I AM DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holy Crap.........snag after snag. I originally did a test fire on the HLT and BK two weeks ago and found that the original frame (1") square tubing that the 3 kegs sat on, was allowing the flame from the two burners to lap up the sides and overheat my thermometer and sightglass. I didn't like that too much so back to the drawing board. The propane burners are housed in a 8" cage with sheet metal riveted as a housing (sides) to direct the flame upward. In theory it worked great....reality it worked to good. The flame hit the bottom of the keg and up the sided it went.....so.....
I decided to top all three frame sections with 1/8" hotrolled steel plate that I used my plasma cutter to cutout 10" circles....voila...welded them to the top, put the kegs ontop and it worked awesome.....until the friggin steel started to melt!!!!! I about rolled the whole brew rig over a cliff.
I regrouped and thought about it. I purchased some 1/2" x 2 steel stock that fit perfectly between the original frame and the new 1/8" steel plate. I made 10" square frames, hammered them in place and welded them. NO MORE STEEL DISTORTION....FIXED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I added a 40 plate chiller to the frame and did a complete test run tonight with only water. Heated the water to 170* in the HLT, gravity fed it to the MLT....pretended to mash it with the PID and heatexchanger for an hour. I then pumped it to the BK and fired that burner up. Once the boil began I hooked up the plate chiller. The 200+ water was cooled to 70* in no time. Easily...11 gallons in less than 10 minutes at a slow feed rate.
I was at my wits end with this build and ALL THE SNAGS I kept hitting. I will say this....it is so badass to have built my own RIMS that works and looks awesome!
Thanks for the help. I am hoping to brew come Monday for the first time.
Joe