Brutus 20 Build Pt 1

My uncle, dad and I started a brutus 20 build.

I started a blog to keep a history of brew recipes, and I have also included a page on the brutus build. Hopefully by the end I will have a list of what we ordered and prices. As of now we hope to keep below $1000 for everything and I think we will make it.

Mustard's Homebrew

How do you plan to control the temp. of the conical?

Not 100% sure yet. Got a lot of ideas, a bunch seem overzealous though.
1. Expandable urethane foam all over the container and...
2. if needed a peltier pad or other heat pump so it can work both ways.


(overzealous is aerogel)

Ok updated the blog on more build info including some designs I drew up. We have yet to build the tanks but this should be done soon. Keep you guys informed.

TJ Mustard

Is that the planned location for the conical? I don't think that is going to work very well as the top rails are going to get very hot when you fire up those burners.

no no we just left it there after welding to keep it clean and off the ground. My uncle is going to build a holder for us that will be high enough to fit a keg underneath.

TJ Mustard

Ok just saw apparatus' brutus build and am very jealous! When I move I gotta build a brutus like his!

So little update. Dad and I are going to build a fermenting room off the AC/Boiler room lined with 4 inches of PE foam. The AC/Boiler room stays a constant 68-72 F and should be sufficient. The brutus is almost done! Thought we would be done last weekend but we always find about 10 things we need to buy. So hopefully we will be brewing mid next week.

TJ Mustard

2. if needed a peltier pad or other heat pump so it can work both ways.

Click to expand...

What are you going to do about a controller for this? It's very easy to make a bad controller for a dual heating/cooling system that will constantly oscillate and waste energy.

Ah the room will be controlled by houses system. There shouldn't be any reason now to use a heating element or a cooling one for now. Maybe in late July - early Sept when it get really hot here. Then again in Dec - Feb when it gets cold. For now I think with the amount of insulation (theoretical of R20 value) we should be just fine.

TJ Mustard

Looks like you got some great stuff going on there. You are going to end up with the total package.
Good luck and have fun!

Updated again with a lot of info on Part 2. I am hoping we will be brewing tomorrow.

TJ Mustard

Looking good.
Great updates, keep them coming.

Cool photos buddy, very nice build! Also, that is some garage your working in!

Thanks, we just did our first brew day tuesday and I am uploading photos now. The system worked great ecept we couldn't find silicone tubing and had to go with pex for its temperature rating (and relatively cheap). We brew again Saturday and I will have photos again.

TJ Mustard

Oh yeah the garage is my Uncle's work. Big farm needs a big shop.

tjmustard said:

Thanks, we just did our first brew day tuesday and I am uploading photos now. The system worked great ecept we couldn't find silicone tubing and had to go with pex for its temperature rating (and relatively cheap). We brew again Saturday and I will have photos again.

TJ Mustard

Click to expand...

Did you post those pictures already, I didnt see them, or maybe Im looking in the wrong spot.

By the way, this is a thread I started dedicated to lonnies sculpture design. I built if for one of the local homebrew club goers. If you read through the thread, its pretty funny, I think. We tend to get side tracked on threads
The Northern Brewer Homebrew Forum • View topic - Look familiar Lonnie?

Photos are now up and I will update the recipes asap.

Oh all the photos can be found here:
mustardfamily's photos- powered by SmugMug

TJ Mustard

Do you need a Machete to get pass the hoses to reach your wort? Nice pics brother, I wish I was able to do stuff like that with my father before he passed 3 years ago, enjoy it.

By the way, your gonna need to either trade down, or plug up some of them outer jets, because of the flame crawl up the sides your getting. It will heat up that frame pretty bad. I had the same problem when I installed 12" burners.

Yeah we couldn't get the silicone 1/2" tubing and we had to get PEX tubing insted and were very happy that we could even get them to bend this way. (we call it the octopus)

The burners are a little high I know, we are thinking of changing to natural gas. We hope this conversion will be a better solution. Thanks about the photos and I am loving every minute with my dad.

Thank you,
TJ Mustard

These 12" burners which I had to eventually take off, because it got the frame of my brew magic so hot, it started to melt the conduit sheathing that was 2 feet away.




As you can see here, it got a little too hot

tjmustard said:

Oh all the photos can be found here:
mustardfamily's photos- powered by SmugMug

TJ Mustard

Click to expand...

Holy Jebus.

I am humbled, hopeful and envious my friend. This is the very first B20 I have seen in real life pics! I was VERY reluctant to even float the idea. PLEASE keep this thread updated as to your results. I have made many fine beers using this system, but I have had many challenges as well. I would love to know (and hope) that you have succeeded!

From the pics, that is a beautiful house and a beautiful looking system! Brew on brotha! To brew with my hero would be a dream come true.

As to imsoweetadid's reply: that totally sucks about the heat but it looks like if we ever have a problem with an android uprising I'm counting on you!

Lonnie Mac,
I got the whole idea from you and also saw the redundancy in the B10 design of the extra tank. The only major advantage of the B10 is the fact that you could start a second brew as soon as you started your boil. We installed false bottom on both of our pots (they came with them) so we could use either one for a MLT. But being able to start the mash while the first batch of wort is boiling would be very nice.

I plan on keeping the blog updated for along time.

Thank you,
TJ Mustard

More updates soon. Just got a few more things.

TJ Mustrad

Updated the blog with recent brews we made.
Mustard's Homebrew

As for the brutus I am hoping on updating it with a 15.5 Gal Sanke for malt and love controllers very soon.

TJ Mustard

BRAVO, brother. Very, very cool. Sounds like you have made some great improvments. I love the blog also. I will be following this regularly.

Congrats on a great system!!!

Got an infection during fermentation. See blog and here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/infection-contamination-diy-conicals-137607/