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Amazing BK! I don't think I've got the patience to build something like that but it is beautiful...How did she do on the inaugural brew?
 
Amazing BK! I don't think I've got the patience to build something like that but it is beautiful...How did she do on the inaugural brew?

Thanks. It was a very busy day and a learning experience. For the most part everything performed it's job as intended. I have a few programing tweaks to make and need to dial in my cleaning routine.

In the end, 4.5 Gal of wort starter and 5.5 Gal of a APA is good start. I didn't have expectations of brewing a gold medal beer (ergo wort starter). Just wanted to get through the first day. It will be a trial and error process for a while.
 
Excellent job BrewKaiser! Once you get her dialed in, it will be a joy to use. Beautiful rig you made yourself! Best of luck to you! :mug:

John
 
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Looking at all these awesome setups makes me a bit embarassed to even post this :D

My driving goal ATM is lo-to-no-cost. Only things I've bought for this setup was the ring burner, cooking pot, bucket, wrinkly duct and the inline blower inside the duct's wall-end. Total cost in the ballpark of 100eur. Everything else I either had already or found from various skips here and there. I can't make a proper rig as I don't have the space for it, even that has to be moved aside when I want to take the motorbike off the lift table just to the left of the pic. Does what I need until I can afford something better. Hoping the better thing will be a bulldog brewery I can fit on the table to the right.
 
Well, here's my rig - nothing special, nothing permanent. I store all my gear in a basement storage room, and the round table is one of my patio tables, the tall white table is a "sam's club" adjustible height table that's had a bit too much heat applied to it - time to replace the top with some plywood, I think.

So, obviously, upper burner and pot is for hot liquor, cooler is for mash/lauter, and lower is the brew kettle. Upper burner is a $40 Bayou Classic burner, lower burner is a Bass Pro Shops outdoor stove for camping with the legs removed. I think that was $60 back in the day.

Now, to this, add a refractometer, a "mash rake" (it's in quotes because it doubles as a heavy-duty BBQ spatula), a stirring spoon, hydrometer, immersion wort cooler, my "whirlpooler" (consisting of a home depot paint stirrer mounted on a Ryobi 18V cordless drill), and assorted other bits and bobs.

And that's it. pretty simple stuff! #dontneedpricygeartomakegreatbeer

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Here's our new setup. Out of curiosity, I would like to eventually get pumps instead of gravity feeding and then transistion into a HERMS or RIMS system. Does anyone know if I will be able to do this with my current cooler setup? I really don't want to spend money on stainless kettles (conical fermenters would be higher priority). My current setup is 15 gallon coolers and kettle, would prefer to spend money adding on, not replacing.

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Here's our new setup. Out of curiosity, I would like to eventually get pumps instead of gravity feeding and then transistion into a HERMS or RIMS system. Does anyone know if I will be able to do this with my current cooler setup? I really don't want to spend money on stainless kettles (conical fermenters would be higher priority). My current setup is 15 gallon coolers and kettle, would prefer to spend money adding on, not replacing.


Yes you can definitely add to this with a rims style setup. A germs will require another vessel capable of taking heat.

What kind of coolers are those? I've searched for 15 gallon Coolers and never found one.
 
Yes you can definitely add to this with a rims style setup. A germs will require another vessel capable of taking heat.

What kind of coolers are those? I've searched for 15 gallon Coolers and never found one.


It is the fermentors favorite kit from midwest supply. You can get the kit for 5 gal or 10 gal batches. When I went to all grain I jumped right up to 10 gal since it wasn't much extra money.

I have an old copper coil that I used to use for cooling before I went to 10 gal batches and realized it was now too small. Thought about installing that in the liquor tank along with a heating element to make a herms system. Only concern would be the plastic melting from the element, but haven't looked into it much. That's a little bit down the road.
 
Its been a work in progress since last summer, but I am just about finished. Added a second pump a couple weeks ago, and then replaced my 10g cooler mash tun with another sanke. Installed a false bottom and Loc-Line sparge arm. Everything is fitted with stainless camlocks as well. Still need to add a smaller burner to the middle station for step mashing, but that'll happen soon. Adding a HERMS coil to the MLT will probably happen down the road though.

Brewing up a ten gallon batch of amber this weekend. It'll also be my first real venture into fly sparging with a pump, so it should be interesting. Pretty excited to finally be close to where I want to be.

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Here's a pic of mine. Built it about a year ago. Makes 20 gal batches.

That gives me an idea. I could build a cart that houses the automation and pumps themselves. Thermocouple on pump inlet to a controller type thing.

Pretty much a square cart or structure on wheels with a Brutus control box on it that plugs into the rig on brew day and also provides power to the valves. And pumps which can be used independently. It is nice to have portable pumps sometimes. Just thinking out loud here for now

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Still have some work to do but almost done

A few thoughts...

That seems to be a very narrow base to support the kind of weight you will have so high up. If you haven't already, I would fill the upper HLT with about 10 gallons of water to get an idea of how stable/unstable the stand will be. I think you may need to widen that base. And maybe consider adding some locking casters.
Since your not finished, you may already have this in your plans, but I would also wrap the center post with some flashing or something to protect it from the heat your burners will put out.
Just wanted to throw that out as food for thought. Can be very dangerous to have hot liquid up that high on a narrow stand.
Good luck!
 
I'm 190 pounds and to get the center post to seat in the base I had to stand on the top burner and beat it down with a maul before I cut the top off. It's pretty sturdy
 
I'm 190 pounds and to get the center post to seat in the base I had to stand on the top burner and beat it down with a maul before I cut the top off. It's pretty sturdy

I think the concern was more about how tippy it looks, to which I agree. It's a cool rig and I really like the chains right to the burners. Super simple and I can totally appreciate that. We're just expressing a concern for your own safety. Feel free to disregard, but having said that will help me sleep better tonight :)
 
@mitchard, any issues with mash filtration without a silicon edge to your barrier? I am upgrading my rig size and moving from cooler to a RIMS, was planning on using one of the 12v motors for RIMs and I have one of those filters, but am concerned with clogging lines...


@ desert sky.. now that's a heat exchanger...

cheers!
 
@mitchard, any issues with mash filtration without a silicon edge to your barrier? I am upgrading my rig size and moving from cooler to a RIMS, was planning on using one of the 12v motors for RIMs and I have one of those filters, but am concerned with clogging lines...


@ desert sky.. now that's a heat exchanger...

cheers!

I used the mash tun for the first time the weekend before last, and didn't see any issues. A bit more of a vorlouf than I was used to with my cooler and CPVC manifold, but nothing significant.
 
there are steel heatshields under each burner and a circle cut out from the plywood for airflow, wood doesnt get any hotter than if left in the sun
 
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