Well, my wife may argue that I'm diving in head first without checking to see if there's even water in the pool. Why? I'm upgrading from my current 3-gallon turkey fryer and igloo cooler stovetop "system" to a beauty: a 15 gallon Stout Kettles system with 2 pumps on a single-tier strut build.
I've got the vessels on order and have two blichmann floor burners already, but I'm not sure on what brand of pumps to get. I had intended to go for the stainless Chugger pumps but after scouring the forums and seeing Kal from The Electric Brewery recommend March pumps instead I'm torn. Anyone have any recommendations?
I'm leaning towards Chugger pumps because I'd like to (eventually) have two sanitary ferrules welded onto the pump heads instead of the threaded ports they come with. I don't know any welders I'd trust with the job at the moment but it's a future plan.
Speaking of future plans: I'm eventually going to add automation and full electric 5500w elements but my existing home doesn't have the space in the breaker box for that sort of system. Hell the garage can't even support a 240 because whatever moron built it must have done so after the fact and only has a 120v 20A line running to the garage from the house. The workshop in the basement's the same way, obviously an addition that wasn't thought out properly. The wife isn't too into the idea of me repurposing the dryer or water heater circuits so, for now, it's propane burners only with a smaller element to maintain HERMS temps during recirculation w/out messing with lighting and putting out a burner constantly. We're planning to move in the next couple years and a properly wired shop/garage area is near the top of my "must have" list.
Also, after looking over the flowchart does anyone see anything they'd change? I used a fair number of existing systems on these boards for inspiration in both my Stout order and plans but I might have missed something. It's hard to tell but I'm attempting to minimize dead space in the lines as much as possible while keeping everything easy to flush clean.
And no worries, I'll be photographing every step of the process since I know you guys love your system porn so much.
Ein Prosit
Edit: After posting it looks like I forgot to add in a T and tri-clover thermoprobe after the MLT valve. Oops.
I've got the vessels on order and have two blichmann floor burners already, but I'm not sure on what brand of pumps to get. I had intended to go for the stainless Chugger pumps but after scouring the forums and seeing Kal from The Electric Brewery recommend March pumps instead I'm torn. Anyone have any recommendations?
I'm leaning towards Chugger pumps because I'd like to (eventually) have two sanitary ferrules welded onto the pump heads instead of the threaded ports they come with. I don't know any welders I'd trust with the job at the moment but it's a future plan.
Speaking of future plans: I'm eventually going to add automation and full electric 5500w elements but my existing home doesn't have the space in the breaker box for that sort of system. Hell the garage can't even support a 240 because whatever moron built it must have done so after the fact and only has a 120v 20A line running to the garage from the house. The workshop in the basement's the same way, obviously an addition that wasn't thought out properly. The wife isn't too into the idea of me repurposing the dryer or water heater circuits so, for now, it's propane burners only with a smaller element to maintain HERMS temps during recirculation w/out messing with lighting and putting out a burner constantly. We're planning to move in the next couple years and a properly wired shop/garage area is near the top of my "must have" list.
Also, after looking over the flowchart does anyone see anything they'd change? I used a fair number of existing systems on these boards for inspiration in both my Stout order and plans but I might have missed something. It's hard to tell but I'm attempting to minimize dead space in the lines as much as possible while keeping everything easy to flush clean.
And no worries, I'll be photographing every step of the process since I know you guys love your system porn so much.
Ein Prosit
Edit: After posting it looks like I forgot to add in a T and tri-clover thermoprobe after the MLT valve. Oops.
