1/2BBL Brewery Build

Finally the time (and money) has come for me to begin building a small brewery! My future brewery is planned to contain everything I need to brew, ferment, condition, package and of course CONSUME the beers that I love to brew so much. I'll be logging all my thoughts and processes on this thread in hopes to gain and share knowledge about this incredible craft. Please follow along here on the forum! Should any of you live in or near Hillsoboro, OR and would like to visit me during this process, please don't hesitate to send me a PM so we can talk.

About two years ago I started brewing one-gallon batches in empty Carlo Rossi's, then shortly moved up to BIAB, then jumped over to BIAC. The beer got so good and my passion rose so much, that I've decided to build a system to produce 10-15 gallon batches; at this system's heart will be a beautiful set of 20gal Stout kettles and a 23gal Stout conical fermenter along with a 5500W electric power plant. My final build will certainly be a beauty, but in the meanwhile, lets talk about where we're at today...

I was lucky enough to inherit this 3-door beverage air cooler, which has required some TLC to actually get working correctly. A few nights ago, I finally got the new dedicated circuits installed in my garage and I've now got a fully functioning ferm/conditioning/serving chamber. This cooler has an aftermarket Johnson temp controller which allows me to set the temp pretty much anywhere based on the function I desire it t serve. Currently I have the cooler set at 60F for fermentation; it's ready to receive a 10 gallon BIAC batch tomorrow evening Some photos below:




Mind you, my garage is barely large enough to fit my Hyundai. By the time I finish, space will be limited Now, before I go spend a pretty penny on these kettles, I'm going to need a place to put them; which brings me to my current project! Last night I picked up a table (top) for my kettles off CL $75 for this stainless prep table top that will soon be mounted over a wooden base heavy enough to support a several hundred pounds of scorching hot water and wort. This surface was a lucky find; it even has a built in gutter and drain




By the end of the weekend, I hoping to have the base constructed. I will post pics as soon as possible. I also plan to have 10 gallon batch of blonde ale fermenting as well. More to come and thanks for reading!

Sub'd. Sounds like a cool build!! Good luck and have fun.

Sounds great man! good luck.

Very coll. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Update: I finished constructing my stand. Mind you, I am by no means a carpenter, but I did pas wood shop; function over form is my motto is this case. Here are a few shots of my constructed stand.




Installing this center beam was critical; I anticipate needing to support hundreds of pounds at a time, and the prep shelf was just not robust enough to accomplish that on its own. I stood up and walked all over this surface after installing the beam and I anticipate excellent results with my kettle volumes.



In this shot you can see how I utilized the built-in drain by leaving a 1/2" drop from the clean side to the gutter side; this actually turned out to be more visibly evident than I initially anticipated.

Lighting in my garage was les than crappy, so I even put in a new fixture!



Next step will be purchasing a ebrewing controller for my future system; I'm thinking the EBCIII.

I'm really excited to see this project getting off the ground. I've anticipated this build now for years, and to see it come together is noting short of INCREDIBLE. More updates to come; stout tanks shouldn't be too far behind either. Thanks for reading!

I picked up my mash kettle today. It's so sexy. My HLT, BK and 20 gal fermenter will be moving in in Monday or Tuesday. I'll be picking them up, since I only live a few miles away



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

soobed

Lookin nass. Can't wait to see how it progresses. Prost!

I'm expecting the ebc-iii controller via fedex anysecond, so my most recent projects have been to install the electrical to power it. This is a 240V 50A outlet (typically used in RV parks to power motor homes.



FROM LEFT TO RIGHT

I've installed two GFCI 20 circuits, each dedicated to running a commercial cooler (one for fermenting and the other for conditioning, serving and cold storage. Next I have a 20A circuit to power lights, possibly a chiller pump and my exhaust hood. Finally the big daddy on the right in the 240V that will power the ebc-iii. I just need to connect the wires and close off the junction box. I'm actually unsure what the best way is to join 6ga stranded wires together since they are freaking thick and I've never had to pull wire this big before.



Here you can see my MLT on my rolling table. I actually had to flip my table top over to allow space for the spigot for now. Maybe Ill figure out some way to reorient this table top so that I ca actually use the conveniently located trough and drain feature. Behind it you can somewhat see my ventilation project coming together. For now its just the fan and some ductwork. I'm expecting my hood any day as well.


