Commercial Coffee Brewer R.I.M.System

I used to brew a lot back in the late 1980's. The last time i brewed was in 1997 when i was trying to make this coffee brewer work. I gave it one try and quit. I now have a little more time and thought i would try to make it work. I needed to find a way to add more heat faster, and came up with my AUX heat. The first batch met all expectations. I'm back in it! This was a SN pale ale cone. I only made a 4 gl batch to see how much would fit in. I am pretty sure I can fit about 18# of grain(9 on each side). It has endless hot water for sparging.

What do you guys think?

looks good! i considered using one or two hot water kettles similar to that so i could set a timer and have my strike water ready when i woke up. way to repurpose!

very cool setup, looks like a good alternative to someone who cant have a huge all grain setup with the usual stands alot of them have. I wonder how readily available one of those coffee machines would be on ebay or a site like that.

I believe (once complete) it will be as accurate, and far more easier to use that a traditional setup . Now that i have both side set up with false bottoms, my capacity to hold grain is about 18 pounds. I should be able to brew up to 10 gallon batches. I added a internal loop (runs through the hot water that surrounds the coffee holding pots) for the RIMS so that i do not need auxiliary heat. I am getting ready to install a digital temp controller this week which should make step temp changes very simple. I've done three batch so far, each one with improvements i realized from the batch before. I mash and sparge in the coffee maker, move it over to a gas burner for the boil, and the results have been great. The last batch took me 4 hours from start to finish, and since most of the process in powered by electricity (220) i can do it in my basement with no issues. I'll post the set-up and i get it modified.

I think we need more details on the build.

This is a follow-up on the coffee brewer

Interesting little system. I'd like to know more as well. You must have got a good deal on the urn though, those things go for like 2K new.

-cheers

The brewer is a lot bigger than it looks from the pictures. It can easily produce a 10 gal batch. I worked as a chef for many years. A country club i worked for switched coffee systems, and this one was going for the scrap pile. I've been hauling it around for a long time. I just put the didgital temp controler on, and it works as well as i could have hoped for. Holds temp to with-in +/- 1 degree. (i'll post a picture tomorrow) What do you want to know?

Just installed the digital controller and made my first batch with it. There's a 7to 8 degree difference between the water jacket temperature (where the temp probe is) and the mash temperature. If i put the temperature probe in the mash, it will over-shoot b/c of the lag time. If you want to maintain 152, you set it for 160. It held the temp very steady without having to adjust. The beer was an Irish Red i found off this site. Seems like it all went very well. My OG was a little light from over-sparging, I went 3/4 of a gallon over.

You probably already have this?:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/PDF/385FE100N.pdf

Cool setup, by the way!

deprecated said:

You probably already have this?:
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/PDF/385FE100N.pdf

Cool setup, by the way!

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Thanks, I’ve been working hard on this setup all summer. It’s made some pretty good beer so far.

A buddy i work with used that diagram to install the digital controller.

Since the last pictures i posted, I've added a small cartridge style heater that makes it easier to control the temperature. I’ll try to post.

This thing is awesome. I cant wait to see more. I will be scrounging sp? scrap yards for one of these. That is a really cool setup and is a marketable item once you get it all complete. Good luck and keep us posted!

psutimmah said:

This thing is awesome. I cant wait to see more. I will be scrounging sp? scrap yards for one of these. That is a really cool setup and is a marketable item once you get it all complete. Good luck and keep us posted!

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Ebay is your best bet in finding them. Every city has a used restaurant equipment company, work a deal with them. Most of these units are sitting around.

Ruffins said:

Thanks, I’ve been working hard on this setup all summer. It’s made some pretty good beer so far.

A buddy i work with used that diagram to install the digital controller.

Since the last pictures i posted, I've added a small cartridge style heater that makes it easier to control the temperature. I’ll try to post.

Click to expand...

I'm inspired by your posting. I found an older Blickman Touch 'N Brew at a local Used Restaurant Equipment shop, and the guy wants $200 for it. The thing is definitely not in mint working condition, mainly just missing a couple of the little connection lines on the top. I'm don't have welding skills or anything, but I've got some time and definitely want to learn how to fix this thing up if I can to make it work like you did. Do you think it's doable?

I have a chance to pick up a smaller one of these. Twin 3 gallon urns and a 20 gallon water jacket. I'm thinking of mashing/sparging in the urns and boiling in the water jacket. What do you think?

My works realy well for mashing and sparging. I don't think i would try to boil in it...it could make a mass. The one i have is twin 3 gallon tanks. It an handle up to 20# of grain. I used it today as a matter of fact!

If you need help with anyting, email me at [email protected]

Ben

you should post a video of a brew day using this setup

definitely second that request!

Man that is a very cool idea and great repurpose. Someone could use that in a apartment. Crap a studio in NY could be all grain with that. Nice work!
I run a twin two vessel system (keggels). But I hate waiting so the gas water heater is cranked with 148deg at the sink, straight into the RIMS heater and into Mash Tun at 165deg all day. Sparge the same way. Saves so much time. EVERYONE TURN UP YOUR WATER HEATERS THE DAY BEFORE YOU BREW!!! The most time is wasted waiting on hot water. The hotter it is going in to your pot the faster you get done.

That's awesome. I worked in coffee shops all through college and this never occurred to me. What a great idea and way to reduce, reuse and recycle! :fro:

I’ve spent my whole life in food service, and I’ve been brewing since the 1980’s. I acquired the coffee maker many many years ago as it was getting tossed. I knew I could turn it into a mashtun. My first attempts in the early 1990’s failed and I put it away for 12 years. Then I discovered digital controllers. I had a buddy remove the analog temp controller and add a digital one, and it’s been amazing ever since. It will hold exactly any temp I want to. I have also figured out how to use it for mash-in water and sparge water by accommodating for the temp flux….and it was free!

I also use it as often for sous-vide cooking accuracy. If I do beef short ribs, I cook at 132 degrees for 48 hours. The water temp will not vary 2 full degrees the whole time.