DITCHES (Dual Immersion Thermal Coil Heat Exchange System) - Page 11

Boerderij_Kabouter · 09-18-2009, 07:35 PM

I priced out the rack too. I came up with about $300 in materials using 304 SS, and figured about $100 for welding services, although I may have a connection for some free welding...

Does that sound about right? Too expensive?

leboeuf · 09-18-2009, 07:56 PM

Quote:

I designed it with 2 3/4" below the bottom edge of the burner. Is that too tight?

That's about what mine is at and it works really well with a keggle. I'll take a look when I get home from work.

Boerderij_Kabouter · 09-18-2009, 08:02 PM

As a note, I designed it with about 2" from the burner top to the kettle bottom.

good/bad/comments?

leboeuf · 09-19-2009, 08:50 AM

I have 1.5" from the tip of the burner to the skirt of the keggle. I wouldn't go any lower than that. I targeted the 2" from burner tip to keggle bottom, it has worked really well.

blackheart · 09-21-2009, 03:52 PM

I like the design. We were just talking about building a combo heat shield/pump cover. (as ours is more of a brutus design) and thinking about how far away the heat shield should be. The only down side I can see to this (and some of our ideas) is that unlike a traditional heat shield placed as a circle in the center of the square frame, the frame will absorb and conduct more of the heat from the system. I have no idea to what degree this will matter but just something to think about. As your system is so low to the ground it doesnt look like this will be a problem. Also like the 90' angles to bring the tri clovers facing forward. Something we may look into. We give your design the go ahead!

**kal** · 09-21-2009, 05:12 PM

Question since my setup is very similar:

How are you planning or drying out the pipes and hard mounted heat exchanger coils after a brew day? Right now I flush mine with hot water/Oxyclean to clean them but I still got a spot of mould forming inside my HERMS coil because of the sitting water when I went to brew 4 weeks later. It flushed right out when I pushed water through it but I still don't like the idea of mould forming...

I think pushing out as much water as possible too with a shop vac for 10 mins would work but am open to suggestions!

Kal

Boerderij_Kabouter · 09-21-2009, 05:15 PM

I was planning on using my air compressor and blasting the water out...

I thought that would be sufficient, but now you have me momentarily worried. I think the air should be sufficient and any water left would just evaporate in a couple hours. I guess I don't really know.

**kal** · 09-21-2009, 05:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boerderij_Kabouter

I was planning on using my air compressor and blasting the water out...

I thought that would be sufficient, but now you have me momentarily worried. I think the air should be sufficient and any water left would just evaporate in a couple hours. I guess I don't really know.

My HERMS coil isn't 100% perfectly coiled such that there's water left behind in it if you just gravity drain it.

I think the problem is that even if it's mostly dry the remaining water has nowhere to evaporate really. Short pipes yes, but water in the middle of a 50' coil isn't going to easily evaporate and find its way out and around 25' of coil. Getting 99% of the water out and then circulating air for ~10 mins is probably needed to get it dry. (Hence the reason I was thinking shop-vac which I was already planning on buying for other projects).

Kal

Boerderij_Kabouter · 09-21-2009, 05:38 PM

I like the shop-vac idea. My coil drains fine and hasn't been a problem, but I am more worried about my pump and drain design. I think that an initial high pressure air blast out then 30 minutes with the shop-vac would be good enough. Great ideas!!!

**kal** · 09-21-2009, 06:46 PM

Good stuff! I'm hoping just using the shop-vac's good enough (I don't have an air compressor or any use for one and they seem expensive for *just* emptying beer lines!).

Kal