My insane 25 Gal, 100 Percent Hard Plumbed Tri-Clover, Automated Tippy Build

kickflip_mj said:

It was an inline 3 stage Carthage filter- I was soldering way down the line and the residual heat started melting the threads... Rookie move. Now I have a two stage filter. Lol

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Is it a standard housing? Send a pic, I might have an extra kicking around....

I showed this to swmbo. She now thinks I'm slightly less crazy. Slightly.

Thanks Kickflip!

marcb said:

Is it a standard housing? Send a pic, I might have an extra kicking around....

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It's a whole house 3/8",that would be sweet if you do. If not I can just cut the third out.

jbaysurfer said:

I showed this to swmbo. She now thinks I'm slightly less crazy. Slightly.

Thanks Kickflip!

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Haha I'm glad I can help out a fellow brewer, now take advantage of the moment. Go buy something and blame it on me!

kickflip_mj said:

It's a whole house 3/8",that would be sweet if you do. If not I can just cut the third out.

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I think I've got you covered, PM me.

kickflip_mj said:

It's a whole house 3/8",that would be sweet if you do. If not I can just cut the third out.

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If he doesn't, Filtersfast.com definitely does. I bought all my filters/housings there.

From what I can tell, looks pretty similar to this but they have a million different one's there:

http://www.filtersfast.com/Pentek-158002-Filter-Housing.asp

Working on getting my thermowells in

Some welding shots, I'm sure some of you guys can pick it apart. Lol



Volume sensor, but it still needs the dip tube.



Managed to get the thermowell welded in the Bk



Some of my water in piping

Some of the sickest plumbing and welds I have seen on a brew masterpiece!

Keep up the good work!

Recently, a new guy started where I work, he speaks 4 languages is going to Harvard for his second Master's Degree, most humble and nicest guy you'd ever meet. To say the least he makes me feel a little inadequate.

You sir make me envious and feel extremely inadequate!

Awesome rig seriously, although . . . I think you probably already know that!

Those welds are looking good! Welding small diameter pipe is one of the harder things for most welders to do, particularly with those flanges in the way making it harder to hold the torch angle where you need it.

Bookworm said:

Those welds are looking good! Welding small diameter pipe is one of the harder things for most welders to do, particularly with those flanges in the way making it harder to hold the torch angle where you need it.

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Thanks! I have been having a hard time keeping the arc consistent, I don't know what it is, sometimes its running way to high then other times its perfect like the weld I just showed you.

Schnitzengiggle said:

Some of the sickest plumbing and welds I have seen on a brew masterpiece!

Keep up the good work!

Recently, a new guy started where I work, he speaks 4 languages is going to Harvard for his second Master's Degree, most humble and nicest guy you'd ever meet. To say the least he makes me feel a little inadequate.

You sir make me envious and feel extremely inadequate!

Awesome rig seriously, although . . . I think you probably already know that!

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Ha probably the best post. You definitely lifted me up with these comments, thank you!

Schnitz, I know you have the skills in you, you just have to practice. I bought my tig machine about a year ago and I have been practicing a few times a week.

kickflip_mj said:

Thanks! I have been having a hard time keeping the arc consistent, I don't know what it is, sometimes its running way to high then other times its perfect like the weld I just showed you.

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A foot control and practice can help a lot with consistency and maintaining an even heat.

If your welding helmet has darker lenses than needed going a bit lighter can help you see what is going on but never go so light that it will compromise your long term vision.

It is very hard to do on pipe but maintaining a consistent angle, distance, and smooth continuous weld without stops and starts helps a lot.

Playing with the angle you grind on the electrode tell you find what works best for you is helpful.

After you grind a new point get a small sheet of copper about an 1/8th of an inch thick or so and strike an ark on it and let a small amount transfer to the electrode. You do not need to touch the copper just switch over to AC for the copper then back to DC for welding, if you have the option. If you do not have the AC option then the copper might not be much help but is worth a try.

I think my biggest problem is I am splitting my argon for shielding and also for my torch. What would cause my arch to suddenly get to hot from one weld to another? Is it how much argon I am running?

kickflip_mj said:

I think my biggest problem is I am splitting my argon for shielding and also for my torch. What would cause my arch to suddenly get to hot from one weld to another? Is it how much argon I am running?

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I do not think so. You just need enough argon to exclude oxygen. If you can afford to add it to your system oil free nitrogen makes a good back up gas ( for the back of the weld) and is much cheaper than argon. If you can get it as a mixed gas, argon and nitrogen, it works good as a cover gas.

Normally getting too hot has to with thickness differences in material or retained heat as you continue the weld. That is one thing that a foot control is great for, because you can vary the current as you weld. If you have an air cooled torch that might also be a factor. I do not know for sure, all I have ever used are water cooled 100% duty cycle torches.

Bookworm said:

I do not think so. You just need enough argon to exclude oxygen. If you can afford to add it to your system oil free nitrogen makes a good back up gas ( for the back of the weld) and is much cheaper than argon. If you can get it as a mixed gas, argon and nitrogen, it works good as a cover gas.

Normally getting too hot has to with thickness differences in material or retained heat as you continue the weld. That is one thing that a foot control is great for, because you can vary the current as you weld. If you have an air cooled torch that might also be a factor. I do not know for sure, all I have ever used are water cooled 100% duty cycle torches.

