Brewery Build - Single Tier HERMS

Preface:
This project began, as many home brewing projects do, as a discussion over a few beers, debating the possibilities, costs and rewards of building a small scale brewery as a family. A father, the engineer, and two sons, the oldest of which is project driven OCD, the other the fun loving jokester who would rather brew and drink then design and build. Well, combine the three of us, a passion to brew more, consistent and higher quality brews and we're bound to spend some money and time and build something.

The Brewery at a Glance
With inspiration coming from the designs and ideas of several brewers throughout the world, we've taken our favorite aspects of what we've seen, tweaked and added a few of our own touches.

• Single tier, wheelbarrow style for mobility
• Low profile design
• Tilting mounts for kettles for easy cleaning
• HERMS design w/ability for direct fire on all kettles
• 3 Keggle brew kettle system
• 2 March pumps for wort / liquid transfer
• Propane fuel for mobility

Parts List & Details
DRAFT List - I'll continue to update as we move through our build and will post our final build list with prices, links, and part numbers were applicable at the completion of the build.



Brewery Design Mock-Up
See Post #2 in this thread.

Brewery Process Diagrams
Coming Soon...

Photos














Updates:
[November 23, 2009] - I plan to update this thread as we move through our design, build and brew process with our brewery.
[November 27, 2009] - Added 3D model sketch (will add Sketch-Up files at a later date for anyone interested)
[December 15, 2009] - Added updated 3D model (I'll clean up all the models at the end and update this thread with all the "FINAL" images)
[December 18, 2009] - Updated build list to reflect some recent decisions around our quick disconnects, gas control, and welded fittings.
[December 21, 2009] - Added Final Drawings, measurements & multiple angles.
[January 4, 2010] - Gave the green light to our welder to order the frame materials from the metal supplier and begin welding.
[January 20, 2010] - Updated build list with most recent parts, prices, etc. Posted the first photos of our build progress. Picked up the stand from our welder tonight and bolted on the wheels and handle.
[February 6, 2010] - Keg tops cut off and lids fitted.
[February 22, 2010] - Control panel box mounted, kegs drilled and bolted to tippy trays, burners mounted to the burner boxes, HERMs coil wound.
[March 1, 2010] - Burner boxes mounted, more gas plumbing fitted.
[March 14, 2010] - Drilled kegs and prepped for welding.
[April 4, 2010] - Received the kegs back from GreenMonti and dry mounted the fittings.
[April 10, 2010] - Completed gas assembly, installed fittings to tuns, built pump brackets and mounted pumps, assembled HERMS coil and dip tubes, cut and assembled fluid hoses.
[April 17, 2010] - Electrical build day; mounted switches, Love controllers and timer to control panel; fired up the power for the first time and everything seems to be working.


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Thank You
Thank you for the inspiration, design ideas, education & assistance:
HomeBrewTalk.com, Kladue, Sawdustguy, Jaybird, Bobby_M, Nicksteck, Snake10, Doug Cameron & Full Sail Brewing Co., GreenMonti

Also, special thank you to our welder, Micah.





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Brewery Design Mock-Up

Stand View Front Right:


Stand View Front Left:


Stand View (Underside):


Stand Measurements:


Keggle Tray:


Stand Lift Handle:


Individual Burner Boxes / Wind Screens (will be individually adjustable via threaded rods on the sides):


Control Panel Arm:

Looks good except for one thing. The head is a little oblong. That won't work at all.

Thats one very nice posting with everything listed as well your stand, congrats it looks like a great project.

BrewBeemer said:

Thats one very nice posting with everything listed as well your stand, congrats it looks like a great project.

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Just trying to pass on what so many have shared with us. Thanks!

Obviously we've got some stuff to work out to finalize things but we're nearing a point where we can begin moving forward. I'm excited to see everything come together.

....and subscribed.....

Looking forward to pictures of the finished project in operation.

