Best approach for a big build?

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goingmad

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Hi all,

[the idea]
I know this could seem to be an insane idea, but together with some friends we're talking on building a big brewing system, where big could be a batch size among 250 and 300 US gallons.

[my build experience]
Reading and browsing here around I was able to build from scratch my HERMS system, with three 26 US gallons kettles and I'm quite happy with the results . Not fully completed, actually I'm using it in an hybrid way, manual/motorized. Well enough to obtain good batches. It will be powered by the brewtroller, already in charge to manage the relays.

[my doubts]
First of all I think that a 4 kettle should be better, with a small kettle devoted only to the HERMS reciclyng coil (with an electric heater inside, regulated by a PID). But is HERMS a right way to go with that batch volume? Or should it be better with a RIMS tube? For sure I'd have to scale up the hoses, valves and pumps to at least 1" (currently 1/2" in my build). Or there is out there in pro builds a better approach to follow? I know an easy way could be to buy an used system, but more than half of the fun would be to build it together from the scratch. This will be OUR system!

Any hints or suggestion?

cheers!

gm
 
300 Gallons? As much fun as it would be to weld some Frankenstein machine of left over parts, I have to think it would be way cheaper and easier to buy a used 7 barrel system and forget about it.

By the time you're dealing with that amount of weight, height, and cooling capacity, I just don't see how an amateur attempt would be the right move.
 
I just noticed you're in Italy. Here in the states, buying a small system from a failed brew pub isn't hard or terribly expensive. Are there no microbreweries or brew pubs over there?
 
Sure we have, even if not so much like in US. From your words I understand this seems to be a completely insane idea...
 
Thanks Jeepinjeepin, didn't know that. I'll go browsing also over there...
 
My local brew club in central Wisconsin, One of the members has a 250 gallon mash-tun. They do an event called The Big Brew. Everybody gets to take a gallon fermetor full home.
 
My local brew club in central Wisconsin, One of the members has a 250 gallon mash-tun. They do an event called The Big Brew. Everybody gets to take a gallon fermetor full home.

That should be a lot of fun!

Which process is used for filtering such a big amount of wort?
 
A 300 gallon mash might hold temp well enough to forget the rims/Herms. Just get a huge tank and insulate it. If you're doing multi step mashes I don't know which system is best for large volumes. Steam would be cool but probably difficult and expensive to set up. Definitely keep us in the loop sounds like an awesome project.
 
You have to consider the amount of energy required to heat the volumes of liquid. So if your herms system takes 30 minutes to heat 10 gallons then to heat 300 gallons would take 15 hours. Or if that herms system used 5500 watts you would need 165000 watts to heat in the same amount of time. You need lots of power, full size breweries usually use boilers and steam jacketed equipment.
 
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