Starting my electric basement brewery!

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fhhobbies

fhhobbies

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Figured I would post my build from start to finish starting with a pic of my VERY messy room where the brewery will go.... what a mess, shame on me!:D Anyway I am going to gut the whole thing and start fresh. Here we go.

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Nice start. It looks like a lot to do. I was lucky when I did mine I had carpet and pad which I tore up in one day. I cleaned the concrete and then got one of those garage paint kits and put that down with some non-skid mixed in the epoxy. Its nice when the wives want us to put all of our brew stuff in one area and give you the go ahead. CONGRATS!!
 
Yup lots of work but its all part of the fun! I am fortunate to have an understanding wife, I give her space and she gives me mine :)
 
Ok after a long delay things are moving again, let me post some updates, electrician is wiring up the room as we speak, walls are framed up, most of my goodies are in, let me post some pics. :ban:
 
A few more, the 50ft chiller I made myself, I will chill during the whirlpool.

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Stout kettles yeah you've been waiting a while. I went "custom" and it took even longer than normal. They do look great though! Keep posting photos of the build as it progresses.

Couple questions:

What size are your kettles?
What size batches do you mostly do?
What heating element?
What element enclosure are you using?
Have you dry fit said enclosure/element to kettle? Does it touch the kettle?
How will you vent them?
 
My tanks are the 20gal versions. Ill be doing 10-15 gal batches. Heating elements will be Camco 5500w ULWD units. Element enclosures are the same as the ones you are using from Brewhardware... like little units for the price imo. Still waiting on the elements to come in so no dry fit yet. How will I vent? My exhaust over the boil kettle? I have a 6" inline fan on the way and will build my own round hood over my kettle. Ill post pics every step of the way, things should move a lots faster now. Been down way too long now lol.
 
Should be no problems with 10 gallon batches but a 5 gallon batch with anything less than 1.5 qt/gallon on my mash tun the mash is below the level of my temp sensor. I don't have experience with your element but on my ripple element it's VERY close to touching the kettle.


Almost Famous Brewing Company
 
You may not even have to build a hood. I just finished building my electric brewery in my basement and I installed a side vent on the wall just slightly above the opening of my brew kettle. This way I didn't have to worry about putting any special channels on the hood to catch moisture so it wouldn't drip back into the kettle. When I tested it out with boiling water for 45 minutes, it took all the moisture out along with the heat. I have a 10X6 opening on the wall which then goes into a 6 inch round that is coupled to a 6 inch inline vent. My next step is to possibly drill a small hole in the round vent part before it goes into the fan and install a drain tube to let any moisture pulled in to drip out freely.

I did have a question, what size tubing did you use for the 50' immersion?
 
Roadie said:
Should be no problems with 10 gallon batches but a 5 gallon batch with anything less than 1.5 qt/gallon on my mash tun the mash is below the level of my temp sensor. I don't have experience with your element but on my ripple element it's VERY close to touching the kettle.


Almost Famous Brewing Company
Click to expand...

Yes 5gal batches may be too small, I thought about this after but that's ok, 10gal or larger batches was the plan anyway. Ill know soon once I calibrate the tanks. Ill post a pic when my elements come in.
 
dmcman73 said:
You may not even have to build a hood. I just finished building my electric brewery in my basement and I installed a side vent on the wall just slightly above the opening of my brew kettle. This way I didn't have to worry about putting any special channels on the hood to catch moisture so it wouldn't drip back into the kettle. When I tested it out with boiling water for 45 minutes, it took all the moisture out along with the heat. I have a 10X6 opening on the wall which then goes into a 6 inch round that is coupled to a 6 inch inline vent. My next step is to possibly drill a small hole in the round vent part before it goes into the fan and install a drain tube to let any moisture pulled in to drip out freely.

I did have a question, what size tubing did you use for the 50' immersion?
Click to expand...

I'm not decided how ill exhaust yet, Ill wait to get everything in place. My immersion is just 3/8".
 
Well ill post a pic later but my elements are not even close to the kettle sides, fit is nice! Also i just tried my immersion chiller on a 5gal batch cooked up on a different system, went from a boil to 20c in about 5.5min, didn't think it would be that fast but Im very happy. Sadly i forgot to measure my water temp that day.
 
Please do post of outside/inside where elements are attached as maybe they changed something. Curious to see.


Almost Famous Brewing Company
 
Did my first test run on my system, everything works great and getting ready for my first brew! Still some details left to do on my room and I may get my cabinets and countertop this week.



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That's an awesome setup. Mine looks a bit like the original basement room. My hops are mostly about that size too... (off topic - I hope hop leaves are poisonous to rabbits, they're all over mine.)
 
My hop plants are about 6 feet high now, no rabbits but we had a heck of a wind the other day that beat the plants up a bit, they will be fine but they didn't like it either haha, I have 4 types growing. First brew is tonight, Ill get some pics or video. Cant wait!
 
I'm still fairly new to all grain and electric brewing, prior I had just used a single pot on a stove using extract. I see you have a HLT (the one next to you in the picture), what I assume is a MT and the a BK. What's the really small kettle far off in the picture for?
 
Yup you are correct, the small one is a hop back, load it with a ton of hops and pump it from the BK into the hop back and back into the BK. You use whole hops in there also kinda acts as a filter as the wort goes through. Something like that, never used one before yet haha.
 
First brew on the new system went darn near perfect! Now the hard part, waiting for it to be ready to sample!


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Did another 10 gal batch of an Irish Red. I posted a little video of the wort going into the boil kettle on my Facebook page if anyone wants to see it, nice color. Just search "barleycity" on Facebook and you should find it.


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Once i am retired from the Corps and am done moving all over the country I am going to have an electric brewery. I like how you have set yours up. the one thing i didnt see, maybe i missed it, how are you venting?
 
seckert said:
Once i am retired from the Corps and am done moving all over the country I am going to have an electric brewery. I like how you have set yours up. the one thing i didnt see, maybe i missed it, how are you venting?
Click to expand...

Thank you, I love this system so far, i spent some cash but i figured its for a great hobby that i will always love so why not do it right! Venting is done with a fan above the boil kettle right now blowing out the window, crude but its working well. I do have a 6" exhausted fan, i just havnt built that part of the brewery yet, that and my countertop/sink are the next things on my list, ill post pics and details when i get that done.
 
kcmobrewer said:
I like those fermentors. Where'd you get them?


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Click to expand...

I like them too, they have lots of head space for 5 gal batches and you can see the wort and yeast do its magic, i got them from a local brew shop and the only place ive seen them online is from Hillbilly Stills, great guys there, I've dealt with them b4. http://www.hillbillystills.com/32_liter_fermenter_p/fwlg.htm I just cover them with a black garbage bag with a hole cut in them for the airlock to keep the light out. I just ordered my first 1/2 barrel conical though, i am eventually going to have all stainless fermentors, all temp controlled.
 
By the way here is the first pour on the Pale Ale! It was a hit with all! Drinking one now, cheers!

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