My next step will be to pickup my single door cooler and install the temp control unit for fermentation. The unit I have in mind is questionable in space, but its a good price and im confident I can modify the door in someway to accomodate any size issues of the fermenter.

I'm very eager to get the rest of my kettles and hood; it's gonna be shiny I'll try to detail the wiring and electrical setup of the controller especially for those thinking about going electric Thanks for following!

Got my 240v hooked up

Got my ferm chamber

Ready for water

Need to use the right hose

Contemplating whether or not to utiliZe this.

A view from within the bev air 3 door


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Pxxx


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Looks great!

Awesome! I am watching this bulld as I am preparing for mine. I like the coolers! That's a great idea

Maxedout said:

Awesome! I am watching this bulld as I am preparing for mine. I like the coolers! That's a great idea

Click to expand...

Nice. What kind of rig are you planning to build, or are you still deciding?? These coolers are going to do so much for me; even cool my chiller reservoir!

Here's a few of my latest photos:


I'm really excited about the EBCIII-D. I can't wait for the day I heat my strike water

I would recommend using PEX tubing for any kind of plumbing additions/mods. I used 1/2" PEX line and fitting to splice into an existing water line located outside the drywall in my garage.




Tonight I also whipped up an AC control box to be my master control panel for all auxiliary components like my exhaust fan, overhead lights AND my chiller o

Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

In case you're wondering what's inside the box I have a few spots left for auxiliary controls. Today I also picked up the rest of my kettles and a fermenter.




It's a tight fit with nothing to spare. The analog Johnson control lets me brew at whatever temp I desire (I may switch to a digital dual control in the winter). My next task is wiring the elements. I'm brainstorming idea for now...welcoming ideas for enclosing the element terminals. I have NTP to tri-clamp fitting that came OEM.

We have boil



My element boxes need a bit of sealing from moisture, but this was really the best


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

The best system I could conjure with my barebones knowledge of AC electrical. I know it works and I know it's grounded, working with a 50a GFCI breaker, which costs a pretty penny. Eager for brew day. I just need some fittings and a pump control box.




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

this looks so awesome, I can't wait to build a system like this one day. Dare I ask what kind of electrical costs the extra coolers add to your monthly bill?

I've had a couple people PM me about my equipment costs and utility costs, so I'll just address all those questions right now. My energy costs could be calculated, but I'm too afraid to actually do it right now! Haha. I'm am actually more concerned with the juice that's gonna get pulled through my 5500W heating elements, which will run full blast for probably 3hrs on brew day. (That's 16.5kW hours)

My total costs to date are running $6-7k. Granted I did my electrical and plumbing, plus it got that 3-door cooler for free! I estimate that parts and labor for a replication of my setup (fully functioning) would be around $12k. Eek.

Where I'm at I pay $.10-.11/kwhr. So brewday costs me about $3 is electricity. I am paying the base rate and all the I the garbage no matter what so I don't factor that.

brianbrinley said:

this looks so awesome, I can't wait to build a system like this one day. Dare I ask what kind of electrical costs the extra coolers add to your monthly bill?

Click to expand...

Just did some math...with both coolers and a couple brew days a month, I'm looking at +$75 month!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Have you gotten a chance to use the sparge arm from Stout yet?

I got one from Stout, but instead of spraying, mine just dripped when I was sparging because I slowed the flow down. Curious if your results are better. I ended up going to a hose in the mash.

November said:

Have you gotten a chance to use the sparge arm from Stout yet?



I got one from Stout, but instead of spraying, mine just dripped when I was sparging because I slowed the flow down. Curious if your results are better. I ended up going to a hose in the mash.

Click to expand...

When I picked up my sparge arm, I looked at the guy like he was crazy that he expected this to work... I haven't fired it up yet, but I question it's effectiveness, especially at a slower flow rate. I'll definitely have a report on this product.



In the meanwhile, I'm getting the pumps all rigged up.



I'm also building a control box to run a couple fresh water solenoids to work in conjunction with float switches magnetically adhered to the inside of my BK and HLT. Filling my pots will be a breeze This panel will also control a 3rd pump.

