lgxg
Well-Known Member
as we speak, I'm about 20 minutes into my mash on the first brew with my upgraded system.
my system's a hybrid so it uses gas for all the heavy lifting, but a small electrical water heater element to maintain mash temps in a RIMS tube. i use gas to direct fire the mash tun to get it to strike temp, heat sparge water, and boil.
i used to do a gravity fed system with 3 turkey fryer burners, but was into this hobby so much (and love tinkering, i mean engineering, and spending money) that I wanted to do some safety and ease of use upgrades.
first, I learned how to weld from and made a stand out of 2 inch steel. then i learned some stuff about electrical and plumbing for the RIMS tube. it's so nice not to have to worry about running out of propane!
here are a list of my upgrades:
still need to do:
probably the most frustrating things with this build was mounting the burners. I ended up using sheet metal and had it bent at a HVAC shop (should have bought a harbor freight sheet metal brake instead of paying these guys shop minimums). other most frustrating thing was joining the pipe on the RIMS tube. i am using cheap pipe wrenches from harbor freight. not sure if I should have bought a quality one, or if it's the wrencher and not the wrench. if doing this again, I would DEFINITELY buy one of the new triclover RIMS tubes he's developed now. this solves two problems - joining the pipes/Ts and easy removal of the element for cleaning.
i just wanted to say thank you to all the people on this forum that post how tos and answer newbie questions. i could have never done it with out you and my friend who taught me how to weld and troubleshoot/check my electrical panel. also - a special shoutout and MUCHAS GRACIAS to PJ who posts all those turnkey electrical diagrams. i used his diagram with the exact switches/PID and it couldn't have been any easier unless he wired it up for me himself.
my system's a hybrid so it uses gas for all the heavy lifting, but a small electrical water heater element to maintain mash temps in a RIMS tube. i use gas to direct fire the mash tun to get it to strike temp, heat sparge water, and boil.
i used to do a gravity fed system with 3 turkey fryer burners, but was into this hobby so much (and love tinkering, i mean engineering, and spending money) that I wanted to do some safety and ease of use upgrades.
first, I learned how to weld from and made a stand out of 2 inch steel. then i learned some stuff about electrical and plumbing for the RIMS tube. it's so nice not to have to worry about running out of propane!
here are a list of my upgrades:
- had a plumber install a 3/4" gas line off my water heater in my garage where i brew
- bg14 burners converted to natural gas with needle valves and orfices from williams brewing
- chugger pump (from brewhardware.com) with plywood box for drip protection
- camlocks everywhere and silicon tubing from brewhardware.com
- copper whirlpool arm and side pickup on BK
- 120v control panel - auber instruments PID, SSR & heatsink push button switches, way too many crimper connectors (novice electrician here)
- panel has room for second pump, mounted with 12.99 amazon lightweight articulating TV mount
- second hand old version RIMS from brewhardware.com, with new electrical housing (ELW1, i think). this housing offers a ground with a splash safe enclosure for the element leads
- element is 4500 watt low density running on 120 - so ~1125w
still need to do:
- engineer some sort of quicker disconnect to remove/drain/clean RIMS tube (just have U pipe hanger now.
- weld arm to mount control panel
- learn more about how the PID works - when set for 153, was still firing element when RTD was showing 155
- water only pump for sparge and HLT transfers - one pump is workable, but two would be SOOOOO nice. i'm thinking about one of the little solar pumps for this. only purpose would be to move water, will use the chugger for all wort applications. after all the $ i've spent, it's funny that i'm having a hard time spending another $70.
- have plumber add water faucet in garage - for brewing and to run a portable evaporative air conditioner i picked up off CL
probably the most frustrating things with this build was mounting the burners. I ended up using sheet metal and had it bent at a HVAC shop (should have bought a harbor freight sheet metal brake instead of paying these guys shop minimums). other most frustrating thing was joining the pipe on the RIMS tube. i am using cheap pipe wrenches from harbor freight. not sure if I should have bought a quality one, or if it's the wrencher and not the wrench. if doing this again, I would DEFINITELY buy one of the new triclover RIMS tubes he's developed now. this solves two problems - joining the pipes/Ts and easy removal of the element for cleaning.
i just wanted to say thank you to all the people on this forum that post how tos and answer newbie questions. i could have never done it with out you and my friend who taught me how to weld and troubleshoot/check my electrical panel. also - a special shoutout and MUCHAS GRACIAS to PJ who posts all those turnkey electrical diagrams. i used his diagram with the exact switches/PID and it couldn't have been any easier unless he wired it up for me himself.
