Single Tier HERMS build

I decided to cannibalize my old single tier propane fired HERMS system and build a stand. I wanted a "BRUTUS type" automated system, with PID control of the HLT and BK burners and PID control of the MLT pump thru the Heat Exchange. Ive looked at tons of Builds on here and Im using lots of ideas form others and inventing some of my own along the way. Here we go with the rig. any and all advice is appreciated. My old rig which I have brewed with since 1996 is the Last pic

1.5" square tubing and the top front/rear rail is 1.5 x 2" tubing. My first ever attempt at Welding with my new Harbor freight tools Wire Feed Mig welder (flux core). Flux Wire Welder - 90 Amp
The first few welds were quite sloppy and got better as I went. I'm grinding down the welds and making it look as clean as I can. Im not going to go with a "Gas Bar" just because I think plumbing the Gas is safer and Im not good enough at welding to trust myself on that stuff.

By the way for anyone in SoCal who wants Metal at great prices I found Benner Metal to have it all http://www.bennermetals.com/

my best weld! Not bad for a $100 Welder and YouTube :rockin:

The next Step was to make all vessels bottom drain. I had a some Keggles like this befor and I like having no dead space. So I used stainless elbows and swaged holes in the bottoms. I was going to sweat them in with Solder (As I already did with the other ports) but I decided to give it a go with my Mig welder. The weld was a mess. I actually burned through one and had to back fill the weld.. and re-grind several times to get a solid seal.. but eventually got them all to work without leaks.
All SS fittings I got from Bargain Fittings http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=common/home

wow, awesome!

now how was I going to get the bottom drain pipe to run forward to the ball valves in the front? I came up with cuts in the front frame and this is why I went with the 4.5" rail. As I was going to make significant cuts into it. I wanted it to be a clean look so I used a Caliper a Dremel with a thin Cut Metal wheel on it and made the recesses tight fitting on the pipe.

What was your method for flaring the holes?

The tool is called a Swage. There are threads on here, about how to Soldering SS that explain it in detail. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/soldering-stainless-steel-155782/ you might also search for "the tool" (aka)
I made my own tool from that thread and it makes gorgeous tight fittings for soldering or welding up. here's a couple pics of the tool and some ports on my Kettles.. So in a nut shell what you do is use a step bit to drill a hole in the steel the same diameter as the small end of the tapered fitting on the bolt. thread it thru and then thread on the nut and tighten until the tool pulls the tapered fitting through. It will mushroom out and now it will tightly hold a coupling, in my case all 1/2" SS. in these pics here, I used an acid flux and lead free plumbing solder to make an extremely strong watertight fitting in the wall of the vessel

Sweet build. However, you mentioned that you were moving to PID control of the HLT and BK burners. Just curious, is having those bottom drain fittings directly above the burners and therefore subject to substantial heat going to cause a problem?

While my system is all electric and I do not a bottom drain setup, I'm not sure that those soldered/welded fittings will withstand all that heat. I assume you have already considered this and thus my comment is probably irrelevant.

Well first of all, yes I have brewed 2 years now with the soldered fittings and they are Rock Freekin Solid. Since the Solder is inside the Keg the wort buffers its ability to want to rise above 220F`. (just never fire the Kettle when empty thats BAD!) Same Deal on the HLT.

(As far as Carmelizing or burning sugars in the drain piping (right on the flame) ) On the BK, I resolve this problem by whirlpooling during the entire boil. I have a 90` angle mounted 3/4 of the way up the keggle and return the wort to the BK making it spin down to the drain. My drain in the BK is set 1" above the bottom (dead middle pointing up) so the trub surrounds the drain but doesnt go in it.. I love it! My MLT has no burner under it since the HLT has the heat Exchange. The HLT simply whirlpools the water around the HEX coil while Im mashing through the coil.. It pumps to the top whirlpools all the way down to the bottom drain and prevents any stratification.

drkwoods said:

Well first of all, yes I have brewed 2 years now with the soldered fittings and they are Rock Freekin Solid. Since the Solder is inside the Keg the wort buffers its ability to want to rise above 220F`. (just never fire the Kettle when empty thats BAD!) Same Deal on the HLT.

(As far as Carmelizing or burning sugars in the drain piping (right on the flame) ) On the BK, I resolve this problem by whirlpooling during the entire boil. I have a 90` angle mounted 3/4 of the way up the keggle and return the wort to the BK making it spin down to the drain. My drain in the BK is set 1" above the bottom (dead middle pointing up) so the trub surrounds the drain but doesnt go in it.. I love it! My MLT has no burner under it since the HLT has the heat Exchange. The HLT simply whirlpools the water around the HEX coil while Im mashing through the coil.. It pumps to the top whirlpools all the way down to the bottom drain and prevents any stratification.

