My Brew Stand and Fermentation Chamber Build

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Gremlyn

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Back story: We moved from an apartment into our first house in April 2010. I had a nice little 5 gal setup with a 5 gal drink cooler for an MLT, a couple of decent sized pots and a heat stick aid in stove top boils.

Upon moving to my new house, I set up to brew in my kitchen on my nice new gas stove (no more crappy apartment stove!). This went OK, the boil I achieved was just shy of a full rolling boil, so I decided it was time I get a propane burner and move outside. I picked up a KAB4 and quickly discovered my 8 gal was not cut out for the violence of the boil that burner can produce. I spent two brew sessions riding the gas the whole boil and it was not fun. On top of that, it was much harder to maintain fermentation temps with the plastic tub full of ice water in the house - who knew how much extra insulation surrounding apartments gave!

The decision was made about May 2010 that I would build a brew stand and fermentation chamber, and that I wouldn't brew again until I had those done. Fast forward to now and I've almost finished my brew stand! I have the mini fridge I will be using to build the chamber and that should be only a week or so out from being started as of the time I write this.

The Brew Stand:
So I present to you my brew stand so far. The equipment use to put it all together is as follows:
  • MLT: Coleman 70qt Xtreme Cooler, copper manifold
  • BK/HLT: Sanke Keggles with Thermometers and Sight Glasses, Whirlpool Fitting on the BK
  • Stand: Angle Iron, just like the 'Wallace' brew stand
  • March Pump with top, center inlet
  • Dual KAB4 Burners
  • All SS fittings purchased from Bargain Fittings
  • Polysulfone Quick Disconnects
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March Pump
I picked up this March Pump on e-bay a while back, and at the time didn't realise there was a difference in the pump heads. Turns out I got lucky as the centre inlet head is supposed to be much easier to prime. The one slight downside is that the center inlet is a 3/4" MPT instead of 1/2" MPT, but that's nothing a SS 3/4" to 1/2" adapter from Bargain Fittings couldn't fix :)
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Kettles
I picked up a couple of kegs from a source that is connected to the brewery displayed on the kegs, not 100% sure this person was supposed to give them to me, but after the kegs were offered I explained to the person what I would to them and was assured it wouldn't be a problem for me to take the kegs... so I did.
BK:
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HLT:
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Burners
I am using two KAB4 burners, picked up from Amazon for ~$80 each. I was originally planning on plumbing in black iron pipe and running one propane tank for both burners, but with as hungry as these burners can be I'm going to go for a while using one tank per burner (I already have 3 tanks anyway) and no hard plumbing.
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Mash Tun
I am using a Coleman Xtreme 70 qt cooler. As you can see in the pics, I built a copper manifold running to the the 2-piece stainless steel ball valve. This will be soldered into three pieces; I will make two longer sides, one of which will have 3 of the 4 short tubes soldered in. The short tube with the tee in it that connects to the ball valve will be soldered together and kept separate from the other two longer pieces, which will allow easier installation and removal of the manifold as a whole (there will be pics when I have that done soon).
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Wort Cooling
I needed a way to mount my 40 plate Duda Diesel plate chiller to my stand, so I decided I would JB Weld some bolts on the side of it. I used a piece of leftover flat slotted steel as a guide for spacing. I think 3 bolts JB Welded on should be strong enough to hold this on. I plan on adding a little more JB Weld to the base of the bolts after they have dried from this round.
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The Fermentation Chamber:
The plan for the fermentation chamber is to take apart an older style mini fridge (coils on the back) and keep the cooling system only. I will build a box of plywood and foam insulation that will be able to fit two sanke kegs to ferment in. I have a Ranco single stage controller, and bought a computer power supply to run the fans to draw air over a heatsink bonded to the the cooling tray. This will also power some cold cathode lights I have and am going to rig up inside with a light switch and whatever other 12V DC goodies I decide to throw in there.

The Chamber Build
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Looks good! Im thinking of building some kind of fermentation chamber as well so ill be interested to see how you go about it. Cheers!
 
Looks good! Im thinking of building some kind of fermentation chamber as well so ill be interested to see how you go about it. Cheers!

Not many people seem to have done what I'm going to, at least they haven't taken lots of pictures and shown it off if they have. I'll take as many pics of the build as I can.
 
I have the same cooler, and from what I understand you may want to modify your manifold to prevent channeling. If you sparge in any method other than batch, with your manifold up against the sides of the cooler like that, you will create channeling and miss out on a lot of sugars.

The goal is to have the manifold equidistant from the walls and itself, in order to pick up sugars as evenly as possible.

Here is a picture of my manifold:
small%20manifold.jpg
 
I have the same cooler, and from what I understand you may want to modify your manifold to prevent channeling. If you sparge in any method other than batch, with your manifold up against the sides of the cooler like that, you will create channeling and miss out on a lot of sugars.

