Fuzzy Logic Brewery

Well I guess I need to get my post up before I can share my pictures of my electric brewery. Its a Kal clone with some differences. I just finished the matching Grain Mill and I'm currently working on my matching exhaust hood. Hope to share the pictures soon. Happy Holidays to everyone, Castermmt

castermmt said:

Well I guess I need to get my post up before I can share my pictures of my electric brewery. Its a Kal clone with some differences. I just finished the matching Grain Mill and I'm currently working on my matching exhaust hood. Hope to share the pictures soon. Happy Holidays to everyone, Castermmt

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Looking forward to seeing what all you have done. I am in the process of my own e-HERMS build now myself!!!

I use a 20 gallon HLT 15 Gallon Mash Tun and a 20 gallon boil kettle. I used cheaper kettles then the Blichmanns and I used the cheaper Chugger pumps. Once I get eh hood hung I'll post more pic's.

Very nice woodworking skills. Impressive.

I'm totally jealous of your garage. Looks like you've got plenty of space.

I'm intrigued by your hood design. Any details? In for updates...

I hope to have the hood done and installed by the end of the year. I updated my brewery by adding two 15 cf Chest freezers, one I use with a dual stage love controller as my fermentation chamber that can hold any combination of four 6.5 or 5 gallon carboys at a time. The second chest freezer I use as my lager chamber/keezer where I can store up to 8 corny kegs. also have a true kegorator with 3 taps.

[ame=http://youtu.be/4EuUo4UZLw4]Fermentation Chamber - YouTube[/ame]

rsklhm10 said:

I'm intrigued by your hood design. Any details? In for updates...

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I'm using 1/2 inch sanded plywood, 2 x 6 inch pine boards and a thin plastic sheet product to line the inside. Here's where I'm at to date. I'll be working on it a little bit each day now that I'm on vacation next week.

I nailed it together using 1.25 inch brads and used water resistant wood glue. The plastic sheeting is fastened using construction adhesive (liquid nails).

Here's more pictures of the hood build. Simple cut the plywood at 45 degrees and filled in any gaps with water proof wood glue. Some of these pics are from today. The Hood is 6 ft x 30 inches.

I'd love to use your grain mill design in the next evolution of my own grain mill. It's a work of art.

Great job.

Hood looks awesome. I am highly reconsidering re-designing mine and going with something more like yours.

Couple more questions about it. First, how did you mount the 1/2'' plywood "hood" to the 2x6 base and top? It's hard to tell in the pics. Second, how do you plan on mounting it, looks like you mounted some rings to the 2x6? Finally, any chance you would be willing to disclose the dimensions on the 1/2" in plywood (i.e. the width at the bottom and top)?

Great work.

I Love the hood and grain mill, looks great! what fan are you using for the hood and can you give us more details on the grain mill as well, thanks.

A most beautiful brewery build.

Very nice build!

How many lbs. does that hopper hold?

I finally got the hood hung in place. Here are some pictures. I still need to locate and cut the hole for the duct and install the fan. I'll try to answer questions tonight. I have to run to work for a while.

These posts make me mad. Mad that I will never be able to do a build like this. That controller looks like it is from the year 2130.

luke2080 said:

These posts make me mad. Mad that I will never be able to do a build like this. That controller looks like it is from the year 2130.

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The Electric Brewery

Get very mad, lol.

rsklhm10 said:

Hood looks awesome. I am highly reconsidering re-designing mine and going with something more like yours.

Couple more questions about it. First, how did you mount the 1/2'' plywood "hood" to the 2x6 base and top? It's hard to tell in the pics. Second, how do you plan on mounting it, looks like you mounted some rings to the 2x6? Finally, any chance you would be willing to disclose the dimensions on the 1/2" in plywood (i.e. the width at the bottom and top)?

Great work.

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I'm more then happy to share, That's how I was inspired to build.
Mounting was done by using 1.25 brads, then filling the gaps with wood glue. I then used half inch 1/4 round that I used my router with a 45 degrees bit to remove the inside 90 degree so it ended up looking like a small strip of crown molding and the used 5/8 brads to tack it top to bottom. See picture. The hood is not very heavy.

jeffmeh said:

The Electric Brewery

Get very mad, lol.

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I followed Kal's (the host of theelectricbrewery.com) design for the control panel. Kal gives very detailed step by step instructions for everything you need to do to build a top of the line electric brewery like he did.


You can do it!

EarthBound said:

Very nice build!

How many lbs. does that hopper hold?

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I'm not sure, but will test it out pretty soon and will let you know:rockin:

is it too late to ask santa for one?

WAORGANY said:

I Love the hood and grain mill, looks great! what fan are you using for the hood and can you give us more details on the grain mill as well, thanks.

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Thanks for the complement.

I'm going to use a 6 inch vortex fan (or one like it). I used a Schmidling bare bones malt mill. I'll take some pictures and give better detail soon.

I would be interested to see if you can provide the wiring/motor used to automate your mill. Thats my next convenient step. I know Kal uses the Hammer Drill, I do the same... but in honesty, the automated mill adds convenience.

Care to share a wiring diagram and motor info?

