Show off your brew setup!

Spyk'd said:

Don't forget that the more volume you have, the more cooling issues you have.



How are you going to cool three for proper fermentation temperatures?

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Hmmm. A row of old refrigerators set at varying temps for fermenting, lagering, conditioning, tapping... Now where to put it? Heck, who needs a garage anyway?

My brew room has the outlets and space for at least 5 more fridges. The power bill would suck though.

I'm already feeding 4 fridges throughout the house.

Biermann said:

When I die, I want them to bury me with my fermentor.

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Buy one big enough and you can be buried in your fermentor.
Probably still cheaper than a quality coffin...

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

Buy one big enough and you can be buried in your fermentor.
Probably still cheaper than a quality coffin...

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Or, I could be cremated, gristed, thrown in the mash, and be fermented as beer in my fermenter.

Its a circle of life. . . I'm in touch with my Karma. . . .

Biermann said:

My brew room has the outlets and space for at least 5 more fridges. The power bill would suck though.

I'm already feeding 4 fridges throughout the house.

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When you get that many, it's worth looking for alternatives. Like a small walk-in cool room for ale fermentation and keg conditioning. and a regulated freezer for lagering. Then you just need the keg fridge, plus your normal refridgerators and freezers.

Yeah, it adds up to a whopping electric bill, I'm sure.

Biermann said:

Or, I could be cremated, gristed, thrown in the mash, and be fermented as beer in my fermenter.

Its a circle of life. . . I'm in touch with my Karma. . . .

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Sort of a Valentine Michael Smith "Grok" thing, ala Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land.

beer4breakfast said:

When you get that many, it's worth looking for alternatives. Like a small walk-in cool room for ale fermentation and keg conditioning. and a regulated freezer for lagering. Then you just need the keg fridge, plus your normal refridgerators and freezers.

Yeah, it adds up to a whopping electric bill, I'm sure.

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This is also a project I'm looking into...



My alternative to a walk in cooler at the very least would be a "lagering/serving bar" where the entire underneath of the bar will be a refrigerator and will hold up to a dozen cornie kegs. Still in the planning stage (planning to slip it past the wife that is).

She knows it's coming tho...

Spyk'd said:

This is also a project I'm looking into...



My alternative to a walk in cooler at the very least would be a "lagering/serving bar" where the entire underneath of the bar will be a refrigerator and will hold up to a dozen cornie kegs. Still in the planning stage (planning to slip it past the wife that is).

She knows it's coming tho...

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there is a picture of such said creature in the last BYO (I think....don't have it handy).

BTW, my last post, in retrospect, kinda weirds me out. :cross:

The true circle of life (Karma as well) would be you drinking the beer made from your fermented ashes...

:cross:



No need to be weirded.

Biermann said:

there is a picture of such said creature in the last BYO (I think....don't have it handy).

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I believe I may need to check this out. Any help out there?

Spyk'd said:

I believe I may need to check this out. Any help out there?

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Ok, found the BYO.....September issue 2006, page 9--pictures a kegerator bar/beer storing device that can fit 6 cornies, complete with draft tower.

Basically, it is made by building a bar around a big chest type deep freeze with the bar top acting as the lid.

Biermann said:

Ok, found the BYO.....September issue 2006, page 9--pictures a kegerator bar/beer storing device that can fit 6 cornies, complete with draft tower.

Basically, it is made by building a bar around a big chest type deep freeze with the bar top acting as the lid.

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Nice thought, but mine will be built around the A/C window unit concept, insulated box with an A/C unit stuck into it. I'll also be building a system of duct work to deliver the cold air along the entire bar and make a faux forced air system. And it just might work too!

Wow, good luck. I hate duct work. I thought about running a PVC duct from my fridge, run my beer lines through it, hook up a fan on the other end, and run it up to a distant draft tower. The sheer logistics of it and the probability of screwing up a perfectly good (brand new) fridge kept it on the drawing board only.

Still, check out the BYO article--Its not a big bar, but its beautiful and functional.

Also, while I'm posting pics, here's my lagering and ingredient fridge:

My bar will be a "U" shaped bar and rather spacious. We have an unfinished upstairs room that will become a home theater/bar/entertaining room.


I've done some duct work on a friend's range hood and it's pretty much straight forward when dealing with the stuff. Mostly, alot of duct tape...and we all use that enough!

Dennys Fine Consumptibles said:

Here's more:

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Denny,

Is there a reason you could not run one regulator directly from the tank then use a valve to turn each burner on and off as needed? trying to understand for when I put mine together.

Do you start heating the boil while you are using the HLT for sparge? I can understand if using more than 1 burner at a time you would need the adjustable reg at each burner.

Also it looks like you are direct heating your mash tun, are you doing any kind of circulation or how do you maintain an even heat?

