Anti-Bling High Lead Chinese Brass Dirty Cheap Build

Bobby_M said:

I always recommend fashioning a simple heat shield under a sight glass.

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+1 on a heat shield. I would boil wort in the glass and it would shoot out the top like a volcano. Not fun.

chrisrush said:

Do you think the thermometer will be affected by the burner since it is fairly close to the bottom of the kettle? I need to drill out my kettle for a therm/sight glass and have been wondering where to drill the hole.

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It would be if I were using gas heat, and if my kettle had a thermometer. Fortunately, neither of those are the case.

sweet build. that's the tightest coil roll i've ever seen. looking forward to seeing it complete...

Not a lot of progress, as I'm pretty broke, but I managed to get the element mounted. The spot to the right that looks like rust is actually a drop of blood from when I pinched the side of my hand between the file and the keg.










So once I add the wires to the element, the Hot Liquor tank is complete.

klyph said:

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Wait Wait Wait!! I see a stainless T on that therm/sight glass setup... THATS BLING!! No fair, false advertising!!

But really, good job man!! I like the dip tube between the element legs... nice

Really clean looking system. Keep the updates coming. No new toys for me this month as my "build" fund was absorbed into a "save for car downpayment" fund. Looking foward to updates.

Well I managed to get the control box wired up and it actually works!

Wonders never cease.

I still gotta add another hole for the thermocouple, this HLT is starting to look like swiss cheese.









Let me know what you think, all comments and criticism is welcomed.

Love the ammo can. I went with the same thing. Not done yet though.

Looking good. Just goes to show how much craftsmanship contributes vs. spending lots of money on hardware.

Well, it's far from being "finished", but we made ten gallons of hefeweizen last weekend. Sorry about the dark pictures, spaced out turning the flash on, and I was a bit

Heating the strike water.


Recirculating the mash

Mashout.

Sparge.

Sweet Wort

Boiling the wort.

Here's a shot of the mash tun. I "nipped" the colander around the edge to eliminate the deadspace issue. Free false bottom FTW!

Using the HEX coil to single pass cool the wort and go straight into the carboys.

Sampling OG right before pitching.

Ah, no fair, i always end up with not enuff wort in 2 carboys when i do 10 gallon batches, 50L keggle v 58 i guess :\. Looks good though, did your 1/8 holes work ok? I made my false bottom with 1/8 ish holes and i get a fair amount of free flowing debris when i recirculate. Im planning on adding some fine SS mesh in somewhere to help with that.

We were running really clear, but we used a bit of rice hulls since it's a weizen.

Klyph,

Is that a Scout or TravelAll in the background? What year?

It's my buddy Phil's International Scout. I'm not sure what year, but I'll ask him.

I noticed that you do not have a heat sync for the SSR... how hot did that ammo can get during brew day?? Im supprised it didnt die on you

You clearly have no idea what "anti bling" means.

mnadamn said:

I noticed that you do not have a heat sync for the SSR... how hot did that ammo can get during brew day?? Im supprised it didnt die on you

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The can gets pretty warm but it's enough of a heat sink that the relay hasn't failed yet. I might put the sink on the outside if it becomes a problem.

Walker said:

You clearly have no idea what "anti bling" means.

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That's a mighty fancy stand you got there. Wish I was high falootin enough ta 'ford one o dem. :cross:

Steel frame table that used to be in a lab at the company I worked for 10 years ago (still has the inventory tag on the back of it, too). They went out of business and sold all the furniture in 2001. Spent $5 on that table.

It sat around essentially unused for the past 5 years and just happened to be sitting in the garage when I started working on the system. Without really thinking about it, I just started bolting and screwing things to it.

Walker said:

Steel frame table that used to be in a lab at the company I worked for 10 years ago (still has the inventory tag on the back of it, too). They went out of business and sold all the furniture in 2001. Spent $5 on that table.

It sat around essentially unused for the past 5 years and just happened to be sitting in the garage when I started working on the system. Without really thinking about it, I just started bolting and screwing things to it.

