Orangevango
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2008
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Looking at this site and all of these sexy HERM systems has made me start to itch for one of my own, but, being the way I am, I can not bring myself to stick with convention, especialy when I think I can do it better. So over the weekend, Ive started scheming.
HLT: Standard 15 gallon SS pot with a drain on the bottom, propane fired, located on a higher platform than the MLT and Kettle to allow filling of the mash tun by gravity.
MLT: 10 gallon gatorade cooler with a stainless braid manifold. The lid will have 2 holes drilled in it, a hole for the return manifold/sparge arm and a hole for the temperature probe. The return manifold (a ring of copper tube with holes drilled in it to evenly distribute the wort/sparge water) will be attached to the lid in such a way that I can slide it up and down, depending on the mash volume.
Kettle: A propane fired 15 gallon SS pot with a drain and a heat exchanger coil (preferably SS as well) to be used for mash recirculation. The heat exchanger would come through the wall near the bottom and at about the 5 gallon mark, it would be 25-30 feet in total length. I will make an insulative wrap and lid that I can use during the mash and remove during the boil.
Electric heater: A 120v 2000 watt water heater element should suffice(please correct me if I am wrong here, it only needs to be able to maintain about 5 gallons of water at my mash temp). I will attach it to a clip of some sort that will suspend it in the kettle, it will be controlled by the temperature probe. I will need to make some type of water proof housing for the electrical bits.
Temperature probe/Controller: I am in the dark about these, All I know is I want the Probe to take a reading from the mash tun and cycle the electric heating element on and off. Please make me some recomendations
Pump: March Pump
BrewDay:
What do you guys think of it? My main concern is that I will end up having to run a 240 volt line out to the brew shed, which I really dont want to do.
HLT: Standard 15 gallon SS pot with a drain on the bottom, propane fired, located on a higher platform than the MLT and Kettle to allow filling of the mash tun by gravity.
MLT: 10 gallon gatorade cooler with a stainless braid manifold. The lid will have 2 holes drilled in it, a hole for the return manifold/sparge arm and a hole for the temperature probe. The return manifold (a ring of copper tube with holes drilled in it to evenly distribute the wort/sparge water) will be attached to the lid in such a way that I can slide it up and down, depending on the mash volume.
Kettle: A propane fired 15 gallon SS pot with a drain and a heat exchanger coil (preferably SS as well) to be used for mash recirculation. The heat exchanger would come through the wall near the bottom and at about the 5 gallon mark, it would be 25-30 feet in total length. I will make an insulative wrap and lid that I can use during the mash and remove during the boil.
Electric heater: A 120v 2000 watt water heater element should suffice(please correct me if I am wrong here, it only needs to be able to maintain about 5 gallons of water at my mash temp). I will attach it to a clip of some sort that will suspend it in the kettle, it will be controlled by the temperature probe. I will need to make some type of water proof housing for the electrical bits.
Temperature probe/Controller: I am in the dark about these, All I know is I want the Probe to take a reading from the mash tun and cycle the electric heating element on and off. Please make me some recomendations
Pump: March Pump
BrewDay:
- Measure out 5 gallons of water (more if more than 5 gallons of sparge water will be used) and put it into the Kettle, turn on the burner to warm up to mash (not strike) temperature.
- Put strike water in HLT and turn on the burner to warm up to strike temperature.
- When strike temperature is reached, mash in. Connect the pump to the MLT outlet and the inlet of the heat exchanger coil (HEC).
- Attach a hose from the HEC outlet to the wort return manifold.
- Turn on temperature probe and put electric heating element into kettle.
- The mash will self regulate, constantly recirculating. The temperature probe in the mash will turn on the Electric heating element if the mash temperature drops below target and it will turn off the element when target is attained.
- In the last ten minutes or so of the mash, turn off the pump and electric heating element
- Disconnect the pump from the MLT and the HEC and reconnect it to the kettle's spigot, pump the hot water from the kettle to the HLT and turn on burner to raise it to sparge temps, if needed.
- remove the temperature probe, water heater element, and insulative blanket
- Run off the mash into the kettle and sparge, commence the boil.
- Empty the MLT and give it a quick rinse.
- When the boil is done, fill the MLT with solution of PBW and ice, attach the pump the to spigot and to the HEC inlet. Attach the HEC outlet to the wort return manifold and turn on the pump to recirculate the ice cold PBW solution to both chill the wort and clean the coil, pump, and lines.
- put any dirty misc equipment (spoons, sample jars, whatever) into the mash tun to be cleaned after you give them a quick rinse.
- When the wort is chilled, drain into the sanitized fermentor.
- pitch the yeast
- clean the kettle.
- collapse.
What do you guys think of it? My main concern is that I will end up having to run a 240 volt line out to the brew shed, which I really dont want to do.