Wolfys Stainless Steel Brewery Build Log (picture intensive)

[Wolfy]

Hop-back
1000 words of text as well as 16000 words worth of pictures on blog here.

Originally I was planning to make an enclosed (pressurized) system, much like the Blichman Hop-Rocket. However, after research and reading, it appears that many Hop-Rocket owners run it up-side-down with the top open and get good or better results using it that way as a hop-back. Not having the hop-back fully enclosed made it much easier to design and make, however it does require monitoring while the kettle is draining to ensure that the system remains in equilibrium.

It's made from a "3L Bain Marie Buffet Stainless Steel Canister & Cover", however cheaper stainless canisters with perspex-type see-through lids that would likely do just as good job.

(Note: the silicon hose is to prevent splashing and reduce/eliminate any chance of HSA, however to work best - so the hose sits close/ontop of the wort, it needs an elbow or some other adjustment not shown in the picture above).

The hop-back has 2x perforated stainless inserts, the first/bottom one has 3 stainless bolts that act as a stand-off to keep the filter above the base and allow adequate space for it to drain without issue:

The second perforated stainless insert-filter sits ontop of the bolt-heads:






For using hop-pellets, I first made and used a swiss-voile hop-back-bag (think of it as a mini hop BIAB):




But a better (and easier) solution, was a single-disk of swiss-voile sandwiched between the two filter plates:




Both the kettle kettle false bottom and hop-back actually work better when using more hops (especially whole hops).

3 kettle additions and 1 in the hop-back, each combining both whole hops and hop pellets:


Kettle filter doing it's job:


And the hop-back after use:

The second/swiss-voile layer, filtering the rest of the break and all the pellet hop-debris:


Leaving nice clear wort into the fermentor:

[Highlander]

Cracking build, That must have taken some planning.

I can second the tct cutter, Compared to anything else its like cutting though butter. I really like the little red ball in the sight glass.
Do you have any info on the heating elements? they look really nice.
What sort of flow rates do you get though the hopback? I always wondered if gravity was enough pressure to work with hop pellets and the fine filtering needed.

[Wolfy]

Lots of pics and info, but hopefully at least some stuff there that JBK members will find useful.

As you can tell from the pictures, I still need to build a brew-stand, a new 'proper' home-brew pump is a likely purchase, and in theory I should extend the grain-mill-hopper.
... but other than that I'm pretty happy with how it's all turned out (if it continues to make good beer, it might even be worth the time and expense!).
So far I've only made 4 batches with the new setup, however in general other than a few minor issues (such as the little brown solar pumps not wanting to work again after being run 'hot'), some teething issues with the hop-back and wort-return ... and an utterly disastrous brew-day when the beer turned out way too dark, half the wort ended up on the floor and the rest was tipped down the drain (starting a brew day at 1am then expecting things to go well was likely an unreasonable expectation - but I was impatient to make some beer) ... things have mostly gone well.

Since this is currently the only photo I have of the plate-chiller, and it's also a photo of the BrewDay: Epic Failure, I'll include it here:


I'll post BrewDay details, recipes, pictures, videos etc in the BrewDay forum.
My WidBier was one of the beers presented at my HB Club's Annual dinner (just last night), and as you likely all know other home-brewers are often the harshest beer critics (especially of inferior commercial beer) but since the feedback was pretty-much all good, I figure that has to be a good thing (either that or they were just too polite).

Cracking build, That must have taken some planning.

I can second the tct cutter, Compared to anything else its like cutting though butter. I really like the little red ball in the sight glass.
Do you have any info on the heating elements? they look really nice.
What sort of flow rates do you get though the hopback? I always wondered if gravity was enough pressure to work with hop pellets and the fine filtering needed.

I went without making beer for almost a year, planning and building the new setup. Luckily I had a keg-fridge full of beer, multiple milk-crates full of bottled beer, and was given a few boxes of beer for stewarding at the Australian International Beer Awards and beer from other home-brewers for organizing some home-brew events ... all of which pretty-much have run dry and has been a good incentive to finally finish things off.

As far as I am aware, the elements are made for and imported by a LHBS here in Australia, and can be found on their product catalog. They're actually quite popular here in Australia for home brewing and distilling purposes, but they're also not without their issues, including the connections getting hot/melting. I believe they are made in China, but don't know if it's a general thing that might also be imported into the UK or if it is something specific for the Australian market/vendor.

I've not yet measured the flow through the hop back, or exactly timed how long it takes to drain the kettle (or how much waste-water the plate chiller consumes). In addition the design of the male-hose-connecting cam locks is such that they are more restrictive than I'd like. But the kettle drains in 10-15 mins, and the flow through the hop-back has not been much of a problem (so far without a stand for the hop-back and plate-chiller to sit on, it's a bit of a balancing act trying to balance the flow in/out of the hop-back while also trying not to knock things over, ensure the cooled wort ends up where it should etc). If it does get restrictive, I can always go back to the original (Hop-Rocket) and make it a pressurized system and use the pump to force the wort through more quickly. However, I suspect it's actually possible that the lack of pressure helps with the hop pellets, since the bits are free to float around and do not get compressed into the swiss voile like they might if there was more pressure.

[Fil]

Great build and a great read too.. thanks

only thing i didnt like reading was how the power leads got warm during use, id swap those leads for higher rated cable to be safe.

even tho im part way thru a build in plastic you made me rethink the SS option yet again

[Cazamodo]

I am so jealous. I was just thinking all I needed to do was build a good brew stand and I would be happy with my setup. Now im thinking plate chiller, Herms setup, and definitely need some camlocks for all my fittings...

Great build!

[greenxpaddy]

"Proof that at 1/2 inch size BSP and NPT fittings being inter-changeable (for home-brew purposes and pressures)"

That's very good news, because it makes the 3 part ball valve taps from China a perfect lower cost option

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2-threaded- ... 4ab542e272

[Fil]

i thought the chinese SS ball valves were not very stainless what with all the rust on em??

[greenxpaddy]

i thought the chinese SS ball valves were not very stainless what with all the rust on em??

Not heard of that. Do you have a thread on it?

[Wolfy]

Not heard of that. Do you have a thread on it?

Photos on the first page of this thread.

[greenxpaddy]

Lazy old me!

Looks like it was just the bolts then....?

[darkonnis]

Awesome build mate, not surprised we haven't seen too much of you with this on the cards.

[Frothy]

Epic!

[dynamic dave]

To quote are cousins across the pond AWESOME build ,did you have a budget for the build ?

[Wolfy]

To quote are cousins across the pond AWESOME build ,did you have a budget for the build ?

As low as possible given that it meets the required parameters.
But spreading the expense across almost a year helped in that regard (some things were ordered well in advance of when they were installed).
Last time I counted, the cost converted somewhere about GDP 650.

[far9410]

If there was a gold medal for informative posts this would win it