Home Super Brewery Build: Hybrid Electric/Gas 3BBL Build

[marcb]

This is a pretty intense build. I'm curious of the size of the stir plate you were using for that 8gallon starter, if you used one at all.

Im still trying to wrap my head around the scope of this build, what sort of power/gas bills are you expecting with this setup?

I have a thermolyne commercial stirplate and a 4.5" stir bar but have only successfully used that on ~3 gallon starters. For this one I had intended on using a fermenter as a brink but ended up using a sanitary 10G stout dish bottom kettle that I had on hand as all my other fermenters were full. So no stir plate, just good old fashioned O2 upfront and a ton of DME, this thing went nuts for fermentation though and raised the temperature of the beer a full 11-12 degrees (50g volume) and was blowing out of a 60g fermenter.

My gas bill hasn't been noticeable. With all the water/boil/cleaning tests last month my electric/water bill was ~$100 higher. I'll give it a couple of months to normalize and see where I'm at.

 

[marcb]

Settled on a 125' 1/3 HP two pump setup from Beverage factory, should be in early next week. I will be testing out the temp control next weekend on a batch of PTE. Need to source some heating pads and map out the glycol circuit. Currently planning to mount it on a shelf above the fermenters to keep it from overflowing but am also considering putting it above the ceiling so I won't have to listen to it. Will post pics of the coil and lid assembly once they are back from the welders.

 

[marcb]

Brain is too tired for math right now! I will tally up a list and prices. I'm guessing that for the brewery with fermenters and control panel total was about 10k. Really stoked on being able to do two different beers in one brew day!

So total in on this go around with fermenters and everything (except the garage remodel piece) is about 13k. I would definitely say that the kettles/stands/control panel pieces that constitute the heart of the brewery ran about 5k

 

[marcb]

CIP system worked great on ferm 2 today, no scrubbing at all! Clean and ready to go for next weekend!

 

[Jaybird]

Marc
What CIP pump are you using?

Cheers
Jay

 

[marcb]

Marc
What CIP pump are you using?

Cheers
Jay

MARCH AC-5B-MD BEER PUMP
http://amzn.com/B00BMA134O

You can find these from tesco pumps pretty cheap although you are probably reselling them so hopefully it will be a little cheaper ; )

This is actually the pump from my keg washer, it's not bolted to the cart so I only need to take off two TC fittings and its ready for CIP action on the fermenters.

 

[marcb]

Glycol system is in! Just in time for a weekend brew day!

 

[MooMooBrew]

Ooo shiny. Off topic, how we'll does the garage door insulation work?

 

[marcb]

Ooo shiny. Off topic, how we'll does the garage door insulation work?

Pretty well actually! There is significant cooling from the souther exposure wall having been furred out to about 7" thick to match the concrete curb and fully insulated. The Home Depot kits for the garage door were quick and easy to install (double door required two kits) and gave me some reasonable insulation on a cheap, single wall metal door. The garage temp on >90 degree days doesn't usually get over 75 and if I run the AC unit the garage goes from 75-65 in less than an hour.

 

[marcb]

What was the basis for the position of your whirlpool port? I was looking for recommendations on placement and didn't find anything too specific. I was thinking about a quarter of the way up the tank and an inch in from the edge.

Hey, for those of you looking at adding a whirlpool port, higher is better for the recirc. I had intended these to be used for recirculating while initially cooling as well as whirlpool but they ended up creating two thermal layers in the kettle. The bottom third would cool rapidly down to ~120 while the top 2/3 would remain near boiling. We ended up recirculating over the top this last brew day and it worked out very well. BTW, I don't really need a whirlpool as I use a hop filter in the boil and have a filter on the outlet of the kettle to catch break material prior to entering my heat exchanger.

 

[Carlscan26]

How fast does that pre chiller filter clog?

 

[marcb]

How fast does that pre chiller filter clog?

Hasn't yet! It's the one from brewers hardware with no extra screen. It's a pita to clean but works well.

 

[mxstar21]

Hasn't yet! It's the one from brewers hardware with no extra screen. It's a pita to clean but works well.

Flip the other way so the side with 3 in fitting is on the bottom. Much easier to clean IMO. I have used mine twice; no problems either way, other than cleaning being easier with hops on the outside of strainer rather than inside. I have only used whole hops with mine, but would assume results would be the same filtering wise.

It was definitely a pain the ass to get all of the hops cleaned out of inside the strainer. Had to use a skewer to get them all out.

 

[marcb]

Flip the other way so the side with 3 in fitting is on the bottom. Much easier to clean IMO. I have used mine twice; no problems either way, other than cleaning being easier with hops on the outside of strainer rather than inside. I have only used whole hops with mine, but would assume results would be the same filtering wise.

It was definitely a pain the ass to get all of the hops cleaned out of inside the strainer. Had to use a skewer to get them all out.

Nice! Hadn't thought of that, any issues with flow with it reversed?

 

[mxstar21]

Nice! Hadn't thought of that, any issues with flow with it reversed?

I didn't notice any, but I am only doing 5 and 10 gallon batches.

 

[marcb]

Happy IPA day everyone! We celebrated last weekend by cranking out a batch of PTE on half the system while simultaneously cranking out a batch of Saison on the other half. Both are fermenting nicely, PTE at 68 and the Saison de Casper at 90! WOOOHOOO!

 

[mkakunda]

epic post guys. Evan just told me about your system at work and hoping to join you guys for a brewday! Loved the SANKE cleaner as well. One day i'll ditch corny's and go 1/6th sanke as well..... until then i'll just drool over your system

 

[fastev]

Glad you liked it Mike!