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Puts my "Old door thrown across a couple sawhorses" to shame.

klyph said:

It's my buddy Phil's International Scout. I'm not sure what year, but I'll ask him.

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I misread "Scout" as Stout, and had visions of a barrel-aged "international" stout, whatever that would mean. :cross::cross:

So after seeing posts about using a RIMS tube for on demand strike/sparge water, I decided to build one to see if I could make it work.

Here's the RIMS tube, McMaster quick disconnects, and Homeboy Depot everything else.





DISCLAIMER:
Do not replicate my wiring technique. It is dangerous, hazardous, irresponsible, poorly executed, and will probably kill me eventually. This is shown for demonstration purposes only, to be used by an untrained non-professional, do not attempt to recreate these stunts at home.

I hope that keeps the code-nazis at bay, here goes.

Drill hole


Solder ground wire


Hot side


1" PVC adaptor


Potted with this


I then put a strain relief that threads into that coupler on, I'll take pictures of all that later, the epoxy is curing overnight, so I'll get more pictures/work done tomorrow. I'm tired/drunk now, so more later.

Comments/suggestions/offensive insults to my ethnic heritage welcomed.

Apologies for the crappy pics and video, my phone was all I had with me.

Damn Klyph, I might have to convert to electricity. Looks good.

I'll never go back to propane. If you have a laundry hook-up, you have everything you need, 240v power, water, and I'm making a vent hood for the steam that will tie in to the dryer exhaust. Indoor brewing at 40 below is where it's at. Lemme know if you're serious about it, I'd be happy to lend a hand.

Oh, I'm so going to try and get a RIMS going some day. I have 220V in the garage where I brew, so this should be a no-brainer. But it seems to be taking forever to get a spigot on my kettle, so look for RIMS to happen in 2012, just in time for the apocalypse.

I already have a controller, just need to figure out what relay to get and how to wire it, and start collecting the material.

Oh, and I got an ammo can, which is ultra-cool BTW.

Klyph, did you ever get your on-demand sparge water dialed in? I'd be interested to know how that went.

rtichota said:

Klyph, did you ever get your on-demand sparge water dialed in? I'd be interested to know how that went.

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No, I never did, but I know it's possible. I just need a gate valve to more precisely control the flow. The flow rate will only be good for fly sparging, however this is also going from 50F to 170F, the warmer the input water, the higher the flow rate can be. If I run it off the hot water tap, on demand sparge water will be easy.
If I heat strike water in the BK, I can eliminate the need for a HLT altogether. I think Sizz already does this. Anyway, more testing to come.

What was the fitting that you used to screw the heating element into? And what was your tube size overall?

It was a 1" copper pipe to tube adapter that I cut the tube part off of and soldered directly to the 1.5" tee. The main body is 1.5". The In/Out flow is 3/4" tube with 1/2" NPT ends, the probe part is 1/2" tube with 1/2" NPT and a 1/2" to 1/4" bushing for the probe.

Thought I'd post some pictures from the last brew day. I'm back using the 5 gallon system since I broke down the 10 gallon to solder in couplers. Enjoy the dank dark basement where magic happens. Pictures are out of order, but whatever i'm lazy.

Looking good, man! You may be anti-bling but you've basically got all the capabilities of the much more expensive setups!

Thanks steve, just keeping it real, holding it down, stayin fresh...

Anyway the updated version of the ten gallon will be a little blingier, but the changes were made with ease of operation in mind, not appearance. Can't wait to show her off, I need to get busy.

klyph said:

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What is this contraption? Would like to build if I can figure out what it does.

It's my keg/carboy washer that I run with my Little Giant pump. Makes cleaning sankes, corny's, and carboys a breeze.

And, it doubles as a bidet!

klyph said:

It's my keg/carboy washer that I run with my Little Giant pump. Makes cleaning sankes, corny's, and carboys a breeze.

And, it doubles as a bidet!

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Ahh, I already have a keg washer, but the bidet might come in handy

I FINALLY got the stand most of the way built. It still needs a sheet of plywood on the bottom deck, I need to buy the casters and I'm going to add a little fold down shelf on the end.