I am very much looking forward to monitoring your progress. Best of luck with the build!

Subbed for later, good luck!

Added the 3D model sketch - as noted in my edit of the first post, I'll post the Google Sketchup files at a later date as well.

Burners were ordered before Thanksgiving so should show up in the coming days - which is one of the last pieces we need before sending everything off to our welder.

Missed out on the $105 March Pumps on eBay (USAPumps) so trying to locate a few at a reasonable price as well.

Pumps ordered and shipped, expecting them next Friday. Burners arrived today from Northern Brewer but one is defective so will be going back. Good thing we're still early in our build!

No doubt. I hate having one thing keeping a project from completion.

12/15/09 Update:

Added an updated 3D sketch, we're about 95% of the way in our design and will be sending it off to the welder once we've finalized our burner mounting / heat shield design.

The new sketch has our "lift" bar - it'll fold out of the way when we're brewing but can fold up so we have a handle for rolling the brewery around. (we have some fun plans for this in the future... stay tuned!) We also added our control panel arm/bracket.

This last weekend we took a road trip and picked up 3 legit dead kegs in great condition and I've begun the task of cleaning them up/polishing. We're now leaning towards going with welded fittings on the keggles rather than going weldless so I'll be updating our build sheet in the coming days with the new parts.

We've got the burners in hand, had a bit of a snafu with one of the first burners we received but Northern Brewer was excellent and resolved that quickly - very satisfied customers!

We've also got 1 of the 2 pumps and hope to receive the second soon (USA Pumps messed our order up and only shipped one ... a bit annoyed!).

Taking a little longer to get everything worked out and purchased than we had hoped but we're making progress.

12/21/09 Update:

I've posted the latest model drawings and measurements. We'll be meeting with our welder soon (holiday permitting) and making any tweaks necessary before we let him loose to build the stand.

Starting to order up parts, both March pumps have arrived finally, gas valve, Love TS controllers, all ordered and on the way.

Been spending some time in the evenings after work polishing the kegs, soon we'll get started with cutting the tops off the kegs and drilling holes so we can prep them for our stainless welder.

Getting anxious now; it's frustrating waiting for things to show up! Or in the case of the cam-locks, wait for them to get back in stock. But it's been fun so far and hopefully we'll have it ready the first part of the year and we'll be brewing up a few batches to break it in!

My work for the next several weeks after work:

Nice work on the kegs.... you use a DIY thread to show you how to or did something on your own?

Put four wheels on it you will be glad you did.

Pat

CenCalWorthog said:

Nice work on the kegs.... you use a DIY thread to show you how to or did something on your own?

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Keg Polishing
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/polishing-your-keg-more-than-clever-euphemism-54025/

lehr said:

Put four wheels on it you will be glad you did.

Pat

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We're sticking with 2 large wheels - for a few reasons. First being this will have to make some "off road" trips around the house, through some loose gravel, etc - casters or 4 wheels on anything like that is a pain in the rear. Second being with 4 it's also a bit more difficult to role up ramps into a truck - 2 large air filled rubber tires will grip the ramp and role right up. We're not rolling this thing around full of water/wort.

Ok but this thing even with out water will be a handfull.

Pat

lehr said:

Ok but this thing even with out water will be a handfull.

Pat

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Not doubting you there!

Worst case - after it's built we find out it is in need of 2 more wheels - we can cut down the other legs and drill for 2 more.

Matt, you make any progress on this over the holidays?? Those of us plotting our own rigs for the new year are following with interest!

Not as much as I'd have liked but kind of expected that with all of the obligations around the holidays. I've ordered quite a few of the parts - still waiting on a few things to come back in stock at suppliers. We've passed our design off to the welder and on Wednesday he sent the cut sheet off to the materials supplier. Hoping he'll be able to make headway on the frame in the coming few weeks.