The goal is to have the manifold equidistant from the walls and itself, in order to pick up sugars as evenly as possible.

Here is a picture of my manifold:
small%20manifold.jpg

Good eye, I was going to say the same thing.

Looks great man!
 
I have the same cooler, and from what I understand you may want to modify your manifold to prevent channeling. If you sparge in any method other than batch, with your manifold up against the sides of the cooler like that, you will create channeling and miss out on a lot of sugars.

The goal is to have the manifold equidistant from the walls and itself, in order to pick up sugars as evenly as possible.

Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't have though of that. I'm currently planning on batch sparging so channelling shouldn't be an issue. Since I'm not soldering the whole manifold together at this point, I'll be able to easily modify the design later should I switch over.
 
Nice step up!! How do you see the cleaning of the fermenter going? I guess the hole in the fermenter will be similar to/ a little larger that of a carboy neck? Just a large carboy brush and rinse? If push comes to shove you could fill it with water and boil it for sanitation, then allow it to cool and use it as a HLT?
 
Nice step up!! How do you see the cleaning of the fermenter going? I guess the hole in the fermenter will be similar to/ a little larger that of a carboy neck? Just a large carboy brush and rinse? If push comes to shove you could fill it with water and boil it for sanitation, then allow it to cool and use it as a HLT?

My plan is to rinse it out after fermentation is over, then put it on the stand and fill it with water and oxy-clean and boil it for a bit. That should loosen any stuck on junk inside, and then I figured I would make one of the modified garden sprayer set ups to hose off anything still clinging to the inner walls. That is, of course, unless I can find a 90-degree pressure washer... then it'll be a snap to clean :)
 
My plan is to rinse it out after fermentation is over, then put it on the stand and fill it with water and oxy-clean and boil it for a bit. That should loosen any stuck on junk inside, and then I figured I would make one of the modified garden sprayer set ups to hose off anything still clinging to the inner walls. That is, of course, unless I can find a 90-degree pressure washer... then it'll be a snap to clean :)

Interesting! You could modify bottle rinser that connects to a faucet.
 
Interesting! You could modify bottle rinser that connects to a faucet.

I've thought of and been given a few more ideas since posting that as well. I have a 1/4hp submersible pump from Harbor Freight I might consider using as well, though I'm not sure what kind of presume I will be able to get. I'd like to be able to have decent pressure so that I will feel better knowing things are being forcibly removed rather than just washed over with gently water.
 
Nice Job Gremlyn. I have a welder if you decide you want to weld that bad boy up.
 
Updated with a pic of the plate chiller and the concept of how I plan on mounting it and a new picture of the overall stand.
 
I have a DIY idea for a keg washer I might mock up this weekend. I have a keg I fermented in I want to wash and one I need to take the speer out of that will need to be washed + a bunch of Cornys and carboys.

basically the idea is to put a spray nozzle on to a carboy brush.I'll let you know how it works.

also the pressure washes idea is a good one. everyone needs a pressure washer...right
 
I have a DIY idea for a keg washer I might mock up this weekend. I have a keg I fermented in I want to wash and one I need to take the speer out of that will need to be washed + a bunch of Cornys and carboys.

basically the idea is to put a spray nozzle on to a carboy brush.I'll let you know how it works.

also the pressure washes idea is a good one. everyone needs a pressure washer...right

Please do and I might have a lead on some more sankes for cheap if you're interested.
 
Yes definitely, till I scrape enough together to get my BRWHEMOTH, I'll like to be using the keg for ten gallon batches. so far I have 2 but Id like some more.
 
Originally Posted by HardHatPat
I have the same cooler, and from what I understand you may want to modify your manifold to prevent channeling. If you sparge in any method other than batch, with your manifold up against the sides of the cooler like that, you will create channeling and miss out on a lot of sugars.

The goal is to have the manifold equidistant from the walls and itself, in order to pick up sugars as evenly as possible.

Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't have though of that. I'm currently planning on batch sparging so channelling shouldn't be an issue. Since I'm not soldering the whole manifold together at this point, I'll be able to easily modify the design later should I switch over.

You'll get a better efficiency if you shorten the cross pieces of your manifold just an inch or two, even if you're batch sparging. The water will flow more evenly through the whole grain bed and extract more of that sweet sweet nectar from every bit of grain.

John Palmer did a schematic of it here, http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-2.html
a great link I wish I woulda read before I built mine.

Also there's no reason to ever solder the manifold togeather since the goal is not to have it water tight (plus it'll be easier to clean down the road)
Can't wait for the fermentaion chamber build
 
You'll get a better efficiency if you shorten the cross pieces of your manifold just an inch or two, even if you're batch sparging. The water will flow more evenly through the whole grain bed and extract more of that sweet sweet nectar from every bit of grain.

