New Brewery Test Batch #1

I have a lot of loose ends to tie up like mounting pumps and other stuff. Need dip tubes for the HLT and BK and need to weld in the whirlpool return on the boil kettle. Then there's installing the whole burner ignition stuff and hard mounting the electronics... Lots and lots to do but since I could heat water and pump liquid it was time to brew something!

It went pretty good considering, actually really good right up to chilling and getting wort to the fermenter. Without the whirlpool return, I just dropped the hose end into the BK and with no way to direct it, just made a stirred up mess rather than a hop pile. That and having been seriously burned when a hose popped out of the boil kettle before, I was pretty dang skittish at that point and wondering why I was so stupid to do this again.

Since I tried to recirc through the plate chiller and couldn't keep any hops out, I plugged the plate chiller really well, about 2/3 of the way through, so that sucked.

Next I realized I had robbed the transformer out of my glycol chiller and had no way to cool the conical really. So, I took a shelf out of The Big Fridge and stuffed the conical in there, dropped the temp sensor in the thermowell and called it good. Luckily there is not much else in there so nothing will suffer with a few days of 68* temps.

By then it was too late and dark to clean much else up so I just back flushed the chiller for about 30 minutes and will finish cleaning today.

Most of these images are during vorlauf

Nice. I really dig those butterfly valves. If I didn't already have diaphragm valves, I'd definitely go that route. There's something so cool about big switches and levers....

wow that looks great, man. really clean build

Looks really good! For some reason I thought you were a BrewTroller user?

It's a thing of beauty. I am building my stand now and will be using adjustable regulators on each burner. Do you like the regulator on each burner?

How are the tri-clamps connected to the pots?? Welded, weldless, threaded couplers?? Looks really nice!!

Nice looking system derrin.

What size are those butterfly valves? I have not been able to find them smaller then 1" I would love to buy 3/4" valves for my new system.

pickles said:

Looks really good! For some reason I thought you were a BrewTroller user?

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I'm going to install a BrewTroller as well, but I installed the BCS 1st. SInce I build sensors for both and a lot of people email me asking for unbiased answers on both I decided to improve my first hand knowledge of both platforms.

nspaldi0 said:

It's a thing of beauty. I am building my stand now and will be using adjustable regulators on each burner. Do you like the regulator on each burner?

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Yes! Especially when used with automation of any kind. I was going to name my last system the Boil-Over Master 1000. I'd get the boil all dialed-in, then the DHLT would kick on heating sparge water for the second batch. The boil would fall off so I'd readjust, the DHLT would hit temp and click off while I wasn't paying attention and the boil burner would suddenly increase... Instant boil-over.

jvino said:

How are the tri-clamps connected to the pots?? Welded, weldless, threaded couplers?? Looks really nice!!

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1" ferrules are welded in for the valves and returns and 1/2" ferrules for the temp sensors. The returns are made from TC to 1/2"FPT adapters that I turned down. I made special pickup tubes that have o-ring grooves cut in them so that they slide into the ID of the ferrule and have 2 X silicone o-rings to seal and hold them in place.

Brewmoor said:

Nice looking system derrin.

What size are those butterfly valves? I have not been able to find them smaller then 1" I would love to buy 3/4" valves for my new system.

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Thanks! Those are 1" butterflys. 3/4" TC is only 1/2" ID, which is perfectly fine, but if you go with the 1/2-3/4" flange which is the 1" across flange, everything doubles in price. The TC stuff based on the 1-1.5 flange which is ~2" across is cheaper and easier for me to get. Besides, I stock a lot of it!

Nice to see what you're working with. A shiny thing of beauty!
I got my whirlpool thing going, thanks for the parts! I'll have a video posted today.
cheers
-Ben

Are those 3/4" TC barbs for your 1/2" hoses?

bwiens said:

Are those 3/4" TC barbs for your 1/2" hoses?

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Yes they are.

Sorry, duplicate post.

Very nice derrin! Bye the way.....I LOVE THE TWO SANKE FERMENTER KITS I HAVE PURCHASED FROM YOU......THANKS AGAIN! Judging by the craftsmanship of the fermenter tops, I would expect no less of your brewery......awesome job!

Joe

Derrin said:

Yes they are.

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Thanks for the response, this was one of those things I was trying to figure out. The system looks great, TC is nice and I plan on going entirely with it when I get my system all built up.

Also, I have to say that your sanke fermenter kits have relegated my 6 better bottles to storage. Fermenting in sankes is much better for me and your kits make it easy.