Parts that have shown up over the last several weeks:

• March Pumps (2)
• Sight Glasses (2) - Thanks Bobby_M!
• Love Controllers (2)
• Honeywell Gas Valve (1)
• 1/2" Ball Valves (5)
• False Bottoms (2) - Thanks Jaybird
• Kegs (3)
• Wheels (2)
• Banjo Burners (3)

Also ordered our couplings and nipples for our keggles. Today's project that my dad has been working on is building the cutting jig for the keggle tops. I've got 1 of the 3 kegs mostly polished. Started on the second before I chopped up my finger (that's put a bit of a damper on polishing for a little bit).

Hoping to order the cam-locks in the next week or so (depending on whether or not the supplier gets them back in stock) - and have a few smaller parts to order for the gas plumbing and control panel.

Wish I had more to report - it is going slower than I had hoped but it'll be worth it in the end!

I'll keep everyone posted.

01/04/10 Update:

Gave our welder, Micah, the green light tonight after he received the pricing from the metal supplier. If all goes well we might have the stand in about a week!

And we thought we had some time to order up remaining parts - guess we better get on it!

Can't wait to see how this design works out. I like the idea of putting the kegs on hinges. Are you going to use any hard plumbing or will it all be flexible? I saw on another thread you are going to use the camlocks. Type F so I assume you are using some sort of tubing.

Brewmoor said:

Can't wait to see how this design works out. I like the idea of putting the kegs on hinges. Are you going to use any hard plumbing or will it all be flexible? I saw on another thread you are going to use the camlocks. Type F so I assume you are using some sort of tubing.

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We'll be using silicone tubing - likely the stuff from Austin Homebrew and making several sets of tubing. Correct, we'll also be using the cam locks on all of our fittings. No hard plumbing for liquid.

01/15/10 Update:

Got word last night that the welding on the stand is all done (minus hinges which we'll take care of Wednesday of next week when we go to pick up the stand). We've still got quite a bit of work to go but that's a big step in the right direction.

Items we're still working through figuring out:

1) HERMs Coil Mounting - how we want to go about doing this, think we've determined we'll probably use compression fittings on the side of the keg so the coil can be removed.

2) HLT Stirrer - trying to determine what motor we want to use and how we want to go about incorporating in our design.

3) Sparging Setup - we've talked through numerous options but haven't settled on our desired approach yet.

4) Control Panel - we have a general desired direction but are working through the electrical schematics and options. Hoping to mimic a control panel similar to that used in the HERMAN build but simpler (no circuit board - rather using pilot lights if possible).

Wow, that looks sweet! What are you going to use the other kegs for?

Mirage said:

Wow, that looks sweet! What are you going to use the other kegs for?

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Undetermined at this point - we picked those up and were just looking for 1 more but after taking a closer look at them, especially one, they are pretty beat up (dented and don't sit flat). So we scored 3 nice kegs.

We'll probably use them for fermenters or other projects later on.

Ah cool cool! I am also just picking up sankes as I can. Always find a use for them or I am sure I can sell them for what I paid at a later date.

Make 10-15 gallon fermenters out of them. there's a guy on HBT that makes a tri-clover set up for them. Great use in my opinion. I turned another keg into a cooler for bbq's etc but now wish I had not cut the top off.

I was reading about turning a keg with the top cut off into a fermenter. I think it would almost be better (more work but better) in that you can easily clean and make sure it is clean. It involved plexi and a gasket and 2x4 to hold it down. People were pressure fermenting in it and everything. Seemed pretty sweet to me.

flananuts said:

Make 10-15 gallon fermenters out of them. there's a guy on HBT that makes a tri-clover set up for them. Great use in my opinion. I turned another keg into a cooler for bbq's etc but now wish I had not cut the top off.

