My Electric 1 Gallon Brewery Build.

Was reading the 1 gallon brewers unite thread here on homebrew talk, and I really like the idea of making 1 Gallon test batches, but wanted to maintain the ability for the temperature control I have with my electric keggle brewery. I have decided to make a working scale model. I will be able to make multiple 1 gallon test batches and have the ability to brew my favorites in larger volume.

I scored 3 stainless 2 gallon pots on e-bay a while back and will be installing 1500W electric elements to create an HLT and Boil Kettle. Still working on the plan for the mash tun, due to the small volume being more difficult to maintain temps for the duration of the mash I am not sure a mini herms is the answer. I am considering possibly placing the mini mash tun inside a crock pot with an auber controller to maintain temps.

I am still waiting/acquiring some parts for the control panel, so I started with the HLT. I have enough parts on hand I could rig this up to do a single vessel brew in a bag while I assemble the rest of the parts.

Cool idea. How do you plan on cooling your 1 gallon batches?

evandena said:

Cool idea. How do you plan on cooling your 1 gallon batches?

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I am not sure on that yet, I am thinking since volume is so low I might be able to use an ice bath while stirring.

What about a 2 gallon round cooler for a mash tun?

I think I'm going to make a 1 gallon test brewery too.

evandena said:

What about a 2 gallon round cooler for a mash tun?

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I had considered this, and have not ruled it out. I did use a cooler mash tun in the past on my keggle brewery.

But stainless is just so much shinier

EPIC.. I love everything about this.. Sitting with some popcorn

I'm attempting this during my break over the Holidays. 2 gallon cooler mash tun, 2 8qt stock pots to do my 5 liter batches.

could you just do a water bath while you mash? just set the mash tun in a water bath heated with a bigger pot with an element.

Tinga said:

could you just do a water bath while you mash? just set the mash tun in a water bath heated with a bigger pot with an element.

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I think this is probably where I will end up, but was was thinking today about soldering 1/4 couplers into the bottom of my 2 gallon pot and into the bottom of a larger stainless pot using a coupler to connect them together and filling the space between them with expanding foam, making a bottom draining 2 gallon insulated mash tun.



Thoughts?

But then how would you deal with heat loss due to having no cover? I know the some of the expanding foams release formaldehyde when heated too so you may want to take that into account

huntingohio said:

But then how would you deal with heat loss due to having no cover?

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with the right outside pot, I think you could make an insulated lid to fit down inside and cover the inner pot.

I know the some of the expanding foams release formaldehyde when heated too so you may want to take that into account

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Thanks for the info, I wasn't aware of the formalehyde thing with expanding foam, definately don't want that.


I did make a bare bones control panel for the one vessel I have done, our homebrew club is having a group brew tomorrow, and I wanted to be able to try it out. I am planning to do a mini brew in a bag Rye Wine. If this works out like I hope, I can take my time to figure out the mini mash tun.

I really like the fact that I can keep the precision temperature control of electric, and still be able to haul it over to a buddies house to brew without worrying about access to 220v.

Have been working some more on this, have the control panel about 85% done, just waiting on some parts from Auber to finish it up. The enclosure is from an old Pace desoldering station I had in the basement. The 2 empty holes will be for the RTD connectors.



Also been working on the mini mash tun, it is a 2 gallon pot inside of a percolator coffee pot. The coffee pot temp will be controlled by one of the auber controllers. Waiting on some parts for this as well.



Will try to get some pics of the complete setup when the rest of my parts arrive.

I'm not exactly sure I know how a coffee percolator works. can you explain it? and also do you have a drain valve for the mash tun?

Tinga said:

I'm not exactly sure I know how a coffee percolator works. can you explain it? and also do you have a drain valve for the mash tun?

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It is basically a pot with 2 built in electric elements. When you plug it in the larger element begins heating water which if you use all of the parts of the coffeepot pushes steam up through a tube which then condenses and runs back through the coffee filter at the top. When the liquid gets to the correct temperature, a bi metal disk thermostat clicks over and the high wattage element turns off and a lower power warming element turns on. I am not using the tube or the filter basket so I will have a high power element to heat up the water surrounding the mash tun, and will replace the metal disk thermostat with a switch. When it gets to the temp I need, I will flip the switch and let the auber contoller maintain the temp with the warming element.

As for a drain, I am working on that, the plan is to have it bottom drain from the stainless pan through a silicone tube and out the original spout on the bottom side of the coffee pot. I am still considering manifold design vs custom tiny false bottom.

Made some more progress. I can control HLT and MT temp using the control panel in the pic.

I think all that is left is:

- Build a manifold for the mash tun and plumbing it out
- Finish PWM for boil kettle(waiting on parts)
- Make some sort of brewstand for this (thinking 3 tier, can't see the need for pumps on a 1 gallon system.)
- Possibly add drain on boil kettle and HLT, but it is almost easier to just pour them

Do you mind telling me where you got the pots on eBay? I'd love to do the same soon.

I got them from this thread, but all have been sold.

2 gallon pots

Haven't looked for any others, so not sure how often these come up.

I wen on Walmarts website and around here they are selling an 8 qt stock pot for $6.97 each. Is it gonna kill me?

bellmtbbq said:

I wen on Walmarts website and around here they are selling an 8 qt stock pot for $6.97 each. Is it gonna kill me?

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I would assume for that price it is aluminum. Lots of folks on here brewing in aluminum. It will work just fine. Before brewing in them you should boil water in them to create that darker aluminum oxide layer and avoid certain cleaners. You should be able to search on here for "cleaning aluminum" and find out what people are using safely.

They claim it's stainless.

Finished this a while back, Thought I would upload some pics of the finished mash tun. Took a little tweaking on the first batch, but I think I have it dialed in to hold mash temp now.

Neat setup, to complicated for my lazy Biab ways What do you use to solder that with ?

whiskeyjack said:

Neat setup, to complicated for my lazy Biab ways What do you use to solder that with ?

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All the soldering was done with stayclean liquid flux and stay brite 8 silver solder with a propane torch.

I did try with a single vessel and biab and while it worked ok it was a bit messy. I ended up with wort dripping down the outside of the pot and all over the floor. Everytime I have tried biab I always felt like I was 1 hand short.