Countertop Brutus 20

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Do you guys know of any way to insulate a pot in a blingy-fashion? The reflectix stuff is a bit of an eyesore if you have the stuff to go with some flashy stainless-steel connections etc.

Damn 120v :p
 
get some high temp insulation and wrap it around the kettle and then get some polished 26 gauge stainless sheet and rap it around it and make a top and bottom cap.....
 
Thought CB20 builders might like to know how the system holds up long-term and what mods I've made since the original build.

Today I did my 2nd annual teardown of the pump/chiller bucket and all CB20 valve assemblies to give them a good cleaning and check & oil the pump. The threaded bits around the valves tend to accumulate some minor gunk. Washes right off with a soapy wash rag. The pump, for the 2nd year, was perfectly fine. No debris, no buildup, and no wear on the impeller. My kettle is over 3 years old now and is starting to show signs of age. I'd like one about a gallon bigger so it's time to start shopping.

As for upgrades in the past couple years, there really haven't been too many. I switched to a Rheem copper water heater element last year and have been extremely pleased. No signs of wear at all. I also added a brass right-angle barbed nipple to the end of the kettle return hose to better recirculate the return wort for whirlpool and chilling.

More recently I've reconfigured my kettle valve with a "T" so I could get the PID temp reading direct from the flow. I also scrapped the worn-out hose braid in the MLT for one of Jaybird's awesome false bottoms.

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IMG_6761.jpg
 
Thanks for that info, jkarp. I have made five batches so far on my little CB20. The first four batches I had issues with lautering with my stainless braid (probably was too small), so last week I threw together a cpvc manifold, which performed far better. I have been interested in getting a false bottom, so your post is going to make that the next brewing purchase.

All-in-all I am loving the system. I wasn't happy with the boil vigor as my 7 gal boil kettle is wide and short. I have 240 available in my brew area, so I swapped out my 120v 2000w element for a 240v 4500w element. Now I can get the total volume of water from 50F to 170F in around 15 minutes, and I can boil 6 gals of wort vigorously at 60% on the PID.
 
How do you like jays false bottom over the braid?

I've only done two batches with it, but so far I absolutely LOVE it. Jay won me over with his design for the 5 gal rubbermaid coolers - no plumbing required whatsoever - just drop in the stand and the false bottom rests on top of it, sitting above the cooler's stock spigot level. Genius!
 
All-in-all I am loving the system. I wasn't happy with the boil vigor as my 7 gal boil kettle is wide and short. I have 240 available in my brew area, so I swapped out my 120v 2000w element for a 240v 4500w element. Now I can get the total volume of water from 50F to 170F in around 15 minutes, and I can boil 6 gals of wort vigorously at 60% on the PID.

I'm in the same dilemma tonight, shopping for a new brew kettle. I'm tempted to go bigger, and I can easily run 240, but I know I'll never do more than a 4 gallon batch. Even though I've never brewed out of the kitchen, I still like the idea that I could brew anywhere I could get a 120V 20A outlet. Quality 28-30 qt pots are scarce and cost just as much as 36 qt ones...
 
jkarp said:
I'm in the same dilemma tonight, shopping for a new brew kettle. I'm tempted to go bigger, and I can easily run 240, but I know I'll never do more than a 4 gallon batch. Even though I've never brewed out of the kitchen, I still like the idea that I could brew anywhere I could get a 120V 20A outlet. Quality 28-30 qt pots are scarce and cost just as much as 36 qt ones...

Since my kettle is short and wide, I have a pretty high boil off rate. I typically do 3.5 gal batches with preboil volume of 4.9 gals.

I have my system setup sortof modular where I can either use my 7 gal or 15 gal boil kettle, for batches from 2.5 to 10 gallons.
 
Finally I have my control box finished. Tonight I get to make my cable for my float switch and then I am ready for autotuning the PID and calling the system ready (I think, I probably forgot something else). Here's the left side of my control box showing the element switch/outlet combo and my thermocouple and float switch disconnects.

control_box_comlpete_left_side.jpg
 
IrregularPulse said:
Finally I have my control box finished. Tonight I get to make my cable for my float switch and then I am ready for autotuning the PID and calling the system ready (I think, I probably forgot something else). Here's the left side of my control box showing the element switch/outlet combo and my thermocouple and float switch disconnects.

