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Here's my stuff, all electric, and gravity for now.
I have a PWM controller for the HLT and the boil kettle, and I'm fine with that for the time being.

You can see my RIMS tube next to the mashtun, and there's also a 12VDC pump (in a box) on the top level....I just need the PID, relay, and probe and I'll be recirculating. :ban:

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I use a Shirron plate chiller at the end of the boil.
 
I feel a little out of place with my 3 tier stand and only using gravity for what it was meant for. Everyone else has their fancy single tier stand with pumps. Oh well, maybe some day. For now this is what my buddy helped me build since I'm mechanically challenged. Took a few months as time was not my friend in completing this.
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Painted and ready for its test run
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Work is killing me lately so I won't get to test the new system until next Thursday or Friday. Until then I can at least dream of a perfect brew day!
 
Not a thing wrong with your stand... If you made it and feel pride in your work... you enjoy your brew that comes out of the rig... Keep your chin up and brew some beer. Nice work BTW...
I will hopefully be done with my rig within the month and will post pictures then.
 
I feel a little out of place with my 3 tier stand and only using gravity for what it was meant for. Everyone else has their fancy single tier stand with pumps. Oh well, maybe some day.

Don't apologize for Gravity! It's worked since before Newton's day and it works JUST FINE NOW! :D

I've built two three-tiered systems and both make excellent beer. :mug:

Nice rig! Brew Beer! End. :rockin:
 
Droyd2583 said:
I feel a little out of place with my 3 tier stand and only using gravity for what it was meant for. Everyone else has their fancy single tier stand with pumps. Oh well, maybe some day. For now this is what my buddy helped me build since I'm mechanically challenged. Took a few months as time was not my friend in completing this.

Painted and ready for its test run

Work is killing me lately so I won't get to test the new system until next Thursday or Friday. Until then I can at least dream of a perfect brew day!
I wish I had a 3 tiered gravity assisted brew stand.
Huaco said:
Not a thing wrong with your stand... If you made it and feel pride in your work... you enjoy your brew that comes out of the rig... Keep your chin up and brew some beer. Nice work BTW...
I will hopefully be done with my rig within the month and will post pictures then.
Yup.
socalboomer said:
Don't apologize for Gravity! It's worked since before Newton's day and it works JUST FINE NOW! :D

I've built two three-tiered systems and both make excellent beer. :mug:

Nice rig! Brew Beer! End. :rockin:

Exactly.
 
I added a remote control MP3 player amp and speakers to the brewing cart. The banana plug jacks are to plug in a pair of PA speakers, if the brew day happens to be a BBQ.

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m1k3 said:
I added a remote control MP3 player amp and speakers to the brewing cart. The banana plug jacks are to plug in a pair of PA speakers, if the brew day happens to be a BBQ.

Nice, is that a rope light (party lights) on the underside?

-G
 
HDIr0n said:
Nice, is that a rope light (party lights) on the underside?

-G

Yeh, the pump and rope light both come on together with a remote.

I got the idea from the "Dice Hopped" episode of Brewing TV.
 
Here's my three-tier gravity fed during yesterday's brew day (Black Sand Stout. . . mmmmmm)

the big shroud will go away when I can get an actual shroud.
And I'm still to build the gas manifold. . . otherwise it works like a charm! :D

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I haven't been brewing for a long time, started at the end of June. The DIY nature of brewing drew me into it, so I set out to do something sorta unique with my first brew stand. I wanted temperature control and I wasn't so comfortable with the whole electric brewing thing, also I don't have the ability to add 220v to my garage so I decided to go the gas control route, I basically used the gas control for dummies thread for figuring out how to get the temperature I wanted. I didn't go off any spec other than that. Love it or hate it I really enjoyed building this thing, I may end up doing a single tier "traditional set up and continue to use this set up for extract experimenting and Brew in a bag. This setup isn't actually 100% complete yet, I have a pump that I have yet to add to the set up to recirculate my mash and/or give the the flexibility to sparge. I'm hoping to get some questions about this thing, and I don't mind criticism, There were smarter options and routes I could have taken but meh...

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Well I guess mine's done enough to finally post. It's been a work in progress for over a year. I got it up and running a few months ago and have done 5 brews on it so far.

