New TriClamp mounted SS chiller

Well, finally built something today. (2) hours from start to finish...

50' SS coil
(2) 1/2" SS 90 degree elbow compression x MPT connectors
(2) Pair of SS Triclamps (MPT and FPT pairs)

Total build cost $232

Looking good Pol. Is that going to mount in one of the kettles?

Sawdustguy said:

Looking good Pol. Is that going to mount in one of the kettles?

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Yes, this is the chiller, to mount in the Blichman BK

Sort of a pain to build, SS is VERY tough to manipulate

That looks great Pol. Where did you get the coil? Or how did you get such a nice coil if you did that yourself?

I almost suspect that you brew beer just so you can build cool ****.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

That looks great Pol. Where did you get the coil? Or how did you get such a nice coil if you did that yourself?

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Bought the coil as a HD chiller from Midwest.

Trust me, you arent going to bend 1/2" SS tubing that nicely, it is VERY HARD! I hope the rest of the build goes a little easier.

arturo7 said:

I almost suspect that you brew beer just so you can build cool shvt.

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I am equally interested in brewing as I am in building stuff... I admit, the ONLY reason I sold the HERMS was so that I could build something cool and have an excuse, and $$ to do it

The Pol said:

I am equally interested in brewing as I am in building stuff... I admit, the ONLY reason I sold the HERMS was so that I could build something cool and have an excuse, and $$ to do it

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Nothing wrong with that. Thats what makes this hobby so much fun.

Sawdustguy said:

Nothing wrong with that. Thats what makes this hobby so much fun.

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Agreed I dont always have time for a brew day so its fun to be able to DIY stuff for an hour or two. If I had a brewery that was complete I would only be into my hobby every other weekend at most.

Meausring and drilling the Blichmans now to mount it and the AutoSparger

This makes me nervous

On the Blichmann website it says they will drill for you, but for a nominal charge, so it may not of been practical.

Hole #1 is a success...
3 more to go

Julohan said:

On the Blichmann website it says they will drill for you, but for a nominal charge, so it may not of been practical.

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$25 for a hole that is not in the location that I want...

And that is only for the AutoSparge. I need holes for elements and bulkheads.

The punching and drilling is going easy with the low speed drill I have

Just don't pull a "me".

Here are some photos of the AutoSparge install:

Finding center of pot:


1/8" pilot hole:


13/16" deburred hole:


Finished MLT:

I may get the BK drilled and fitted this evening, I am trying not to get impatient... getting the BK, MLT and Chiller complete will be a very large portion of the actual fabrication.

The Pol said:

I may get the BK drilled and fitted this evening, I am trying not to get impatient... getting the BK, MLT and Chiller complete will be a very large portion of the actual fabrication.

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Good show Pol......I got an Blichmann AutoSparge for Christmas. It will make maintaining 1" to 2" of sparge water above the grainbed for Fly Sparging a lead pipe cinch.

Taking measurements on the BK now, I have to punch 5 holes in that thing

90 minutes into measuring where to place the holes now...

I would have runied the pot about 4 times already had I drilled on the first, second, or third measure

Time to walk away for a bit.

RonRock said:

Time to walk away for a bit.

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NO! I must finish the BK tonight!

I have now been over the measurements about 10X, and have been taking notes and drawing diagrams so that the numbers and measurements make sense.

The hard part, you see, is that I have ball valves and triclamps on the outside that have to have suitable spacing so that I can operate them without interference.

THEN I also have to look to the inside of the kettle to make sure that the chiller, elements and recirc tube will not interfere.

THEN I have to make sure that it all fits together so that my 50' chiller is actually submerged in the wort with a 10 gallon boil.

THEN I have to make sure that the elements are far enough from the bottom that I can get the nuts on the inside, which is a little tricky since the Blichman has a stepped bottom.

I think I have it all layed out, wait til you see the layout photos

I imagine it is getting to be a pain in the ass but take your time. It is really looking good and very professional. Have you settled on a stand yet? You have to have something nice for all this to go on now that it's looking so good.

Just curious, why SS on the tubing? It's thermal conduction properties are nowhere close to copper. Copper is 30x better at conducting heat.

Now, I am not denying the bling factor. There is no doubting that.

For the thickness of the tubing, SS is not that much worse. As well, SS stands up better to certain cleaners and never suffers from verdigris, which is poisonous (and hard to see if it is inside the tube).

And it looks really cool.

jfkriege said:

For the thickness of the tubing, SS is not that much worse. As well, SS stands up better to certain cleaners and never suffers from verdigris, which is poisonous (and hard to see if it is inside the tube).

And it looks really cool.

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You are exactly right.

SS tubing and Copper tubing of this wall thickness are much closer when it comes to heat exchange properties, this has been covered here in another thread a while back.

SS stands up better to cleaning and doesnt tarnish and get all green and funky like copper can.

The BK is finished... WOW... HEAVY as hell.

But, so pretty. Photos coming!

Laying out holes:




The end product:

How much does it weigh? My 55 gal electric BK is about 90 lbs. With all that beautiful bling, I'll bet yours is just about as heavy. Should be fun to clean...

That is a thing of beauty. Nice work so far Pol.

Leak testing compelte... it is ROCK solid, no leaks!

Successful day, this was the hard part!

stevehaun said:

How much does it weigh? My 55 gal electric BK is about 90 lbs. With all that beautiful bling, I'll bet yours is just about as heavy. Should be fun to clean...

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I am going to CIP

The coil is easy to remove, it weighs about 40 pounds?

Maybe I missed it Pol but, how big are those kettles?

annasdadhockey said:

Maybe I missed it Pol but, how big are those kettles?

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15 Gallon

9000 watts

50' integral chiller (tri clamped obviously)

Recirculating arm in the BK

OH, and it WEIGHS 40LBS!

If it only weighs 40 pounds with that coil and all those tri-clamps, those blichmanns must be pretty thin SS.
How are you planning to CIP?

stevehaun said:

If it only weighs 40 pounds with that coil and all those tri-clamps, those blichmanns must be pretty thin SS.
How are you planning to CIP?

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Dunno, I will figure that out when I get it plumbed!

I knew you would break down and post pics of your build. Looks good, but do me a favor, don't build a third rig. Your build is costing me cash. Looks really good. Pots just look sooo much better than kegs. I really like it and know I'm going to like it when it's finished. Might be hard to part with when it's born.

Dog House Brew said:

I knew you would break down and post pics of your build. Looks good, but do me a favor, don't build a third rig. Your build is costing me cash. Looks really good. Pots just look sooo much better than kegs. I really like it and know I'm going to like it when it's finished. Might be hard to part with when it's born.

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Thanks, I am pleased with todays progress! It is blinding!

The total bill for the BK was $920, crap

Congrats. That is truly a work of art, and it looks like it is just about bulletproof as well. This is shaping up to be a seriously cool build.... again.

J

sweet. .

New Blichman factory option?

Looks clean man, good job.

That price tag makes MY wallet hurt.

It is very clean, I like it.

I was a little worried about how much room I would have to get everything in the BK that I needed to dimensionally. Luckily it all fit very nicely.

The elements are just up off the bottom of the kettle.

The chiller is mounted so that there is 1/2" clearance between it and the top of the elements.

The chiller tops out at the 10.5 gallon mark (prefect for 10 gal batches)

The recirc inlet is at the 5.75 gallon mark (so that it can still do 5 gallons easy)

Once it was complete, I filled it full and let it sit, no water leaks. I then pumped some compressed air into the chiller inlet, while leaving the outlet closed. No bubbles... so that is tight.

Very happy with the Blichman and the fittings I purchased, it IS almost too shiney to photograph though