suggestions for my brewery build

I am looking for suggestions on me and my buddy's homebrewery build.
I currently have a 12.5 gallon pot, 15 gallon pot and 5 gallon pot. Everything is pretty simple and it works great.
We just upgraded and bought 2 30 gallon pots to do bigger batches. it seems like at this level, alot changes, more equipment is needed to move beer around, cool it, etc and I am trying to wrap my head around the whole process.

The beers that we drink alot of we plan to fill a a 55 gallon barrel with about 40 gallons. We don't have the setup to fill it in one shot but a double batch day seems like it would get us there or close. When we do a single batch on it we'll probably just fill up a few 5 gallon carboys.
we also will be outfitting a fermenting room 7x5ft with an AC unit to keep it in the low 60's.

My current plan is to outfit both 30 gallon pots with ball valves and atleast 1 with a bazooka tube to use as a mash tun.

We have 1 blichmann burner and a 2nd burner. i forget the btu's on the 2nd burner but its decent just not quite as powerful as the blichmann so we are thinking to use it for mash/sparge water.

My main questions are:
1- In a 30 gallon boil kettle, what is the biggest batch i could do? my current 15 gallon pot allows us to do 9-9.5 gallons batches and i usually top off the fermentor with a few quarts of water to get an even 10.

2- Will a Blichmann therminator chill this much liquid? or any other plate chiller suggestions? (ground water is around 75). open to get something better incase we get a 55 gallon pot one day. and i assume ill need a pump to recirculate back into the kettle and use ice water to help get it in the 60's.

3- Should i outfit both kettles with bazooka tubes or just 1? i was thinking both to help filter before going thru the plate chiller.

4 - should i include and outfit any of my old 3 pots to help with this operation?

5 - what kind of pump is needed for this? We could keep the burners on the ground/single tier and pump everything or do a small build an have part of it gravity fed (thinking mash tun to boil kettle gravity, then pump the boil kettle wort thru the plate chiller into the fermentor)

6 - best way to get the beer out of the fermenter? mostly into kegs, but if we want to bottle some, we'll put some in a bottling bucket, prime and bottle.
its a plastic food grade 55 gallon blue drum. we were planning to wheel it in and out of the cold room. would i need to stick a spigot on the bottom, if so, about how high up?

thanks!

A 30 gal. BK, depending on shape (short fat, tall skinny) should be able to boil 25 gal safely. If your boil-off is 2 gal., that would leave you 23 gal batches.

Consider a counter-flow chiller... they don't clog like plate chillers do, and are easier to clean (I use plate chiller). If you really want to go plate chiller, get a big Duda Diesel chiller for 1/2 the cost of a Blingman equal.

I would just use a filter in the MT, and use a CF chiller for reasons listed above.

For larger batches, and for ease on brew day, get at least one good pump. I like the center inlet Chugger/Marsh pumps. I also like to use three-way valves to direct flow. I do everything through one pump, and 4 three-way valves, but I batch sparge.

Again, use a pump for all transfers. Consider making an in-line oxygen infuser so that the wort is oxygenated as it comes out the hose and into the fermenter.

acidrain said:

A 30 gal. BK, depending on shape (short fat, tall skinny) should be able to boil 25 gal safely. If your boil-off is 2 gal., that would leave you 23 gal batches.

Consider a counter-flow chiller... they don't clog like plate chillers do, and are easier to clean (I use plate chiller). If you really want to go plate chiller, get a big Duda Diesel chiller for 1/2 the cost of a Blingman equal.

I would just use a filter in the MT, and use a CF chiller for reasons listed above.

For larger batches, and for ease on brew day, get at least one good pump. I like the center inlet Chugger/Marsh pumps. I also like to use three-way valves to direct flow. I do everything through one pump, and 4 three-way valves, but I batch sparge.

Again, use a pump for all transfers. Consider making an in-line oxygen infuser so that the wort is oxygenated as it comes out the hose and into the fermenter.

Click to expand...

Im getting ready to make some purchases.
So far I think we are going with either a Chugger SS Inline Pump from Midwest supplies for $150 or
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/the-steelhead-pump - a little more $$ but there is a promo to get a refractometer with the purchase.