I have a stout sparge arm. It is interesting... It works fine. I get about 80% EFF with a .033" mill gap on my mm2-2.0. I am going to try the hose for sparging today.

Has anyone noticed the creepy demon face in the picture with the fermentor? Look in the top 1/4 of the door by the photographer face.

JacksonShoalsBeer1 said:

Has anyone noticed the creepy demon face in the picture with the fermentor? Look in the top 1/4 of the door by the photographer face.

Click to expand...

you mean Einstein?

Indeed, that is a grid drawing of Einstein

Here's the latest...I'm working on my pump control box. It will allow me to toggle all my pumps on or off without having to mess with my EBC. This might seem redundant;
however, the pump dedicated to running my HERMS pump is being held hostage by the PID on my EBC-III. In other words, the PID must be manipulated in order to get this pump to run for any other reason than to cycle the HERMS system



Solution: Use an SPDF to toggle between two separate loads (one coming from the PID and the other coming from the pump two function. Basically the pump two function on the EBC-II will always be engage during brew day, but will be available to use to run the HERMS pump is whatever capacity outside its normal duty. I other words I have a unlimited controls over all 3 pumps



I am looking forward to having a completed pump panels, but I'm kind of dreading the wiring a bit :/




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Hers the lastest update on my pump control box. All the wires have been run; 2x 120v loads (one controlled by the mash temp PID). I also have 3x 120v out lines (one for each pump) On my HERMS pump, I have installed a selector switch to allow me to switch that pump on by hand.

The big black box in there is a 24vac transformer which steps down my 120v load to run my 24v water solenoids. Each solenoid has an autofill switch on my control box, each line will have a float switch interrupter to close the solenoid when the pot has filled to whatever volume I desire.





The only potential issue I foresee is overheating...however; I don't see that transformer really getting so hot that anything would melt. Let me know if you think otherwise

After a good night of wire stripping, crimping, plumbing and accidentally sprayed with water, I'm nearing brewday!

Here's a shot of my solenoids, which are giving me the most trouble; one works great, but the other seems to be reversed and slightly stuck in the on position (this caused me to get accidentally drenched) Next door to the solenoids is my to-be junction box where the float switch interrupters will be put into the equation.

Here's a shot of where my water flow will begin.

I used a T to separate the main line into two. (Each line flows to its own solenoid.

This is my unlabeled pump control box which seemed to work right on the first try

(TOP TO BOTTOM, LEFT TO RIGHT)

1) HLT Autofill - single throw
2) BK Autofill - single throw (for strike water)
3) Pump 2 selector switch - (HERMS PID - OFF - ON)
4) Pump 3 - single throw - ON-OFF
5) Pump 2 - single throw - ON-OFF
6) Pump 1 - single throw - ON-OFF





Under the hood. On brew day I'll get a video going so y'all can see the kettles fill with the flick of a switch

Upon sober inspection, solenoid 2 was backwards; glad I caught that before someone else did Works like a charm now. I should have the junction box wired by tonight.

So, tonight my goal was finish wiring my plumbing junction box and test run this beast with water.



I soldered these connections for two reasons; these wires are not anchored and I ran out of small wire nuts...it ended up looking slick and I'm very confident with the integrity of these connections. It may be difficult to see what is what; but essentially, the hot wire for each solenoid is hooked to a switch on my pump box, AND inside the junction box, a float switch is spliced into each of the hot lines (I used a thermostat wire, it's the brown wire) the neutrals are connected without interruption.



For small piece of mind, I gorilla glued the wires in place where they leave the box.



It ran like a dream! I filled my HLT with the flip of a switch, then turned on the ebc and got my HTL up to 160F. If you are unsure about the effectiveness of a HERMS, let me put your fears to rest; it works! I had 70F water jumping up more than 30 degrees in seconds!



Rechecked the boil element. That worked too



Brew day is approaching.

Looks great!

I'm becoming inspired. Thanks for the careful cataloging, it's very interesting.

dmarc85 said:

For small piece of mind, I gorilla glued the wires in place where they leave the box.

Click to expand...

I would not do that. That's not what that glue is meant for. I would use proper strain reliefs going into and out of the boxes instead.

Kal

Karl, any recommendations on the proper strain reliefs? I can't find anything the right size...


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Sorry, Kal. Autocorrect


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Inspiring