Click to expand...

Understood. Most of the time people solder the fittings on the outside and my presumption was that would cause problems. Being on the inside is likely a whole different story as you elaborated on.

As for the drain in the BK, that is a pretty creative idea. Using an all electric system, I guess I'm out of the loop when it comes to using gas. Good luck with the remainder of the build.

Well I decided to continue to use everything I possibly could from my old Brewstand including the King Cookers. SO I cut the Legs off and made a custom mount added pilots and thermocouples. My first Major fail The KingCookers crank out the BTU's at 30 psi LP. But with Honeywell Furnace Valves I knew I would have to run them at 11"wc. So I figured I would simply drill the single orifice out (like people do with the banjos etc) Here's what I got. I began the drilling proccess and the next page pic is the best I could get, so I scrapped the idea and went with Banjos

Here's the test results. this is the best flame I could muster at .5 psi LP after drilling the orifice several times / So I cut these burners out and refabricated mounts for the Banjos. Just too much Yellow flame in my opinion.. I'll simply install these high pressure burners in a new Brew Sculpture that I plan on selling.

While Waiting for the Banjo's to arrive from AgriSupply BG-14 HIGH PRESSURE CAST IRON BURNER - Agri Supply I added my Full Lock Casters Colson Swivel Caster with Polyurethane 4" x 1-1/4" Wheel with Top Lock Brake | eBay
and Began fabricating my water filtration built into my rig. I wanted two Stage Charcol filtered Water for my Wort/Mash etc. but I also wanted on demand water for CIP stuff, boil overs etc. Also I want every thing to be a QD using the ProflowDynamics.com SS disconnects. I made the mounts removable from the Cart and spaced with felt washers to keep heat off the plastic. There will eventually be Diamond plate wall between the filters and the burners above it. (at this point the pipes are mixed material, but will all be StainlessSteel when Im done)
The water Filters I got at HomeDepot years ago but the model numbers point to this guy.. http://www.waterfilters.net/Ametek-HD10-CL-Whole-House-Clear-Filter.html

The Banjos arrived along with the Honeywell Valves, thermocouples and Standing pilots. this is what I went with.. I drilled and tapped the bottom of the burners so I could allen screw mount the pilot assembly. For all the pipe i used 1/2" Black pipe and fittings from Home Depot

Great job!


Happy brewing time as soon as you can!

looking good...*subscribed*

So I began Welding up the 2 Banjo Burners. I made a Bracket for 4" distance flame to Keg bottom. I got some bad information about reducing that to 2" and I redid the brackets.. arrrrg.. it simply doesnt work. theres not enough room for proper combustion of all that gas. So 3rd times a charm im making adjustable brackets with a 2.5, 3 & 4" distance choices.. I will test that and report back..

1/2 in. FIP x 1/2 in. MIP x 36 in. ProCoat Coated Stainless Steel Gas Appliance Connector with Fittings-CSSL54-36 X at The Home Depot

Subscribed. Very excited about this build. Exactly what I have in the works - except the bottom drain.
Have everything but pilot and gas valves, and control box build.
What orifice and pressure are you running for your banjo burners?
Very nice work, thanks for documenting it!

MrNatural said:

What orifice and pressure are you running for your banjo burners?

Click to expand...

The orifice I got from Williams, because its exactly the right one for LP Gas controlled by a low pressure Furnace Valve, which flows at 11" wc, approx .5psi. Plus..it fits right in place of the high pressure orifice that comes with the Burner HURRICANE BURNER LPG GAS VALVE @ Williams Brewing
for Valves I got the Honeywell VR8200's
VR8200A2132 - Honeywell VR8200A2132 - 1/2", 24 Vac Standing Pilot Gas Valve

by the way, I needed to convert the Gas Valves to LP from the Natural Gas setting they have out of the box. that Kit is here 393691 - Honeywell 393691 - Natural Gas To LP Conversion Kit for SV9500, SV9501, SV9502, VR8200, VR8300

Same deal with the Pilot light. It needs the proper orifice. http://www.pexsupply.com/Honeywell-390686-1-LP-Orifice-for-Pilot-Burners-Q314-Q345-Q3450-Q3451-Q3452

((in my case both had the LP conversion kit with them after I looked in the box more closely))

Awesome. Thank you sir!