WahHooJames said:

I would be interested to see if you can provide the wiring/motor used to automate your mill. Thats my next convenient step. I know Kal uses the Hammer Drill, I do the same... but in honesty, the automated mill adds convenience.

Care to share a wiring diagram and motor info?

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I'll give a try. The motor is a basic 110 volt ac motor that is pretty common and easy to find good used ones by asking around, I found this one a ta local flea market for $10. The wiring is only 3 wires Hot, Common and ground that I wired to a light switch. I used JP Schmidling bare bones malt mill as my starting point. The hopper cover acts as both a hopper and a safety guard to protect from moving parts. It just sits on the table and fits snugly over the malt mill.

More pictures of the hopper/guard

Very nicely done!

That brewstand looks great, man. Is your brewery also a game/rec. room?

EarthBound said:

That brewstand looks great, man. Is your brewery also a game/rec. room?

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Thanks for the complements. Its in my attached 900 sqf garage 3bays, it has a poker table and 42 inch LCD. It has 13 foot high ceilings, so its feels like a banquet hall. The wife uses one bay for her car and I keep my truck in the pole barn, so we always have 2 bays open for the brewery and partying.

I got the exhaust blower installed last night here are some pictures. I still need to build the small control box to house the speed control for the fan and lights that will be installed in the hood.

I added a 3rd pump as a backup/spare this weekend and relocated the pump station directly center of the kettles and shortened the hose. Note that I have my pumps mounted on a drawer slide so I can pull them out while in use and less mess when hooking up hoses then when done I can slide them out of the way. .

Very nice build. I like the drawer slides on the pumps so they can be pulled out for connections but pushed back out of the way so you aren't tripping over them.

Oh, and I think you need a larger CO2 tank or oxygen tank...

BiggieB400 said:

Very nice build. I like the drawer slides on the pumps so they can be pulled out for connections but pushed back out of the way so you aren't tripping over them.

Oh, and I think you need a larger CO2 tank or oxygen tank...

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I should be good with Oxygen for a while, my yeast will be happy!

new addition to the brewery, Scored a "THERMOLYNE Nuova II Stir Plate" Stirrer for $58 delivered. I spent some time taking it apart disabling the heat function sanding it and painting it to match the Control Panel. Came out pretty cool, check it out.

Nice build....

build looks awesome

This looks amazing! I'm in the middle of my Kal clone build now. My final parts were back ordered but arrive Monday. I hope to brew next weekend.

Yours is far more impressive! I've gotten some good ideas for refining my build!

DubBrew said:

This looks amazing! I'm in the middle of my Kal clone build now. My final parts were back ordered but arrive Monday. I hope to brew next weekend.

Yours is far more impressive! I've gotten some good ideas for refining my build!

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Cool, The idea of posting what everyone does is a great way to inspire others. That's how I figured out what I wanted to build.
I Hope your Brewing goes well, castermmt

EarthBound said:

Very nice build!

How many lbs. does that hopper hold?

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Well, I finely had a chance to test the upper limits of the grain mill hopper. I'm brewing a dopplebock this morning and the grain bill is 34 pounds. The first 25 pounds went in with enough room for the entire 34 pounds. The problem is I can only fit a 6-1/2 gallon brew pail under the mill so I'm limited to that volume which looks more like 28 to 30 pounds of milled grain.

First, I'd put your brewery in my living room. It looks so nice.

castermmt said:

new addition to the brewery, Scored a "THERMOLYNE Nuova II Stir Plate" Stirrer for $58 delivered. I spent some time taking it apart disabling the heat function sanding it and painting it to match the Control Panel. Came out pretty cool, check it out.

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Why did you disconnect the heat function. I have a stir that heats and when its winter in PA and the brew room is chilly I set it on low and it keeps the yeast just perfect. Saves setting the heat up when just preparing to brew. And raising yeast can be/is done at higher temperature than fermentation if your going to decant.
Stilll.... Good Score! and Looks Great.

When the apocalypse comes I think home brewers will rule the world! We are the most resourceful people and make liquid gold.

wadefisher said:

First, I'd put your brewery in my living room. It looks so nice.



Why did you disconnect the heat function. I have a stir that heats and when its winter in PA and the brew room is chilly I set it on low and it keeps the yeast just perfect. Saves setting the heat up when just preparing to brew. And raising yeast can be/is done at higher temperature than fermentation if your going to decant.
Stilll.... Good Score! and Looks Great.

When the apocalypse comes I think home brewers will rule the world! We are the most resourceful people and make liquid gold.

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Thanks for the compliment.
I can put my stir plates in my fermentation chamber if I'm not doing lagers, but the basement is always mid 60's all year long. Like the infomercial says, I can just set it and forget it.

I updated the post at the theElectricbrewery.com so I need to update here as well. Found another THERMOLYNE Nuova II Stir Plate Stirrer for $55 delivered. it was in worst shape then the first one so I had to take to work and have it sand blasted. Came out great. It didn't have a heating functions so only one control knob. I really like the power of the magnets on these things, all I need to do to align them is put the flask on the 7' x 7" plate and the magnets draws the stir bar to the center., very cool. It looks like a "mini me" stir plate, but they are the same size.