-Indoor all electric.
-One vessel, BIAB (Brew In A Bag).
-One pump for mash recirculation, etc.
-400 CFM fan.
-All stainless steel fittings and valves.
-Bottom drain keg brewing vessel.
-March pump.
-25' counterflow chiller.
-Pure O2 aeration.
-Water filter.


Ready to Mash by Hot Pepper Daddy, on Flickr


Testing Pump by Hot Pepper Daddy, on Flickr
 
Just got my single tier stand welded and the legs cut today. Still have a ways to go as I need to get a pump and my burners along with all the hardware for the kegs. Will take me a while but still wanted to post a pic. Nice having a dad that works in a machine shop. Got the steel for $100 and the guy welded it for $50 (I gave him an extra $25 since he cut the tops off the kegs too.

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duckredbeard said:
A few upgrades since my last post here...quick disconnects, output temp/oxy stone, relocated HLT thermometer.

Did you make the counterflow chiller yourself or did you buy it? if you made it, how much it cost you in parts and do you have a part list?
 
tdbc2011 said:
Here is my build. I finished it on 8/19/12 and home to brew on it on 8/26/12. I have the cover to install over the pumps and I will also make a wind guard from some al. flashing if needed.

I can't tell from the pic too well but did you use quick connects on your tubing connections and if so do you have a part number and were you baught them?
 
allclene said:
Did you make the counterflow chiller yourself or did you buy it? if you made it, how much it cost you in parts and do you have a part list?

Got lucky on eBay...$50. Chillus convolutus is the Latin name for it.
 
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We did a couple 5 gallon batches using the kegs as the 'mashing station' that day and moved the boil pots onto other burners.

Then on the deck, copper coil installed in HLT but no pump yet to use it.

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We were brewing a saison that day, my buddy decided to use the zest of an entire grapefruit, along with coriander and grains of paradise near the end of boil.

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The evolution to a brewstand. The straight sided keg became the boil pot. The stand was built for a cooler-masher so the HLT wasn't high enough to mash in a keg. Luckily, I already had a short/wide 15 gallon pot that works well for the mash so far.

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This was my first attempt at a keggle-mash false bottom device turned upside-down. When recirculating mash it was getting clogged so I widened a few of the slots. I've brewed once since this pic and I plan on widening more slots before next time. It's suspended by a bent up coat hanger but I'm thinking of putting a hole in the lid and just mounting it up there...

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My keg already had a hole up near the top so I used a scrap of copper tube and bent up this attempt at a whirlpool arm. I think it goes down to around the 8 gallon mark before the bend. I didn't have high hopes, but when I went to clean the keg there was a cake about an inch tall and 6 inches accross. Maybe it worked some, this was with all pellet hops.

I'd like to hard plumb a simple water system on to the stand, but before next brew I'm going to throw together a simple 'hop spider' strainer bag suspension to use in boil. Last time we used whole leaf hops they stole more wort than we anticipated.

I made up a keg/carboy cleaner from a bucket that sits in the mash pot and uses the brewing pump to recirculate cleaner/sanitizer. I don't have a picture of it right now but I'll post one after it's next use.

Cheers!
 
My brew sculpture, all in all cost me about 25-27 dollars in screws and brackets. it consists of stop sign posts (been replacing stop sign 4x4's for my work and some were sub-quality for reuse). The thing is built like brick-sh*t-house. I was sitting on the top tier that is about 68 inches off the ground. the good news, it only weighs about 250-300 lbs. I like the fact I can store almost everything in there including a 10 gallon tote for all my random stuff.

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all closed up (I messed up the gaping on my doors, kind of kicking myself in the rear for that...) but the shelf slides in and out and I am thinking about building a removable grain mill in to the main tier where there is space, have the hopper be removable and everything... Another DIY project for a different day =)

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My brew sculpture, all in all cost me about 25-27 dollars in screws and brackets. it consists of stop sign posts

I agree, stop signs are overrated!

The thing is built like brick-sh*t-house. I was sitting on the top tier that is about 68 inches off the ground. the good news, it only weighs about 250-300 lbs. I like the fact I can store almost everything in there including a 10 gallon tote for all my random stuff.

HA! "only weighs about 250-300 lbs"!?! Hope its on casters... but I love the ingenuity... and the price even better! And screw those stop signs!!! :mug:
 
This stand has seen over 60 batches and is working great. This is the first time I ever got any pictures while we were actually brewing. This is during the mash of a 120 minute with 19 pounds of grains for a 5 gallon batch.
I also included a closeup picture of the control panel that we recently put together.

