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Maxout, those Glacier conicals are beautiful! I know what I want from Santa this year! Amazing brewery you got going, you have to be totally stoked.

You are the man! :mug:

John
 
Maxout, those Glacier conicals are beautiful! I know what I want from Santa this year! Amazing brewery you got going, you have to be totally stoked.

You are the man! :mug:

John

Super stoked!! Took me a long time to decide but I'm glad I went with the Glacier Tanks as they are Pro quality and similar in price to the Blichmann. Side by side the Glacier Tank makes the Blichmann look like a toy. My birthday is in November and with Christmas right around the corner I got my gifts early. :D
 
Super stoked!! Took me a long time to decide but I'm glad I went with the Glacier Tanks as they are Pro quality and similar in price to the Blichmann. Side by side the Glacier Tank makes the Blichmann look like a toy. My birthday is in November and with Christmas right around the corner I got my gifts early. :D

Well Happy Birthday Maxout! I'm looking forward to your thread on choosing a conical fermenter.

Have a pint for me!

John
 
jcav said:
Well Happy Birthday Maxout! I'm looking forward to your thread on choosing a conical fermenter.

Have a pint for me!

John

Thank you John, my birthday actually lands on a Saturday this year so I will probably have a few!

Here is a link to the thread I started today, no interest yet so I am going to cross link it on another section in the forum. I probably should have put it in the fermentation or general brewing sections.

Choosing A Conical Fermenter
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/choosing-conical-fermenter-368724/
 
Man, what a setup! Ya know, there are a lot of smart, invested individuals on this forum but this takes home brew to a new level. This is the first thread that actually made me connect to Apple TV just so I could slide show these pics on the Plasma. Your setup on a 50" TV looks great!:mug:
 
BeerBrewBob said:
Man, what a setup! Ya know, there are a lot of smart, invested individuals on this forum but this takes home brew to a new level. This is the first thread that actually made me connect to Apple TV just so I could slide show these pics on the Plasma. Your setup on a 50" TV looks great!:mug:

I love my apple TV and often cruise HBT on it with the iPad. Appreciate your comments, but the majority of the photos have been taken with iPhones and some are pretty blurry. Glad you liked them. Cheers!
 
mforsman said:
Such patience and diligence. Incredible.

Thanks, I was building for a year and nearly gave up a few times before I finally got committed and found the table. I was nervous I wouldn't enjoy brewing as much as I enjoyed building and drinking. Turns out I love it!
 
This is enlightening and a little depressing all at the same time. lol
I have never seen anything like it - speechless...
 
WOW...ok I just found and read this thread over the last few hours after I made a IPA on my stove since my build is not done...there is only one question...when are you filing your paper work with the TTB? This is the nicest home brew systems ever and should be a MaxedOut Nano Brewery! Totally amazing, thanks for sharing! If I ever get to MD I will look you up, thanks.
 
WOW...ok I just found and read this thread over the last few hours after I made a IPA on my stove since my build is not done...there is only one question...when are you filing your paper work with the TTB? This is the nicest home brew systems ever and should be a MaxedOut Nano Brewery! Totally amazing, thanks for sharing! If I ever get to MD I will look you up, thanks.

Thanks, I appreciate your kind words of encouragement. I love to brew as a hobby but not sure I would feel the same if I was doing it for profit. There are allot of new brewers hitting the pro craft brew scene with way more knowledge and experience than I have. I’m content brewing at home and hoarding my beer for me and my friends. I just like the company of good friends and family while I brew and enjoy the rewards. I have considered getting into innovating home brew equipment as I truly have a passion for invention and design. Time will only tell, my family and friends are always encouraging me to “Go Pro” but at this point I will wait and see…who knows what 2013 holds!
 
Hi Woody... Its been a pleasure to see how your brewery is taking shape.

I am currently in the midst of renovating my house and would like to setup a corner like yours.

Do you mind sharing some drawing of how and what the equipments you are using and their flow and usage. Thanks,
 
That looks like some serious open area on that false bottom material!

Do you still have the specs handy on that false bottom material? (A link is good enough.)
-I have an interim FB but I'm building the heavy-duty lifetime version currently and it should be welded up the first weekend after the New Year -I'm not convinced that I have an ideal open area for recirculation mashing and I'm second guessing my choice.


Adam
 
biertourist said:
That looks like some serious open area on that false bottom material!

Do you still have the specs handy on that false bottom material? (A link is good enough.)
-I have an interim FB but I'm building the heavy-duty lifetime version currently and it should be welded up the first weekend after the New Year -I'm not convinced that I have an ideal open area for recirculation mashing and I'm second guessing my choice.

Adam

False bottom was cut by a friend who has a plasma table. It's 14 gage 1/8" holes on 1/8" centers. Very strong and no complaints. Like any system where you recirculate the whole mash time you will find a good speed through trial and error :)
 
chrislzh said:
Hi Woody... Its been a pleasure to see how your brewery is taking shape.

I am currently in the midst of renovating my house and would like to setup a corner like yours.

Do you mind sharing some drawing of how and what the equipments you are using and their flow and usage. Thanks,

I have some I will upload when I get back home early next week.
 
Thanks woody. Inspired by your work and hope to have a corner of my new place like yours. Thanks.
 
MaxOut Brewers Cart

In an effort to streamline my processes and equipment I created what I call the MaxOut Brewers Cart. It started with wanting an-line oxygen infuser and grew from their. I built an In-Line Oxygen/CO2 infusion device here-

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plcp&v=cvL-EJD7EH0

I tried this on my last brew and the yeast really took off running. I also plan to use it with CO2 for carbonating in the brite tank. I've been trying to organize some of my other brewing gadgets and ultimately evolved into the MaxOut Brewers Cart. I have all my hardware for brewing getting scattered around and decided to consolidate it on a handy cart. It consists of a Chugger pump, 4" X 18" stainless filter, Infusion device with 6" X 2 micron stainless stone, 1.5" X 6" sight glass, 20 LB CO2 tank with dual regulator, M60 Oxygen tank with dual gage regulator and flow meter, three way valve and hand truck.