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that would be http://www.brewershardware.com/fermenter.htm

looks great!

the only thing i would be concerned about is the height of your pumps, if you are going to have disconnect fittings coming into the bottom of your pumps you will need room for your hose to make a 180 degree turn and come back up into the bottom of the pump.

you may have enough room and i just don't see it.

i like the 3D drawings, this will help other builders, that is one think i wish i had for my build post, i had it all in my head which did not help others

good luck and enjoy the build with your sons

nicksteck said:

looks great!

the only thing i would be concerned about is the height of your pumps, if you are going to have disconnect fittings coming into the bottom of your pumps you will need room for your hose to make a 180 degree turn and come back up into the bottom of the pump.

you may have enough room and i just don't see it.

i like the 3D drawings, this will help other builders, that is one think i wish i had for my build post, i had it all in my head which did not help others

good luck and enjoy the build with your sons

Click to expand...

Could call on the pump location - it had actually crossed my mind a while back - we'll likely put a 90 on there and have the QD come off to the side of the pump so its an easier hose route without risk of kinking.

Oh by the way I'm the oldest son - my dad and younger brother haven't made the jump to be members on here. But we're all enjoying the build.

*Subscribed* (even though this is light years beyond my own ambitions at this point.) Thanks for sharing the project in such detail! Any plans to monitor the ACTUAL costs of the project? I noticed you said you got the order estimate from your welder but didn't say what the estimate was.

I gave my wife a keezer estimate of $100 but I spent that and all I have is a collar and some plywood.

Yup - I'm tracking the actuals (like the first post says - I'm a bit OCD) I've been tracking everything in a detailed spreadsheet. The final build sheet with links to all of the products we purchased, part #s, prices (including shipping cost per vendor for orders) will be posted.

I dig the spreadsheet but cringe to think that I too spent that much or more on my single tier HERMS build. However the product is unbelieveable and every brew session I get even more efficient on all aspects from setup, brew, clean, and put away. I saw that you plan on using high temp silicone tubing. I went with hi-temp thermoplastic at 1.50 a foot and have been super pleased with it. It might help you shave a few points off your price tag. QD's are also great when it's time to go from BK into fermenter. Do you plan to pump to fermenter or just gravity from ferm into carboy/keg etc?

Yeah - it's no inexpensive undertaking that's for sure. But we've done pretty well saving in many places I believe. The spreadsheet doesn't reflect everything currently - I'll post later which should reflect everything.

We're leaning more towards the silicone because I've seen folks have good results with it on here plus it's a bit translucent so you can see some fluid in it; not sure you can get that same result with the thermoplastic tubing. We're using the CamLock quick disconnects - they actually showed up last week. We'll be pumping to the fermenter after running through a coiling cycle in the HERMS coil with an ice bath in the HLT.

Compliments on the project...obviously a labor of love...the attention to detail is to be commended and it will benefit numerous other HBT's planning or dreaming about such a build. I look forward to your vendor list and links to the items you used from each. The cam locks from pro flow dynamics look great. First I've heard of those. Interested to see how you like them.

Are you planning on hard plumbing the 50' of 1/2 copper tubing in the HLT? Using that as your HERMS coil and then pumping from the BK back to the HLT coil for cooling?

Greg - we've actually been toying around with how we want to connect our HERMS coil - after a trip to the hardware store yesterday I think we've got a plan that allows us to remove the coil if we need to at any point - however that's unlikely I think. I'll post details when we get to that point. Also - we won't be using all 50' for the HERMs coil - likely around 25' as that seems to work for most folks on here. And yes, we'll use the HERMS coil back to cool - utilizing an ice bath in the HLT at that point. Inexpensive and effective solution - no sense spending the $ on a plate chiller that will clog with pelleted hops, etc.

That's exactly what I'm working on is attaching the coil for both HERMS use and cooling. In your research what made you go with copper over stainless. I've read the heat conductivity property benefits of cooper but like the durability of stainless. Here's a great thread about this and a nice example of a stainless set up. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/stainless-steel-copper-herms-coil-138139/#post1565417.

Looking for as much info as I can before I pull the trigger.