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This was my first attempt at a keggle-mash false bottom device turned upside-down. When recirculating mash it was getting clogged so I widened a few of the slots. I've brewed once since this pic and I plan on widening more slots before next time. It's suspended by a bent up coat hanger but I'm thinking of putting a hole in the lid and just mounting it up there...
From the colour of the liquid and text you wrote, it looks like you're recirculating wort here right during the mash?

If yes, I would lower it so that it sits at the top of the mash, mostly submerged. You're aerating the wort having the wort drip down like this. You don't want to aerate the wort here. (Only prior to fermentation, after the wort is cooled).

Many of the commercial examples that have lautering systems like this are adjustable so that you can lower it to sit in the top inch or so of water/mash.

Or if you want to keep it simply, just remove the whole copper loop and just put the silicone hose on top of the grain bed. That's what I do, what Blichmann does with their autosparge arm, and what Sabco does with their brew setups. I get 95% efficiency doing it that way. No channeling at all. No chance of clogs.

Kal
 
I had more scrap wood sitting around in the yard than I thought, so for about $14 for the cost of the casters I was able to build this. It certainly isn't fancy, but it's sturdy, greatly eased yesterday's brew day, and can be used for other projects as well.

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... just put the silicone hose on top of the grain bed. That's what I do, what Blichmann does with their autosparge arm, and what Sabco does with their brew setups. I get 95% efficiency doing it that way. No channeling at all. No chance of clogs.

Kal

I saw this on your site, and that's what i did. But I find that when I do this, I end up with a deep pool right underneath the end of the tube, caused by the trickle of wort squirting away grains. I have only used it twice and got about 85% efficiency, which works for me, but I always wonder, when most of the grain bed is 3 inches deep, and the grain bed directly under the end of the hose is only 1 inch deep, isn't wort going to preferentially go through the shallower part? I use a very slow recirc rate so it doesn't upset the grainbed much, but the result is that the recirculating wort drips straight down in a single location.

Am I doing this wrong? After seeing this, I had considered building a similar ring to the one built by Otter_bay_brewing.
 
I saw this on your site, and that's what i did. But I find that when I do this, I end up with a deep pool right underneath the end of the tube, caused by the trickle of wort squirting away grains. I have only used it twice and got about 85% efficiency, which works for me, but I always wonder, when most of the grain bed is 3 inches deep, and the grain bed directly under the end of the hose is only 1 inch deep, isn't wort going to preferentially go through the shallower part? I use a very slow recirc rate so it doesn't upset the grainbed much, but the result is that the recirculating wort drips straight down in a single location.

Am I doing this wrong? After seeing this, I had considered building a similar ring to the one built by Otter_bay_brewing.

It really depends on the type/quality of false bottom you have and the depth of grain. Not to take this off-topic, but I'm surprised you only have a grain bed that is 3" deep. That seems very shallow. Is the mash tun vessel very wide/large instead of high? You want enough depth so that channeling doesn't occur.

Kal
 
I am using 15 gal blichmann boilermakers with their false bottom, with a batch size of 6.5 gal, so it was about 4 gallons or so for the grain bill of about 12 pounds. I am not sure the actual depth of the grain bed. 3 inches was a guess, and likely way on the underside. But you certainly see a deep pit in the grain where the hose is, at least 2 inches deep, and likely, in fact, more. Should I crank up the speed on the recirculation?
 
Yep, that's a half of a two-gallon mead bucket for a splash guard. The whole rig breaks down and tucks neatly away in a corner, which makes SWMBO happy.

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I am using 15 gal blichmann boilermakers with their false bottom, with a batch size of 6.5 gal, so it was about 4 gallons or so for the grain bill of about 12 pounds. I am not sure the actual depth of the grain bed. 3 inches was a guess, and likely way on the underside. But you certainly see a deep pit in the grain where the hose is, at least 2 inches deep, and likely, in fact, more.
You shouldn't have any issues with channeling with that. The Blichmann false bottom works well.

Should I crank up the speed on the recirculation?
During mashing? I always recirc with my pumps open 100%. But then I only have the silicone hose as the return. No sparge arm that may get clogged.

Kal
 
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