single tier, brutus-ish, herms build

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wncbrewer

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So after saving money and squirreling away parts for over a year, I finally started building my new rig. I have thirty something batches in on my old system, and have brewed some great beer on it but it is time to move up in the world here is my old system

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So their is very few original ideas on this if any. Thanks to all on the forum who have inspired me and helped me out. I started with 50 feet of 1 1/2" mild steel square tubing and used the horizontal bandsaw at work to cut the 45's. All welding I did with a little hobart mig

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Once I got the frame welded up, I started cutting and tacking in diagonal pieces for the kettle support/burner mount

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I then took some 4" 16 gauge sheet metal I found on the scrap pile/at work and bent them into circles for the heat shield burner mount (PITA)


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I then tacked some nuts to the burner well and used appropriate bolts to mount the burners/shields to the stand itself. After tons of grinding I went back and added kettle standoffs and my panel mount

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I then started on the panel, the encolsure and switches are from pioneer

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breaker, two auber pid's and their deluxe probes, nema twist lock pump connections. My jigsaw made a mess of the paint, so I'll be refinishing it soon

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Gonna use honeywell hot surface ignition with a robert shaw valve on the hlt burner, and eventually the boil burner, but it isn't in the budget for now


Her it is as of now, should have it painted and gas plumbed soon...stay tuned....
 

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jtkratzer said:
Sweet. More pictures. How about some more details of where you're planning to end up.

One of my biggest goals was to eliminate all brass from my rig and add another pump to recirc the herms water. Then I got all carried away and decided to start from scratch and automate, the old rig is sold to a budding all grain brewer here locally. I kind of hate to see it go, but the time they are a changin' as they say. I am not interested in having a totally automated, hands off rig, but I do want to be able to hold temp accurately for replication purposes. Don't know if that was any help

Also sorry the pics got out of order (stupid mobile app)
 
HDIr0n said:
What fuel source are you using? I am looking into doing a similar HERMS setup for the HLT.

Low pressure propane, I have a low pressure regulator, but still working out the plumbing
 
Forgot to talk about that horizontal saw, it is older than my dad and eats blades like crazy. Also the blade tends to drift/wander regardless of where I set the guides, so there really isn't a square cut anywhere. Luckily, with the help of my 90 degree magnets, I was able to make the stand itself relatively square, it just took lots of fill welding and grinding. My little 4" grinder has had its tongue lolled out for the past few days. Also, when you swing the fence around to cut 45's, you can't clamp in anything shorter than 7" so I had to make this makeshift fence when it came time to do the gussets in the burner wells. Also put up another angle of my panel mount, in case anyone has critical feedback. I would rather go back and change things now. Plan to paint and plumb in the next couple days

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Its been a while, but I finally got the panel and pumps mounted and the gas mostly plumbed. Still need a couple fittings before I can leak test and fire it up. I swear I think lowes doesn't stock some fittings intentionally so that you have to buy two where one would work. Haven't mounted the manifold to the stand yet in case I need to fix a leak

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Not really, I am waiting on the parts to go ahead and automate both burners and finish the control panel. I am way over budget, so to the point now where I have to buy things as the money rolls around. At the point, the only things I need are a plate chiller and about $450 worth in stainless fittings for the kettles. I did a test fire though, here she is

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So I finally made some progress on this after a several month hiatus. Got everything painted, but before I did so I wired up all of the ignition components to check things out and help figure out where I wanted things, here is a shot of the hot surface ignitor warming up just before ignition. Also some of the gas valves and plumbing. One valve is a robert shaw, the other is a white rodgers and both are being operated by honeywell s8910u hot surface ignition modules, should have some pics up of the panel in a day or two, I'm painting it now but ran out of paint. I also decided to go ahead and get nice kettles. So I am saving for them now. This has taken longer than I thought

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Finally some progress, still have to add one switch to the panel, mount chiller, and plumb pumps and kettles

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