plummers might be cheaper, B&Q are the dearest)
x2 10mm T-pieces (to connect the two halves of the cooling rings)
some 10mm - whatever john guest fittings . My "whatever" is a 10mm to 15mm reducer. I use this to connect my mains water to the cooler.
The full set up goes...Mains water-->machine pipe(same as connects your washing machine/dishwasher)-->isolating valve-->15mm copper pipe-->15mm to 10mm reducer --> 10mm IC copper pipe. If your unsure about any of these parts ask and I'll post a picture.

The schematic looks like this...


To make for real just find the centre of your 25m roll of 10mm copper pipe and cut. cut about 1m from each for later
Next wrap one piece (following the natural curve of the pipe ...it comes supplied in a large coil) around a solid circular object of your desired diameter..most people me included use a cornie. Apply gentle pressure and keep tightening - be careful it doesn't unspring - two people here can help.
repeat for the second coil.
Next weave/interlace the two separate slinky coils together to form one giant coil. I left mine slightly apart to gain surface area. Then join the two bottom pipes using a copper 10mm T. Use yorkshire rings if your not too confident, or solder as a pro - your choice. My advice is use plenty of flux.
repeat for the top. You can get away with soldering using the gas stove - but it's awkward - I use a propane torch.
To make mine ridgid I cut lots of pieces of pipe to space the rings apart - you might be better off cutting a length of pipe - hammering it flat and soldering each 'ring' of the coil onto it.
next add the 1m length of 10mm copper pipe to the bottom and rise it up the inside, and 1m for the top. I suspended my IC in my boiler to ensure it wasn't resting on the immersion heater, then bent the two pipe so it can hang off the side. You can bend it easily by using a curved shaped object - a knee will suffice, don't go below the radius of a cup/mug as the pipe could collapse.
Trim leftover pipe and voila!

Did that help? - I've been drinking my Black sheep ale clone me and my mate made - it's called Dolly so ask any questions if it doesn't make sense.
Cheers,
Ben

[escapizm]

Thats excellent thanks, another project me thinks I enjoy making the gear as much as the beer. A few pics of the end would be great, how/what do u connect to the inlet outlet?

Thanks again, I'll post/pm my pics when I've made mine!

[Scooby]

Here another idea to put in the (melting) pot. Split the feed (Left pic, left pipe) and cool one coil from the top and one from the bottom. The pics were taken just after making it, I have fitted washing machine taps with 3/4" hozlock connectors.

[escapizm]

Wow that’s a work of art

My only comment would be fluid always takes the path of least resistance so you would probably get less fluid flow down the most arduous path, you could in theory split the flow if the T piece is central but I expect the difference is negligible let alone detectable.

[Scooby]

Yep but the feed is on the left in the left pic, the T splits the flow so there is equal resistance. It would be as you said if feeding from the right,
which is the outlet. I think twin outlets instead if joining would give better performance.

I've just recorded some figures for another purpose, with 13c ground water temp and cooling 26l it took 15mins from 100c-50c, 10mins from 50c-30c, 10mins from 30c-25c I stopped at 22c which took another 5mins. I gradually throttled back the water as the temp dropped. In the winter with ground temp water of 6-7c it is less than 1/2 the 40mins it took today.