We all should get together one of these days and talk about building a yeast bank.

 

[mkakunda]

absolutely. I've been wanting to bank yeast for a while and with my background in the lab it will be very easy. Let's all meet, chat, and grab beers

 

[marcb]

absolutely. I've been wanting to bank yeast for a while and with my background in the lab it will be very easy. Let's all meet, chat, and grab beers

Let me know when your free next week, we'll give you a brewery tour and have a few beers!

 

[zoso124]

Which glycol chiller did you go with? Are you controlling it with the BCS?

Great thread! Very inspiring!

 

[marcb]

Which glycol chiller did you go with? Are you controlling it with the BCS?

Great thread! Very inspiring!

Went with the beverage factory 125' tayfun unit and added an extra pump. I will be building a control box that will interface this to the BCS for the next brew day. Right now I'm testing out the cooling coil in the fermenter with a ranco controlled pump and adding ice to the kettle reservoir daily. This is performing exceptionally well so I'm anxious to get the glycol system up and running.

 

[marcb]

Glycol Chilled!

 

[marcb]

Glycol Chilled!

Dropped 25 degrees in about 4 hours. Looking to crash down to 38 degrees and carb in the fermenter prior to kegging. Going to let it sit overnight to minimize the trub transfer to the kegs. In a few weeks when my bright tank arrives we'll get to our final process set.

 

[DrHops]

Damn!!! That's beautiful!

 

[CCBrewer]

I wish I had the cash to drop it like this.... man you are lucky to have an awesome wife to allow that my SWMBO is a *****

 

[marcb]

Dropped 25 degrees in about 4 hours. Looking to crash down to 38 degrees and carb in the fermenter prior to kegging. Going to let it sit overnight to minimize the trub transfer to the kegs. In a few weeks when my bright tank arrives we'll get to our final process set.

Ended up down at 41, not bad considering the unibody tank is not insulated. Carbed in one day and is cold and drinkable straight from the sample valve.

 

[fastev]

I wish I had the cash to drop it like this.... man you are lucky to have an awesome wife to allow that my SWMBO is a *****

Damn dude, that's harsh!

Joking aside, marcb's swmbo is awesome. And a great chef. Marc, we have to reschedule dinner. I mean, our planning session while we pour the ladies great wine

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Tis' harsh, specially on a forum that she might stumble upon.........

 

[WPStrassburg]

Did you weld the cooling coil right to the fermenter lid or use compression nuts so it is removable? What length and tube diameter?

Went with the beverage factory 125' tayfun unit and added an extra pump. I will be building a control box that will interface this to the BCS for the next brew day. Right now I'm testing out the cooling coil in the fermenter with a ranco controlled pump and adding ice to the kettle reservoir daily. This is performing exceptionally well so I'm anxious to get the glycol system up and running.

 

[marcb]

Did you weld the cooling coil right to the fermenter lid or use compression nuts so it is removable? What length and tube diameter?

They are fused right to the lid. The coils are 10" in diameter and 24" tall, 1/2" 304 stainless and 50' long.

 

[SFBrewer]

Holy S#@%! This impressive endeavor is a FAR cry from the garage I saw last! Various bits of brewery equipment and kegs stacked up all over the place, your Keg Auto-Wash in the early stages of construction, your kegerator with your APA and Triple on tap, etc etc. Fine work!

Marc, you may remember me as the fellow who picked up that pair of 10 gal corny kegs (in near constant use, thank you) back in Jan/Feb of '12. Not to mention likely one of the very few who has personal experience with your devious contrivances at 201. N. Sunrise in Sacto, on this forum anyway.

We never did connect for a brew day on your former rig, this work of art (monstrous art mind you) is...well, words fail me. Regardless, the offer stands, if you need an extra (superfluous or maybe even unwanted pair of hands at some point to run through a brew day with you, I'm your man.

Cheers!

 

[meteorbrews]

Very impressive and very cool, awesome brew room!

Cheers

 

[marcb]

Holy S#@%! This impressive endeavor is a FAR cry from the garage I saw last! Various bits of brewery equipment and kegs stacked up all over the place, your Keg Auto-Wash in the early stages of construction, your kegerator with your APA and Triple on tap, etc etc. Fine work!

Marc, you may remember me as the fellow who picked up that pair of 10 gal corny kegs (in near constant use, thank you) back in Jan/Feb of '12. Not to mention likely one of the very few who has personal experience with your devious contrivances at 201. N. Sunrise in Sacto, on this forum anyway.

We never did connect for a brew day on your former rig, this work of art (monstrous art mind you) is...well, words fail me. Regardless, the offer stands, if you need an extra (superfluous or maybe even unwanted pair of hands at some point to run through a brew day with you, I'm your man.

Cheers!

Lol, thanks! Wouldn't that have been jan/feb of 13? Come on down for some beer and a brewery tour! How's the braumeister working out?

 

[marcb]

Very impressive and very cool, awesome brew room!

Cheers

Thank You! Getting ready to fire it up today!

 

[marcb]

Double sparge! Crank it to 11!

 

[Carlscan26]

What'd ya make?

 

[marcb]

What'd ya make?

Three beer day, a Belgian Dark Strong, Hoegaarden clone and a second runnings beer from the BDS that ought to shape up to be a decent Pale Ale/IPA

 

[Carlscan26]

Three beer day, a Belgian Dark Strong, Hoegaarden clone and a second runnings beer from the BDS that ought to shape up to be a decent Pale Ale/IPA

Wow. How long a day was that?

 

[marcb]

Wow. How long a day was that?

Eight hours start to finish.