Applications-
Helper/Transfer Pump
In-Line oxygen infusion with or without filtration
In-Line carbonation with or without filtration
Filter
Cool & Oxygenate
Pressure Transfers

It took a long time to figure out the plumbing and how to get the most of of the configuration with as few hoses and changes as possible. I put together a few small hoses with camlock connectors and used camlocks on the valves to the Chugger pump to keep the cart compact.

Here is a few shots of the MaxOut Brewers Cart



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Plate chiller on wing nut mount made out of a strap of stainless. Chugger mounted on custom made stainless mount. (still need a splash shield for the pump)


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Plumbing with three way valve on top, Infusion stone has air quick disconnect on bottom, filter to right, and sight glass in the middle. All the plumbing is mounted with two U-bolts wrapped with silicone tubing and held to cart with wing nuts.



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Gas - CO2 Tank on Right, O2 tank on left, O2 Regulator and flow meter on right, CO2 regulator on top and lighted power switch on top right.
 

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Great looking system! :mug:

Where did you get the filter housing? What kind of media does it use? Micron rating?
 
With the new 1BBL configuration I’m running I repurposed the pump I was using and decided I need a stir motor in my HLT to help with stratifications and heat transfer on the HERMS coil. I butchered a 12VDC gate operator and salvaged two gear motors that look like they were up for the task. I decided I wanted to use the existing keggle lid instead of fabricating another solution from scratch. I also wanted t be able to remove the stir motor from the lid if needed so no welding to the lid. After scratching my head for a while I came up with this idea and started work. I used as many parts I had lying around from my previous builds to keep the cost down and maintain the “all stainless” quality of my brew system.
I started with the blades for the stir motor. I had a few stainless strips of 16 gage stainless left over from my volume guides I made for my kettles and decided they were rigid enough to work. I bent them on a vise at apposing angles to create the blades and decided on a piece of 3/8” stainless rod as the shaft.

Here are a few pictures of it coming together-

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Next I needed a way to attach it to the lid and let it spin free. I all ready had a ½” coupler welded to the lid so I drilled two 1/2” plugs so the 3/8” shaft would slip through it. Now the hard part how to rig the motor to the lid? I had some 1” X 1/8” strap leftover from a project that fit perfect in the channel of the keg fitting. I bent the strap around the fitting and the bent tabs back I could drill through. Kind of made a clamp to go around it. Then I took some 1” X 1/8” tubing and made a bracket for the motor.

Here is a few pictures-

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I didn’t like the motor exposed and needed a way to pick it up and remove it from the keggle so I had a friend bend me a box to cover the motor and to attach a handle to. He made it out of 16 gage stainless sheet, I TIG welded it, cleaned the welds and added a granite handle left over from another project.
Here is the box coming together-

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Here is a shot of the almost finished project. I am building PWM power supply I will use to control the speed but have it set up temporarily on a 50 amp 12VDC Astron (major overkill) supply to use on my last brew.

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Here is a short video of my last 1BBL brew of 444 Tripel Lager during the mash with the motor in action.

 
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While cool, did you think about the possibility of adding a recirculation fitting to the top of the HLT instead? I do this with a 90 degree bend which creates a whirpool in the HLT.
 
While cool, did you think about the possibility of adding a recirculation fitting to the top of the HLT instead? I do this with a 90 degree bend which creates a whirpool in the HLT.



Hello, all my keggle's have fittings in the side at the top and the HLT has a whirlpool tube on the inside. Brewing 6 gallon batches with the three keggle set up during mash I use the HLT fitting on pump 1 to recirulate water in the HLT from bottom to top through the whirlpool tube. Pump 2 is used to recirulate wort from the MLT out through the HERMS coil and back through the top lid fitting in the MLT.

When I’m brewing 1 BBL the HLT & BK keggle’s are used as HLT’s and HERMS with the help of the Rinnai tank less water heater. I recirulate water in the BK out on pump 2 through the jacket on the 40 Gal MLT and back to BK top side input through whirlpool tube. Pump 1 recirculates wort from the 40 Gal MLT through the HERMS in the HLT and back to the lid fitting on the 40 gal MLT. With this configuration the water in the HLT was not being circulated and when I decided to build the stir motor. Originally I just used the HLT for HERMS and for the jacket on the 40 Gal MLT but I have more capacity by using the keggle BK on the jacket. With the automation during mash I hold the BK to 190 degrees and the automation controls the pump off/on to heat jacket as needed to assist in step mashing and maintaining mash temps. Using a combination of both the HLT/HERMS on the wort and the BK on the jacket of the 40 Gal MLT gives me quicker steps and greater control. Hope that makes sense? I am building diagrams to illustrate my processes and will post them once they are complete. I have them for the 6 gallon keggle configuration and will post them soon.

I’ve discovered through testing that the stir motor is much more effective than whirl pooling with the pump was. I think it’s due to the blades moving more water directly against the coil the entire depth. The blades run inside the HERMS and are angled to move water from the bottom to the top over the coil. I would highly suggest this configuration over a pump.

Here is a picture of the HLT with side top whirlpool return -

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Here are a few diagrams to illustrate the hose configurations I use. The colors represent the colored bands I have on my hoses to simplify changes.

MaxOut Brewery Cool Diagram.jpg


MaxOut Brewery Mash Diagram.jpg


MaxOut Brewery Sparge Diagram.jpg
 
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