Thanks
Todd

Todd said:

Denny,

Is there a reason you could not run one regulator directly from the tank then use a valve to turn each burner on and off as needed? trying to understand for when I put mine together.

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I thought about doing it that way but decided I like the abiltiy to run all three at the same time if need be. Plus I would have had to cut the hoses from the jet burners off of the regulator cause 2 of them could not be unscrewed from the reg. The third one could.

Todd said:

Do you start heating the boil while you are using the HLT for sparge? I can understand if using more than 1 burner at a time you would need the adjustable reg at each burner.

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Yes

Todd said:

Also it looks like you are direct heating your mash tun, are you doing any kind of circulation or how do you maintain an even heat?

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I stir with my mash paddle, though I sometimes use my large paint mixer on my drill to mix the mash.

One thing I need to add is some heat shielding/wind break for the burners. The angle Iron shelves are bolted to the 4" square tubing, so I'll probably add some teflon or fiber washers so that heat transferance is minimized.
Also will add some wheels. That thing is HEAVY. I'll just lower the feet (carriage bolts - see pics) past the the bottom of the wheels to level and keep it locked in place.

I went with the heavy 3/8" angle iron shleves because the angle iron was donated by my neighbor. I would have gone would thinner stuff otherwise to keep the weight down.

This was the first time I've welded anything since high school, which was a, uh, while ago. It was fun.

Oh and I need to paint the thing. Wish I had a sprayer. Spray paint here I come. Maybe I should start a poll on what color or colr scheme?

Here's my all electric HERMS brewery. I've now brewed 4 x 10 imperial gallon batches over the last 3 weeks or so on it and have started to get it dialled in.







/Phil.

Biermann said:

Ok, found the BYO.....September issue 2006, page 9--pictures a kegerator bar/beer storing device that can fit 6 cornies, complete with draft tower.

Basically, it is made by building a bar around a big chest type deep freeze with the bar top acting as the lid.

Click to expand...

If you guys want to see more of that bar--go HERE for the build, and HERE for the finished product.

This guy posts on brewboard all the time. He builds some beautiful stuff. His brewstand is just flat out awesome. You can even buy plans on his website to build it.

Seveneer said:

Here's my all electric HERMS brewery. I've now brewed 4 x 10 imperial gallon batches over the last 3 weeks or so on it and have started to get it dialled in.

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That is awesome, Phil. Electric, eh? That must take a fair amount of juice to boil a 10 gallon batch on electricity.

Those are nice looking plastic fermenters you have there. That's HDPE, isn't it? Are you concerned about oxygen permeability?

beer4breakfast said:

That is awesome, Phil. Electric, eh? That must take a fair amount of juice to boil a 10 gallon batch on electricity.

Those are nice looking plastic fermenters you have there. That's HDPE, isn't it? Are you concerned about oxygen permeability?

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Thanks, I only completed this set up a few weeks ago

The kettle and HLT both have two elements. Each element draws 10A but I have installed a new 30A circuit with only two sockets so I can only have two of the elements on at any time to guard against overloading. So at any one time I can use both elements on the kettle, both on the HLT or one on each.

It only takes one element to keep 12 imperial gallons at a fast boil.

The heat exchanger is capable of drawing 10 amps but due to the small capacity of it the duty cycle is very small and the average load is fairly small. And the pumps and controller draw a minimal amount of current.

Don't know what the fermenters are made of but in 20 plus years I've never lost a batch due to oxygen permeability.

/Phil.

Monster Mash said:

When I do big beers I mash in 75+ lbs of grain and doing that alone is not easy so I came up with my own grain hopper. Along with an electric mud mixer I can mash in fairly quickly....

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Monster Mash- Do you mind me asking how large your vessels are (HLT, MT, and boiler)? How large of a batch do you run?

Thanks

Awesome setup...

Biermann said:

I've been promising to show off my new fermentor when it came in. I finally found the camera (wife finally told me where she keeps it)

I know its not a "brew set up," but what the hey anyway. . .

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talk about sexy....wow

Here's my setup:



Most of the links in my signature will point you to a portion of this rig. I use a Ranco 2-stage temperature controller with the A/C unit and a little space heater to maintain fermentation temps. Brewed with it for the first time yesterday. Check out the brew closet link in my signature for the details. So far I'm very pleased, now I just have to dial in my techniques!

I didn't thinka piece of metal could turn me on

I'm a noob still on the stove but saw a similar set up that most displayed here on my way walking out of a halloween carnival with the kids in this guys garage (3 step tier). My wife looked at it and told me that's what I need to do and get out of her kitchen. I stopped by and talked with him briefly but didn't get a chance to ask about his setup.

He had a propane burner on the ground (which is what i'm looking for as I type to buy) and a 2 step process. I'm guessing the top tier is where it ferments then bottom for bottling. On some of the pics I see a wort burning up on the ground and 3 more alum some kegs on the step tier. Why 3? Fermment, filter ferment the a bottling of prep for kegging?

