My E-HERMS Brew Rig Thread

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moparx12

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Hey guys,

I figured i would post up about some of the progress i have been making on my brew rig. It's going somewhat slow partially due to money and a little due to laziness.

Anyway, I have a rough CAD model made for structural portion as it is designed so far:

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rig2.png

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That is just part of the work i have been doing. A lot more to come with control panel and stuff. I wanted it to look different than most other rigs, and it ended up looking like a sawhorse. I still think it looks good though.

All of the plumbing will be hard lines with disconnects on the sides and backs of all 3 vessels. That way i can unhook the turnbuckles and tip them forward to rinse them out.

Do you guys think its at a good height? the top of the kegs are at ~ 53"
 
no those are turnbuckles. i will use them to tighten the kegs down to the crossbar you see in the third pic. they will have quick disconnect pins for when i want to tip the kegs forward.
 
Neat. Never thought if that. Might steal that from you when I build mine :)
 
lol. that is the dark side! I used ProE some in college but definately prefer solidworks.
 
Why the turnbuckles? Do the platforms really need to be tightened down? A spring loaded pin should be enough to hold them in place, I would think. The turnbuckles strike me as an added bit of complexity for little benefit.
 
yes, the turnbuckles are over-kill - but aren't most brew rig designs you see on here? i made it that way so that i would have no "slop" in the pinned connection that would allow the keg to wiggle. I figured it would allow me to preload it slightly to eliminate any movement at all.

Maybe im not thinking of the same type of spring loaded pin you are...
 
yes, the turnbuckles are over-kill - but aren't most brew rig designs you see on here? i made it that way so that i would have no "slop" in the pinned connection that would allow the keg to wiggle. I figured it would allow me to preload it slightly to eliminate any movement at all.

Maybe im not thinking of the same type of spring loaded pin you are...


I would offset the pivot point towards the front of the vessel, that way you have the weight of the kettle providing some stability. Next I would put a relatively stiff piece of rubber on the cross beam to damp the contact between the two steel pieces. The pin would just hold it in place, just like you've drawn for the turnbuckle end mounts, it doesn't need to be spring loaded (I was thinking of a 'spring plunger'). If you position it right, you could pin it in place with some compression in the rubber, which would prevent movement and vibration. I guess if you want them REALLY stable, the turnbuckle will work for that purpose.
 
I think they should be hydraulic pistons, push button mash removal... lol.
 
haha... im going with brewtroller so that could be another thing to add! and the end of the sparge the mash automatically tips lol.
 
Here are a couple more pics of my control panel. I paid $50 for this low security pistol/ammo case that i think will work great.

Anyway, i have the back panel made to mount all of the components. I have installed the LCD screen, GFCI donuts, and both cable grips for the massive 50A x 2 i will be supplying the panel. Not that exciting yet but its a start.

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The dude in the first picture of your model is wearing a dress that looks like the kegs beside him.
 
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And here is a small pic i got from my powder coat guy of one of my kegs chrome coated. What do ya think?

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Tomorrow i will cap off all of the ends and add caster plates and casters. I also need to come up with something for a panel mount. I haven't designed anything for that yet and i think im just gonna wing it.
 
Here are some pics of todays progress. Very productive weekend on the rig! Now i need to devise a removeable panel mount and it should be ready for powder coat. Anybody local to Charlotte you would recommend? The guy coating my kegs cant do the frame because his oven isnt big enough. Anyway, latest pics:

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Here are a couple of the tilt platforms clamped in place:
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got the kegs back from powder coat last night. They look pretty good and not nearly as much work as polishing each one!
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Gorgeous. How much does it cost to get them chrome coated ? Is it cheaper than polishing if one had to buy all the polishing pads? Did it have to be sanded and washed it anything before the powder coating?
 
i paid about $150 to have all 3 done. i just made sure there was no sticker residue on there and left it to him to do any other prep work. No sanding necessary. Those polishing pads are fairly expensive (the scotch brite ones are) and i started using them on one of my kegs. The amount of time it took me to polish the one keg was ridiculous, not to mention all the polish and strands of fiber from the polish pads getting in my eyes and nose (even with my safety glasses on). I was picky enough not to want the kegs left plain but there was no way i could have made the time to polish them all.
 
moparx12 said:
i paid about $150 to have all 3 done. i just made sure there was no sticker residue on there and left it to him to do any other prep work. No sanding necessary. Those polishing pads are fairly expensive (the scotch brite ones are) and i started using them on one of my kegs. The amount of time it took me to polish the one keg was ridiculous, not to mention all the polish and strands of fiber from the polish pads getting in my eyes and nose (even with my safety glasses on). I was picky enough not to want the kegs left plain but there was no way i could have made the time to polish them all.

50 bucks a keg is a good price judging by the price of the labor hours, compounds and scotchbrite pads. I think I'm going to go that route just having a hell of a time finding a local powder guy. Is that the high heat powder too? I guess it can tolerate high temps better than regular powder coating.

Looks amazing though. I'm glad u thought of it and posted the thread or I would be here buffing away. Haha. I wish there was an easy way to get the insides mirror finished without buffing.
 
I only went this route because i am going all electric and do not expect the side of the vessel to be over 250F in any spot. If you are going to have an open flame, plastic powder coat like what i did will not stand up to it. I did not get a high temp version, it is only good to about 250F continuous. They do make a ceramic coating that powder coat guys should be able to do and may take the heat better. You would probably be the pioneer on mixing powder coated kegs with open flame though - not sure is even the ceramic stuff would hold up. Are you going all electric?
 
Yea I'm going all electric. Most likely a 4500w for the hlt and 5500w for my bk. I wasn't sure of the heat resistance rating on regular powder coating so that's why i asked.

This may be a stupid question but is there a chrome ceramic powder? I was thinking chrome powder for my boiler and HLT and the ceramic for the mash tun to aid with insulating the keg
 
Those kegs look great! Really dumb question, though. Did you make all of the necessary holes and do the welding on the kegs before you had them coated? Are you going weldless?
 
Yea I'm going all electric. Most likely a 4500w for the hlt and 5500w for my bk. I wasn't sure of the heat resistance rating on regular powder coating so that's why i asked.

This may be a stupid question but is there a chrome ceramic powder? I was thinking chrome powder for my boiler and HLT and the ceramic for the mash tun to aid with insulating the keg

Not sure. check places like prismatic powders or eastwood. Those are a couple of popular suppliers. I know my particular powder coater could not get a higher temp chrome powder than what i got - but i don't know why. I decided 250F was good enough.
 
Those kegs look great! Really dumb question, though. Did you make all of the necessary holes and do the welding on the kegs before you had them coated? Are you going weldless?

All of the welding and holes were put in before the coating. I realize now that none of the fittings can be seen in the pic!
 
Ok here is an update: I sent the frame and pivot trays to be powder coated today. I think I am gonna go with blue, but a really vibrant almost electric blue. I actually told the guy gloss black but i need to call in the morning to change it!

Anyway this Sunday i had some time to work on it so i kinda 3/4 of the way installed the dip tubes for my bubbler volume measurement system. Tonight i put together the electrical box for one of the four elements and temporarily installed it as well:

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Any ideas on how to brace the bottom of the dip tubes? I was thinking of maybe copper wire or something wrapped around the base of either the dip tube bung area or the element bung and wrapped around the bubbler tube near the bend.
 
oh and check out the pumps im going to be using. Believe it or not the flow and max head is supposedly better than a march 809 @ 2450 L/H and 6.5 M respectively.

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The flow may be better but is it food grade and can it handled the temps that are used during brewing?
 
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