I started making my heat shields. 16ga Steel, 6" tall. I bent them around a corney keg. Then I came up with an idea on how to install the heat shields on my burners. I knew I needed the shields but I also wanted maximum coverage of heat across the bottom of each Keggle. I decided that if the heat shield was all the way to the edge (not connected to the burner) it could actually stick up above the deck and hold the Vessel from moving at all, because it would fit into the collar of the Keg. I also wanted protection from any flames licking up the sides of the Keggles. I tested the shield all the way around and found out that it doesn't work properly. There's not enough room for exhaust to escape, and it chokes the burner, flames escape and unburnt gas ignites below the burner. not good! So I made the shields go half way around and am working on an idea for them to vent the spent exhaust and have it escape in the rear of the Cart. Also I went with felt washers behind the shields to reduce heat transfer to the stand metal.

I built the frame so that the Keg would sit just on the edges and the shield could stick up into the base against the collar

front view of the stand. Diamond plate ready to go in as well. By the way those low pressure gas Ball valves up front (yellow) are from Lowes http://www.lowes.com/pd_174436-72906-PSSD-41_0__?productId=3131167&Ntt=natural+gas+ball+valve&pl=1&currentURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dnatural%2Bgas%2Bball%2Bvalve&facetInfo=

Began work on the Control Panel. I was able to grab a Hoffman Enclosure on Ebay for about $58. http://www.hoffmanonline.com/stream_document.aspx?rRID=104757&pRID=3985

I picked up all my PIDs from Auber. http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=1

I went with these switches http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=2+position+maintained+switch&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=

And these LED lights 24 volt and 120 volt as needed. http://www.ebay.com/sch/items/?_nkw=22mm+LED+pilot+light+AC&_sacat=&_ex_kw=&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=&_sop=12&_fpos=&_fspt=1&_sadis=&LH_CAds=

and the HOA switches were these SPDT's http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=DPDT+On%2FOff%2FOn+Toggle+Switch+6+pins&_sacat=0&_odkw=DPDT+On%2FOff%2FOn+Toggle+Switch+heavy&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

Here's the enclosure with my sketch up for the drilling and cutting. and my first hole with the step bit

After a whole day of work I got them all where I want them.. I do have some holes to deal with on the sides of the enclosure that I didnt do. (lucky that a couple of them are 22mm) It also did not have a lock so I got a mail box lock at HomeDepot and fabricated it so that it locks to the main box rail.

now time to prime and paint with the "Hammered" Look.. you know the look LOL.. I (very carefully) used my heat gun to speed the drying process

now re-install all the electronics. the Skull is an ornament from an old motorcycle I had. Its now the main power switch. Laying on its side is the off position. Straight up the whole thing is on. There's also a Master power in the back..

the back side of the Control panel. First I wanted to make a mount and I wanted to use a Flat Panel TV mount. I found a nice adjustable arm that was rated for 33 pounds so I tap'd the back for machine screws and attached the arm to the cart. The back of the panel has the Main power in (Switched) and the two march pumps out (fused). at the bottom I installed and XLR out to plug the Gas Valves into. The three wires in the XLR are as follows. the center pin is the 24v common. The left pin is the TH connection on the gas valve for the BK and the right pin is the TH connection for the HLT gas Valve.. The other three connectors are for the RTD's BK, MASH and HLT

Damn brother. I like your work!

Here's the flat panel mount I got. I made it easily removable by making attach with plastic thumb screws and having all the connections removable.

I staggered the plugs so that the cables would run together and Look good. I used the 90` angled power cords so they would turn immed to the right and run along the arm into the frame of the brew stand. Those thumb screws I got here..http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-screw-with-plastic-head-image13701194

Thanx so much.. Its all ideas I took from here and ran with them, throwing in my own creativity.. I cant wait to brew again.. Ive been idle for 3 months now..

I mocked it up befor I painted the Control panel.. Next up is the wiring of the control panel.. Something Im gonna have to do a lot of research on first

Here's my youtube video of the control panel arm set up
[ame="http://youtu.be/V865XF3NFKk"]http://youtu.be/V865XF3NFKk[/ame]

The wiring coming along. Trying to keep it clean looking. I dont know why, since its going to be closed.. LOL..
that 24volt transformer (on the left) is a Honeywell from eBay...http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=honeywell+24v+transformer&_sacat=See-All-Categories

Keep em coming. I think your doing a great job.

Painted yesterday. So glad its still 80 in here SoCal..