John Palmer did a schematic of it here, http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixD-2.html
a great link I wish I woulda read before I built mine.

Also there's no reason to ever solder the manifold togeather since the goal is not to have it water tight (plus it'll be easier to clean down the road)
Can't wait for the fermentaion chamber build

It's not too late to shorten it, so I will do that. Thanks for the link! The only reason I wanted to solder some of it was to not have 30 pieces of copper to track down on a brew day :)
 
Updated with more pics of the chamber build. I have the compressor mounted now, and just a little more framing and then it's done. I've decided I'm going to have to cut the door in half, otherwise it'll be a pain to open. It'll present a challenge to keep the door well sealed, but I think I have a good plan for it.
 
:mug:

OUTSTANDING! And thanks for detailing the fridge tear-down. I've been wondering how that's done... :)
 
:mug:

OUTSTANDING! And thanks for detailing the fridge tear-down. I've been wondering how that's done... :)

Thanks, I'm just kind of making it up as I go along from the rough sketch I have in my head. I'm glad it's coming together as well as it has :) Keep in mind that I specifically found an older mini-fridge with the cooling coil on the back. The new ones have those built into the walls and are much harder to disassemble.
 
Awesome thread. I'm just getting into brewing and the frame itself doesn't look like it was too expensive, but will obviously be helpful in many ways. What do you think the materials for the frame alone cost you?
 
Awesome thread. I'm just getting into brewing and the frame itself doesn't look like it was too expensive, but will obviously be helpful in many ways. What do you think the materials for the frame alone cost you?

The plywood I used was $12-ish/sheet and I used 7 of them (8 including the one I miscut), and I went for 2x3 for the framing lumber figuring I would leave myself more room for insulation, which has a much higher R value than wood. The 2x3 are holding up fine, I could have likely gone with 2x2 and been fine. I bought I think 8 2x3s are $2-ish each. I picked up the mini-fridge for $40 or $50 on CL, and then the sheets of foam I'm going to get will probably be about $20 all said and done. So no... really not too expensive. And this chamber is bigger than most would need since I built it to hold 2 sankes and then some.
 
Got the frame done and the top on the chamber. I'm going to get the insulation tomorrow, and then I just have to finish the door. I'm hoping to have the chamber finished tomorrow!!!
 
So close to finishing up the ferm chamber, hoping to be ready to try it out tonight or early tomorrow. I'm planning to brew on Sunday (FINALLY!!!) and already have my starter going, so fingers crossed!
 
Added a new pic of the fermentation chamber filled with ferment(ing/ed) goodness! The two corny kegs contain my porter, one with oaked bourbon added, the better bottle is an English hard cider, and the sanke is my dunkelweizen which is going to be kegged this weekend (smells like banana deliciousness!).

I couldn't be happier with the ferm chamber. I haven't technically finished it yet, still need to add the heatsink and fans to the cooling plate, and the doors are quite fully sealed. But even still, it doesn't kick on that often, even set to +/-1F. I basically sits at whatever temp I set it to and occasionally rises 1F higher, kicks on, cools down and sits for a while again. The thermowell is simply a must have for fermentation temp control...
 
I just built a SOAFC as well, perfect timing as my garage is getting way to high for ferm temps. What part of SD are you from?
 
I just built a SOAFC as well, perfect timing as my garage is getting way to high for ferm temps. What part of SD are you from?

I'm in College Area right on the La Mesa border. Depsite our fairly temperate climate here, I've always had trouble controlling fermentation temps... so happy I can finally do so!
 
I'm in College Area right on the La Mesa border. Depsite our fairly temperate climate here, I've always had trouble controlling fermentation temps... so happy I can finally do so!

Yeah I hear ya on that one. I have about 2 brews that have gone in and out of my ferm chamber since its been built and I have been really pleased by the results. With just ice bottles I can keep steady temps of 63-64 with just 2 small computer fans wired together.

I noticed the CHUG link in your sig line. How often do you guys group brew? and where at?
 
Yeah I hear ya on that one. I have about 2 brews that have gone in and out of my ferm chamber since its been built and I have been really pleased by the results. With just ice bottles I can keep steady temps of 63-64 with just 2 small computer fans wired together.

I noticed the CHUG link in your sig line. How often do you guys group brew? and where at?

We haven't ever actually group brewed. We have hung out at people's places when they were brewing a few times though. We mostly just get together and drink and talk shop :)
 
We haven't ever actually group brewed. We have hung out at people's places when they were brewing a few times though. We mostly just get together and drink and talk shop :)

Sounds cool. Let me know if you guys are ever in the north county area, we'll get a beer.
 
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