I'm interested in hearing more about the float switch.
 
It's just a switch that floats with liquid level. When the level is high enough it closes the switch. I wired it in series with the +lead going from the PID to the SSR. So if the PID sends the signal to the SSR to turn the element on, but the water level is below the element, it won't be able to turn the element on and burn it up in open air.
I bought this one.
 
I want to make the step from extract to AG brewing and looking for some advice. I've taken JKarp's CB20 idea (thank you JKarp!) and modified it in a way to be able to recirculate cold water from the MLT through a custom immersion chiller plumbed in the BK instead of using running water during the chill. I still want to use gravity to flow from the MLT to the BK and I only want one pump (Just like JKarp's). The only flaw that i have noticed is the hop stopper (made by theelectricbrewery.com) that i want to use to filter out liquid/hop trub after the boil. I'm afraid it will have an affect during the mash circulation. I would really like some feedback before i invest time and money into my idea. Sorry for the ghetto scanned pictures (ps the sight glass will not be mounted directly below the heating element mount, just a lack of drawing ability). Thanks in advance. :mug:

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CB20MashSetup-1.jpg


CB20ChillSetup-1.jpg
 
Only "problem" I can see is that's a lot of stuff to work around in the kettle come cleaning time. Unless you're doing whole hops, you probably don't even need the hop stopper.
 
Thanks JKarp! also, looking at the upgrades you made, did you go with a longer TC on that new tee fitting or are you still using a 4"?
 
Jeff,

Thanks for the guide and personal attention to this long-running thread. I know you posted a "typical" brew day in a post many moons ago, but could you give a couple of recipe examples and walk through the process step-by-step? Folks new to brewing (like myself) would benefit, especially as we learn how to scale 5 gallon recipes down to 3 or 3.5 gallons.

I was inspired to put a system together based on your design and am very happy with it so far, but have only used it twice (once for an extract recipe and once for an all grain recipe). The latter was a challenge because I jumped the gun and bought the ingredients for a 5 gallon recipe (milled and mixed at the local store), so couldn't easily cut it down. Worked out pretty well anyway, I just had to add water as the boil proceeded to avoid over-filling my boiler/kettle.

Here are a few picks of my system:

CFC_Copper_Fittings_Composite_2_small.jpg


CFC_Inside_1_small.jpg


Full_Chill_1_small.jpg


Full_Mash_Recirc_1_small.jpg
 
Yes, I too would like to read an update on your brew day and how you go about scaling recipes to 3.5 gal. I'm a new user of BeerTools and anxious to learn how it might help in this regard.

I've just about completed my control box and am awaiting arrival of my RTD sensor, having exchanged the original TC. BTW, Auber now sells a 4" RTD with a bulkhead fitting which will eliminate the need for a tee at the sight glass. In hindsight, I probably could have gone with the 2" RTD, since all of the probe will be in the kettle.

I also ordered the alarm light/buzzer that Auber sells. I'll add a small switch to that circuit to cancel the alarm signal.

Another change I'm considering is to lengthen the CF line by using a 6 gallon bucket. With our 80 F summer water temps here in Texas, I'll already be needing to pump ice water.

John

Jeff,

Thanks for the guide and personal attention to this long-running thread. I know you posted a "typical" brew day in a post many moons ago, but could you give a couple of recipe examples and walk through the process step-by-step? Folks new to brewing (like myself) would benefit, especially as we learn how to scale 5 gallon recipes down to 3 or 3.5 gallons.

I was inspired to put a system together based on your design and am very happy with it so far, but have only used it twice (once for an extract recipe and once for an all grain recipe). The latter was a challenge because I jumped the gun and bought the ingredients for a 5 gallon recipe (milled and mixed at the local store), so couldn't easily cut it down. Worked out pretty well anyway, I just had to add water as the boil proceeded to avoid over-filling my boiler/kettle.

Here are a few picks of my system:
 
I'd be interested in seeing some pix of your float switch setup. Turning on a bare element sounds like something I'd do. This looks like a cool little device, but I'm kind of hesitant to add the complexity. I also wonder if cleaning is going to be an issue.