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I think you nailed it. I have been turning off the argon and back on to barley hear the gas out of the torch. Kinda a finesse thing with welding, I should probably buy a different welder, but that is going to have to wait till I finish this project. I probably will move to 50 gal kettles next year anyways.

Wow lots of brew porn in this thread....

Your rig looks amazing....

I wonder if you're contaminating your tungsten. If you don't already have a dedicated, diamond tungsten grinder, you should think about it. I made one out of a $40 circular saw blade sharpener and it works awesome. Here's the one I bought. I can post a picture of the finished product a little later if you want.

www.harborfreight.com/120-volt-circular-saw-blade-sharpener-96687.html

kevink said:

I wonder if you're contaminating your tungsten. If you don't already have a dedicated, diamond tungsten grinder, you should think about it. I made one out of a $40 circular saw blade sharpener and it works awesome. Here's the one I bought. I can post a picture of the finished product a little later if you want.

www.harborfreight.com/120-volt-circular-saw-blade-sharpener-96687.html

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Thats probably exactly it! what blade did you get?

kickflip_mj said:

Thats probably exactly it! what blade did you get?

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It actually comes with a diamond wheel which, by itself, costs $10 or something like that. The saw blade sharpener is a really good deal for sharpening tungsten. I wouldn't trust it to sharpen saw blades, though! The mechanism, which you do not need if you use it for sharpening tungstens, is really sloppy. Typical harbor freight crap!

Cool I will pick one up asap.

I did some finish pipe welding today, and added a small section into the inlet HEX piping so that the coil will clear the bottom of the HLT .

One burner finished

You are helping me so much. I have been upgrading as I go with my set up. I just added a blichman 20 gal brew kettle, a blichman burner with the legs, and a couple of chugger pumps to move the wort around. But my setup is a set-up tear down-around i set up in our out door kitchen. My wife has been thinking I am getting a little spendy with this hobby.... Well that is until I showed her this thread. Now she is just trying to keep me from making one of these Mac Daddy rigs..

Funny though, she doesn't complain when she is imbibing on the fruits of my labor.

unclevername said:

You are helping me so much. I have been upgrading as I go with my set up. I just added a blichman 20 gal brew kettle, a blichman burner with the legs, and a couple of chugger pumps to move the wort around. But my setup is a set-up tear down-around i set up in our out door kitchen. My wife has been thinking I am getting a little spendy with this hobby.... Well that is until I showed her this thread. Now she is just trying to keep me from making one of these Mac Daddy rigs..

Funny though, she doesn't complain when she is imbibing on the fruits of my labor.

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I am really happy to hear things like this! I'm glad I can help. I'm sure you know how how costly this hobby can be and you can spend many nights pondering what items are necessary.I know I may have gone a tad overboard with this build, but the idea of having my dream rig has kept me going.

(Don't mention this to your wife but I am going to write off this whole brewery build. I work on the tech industry, and I have an article coming out in the next month or so)

Is that the hurricane? That's what I use and its great. So much quieter than most burners.

ajwillys said:

Is that the hurricane? That's what I use and its great. So much quieter than most burners.

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Yeah I picked up 2 of them from brewers hardware.

kickflip_mj said:

I am really happy to hear things like this! I'm glad I can help. I'm sure you know how how costly this hobby can be and you can spend many nights pondering what items are necessary.I know I may have gone a tad overboard with this build, but the idea of having my dream rig has kept me going.

(Don't mention this to your wife but I am going to write off this whole brewery build. I work on the tech industry, and I have an article coming out in the next month or so)

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I trust you will share the article with us? If I could write it odd she would probably let me build one. But then I'd have to overcome a few obstacles like I have never welded anything in my life.

Of course I will share the article!

Maybe you should take a welding class? Welding is just practice. I mean I have only been tig welding for about a year now. But I practice on scrap stainless a couple times a week.

I finished my Bk burner mount today. Nothing seemed to go accordingly today, so after a few hours I threw the towel in.

When can you start on mine? Seriously, its beautiful.

rmaloney86 said:

When can you start on mine? Seriously, its beautiful.

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Are you in the market? ha Thank you so much! This build has been a labor of love and something I have always wanted. Hopefully I can get it finished in the next few weeks. I NEED BEER!

And people thought I was crazy when I said I could make a keg of beer at one time. Beautiful build.

Thank you guys!!

Tonight I put some work into the hex outflow into the mash tun. Just note I will be hinging the lids on all the tanks.













Just a little perspective shot.

kickflip_mj said:

Thank you guys!!

Tonight I put some work into the hex outflow into the mash tun. Just note I will be hinging the lids on all the tanks.

Just a little perspective shot.

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So are you cutting the handles off the pots?

The open end of the "T" is just for the thermowell. It will fit perfectly between the handles or canted out

kickflip_mj said:

The open end of the "T" is just for the thermowell. It will fit perfectly between the handles or canted out

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Got it thx

I wanted to have it lower between the pots, but there wasn't enough space. I think it looks good like this anyways

Just thought I'd post another picture for you all.

What model is your Everlast Welder in the picture? I was thinking of getting one to build my stand.