Auction score...what can I use from this pile of cool stuff for my first build?

[kilohertz]

I have been wanting to make my own beer for a few years now, I built a shop this past winter and now finally have the space to build it, and have been gathering all things stainless etc for a while. I want to build an electric setup, PID or Arduino etc, so I have been looking for things to use in this system. A local auction house had a restaurant equipment auction this past week and I bought a whole dump truck load of items. I was mainly looking for stainless tables, shelves etc for the main structure, but I found a cool soda dispenser system, which I didn't really know what it was until I got it home, I really just wanted the Italian made magnetic pump, but it looks like I may be able to use quite a bit more. It's a Wunder-Bar dispenser system, with about 10 dispensers, some valves, Flo-tec pumps etc. I also found what I think are plate chillers. Big block of aluminum?> with IN/OUT connections and such, maybe a good wort chiller.

Anyway, there is more that I bought, but wanted to know what parts of this soda dispenser are useful for making beer.

Appreciate all comments.

Just realized I may have put this post in the wrong section, feel free to move it to where it belongs. Thx

Cheers

 

[bracconiere]

Hard soda! lol

all you need is some home made vodka....when i worked in the deli i don't remember having the aluminum blocks though...but that rack looks just like where we put the boxes of syrup

 

[Dland]

The third picture is a carbinator, turns tap water into soda water, pretty much on demand. Not sure if I'd want to use it with beer, but it might work. Can make your own bubbly water now, just need good water supply, power and a good sized tank of CO2.

 

[Wayne1]

The hunks of Aluminum are cold plates. They would usually be placed in the bottom of ice bins. They would chill down the carbonated water and syrup that would then go to the Wonderbar dispenser.

They can be used (after a very good cleaning) to build Jockey Boxes. Put one in the bottom of a cooler and run lines to the back and front of the cooler and you can dispense carbonated beer outside with no refrigerator. They have been used for many years at beer festivals in this manner.

You "might" be able to use the Flojet pumps if you build a long draw beer dispense system. All of the gear you have is used for serving, not in brewing.

 

[kilohertz]

OKay thanks for the help. I guess it's not as useful as I thought.

I think I may be able to use the pump on the stand, the Italian Rotor 30, it's the one attached to the carbonation tank thing.

Could I use the cold plates as wort chillers? Maybe put them in a freezer? Are they filled with some material that helps hold the cold, they are awfully heavy?

The other stuff, well, back to the auction.

Cheers

 

[mongoose33]

OKay thanks for the help. I guess it's not as useful as I thought.

I think I may be able to use the pump on the stand, the Italian Rotor 30, it's the one attached to the carbonation tank thing.

Could I use the cold plates as wort chillers? Maybe put them in a freezer? Are they filled with some material that helps hold the cold, they are awfully heavy?

The other stuff, well, back to the auction.

Cheers

I'd doubt the cold plates would be particularly effective in chilling wort. The best chillers on the market (either immersion or counterflow or plate) have thin material between the cooling liquid and the hot wort. The more material you have between what's cooling it and the hot wort, the slower it's going to cool. It works for soda because there's enough thermal mass in the aluminum to chill the relatively small amount and flow of soda through them.

But as soon as you heat up that thermal mass around the coils in those chill plates, chilling will slow to a crawl because there's no longer much difference between the temp of the wort and the temp of the thermal mass surrounding the coils. You have to wait for conduction to occur to chill the thermal mass surrounding the coils, and that's much slower.

In other words, purpose-designed chillers shed heat fast because they have little between the chilling fluid and the wort.

Now, would it be better than nothing? Sure. Would you need a lot of ice to make it work effectively? Sure. And there's one more thing: if you did this in an enclosed cooler, you'd melt some of that ice into water, and then the ice would float on top of that, again reducing cooling efficiency. When ice goes from ice to water it undergoes a phase change which is why ice in coolers keep things cold a long time. When in contact with the cold plate, the ice is chilling most effectively.

In the ice tubs as @Wayne1 notes below, the melted icewater is drained away, keeping the ice in contact w/ the cold plates. You'd have to allow the water to drain in your own setup. That wouldn't be that hard to do, just open the spigot on a cooler and the water would drain. You'd just need a place for that water to go.

*****

Now, having reasoned out all that, I could be wrong. Maybe with ice on top of the chill plates, and running a couple of them in series, and allowing the icewater to drain away, you'd get enough thermal efficiency to cool the wort. It's possible, I suppose, depending on how the cold plates are designed.

But is it worth it? Do you have enough ice? A right-sized cooler in which to set them? A place to drain the icewater? Is water expensive or rationed where you live?

Or is it better to just buy an immersion chiller like a Hydra? Expensive, yes, but I could cool 5.5 gallons of wort from boiling to 70 degrees in 4 minutes when the groundwater was cold enough. It was 5-6 minutes in the times of the year when the water was warmer.

 

[Wayne1]

OKay thanks for the help. I guess it's not as useful as I thought.

I think I may be able to use the pump on the stand, the Italian Rotor 30, it's the one attached to the carbonation tank thing.

That pump head is not designed for high temps. It is brass and designed for water, not wort. You might be able to use the motor, but it could be hard to source a pump head designed for wort transfer. The magnetic coupled pumps from Blichman, Chugger and March are a better design for moving hot wort.

 

[kilohertz]

Once again, thanks boys for the info and explanations. After further reading this morning I too discovered that the pump is only good for 158*, and did some more reading on counter-flow chillers, which I will either buy or make. The auction wasn't a total bust, I managed to buy some nice stainless cabinets and tables, one big 8' stainless topped roll around with drawers underneath, and a few other useful things. I'm just starting my plans for my brewery, will be in my newly constructed shop. Will be a 3 vessel, probably kegs, going to use electric heaters, some PID of sorts, pumls etc. I am still researching all the options. Shop will be wood heat in the winter, lots of water as I have 2 wells on the property, not sure how good it will be for beer, but when it comes out of the ground it is 55F. It tastes good but I know it is high alk and quite hard, lots of minerals. I may end up bringing in water, we'll see.

Thanks again!