Dudadiesel Plate Chiller(B3-36A 30 Plate, but still waiting to speak with them for best options).

and this:
http://www.brewershardware.com/FILTER1.html - so the plate chiller doesnt get clogged.

acidrain - you mentioned going with a coupe 3 way valves. im starting to research this as well. how do you have that set up?
with us, we'll for sure need to pump from boil kettle to FV thru the plate chiller, maybe even back into the boil kettle to chill twice(2nd time with ice water). and if our plastic 55 gallon drum isnt raised up a few feet on rollers, we'll have to use the pump to push the finished beer into kegs or bottle bucket as well.

the oxygen infuser might be an addition in the coming months.

for a 25 gallon boil size, I suppose you could use the 15 gallon pot as HLT. Maybe a little small, but you could make it work.
Instead of moving the 55 gal drum/fermentor, I'd build a stand about 3-4 feet high, then use the pump to fill the fermentor as you are running across your cooler system.
When fermentation is done, you can use gravity to drain to kegs or bottling bucket.
Probably should have a valve/spigot on fermentor with sanitary fittings. Don't know how much yeast would build up, but to be safe, put spigot 4-5" from the bottom?
The plastic barrel is pretty light, you could tip it slightly to get the very last bit of beer out without stirring up the yeast cake. Good Luck!

A bazooka tube for the mash tun? I have heard they get clogged fast. If you get a false bottom and put it over the bazooka - that might work better for you... just my opinion.

Two three-ways before the pump, and two three-way's after allow water to pulled from three locations, and sent to three locations.
The only disconnection I have to do is when transferring to the fermentor I have to disconnect the BK return line, and direct it to the FV.

maierhof said:

A bazooka tube for the mash tun? I have heard they get clogged fast. If you get a false bottom and put it over the bazooka - that might work better for you... just my opinion.

Click to expand...

^^^ This or build yourself a copper manifold. I think that much grain & water will collapse a bazooka tube. You could put a copper pipe inside the bazooka w/ small holes drilled in it as an alternative.

Probably do 20 - 25 gallons in 30 gallon pot depending on OG. Much larger than that and the mash tun won't hold enough grain for larger beers.

I've used a Duda Diesel plate chiller since day 1. We have a B3-36A 40 plate. That's the sweet spot before the prices really take a jump. Been using it for 2 years and it works great.

We use 2 center inlet SS Chugger pumps. They are ok but if I had to do over I'd search other options as we've had some issues with them. I had to replace one of the heads last year and now the wort pump doesn't like to pump liquid once you get above 180ish F. I'm just waiting for it to die next.

hopbrad said:

Dudadiesel Plate Chiller(B3-36A 30 Plate, but still waiting to speak with them for best options).

and this:
http://www.brewershardware.com/FILTER1.html - so the plate chiller doesnt get clogged.

Click to expand...

We use the B3-36A 40 plate and would recommend that one. Above that chiller things get too pricey for increased performance.

I have the Brewers Hardware filter in line before the plate chiller. It's nice BUT if you brew hoppy beers I'd recommend a hop spider. Prior to using the hop spider that filter would clog EVERY time.. and it gets VERY hot so difficult to unclog even using rags around it. After the addition of the hop spider we were golden.

Roadie said:

We use the B3-36A 40 plate and would recommend that one. Above that chiller things get too pricey for increased performance.

I have the Brewers Hardware filter in line before the plate chiller. It's nice BUT if you brew hoppy bears I'd recommend a hop spider. Prior to using the hop spider that filter would clog EVERY time.. and it gets VERY hot so difficult to unclog even using rags around it. After the addition of the hop spider we were golden.

Click to expand...

I also have no issues with a duda plate chiller and a hop spider.... my plate chiller does not retain and solids that I could find when flushing with pbw solution in either direction...
I do use an additional step of filtering though with a 30" stainleass braided line attached to the end of my diptube and circling the bottom diameter of my boil kettle... this does pick up additional residue that gets past the hop spider... my wort is clear and filtered prior to entering the boil kettle.

the duda B3-36A 40 plate sounds like what were going with.
my next questions are related to fitting and connections.

if we go with the SS inline chugger pump, it is 1/2 MPT inlet and outlet. so i just need a few of these Female threads for the pump to hook up silicone tubing and wort chiller? http://www.midwestsupplies.com/1-2-fpt-to-1-2-barb-stainless-steel.html
is this the best way? thinking a ball valve on the out to control flow.
If i went with a center inlet pump, I would need a 3/4 FPT to 1/2 barb on the in, correct?

the chiller has 2 options for wort in/out - 1/2" Hose Barb or 1/2" MPT.
any positives going with the MPT over the already threaded? seems like i would need to add more fittings if i went with the MPT.

for the filter, what would be the best connections for this? may nix that for now and just use a hop bag/spider

Just to show what you can fit in a 10x6 garage

Sy6 said:

Just to show what you can fit in a 10x6 garage

Click to expand...

that is sweet!

went with the SS inline chugger pump and a ball valve for the out to help control flow.
Filter and tri-clover fittings
dudadiesel b3-36a-40 plate chiller with barb and hose connections.

should all arrive in the next week and will get pics up in June when I head back down.