It's just a switch that floats with liquid level. When the level is high enough it closes the switch. I wired it in series with the +lead going from the PID to the SSR. So if the PID sends the signal to the SSR to turn the element on, but the water level is below the element, it won't be able to turn the element on and burn it up in open air.
I bought this one.
 
Awesome Oracle! Love how well that center input pump works.

As for recipe scaling, I use iBrewMaster on the iPad, but any software that can scale a recipe works. If I'm brewing someone else's 5 gal recipe, I just enter it in verbatim, hit the Scale button and enter "4" (I shoot for 4 gal finished in the kettle so I've got at least 3.5 going into the fermenter). My cornies are all 3 gal so I'm guaranteed a full cornie and if there's a little more left in the fermenter, I'll bottle it.

As for a typical brewday, it's going to depend a bit on if I want to do a simple single infusion mash, step/ramp mash, or continuous mash recirculation. Assuming a simple single infusion a brew day goes basically like this:

1. Calculate full volume of water needed for brew (batch size + boil-off + grain absorption) and begin heating it in kettle. Set PID to desired strike temp +2.
2. Have a beer.
3. Add salts to MLT. As strike temp approaches, open all valves and recirculate to heat up the MLT.
4. Close MLT valve and fill to desired strike volume. Stir to cool until strike temp is reached and dough in.
5. Have a beer.
6. Set PID to 170 for mashout.
7. With 15 minutes left in mash, begin slow recirculation, balancing valves to keep at least an 1" of wort on top of grain bed.
8. Once PID recovers to 170 (typically 20-30 minutes), shut off pump allowing wort to drain to kettle. Set PID to manual mode 100%
9. Once boil achieved, begin hop additions.
10. Have a beer.
11. Clean MLT and reconfigure system for chilling.
12. With 10 minutes left in boil, begin recirculating to sterilize the chiller.
13. At flameout, add whirlpool hops and cover kettle with lid. Keep pump running.
14. Start chiller water flow.
15. Have beer.
16. Once chilled, shut off pump and raise pump bucket (or blow in return hose) to push all wort back to the kettle. Close kettle valve.
17. Prep fermenter while the break material coagulates in the kettle.
18. Rack to fermenter, pitch, etc.

Cleanup:
19. Dump break from kettle and fill with a couple gallons of hot water and a tablespoon of PBW. Recirculate through chiller for 15 minutes.
20. Dump PBW and throughly rinse kettle. Fill with 5 gal of hot water.
21. Pump hot rinse water through chiller, dumping output into sink.
22. Disconnect everything, clean any remaining bits and put everything up for storage.
22a. Rotating the bucket horizontally above the sink a few times will help "screw out" residual rinse water, if you desire.
23. Beer time!
 
So do you screw the RTD into the T now instead of the sightglass, or am I misunderstanding something?

Exactly. I "stole" the RTD & T from my sightglass, replacing it with a 1/2" 90 deg elbow. Now my T has the output facing down with the ball valve in it. I hang it off the counter top, obviously as it's lower than the kettle bottom.
 
Whats up everyone I made the below post in the Countertop Brutus picture thread and figured there may be more traffic here. I appreciate everyone's help!

"Well this may be the first of many questions as I have determined this is the exact setup I need lol. As I am gathering the pieces to put this all together, I already have a "Chillout" 10 plate chiller from homebrewstuff.com that I would like to integrate into my system. I am wondering if anyone has suggestions about how I could mount this to the bucket, and how I would set up all the plumbing and fittings (and would this actually function similar as if I had the CFC). I figure this chiller should more than suffice for 3.5g batches. By the way jkarp....this system is ingenious, thanks for sharing!"
 
I have done it with a shirron so it is possible. I had the shirron unmounted in a vertical position and the hoses basically kept it in place fine. I used blichman quick connects for wort in and out through the pump and used washing machine hoses for the garden hose connects for chill water on the shirron. Teflon tape on everything and it was leak free. If you use this setup I highly recommend bags for everything, hops and grain. The plate chiller will get clogged with hops and grain pretty easily with this setup. Trub and cold break are sometimes an issue as well. For this reason I ditched my plate chiller and went back to my ic. It was just too much of a hassle getting clogged and using bags for everything. I wouldn't say don't try it, but just be aware of your potential issues going forward.
 
