Building 1st All Grain Rig - Looking for feedback

[hater]

Hello,
I've lurked for a while and gotten some good info of the forums.

I've been extract brewing for a while and am building my 1st All Grain setup and am looking for some feedback.

I've done a good amount of reading and watched some all grain brewing video's and this is what I came up with to fit my situation.

I'm in Wisconsin so brewing outdoor year around is not possible, the table will be brought inside during the winter. All gas lines will be attached to the table and just require attaching to the quick disconnect in my basement and my deck.

- Running off natural gas
- Outdoor from spring to fall
- Indoor during winter (Basement has exhaust hood and separate outdoor air intake fan)
- Water boil/HLT and Boiling kettle pot are next to each other so both are under the exhaust hood when indoors
- 5 and 10 gallon batches

Any feedback anyone has about what will and wont work with my setup is greatly appreciated.

 

[centex99]

Depending on the 10G batch, you may have issues with the 10G mash tun... other than that, it looks good... I believe you can also pump the wort into the bottom of the boil kettle vs the top...

 

[Cyclman]

I am presuming by intake fan you mean a fresh air fan pushing outside air into the bottom of the system. Looks good.

 

[c3hutson]

Blichmann burners with natural gas conversion. 13 gallon boils have been cake.


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[MurphysLawBrewer]

Blichmann burners with natural gas conversion. 13 gallon boils have been cake. View attachment 184899

 

[c3hutson]

Do you mash in that 5 gal polarware or is that your HLT?

That's just my BK for 5 gallon batches. We have another 15 gallon for larger batches... Need a bigger BK soon however. 13.5 gallon preboil volumes are scary in these pots.


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[Hockeyman]

I'd be very leery running a high powered exhaust in your home if any of your natural gas appliances are vented into a chimney. Turning on the exhaust will cause a negative pressure in your home and flue products will enter your living space, especially in the winter when your furnace is running.

I've responded to many of CO emergency calls from customers installing high powered kitchen range hoods and unknowingly causing a negative pressure in their home...

So even if you brew in a different area from where your chimney is situated, air takes the path of least resistance and will back draft down your chimney.

I understand that you're going to have intake air blown into your brew space from outside, but remember that your make up air to be as close to 100% or better yet 90% to ensure complete removal of products of combustion. If you don't have a way to ensure this proper air balance you'll be needing to hire a professional air balance company.

So if you have natural draft gas appliances in your home DO NOT BREW INSIDE! You may be putting yourself and your family at risk.

 

[hater]

Depending on the 10G batch, you may have issues with the 10G mash tun... other than that, it looks good... I believe you can also pump the wort into the bottom of the boil kettle vs the top...

Thanks,
From what ive read, i can fit between and 24-28# of grain in that cooler, so that would limit me to 5 gallon batches of very high gravity beer, and im ok with that.

I wasn't sure if I could pump the wort into valve at the bottom of my boil pan, thanks for pointing that out, i've changed my diagram accordingly.

Thanks for the input

 

[hater]

I am presuming by intake fan you mean a fresh air fan pushing outside air into the bottom of the system. Looks good.

I'm not going to be brewing inside until the (hopefully) late fall.

At the moment, i have an fan doing outdoor intake on the (finished) ceiling in the basement room. I was going to be adding the hood in the fall and probably replacing the current intake fan with something more powerful.

I'm still doing some research on if i need to add some duct work and have my intake on the floor or if its Ok on the ceiling. I also need to finalize how many cfm's i need to push in and out (I assumed id want to try to match the cfm's going in and out)

Any advice you have on that would be great.

 

[hater]

Blichmann burners with natural gas conversion. 13 gallon boils have been cake. View attachment 184899


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Funny you should mention the Blichman burners, I was going to buy 2 of those very same burners with natural gas conversions. One would have the 24" extensions. From what i've speced out that should be just high enough that I can gravity feed my mash tun.

 

[hater]

I'd be very leery running a high powered exhaust in your home if any of your natural gas appliances are vented into a chimney. Turning on the exhaust will cause a negative pressure in your home and flue products will enter your living space, especially in the winter when your furnace is running.

I've responded to many of CO emergency calls from customers installing high powered kitchen range hoods and unknowingly causing a negative pressure in their home...

So even if you brew in a different area from where your chimney is situated, air takes the path of least resistance and will back draft down your chimney.

I understand that you're going to have intake air blown into your brew space from outside, but remember that your make up air to be as close to 100% or better yet 90% to ensure complete removal of products of combustion. If you don't have a way to ensure this proper air balance you'll be needing to hire a professional air balance company.

So if you have natural draft gas appliances in your home DO NOT BREW INSIDE! You may be putting yourself and your family at risk.

Thanks for the input, i am concerned about co2 poisoning and will be paying attention to this. I do not have a fireplace/chimney. My furnace and hot water heater are on natural gas and vent outdoor via their own vents. I was going to be careful and try to match cfm's on my intake and outtake air to try for equal air balance. This is the part of my setup i'm still researching and wont be building that out until the late summer/early fall.

I do plan on co2 monitoring, etc in the room. Besides convenience, one reason I went with natural gas over propane is less co2 contamination indoors.

 

[c3hutson]

It's CO monitoring. Big difference.


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[Hockeyman]

The chances of CO poisoning from natural gas and propane are one in the same. They are both carbon based fuels and if not ventilated correctly will have cause the same effect.

I hope you're not considering a retail co detector... Really want to trust your life with a $30 product? An ideal CO monitoring system is one you'd find in an underground parkade. Not really cost effective for occasional brewing.

How are your water heater and furnace vented? Are they direct/non-direct vent or natural draft? These are important things to consider especially if you're potentially putting you home in a negative pressure and flue products can be pulled back into the home.