The boil kettle includes a stainless heat exchange coil hard-mounted in, a thermometer, a sight-glass, a 1/2" return, and a 3/4" dip tube. The coil here will be used as an immersion chiller circulating ice water from the HLT during the cooling phase. The return and dip-tube are arranged to create a whirlpool.
Please look this over, especially those of you who have experience building rigs. I am really trying to iron out my design before I start building.
I am already starting to collect pieces on Ebay and all over. It will take me a while... if I were to buy most of this stuff retail or from regular suppliers it would be worse for my pocket book than a suppository full of glass.
I'm drooling. That is an extremely awesome set-up! Can't wait for finished pics.
__________________
Quote:
You see every drink of liquor you take kills a thousand brain cells. Now that doesn't much matter 'cos we got billions more. And first the sadness cells die so you smile real big. And then the quiet cells go so you just say everything real loud for no reason at all. That'ok, that's ok because the stupid cells go next, so everything you say is real smart. And finally, come the memory cells. These are tough SOBs to kill.
i can't wait to see this thing come together. I would love to model my own system after this, as some of your ideas are very cool
__________________
Kegged: Citra IPA
Bottled:*empty*
Fermenting: Dusseldorf Alt
Planned: Black IPA, Munich Helles, Belgian Golden Strong, IIPA, Serrano/Habanero Cream Ale...
course you could go family friendly with Dual Immersion Thermal Coil Hyper Effective System
__________________
Kegged: Citra IPA
Bottled:*empty*
Fermenting: Dusseldorf Alt
Planned: Black IPA, Munich Helles, Belgian Golden Strong, IIPA, Serrano/Habanero Cream Ale...
So I really like your ideas, the only thing that I can foresee is when you have to clean up. Wort is a bitch to clean even off the smooth inside surface of a keg. The inside of your BK looks like a sticky nightmare for you to clean. And I don't mean just wash down, there are lots of places for bacteria to hide in all those fittings and coils. I suggest trying to plumb your system so that your 175 deg sparge water follows your wort transfer to the kettle. This will at least get that residual sugar water out of your pump and hard line plumbing. I might be a little off but I hand built my entire rig , which is now a HERMS, and I'm a clean freak from batch to batch. But I think cleanliness in next to godliness and I've never had an infection or brew gone astray. Also, you mentioned that your plumbing is 3/4". I suggest a practice run with a common amount of Mash water you would use. That size line holds quite a bit of water, I wouldn't want you to run your grain bed dry. Overall I think your ready for the dream system build. Good Luck and have fun.
Cheers, Gabe
Hi Gabe, thanks for the review! I too am most worried about the cleaning. Here is a view of my sparge setup:
The hoses will be routed such that the sparge water is pushed through the HLT coil and push all the wort out and simultaneously clean the inside of the coil.
My plan for cleaning is to fill the Mash Tun with oxyclean solution during the boil and heat it to ~180 dF (I've heard that is a good cleaning temp?). I will then run that hot oxy solution through the whole rig to clean everything out. After the oxyclean I think I will have to rinse with water so I don't get a film or something.
Does that sound like a good plan??? I hope that is enough, more than that would be a sizable pain (I think). Maybe I will need to install a high pressure washing station
Boil Kettle
Linear Mode
