ThickHead
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2008
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So...I've been on hiatus for nearly three years. I guess you can call this a bit of a comeback. Up until the beginning of this hiatus my homebrewing process, like that of many others, was steadily evolving. But throughout that evolution my process never really left the stovetop for various reasons. That is about to change.
My brewing process, historically, has always been electric. Initially based around the electric ranges I had access to during a period of apartment living. I moved away from stove-top boils with this bit of evolution and immediately become convinced that continued evolution would follow this same path. That decision was a single tier EHERMS build.
In any endeavor there are obstacles to overcome. A previous obstacle for me was limited space due to temporary apartment living. Although that obstacle is no longer a factor, my current position on planet earth (Indonesia) presents new obstacles. The first being reasonable availability of "homebrewing" equipment. Don't get me wrong, all the engineered products that are available through niche service providers are available to me here. However, shipping cost can render this availability arguably "unreasonable." So it was only logical to do a bit of due diligence related to options. And the first step was identifying potential options for acquiring the kettles I would need for my planned build.
Getting my hands on a set of tricked-out 30 gallon Blichmann G2 Boilermakers was going to run me around SGD$3,900 (that's Singapore dollars). Roughly equivalent to USD$2,751 for what would cost USD$1,500 for me if I were back stateside. And that is just getting it to Singapore. I still needed to get it into Indonesia through customs where additional cost lurked.
After getting over the "sticker-shock" I proceeded to seek out local fabricators who specialized in stainless steel as a medium. The solution presented in pictures below cost me the equivalent of USD$510.
Image 1 and 2: 3x 31.3 gallon 304 stainless Brew Kettles
These are welded kettles, not extruded. That technology is just not immediately available here at this kind of fabrication scale. The kettle walls are 1.5mm thick (approximately 17 gauge) and the bottom thickness is 2mm (approximately 14 gauge).
Image 3: Inside Brew Kettle (visible welded wall seam)
Image 4, 5 and 6: False Bottom (2mm holes)
The False Bottom is made from stock 1.2mm (approximately 18 gauge) 304 stainless steel perforated sheeting.
Image 7: False Bottom Installed
I have also found a local fabricator to essentially build 240 volt / 5,750 watt / 23.9 amp coil elements for approximately USD$135 each. The pilot build I requested from the fabricator can be seen below:
Image 8: 1x 240 volt / 5,750 watt / 23.9 amp Coil Element
The Coil Element is 304 stainless and built to similar specifications to products that are currently offered by other equipment manufacturers. I am currently working with the same guy who manufactured the Coil Element to design a Control Panel typical for controlling EHERMS type builds that we have all become accustomed to seeing and replicating.
As this project progresses I will probably start a build thread but wanted to share this information in the equipment section for those who may be struggling to source equipment at a reasonable cost. Living where I do may present obstacles, but it also presents opportunity. While the shipping cost really put the brakes on ordering popular market products for my build, the local economy provides an opportunity to fabricate similar products at what could be considered a very reasonable cost.
My brewing process, historically, has always been electric. Initially based around the electric ranges I had access to during a period of apartment living. I moved away from stove-top boils with this bit of evolution and immediately become convinced that continued evolution would follow this same path. That decision was a single tier EHERMS build.
In any endeavor there are obstacles to overcome. A previous obstacle for me was limited space due to temporary apartment living. Although that obstacle is no longer a factor, my current position on planet earth (Indonesia) presents new obstacles. The first being reasonable availability of "homebrewing" equipment. Don't get me wrong, all the engineered products that are available through niche service providers are available to me here. However, shipping cost can render this availability arguably "unreasonable." So it was only logical to do a bit of due diligence related to options. And the first step was identifying potential options for acquiring the kettles I would need for my planned build.
Getting my hands on a set of tricked-out 30 gallon Blichmann G2 Boilermakers was going to run me around SGD$3,900 (that's Singapore dollars). Roughly equivalent to USD$2,751 for what would cost USD$1,500 for me if I were back stateside. And that is just getting it to Singapore. I still needed to get it into Indonesia through customs where additional cost lurked.
After getting over the "sticker-shock" I proceeded to seek out local fabricators who specialized in stainless steel as a medium. The solution presented in pictures below cost me the equivalent of USD$510.
Image 1 and 2: 3x 31.3 gallon 304 stainless Brew Kettles
These are welded kettles, not extruded. That technology is just not immediately available here at this kind of fabrication scale. The kettle walls are 1.5mm thick (approximately 17 gauge) and the bottom thickness is 2mm (approximately 14 gauge).
Image 3: Inside Brew Kettle (visible welded wall seam)
Image 4, 5 and 6: False Bottom (2mm holes)
The False Bottom is made from stock 1.2mm (approximately 18 gauge) 304 stainless steel perforated sheeting.
Image 7: False Bottom Installed
I have also found a local fabricator to essentially build 240 volt / 5,750 watt / 23.9 amp coil elements for approximately USD$135 each. The pilot build I requested from the fabricator can be seen below:
Image 8: 1x 240 volt / 5,750 watt / 23.9 amp Coil Element
The Coil Element is 304 stainless and built to similar specifications to products that are currently offered by other equipment manufacturers. I am currently working with the same guy who manufactured the Coil Element to design a Control Panel typical for controlling EHERMS type builds that we have all become accustomed to seeing and replicating.
As this project progresses I will probably start a build thread but wanted to share this information in the equipment section for those who may be struggling to source equipment at a reasonable cost. Living where I do may present obstacles, but it also presents opportunity. While the shipping cost really put the brakes on ordering popular market products for my build, the local economy provides an opportunity to fabricate similar products at what could be considered a very reasonable cost.
