Got wood...

...and we're building a brew rig! Finally!! It's going to be a three vessel HERMS system, complete with 58L keggles (one being only 50L). We're being careful to construct so as to avoid scorching the frame, and we're using 3/4" OD, .065" wall 316SS tubing as supports for the keggles. I"m hoping this s going to be strong enough to hold the weight of each keggle. Thoughts?

We're also planning on using just one burner, that we are going to mount on a sliding rail to heat both the HLT and BK. We"re going to be brewing 10G batches; once we've got our water up to temp to dough-in, will one burner be enough to heat the HLT (HERMS) to keep our mash temperatures consistent??

We've got the wood rig started and nearly finished; we'll have to modify our kegs, and figure out our plumbing, which will consist of copper tubing and brass fittings. I know there are many automated brew rigs out there but we're going to keep this one simple and hands on: no PIDs, SSRs or control panels. We're going to rely on our temperature gauges and throttle our burner as needed.

Any feedback would be appreciated as we embark on this project.
Thanks,
G

1. The 0.065" tiubing is on the thin side. Steel loses a lot of its strength at high temperatures. I would use something heavier, but much depends on the configuration.
2. The sliding burner is an interesting concept, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble to build it that way. Burners are cheap and I see no real advantage to doing it that way. Also, you will want to heat your BK while you are sparging. This will give you a head start on the boil and it saves a lot of time.
3. One burner should be sufficient to maintain your mash temperatures for the HERMS. You will need some way to stir the HLT when running the heat exchanger.
4. You will soon discover that controlling everything manually on a HERMS is more difficult than you think.

Catt, thanks for the reply.

With regards to the tubing, we have a backup plan to insert 10mm rebar to increase rigidity if needed. Each keggle will have two cross beams for support. The keggles are 16" in diameter and to decrease the chance of charring, the gap between keggle and wood frame will be 6" on either side. The frame construction is a vertical 2x6 butted with a 2x2 on the side. We're planning on boring holes through the frame to slide he tubing through, and the 2x2 will offer additional support under the tubes on each side. Total unsupported span will then be 28".

For burners, I get your point on wanting to get the BK going while sparging. I've had a look at these:

http://www.agrisupply.com/product.asp?pn=30295&sid=&eid=

Just had a question though that you may be able to help me with. As you mentioned, we will need to be able to throttle our heat on the HLT to achieve our consistent temps. What's necessary to achieve good control over these...needle valve in additional to the 20 psi reg?? Would you advise a different burner for the HLT??

Thanks,
G

I'm not fond of that particular burner. I have one and it does work, but it's not very fuel efficient and flame control is not so good, especially at low levels.

I would suggest this one from AgriSupply: http://www.agrisupply.com/burner-cast-low-presure-multi-hole-/p/40282/cn/5400001/

It's listed as a low pressure burner, but you can also run it as a high pressure unit if you switch out the orifice. I have one of these also and it's essentially the same burner casting as used on the Bayou Classic SQ-14. I would use an adjustable pressure regulator with this burner, ideally a 0-10 psi version.

Here is a 0-15 psi regulator: http://www.agrisupply.com/product.asp?pn=50678&sid=&eid=

If you order from AgriSupply, be sure to call them and be very specific about what burner and regulator you want. There are several versions of the adjustable regulators and sometimes they can screw up the order and give you the wrong one. Avoid the 0-5 psi regulator. They don't have enough oomph to get the most out of that burner. The 0-10 is what works best for me. The adjustable regulators function as both a regulator and control valve. You should not need a separate valve unless you are using more than one burner. If that's the case, either a ball valve or needle valve will work , but you will get better precision with the needle valve.

You will probably be OK with the thin tubing if you can keep it out of the direct burner flame. The tubing will sag long before it fails, so you should have some early warning. Run some tests with the kegs filled and see what happens. Look for any deformation or sag in the bars at the end of the test. Run the burner wide open and allow enough time to get a good feel for how safe it will be.

Great information, thanks! One further question, an important one I guess...we'll be doing 10 gal batches, in your experience, how long to get a boil with the burners you've got? I'm assuming the difference between running them as HP or LP will be BTUs?

We've been working on the stand all morning and it's nearly complete; I'm going to try and upload some pictures once we're done...looks amazing.

Thanks again!

Actually, I'm not sure. The high pressure burners do put out a lot more heat, but the flame control is better on the low pressure burners. The adjustable regulators give you the best of both worlds IMO. I would guess somewhere around 30-45 minutes to bring a 10 gallon batch to a boil. A 10 gallon batch boil volume may be closer to 13.5 or even 14 gallons when you factor in the boil off and other miscellaneous losses. I regularly brew 6 or 12 gallon batches in order to get a full 5 or 10 gallons into the kegs. I don't like coming up short at all. I've never actually timed the batch to a boil and as I mentioned earlier, you can get a leg up on it if you begin heating the runoff right away. This is also useful when first wort hopping, which I occasionally do. In that case, you want to keep the wort at about 160F or so as you sparge. I'm usually near boiling temps as I approach the end of the sparge for most of my beers, so It's hard to say what the time would be from say something around 140 or 150F. I'm a relatively slow brewer compared to some of my buddies. They often rib me about taking so long. Does not bother me at all as I enjoy the whole process. I drink while I brew, so it's all good!

Good luck with your system! I think I said it earlier, but again, you are about to discover that running that HERMS manually will be trickier than it appears. Expect some changes to the system in the near future. OTOH, it may be smooth sailing all the way and I hope it is, but it was not for me at all. It is now, but it took me a long time to get to this point. A very long time really.

Well, some updates and pictures:















Fittings are all Swagelok, Valves are OHV, and one March pump. We're making steady progress and hope to have the rig up and firing before the end of the month. We had a scare with our pump, snapping the threads half off on one side. Fortunately, we were able to thread out fitting onto the remaining threads and we're hoping for a leak tight seal. Otherwise, bronze or stainless head here we come.

Feedback? Questions?

Swagelok pron!

Wood and stainless - It's a beautiful thing