Anyhow anjoyed your pics of the setups, seems I need to spend alot of time here now reading

40oz said:

He had a propane burner on the ground (which is what i'm looking for as I type to buy) and a 2 step process. I'm guessing the top tier is where it ferments then bottom for bottling. On some of the pics I see a wort burning up on the ground and 3 more alum some kegs on the step tier. Why 3? Fermment, filter ferment the a bottling of prep for kegging?

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The tier systems are all grain setups. You don't need really need a tier system for extract brewing, though you could conceivably modify the concept to suit. The three tiers are (top to bottom): hot liquor tank, mash tun, and boil kettle. All three levels are typically heated. Generally it works like this: the mash tun contains the initial water and grain for the beer. The hot liquor tank is used to add hot water to the mash to raise its temperature as well as heat and supply the sparge water. The 3 tiers permit gravity feeding of the entire setup so that the extracted wort winds up at the bottom in the boil kettle. Fermentation takes place in another container that would be placed on the ground for gravity feed (alternately, the wort can be transferred via electric pump).

Wow thanks Yuri, a completely different setup and process. I tasted a few all-grain beers at a friends wedding and discovered the taste I've been searching for is in all-grain and not the way I've been doing it with the usual malt extract stove top process I've been doing. I noticed an all grain forum on this board and plan to do some major reading. Should I get a book or can a noob learn enough from that forum?

40oz said:

Wow thanks Yuri, a completely different setup and process. I tasted a few all-grain beers at a friends wedding and discovered the taste I've been searching for is in all-grain and not the way I've been doing it with the usual malt extract stove top process I've been doing. I noticed an all grain forum on this board and plan to do some major reading. Should I get a book or can a noob learn enough from that forum?

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I'm still learning myself, as my first all grain brew session was yesterday. I sat in on a few AG brews with an experienced friend first - that was a big help. This forum is a great place to learn, and you can read John Palmer's "How to Brew" book online for free. Also, Charlie Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing" is a great read, but you'll have to buy that one.

Yuri_Rage said:

Also, Charlie Papazian's "Joy of Homebrewing" is a great read, but you'll have to buy that one.

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You can get this book off Amazon or at Borders for usually under $12. I'd recommend having it on hand, especially if you are an extract brewer desiring to advance your skills and knowledge. It walks you from extract to the all grain process.

Chimone said:

talk about sexy....wow

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Yeah, my wife is getting jealous of my fermenter.

JoeRags said:

Monster Mash- Do you mind me asking how large your vessels are (HLT, MT, and boiler)? How large of a batch do you run?

Thanks

Awesome setup...

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They are all 30 gallon pots, I brew 20 - 25 gallon batches.

Yuri_Rage said:

Here's my setup:

Most of the links in my signature will point you to a portion of this rig. I use a Ranco 2-stage temperature controller with the A/C unit and a little space heater to maintain fermentation temps. Brewed with it for the first time yesterday. Check out the brew closet link in my signature for the details. So far I'm very pleased, now I just have to dial in my techniques!

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Sweet setup Yuri. I like your inventiveness. I wish I had more time to tinker myself.

My Setup

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o138/mwiskirchen/3tier.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o138/mwiskirchen/Stand2.jpg

Check my web site.

I recall that about 12 to 18 months ago, someone posted pics and details of their closed system set-up. He was an engineer who got excited about home-brewing and built his own set up. I recall that the brewpot used a digital heating element from a water heater. Then he had a digitally controlled chiller and finally a fermenter. All tied in with pumps and controlled by a dedicated PC to manage everything.

I've tried to find this thread. Does anyone recall this set up? I think that he was thinking of selling the plans for it.

Thanks,

GP Burdell

brewmister said:

My Setup

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Nice. How do you get the wort from your kettle to the fermentor? Seems a bit low to the ground for gravity to do the job.

Dude said:

If you guys want to see more of that bar--go HERE for the build, and HERE for the finished product.

This guy posts on brewboard all the time. He builds some beautiful stuff. His brewstand is just flat out awesome. You can even buy plans on his website to build it.

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That is so hilarious. I live like a mile away from him, and I've seen pictures of it on the local brewing group, Bay Area Mashtronauts. I was pretty impressed with it, but with no experience, I didn't know just how unique it was until I realized it was getting national attention!

Made some upgrades--

indoor with nat gas (yes, I have adequate ventilation), everything with quick disconnects, pumping to fermenter, water purification :rockin: :rockin:





water filter setup with gas line (not yet connected to the sculpture)

More upgrades:

(pumping to conical)





quick disconnects on water filter


quick disconnects on supply and waste for immersion chiller

Nice set up there Biermann!

I think I paid a little less for mine (my whole set up compared to your fermenter, that is)