I'm curious, since this is my first time using a pump, what the typical flow rate is that folks are getting in chill mode assuming a build almost identical to the original....
 
I'm curious, since this is my first time using a pump, what the typical flow rate is that folks are getting in chill mode assuming a build almost identical to the original....

I posted about 2 yrs ago that I was getting ~1gpm during chilling (I haven't been concerned enough since then to measure the flow rate ;)). That was with a pump-in-a-bucket (piab) like jk posted, but then I added a bypass valve for non-chilling transfers and that helped speed things up (other than chilling).
I've found that the ~1gpm can be too fast sometimes for chilling, but overall, the piab w/bypass works great.
 
I posted about 2 yrs ago that I was getting ~1gpm during chilling (I haven't been concerned enough since then to measure the flow rate ;)). That was with a pump-in-a-bucket (piab) like jk posted, but then I added a bypass valve for non-chilling transfers and that helped speed things up (other than chilling).
I've found that the ~1gpm can be too fast sometimes for chilling, but overall, the piab w/bypass works great.

Ken...That's exactly what I'm getting (~1gpm in chilling mode), so I guess all is well. There is considerable work being done by this pump during the chilling phase and what with the reduced pipe size, I guess it's understandable. I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't kinked my copper up or something that was really affecting the flow rate.

Thanks again for the post, it was greatly appreciated. Hope to run the maiden voyage through my rig sometime next week...

Chad
 
Someone PMed me the same Q. March pumps aren't uber fast but they are brain-dead simple and reliable (as you'll see when you eventually open up the pump head). These things are used for 7x24 operation in solar heating systems. If it's flowing, it's working.
 
Can anyone provide a more complete parts list? I really want to build this, but I am unsure as to whether the nipples are 3/8x1/2 or 3/8x1/4?? Same story on the barbs, tees, etc.
 
Can anyone provide a more complete parts list? I really want to build this, but I am unsure as to whether the nipples are 3/8x1/2 or 3/8x1/4?? Same story on the barbs, tees, etc.

Here: Brew Your Own: The How-To Homebrew Beer Magazine - Countertop Brutus 20 Parts List

Or Here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/countertop-brutus-20-a-131411/#post1476709

I used these and all was good with them...the best thing to do is to print out all the pictures buried within this thread, and the mentally go down the list notating what goes where...Had my first brew day with this rig this past weekend and things went good!

Cheers!
 
Jeff can chime in but I believe he made a lot of his connections based on what he had lying around. After building this system I would suggest making everything 1/2 inch tubing and connections. The march pump is 1/2 inch and it would just make everything easier to connect and purchase. You can throttle it all with the valves in this system easily.
 
HarkinBanks is right. I had lots of 3/8 bits about in junk bins. The only 1/2 stuff in mine is from the kettle to the pump input.
 
HarkinBanks is right. I had lots of 3/8 bits about in junk bins. The only 1/2 stuff in mine is from the kettle to the pump input.

Where you connected your silicone tubing to your cfc, did you clamp the tubing down on top of the 3/8s copper or is it clamped onto a 1/2 in coupling?
 
dragonlor20 said:
Where you connected your silicone tubing to your cfc, did you clamp the tubing down on top of the 3/8s copper or is it clamped onto a 1/2 in coupling?

Output of pump has a 1/2 female to 3/8 barb. From there it's 3/8 silicone tubing to the 3/8 copper.
 
Output of pump has a 1/2 female to 3/8 barb. From there it's 3/8 silicone tubing to the 3/8 copper.

Thanks! I am in the process of cloning your setup. Finished the cfc, moving on to installing the bulkhead and element to the kettle.... All I need is to break down and buy the pump!
 
Jkarp, do you have a washer on the exterior of your kettle where your bulkhead goes through or does the washer just go on the inside since the nut has a groove cut out for the washer?

Also, can you describe a bit more in detail at how you installed your hot water heater element?

THanks,
Scott
 
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