inr brewing - basement brewery build

[itsnotrequired]

Cool but when are we gonna make some wort?

man, you've been riding my ass for weeks, cut me some slack! :fro:

still missing out on some major components like a boil kettle and all the hoses, valves and fittings. plus i need most of the guts for my keezer. targeting mid-may for the first brew but definitely getting antsy. i may even need to do an extract batch just to keep it together!

 

[BrunDog]

May!?! Holy beer blue balls batman!

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/12/2016 update

weather was super-nice here today so most of my time was spent outdoors. still, i was able to get the tags thrown on the control panel. progress:

and complete:

i spent a lot of time over the past few days thinking of ways to get the tags perfectly true and square. i finally gave up and decided to eyeball it. came out really nice, i fretted for nothing. tomorrow is supposed to be raining so the plan is to tackle the cables for the pumps, heating elements and temp sensors.

 

[Pantherjon]

Looks dang good for 'eyeballing' it on the tags placements! If I were to try that they would be all askew and crooked as hell!

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/13/2016 update

today was 'cord day;, getting mesh tubing, shrink wrap and locking plugs installed. first step is cutting the plug off the chugger pump. yikes:

mesh tubing slid onto the pump cord:

high-tech heat gun for the shrink tubing:

and the final results. not bad:

wiring the plug on. first step is to slid on the tubing:

too hard to slid the plug cover over the mesh tubing without flaying it all over the place. some temporary tape:

plug cover slid on:

heat shrink shrinked on and conductors terminated in the plug. i got these from ebrew supply, i really like how close together the terminals are, easy to wire:

ready to slide together:

my pump cords are too short so i need to make some pigtails. an old extension cord cut up:

a little more cord than tubing, will need to cut short:

repeat the process for the other pump and pigtail. need to use female plugs on one end of teh pigtails:

on to the rtd cables:

taking apart one end of the cable:

one end of the cable will be replaced with xlr connectors. mesh tubing slid on, old connector cut off:

xlr connector disassembled:

similar process as before: shrink tube shrinked on, xlr connector pieces slipped on, ready for soldering:

got the rtd stuff from ebrew supply, it comes with separate color heat shrink for each rtd cable assembly. had other stuff to do today so this was as far as i got...

 

[WScottCross]

Looking great! I'm still trying to decide how I want to extend the chugger cords. I'm thinking I'll just splice them and use the expando over them.

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/14/2016 update

tackled the rtd probes today. i had already got the flex braid and shrink tubing on one end, needed to solder the xlr connector on. my fancy soldering setup:

wires in position and ready to be soldered:

heating up the metal:

last one:

and done:

man, those wires are fragile. sort of a crappy shot but i wanted to make sure the thing worked before i put on the shrink tubing. hey, my pid actually shows a value:

i heat shrinked the tubing and moved on to teh next two cables. got all three done and they were working:

the hlt and mash temps were both showing around 65 degrees, the temp in the basement. note the boil element says 75 degrees. i thought that maybe the rtd was a little funky so i swapped two of them. no change, the boil pid still read around 75 degrees. maybe the pid is funky so i swapped the cable to another pid. now that one read 75 degrees. hmm. i tried heating up the rtd but the temp wouldn't change on the one that read 75 degrees (but the others would). looks like a cable issue. i took apart the connectors to see if there were any obvious problems (e.g. wires touching, broken connection) but they all looked good. i put the connectors back together and tried again. this time, the pid read something like -450 degrees for a couple seconds and then read as 'over'. turned the panel off and back on, same issue. grrr, time to bust out the multimeter. i checked continuity on all the conductors and sure enough, one conductor was open. i cracked the connectors back open to check directly at the wire, to make sure the connector itself wasn't bad. still no continuity on one wire. i clipped off the connectors and was convinced i was going to have to buy a new cable. before i did, i thought the break might be close to the end of the cable. i found the shrink tubing actually slid on the rtd cable so i pulled it back a bit and clipped off about an inch from one end. checked continuity, nothing. clipped an inch off the other end and blammo, continuity! so i need to re-solder the connectors on that cable. i must have mashed the one end without realizing it. oh well, at least i don't need to get a new cable...

 

[BrunDog]

Excellent!! But where is the beer!?! You are so damn close!

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/15/2016 update

my schemes to work on my rtd cable were dashed by a coworker being in town and decided drinking beer was a better plan . but i did get some goodies in the mail from brewhardware:

entire box was covered in tape. more packing on the inside:

pile of stuff:

packing list:

dial thermometer:

clamps. you can see most of the other goodies in the background:

cam fittings got their own wrap:

and everything spread out:

 

[CadiBrewer]

3/15/2016 update

my schemes to work on my rtd cable were dashed by a coworker being in town and decided drinking beer was a better plan . but i did get some goodies in the mail from brewhardware:

and everything spread out:

Now I know why when I went to order from Bobby today, he was out of stock of the street elbows. Damn you!

My order looks pretty much the same as yours, with the addition of a pump and an extra pump head. I'm about the same place in my brewery build as you are. Including the Spike kettles...

 

[jcav]

Excellent!! But where is the beer!?! You are so damn close!

Keep the pressure on him BrunDog I think he is slacking......Having beers with his co-workers instead of working on his rig. What is he thinking?!!

John

 

[BrunDog]

Keep the pressure on him BrunDog I think he is slacking......Having beers with his co-workers instead of working on his rig. What is he thinking?!!

John

Yeah seriously! His commitment needs be questioned!

 

[Jimbodaman]

I'm curious what you do for a living? Electrical engineer? Very impressive set-up very detail oriented.

 

[cpa4ny]

Amazing build. Sub'bed

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/27/2016 update

had a little vacation-action going on so wasn't able to work on the brwery. got back on the 27th to a package on my door:

a lovely herms coil:

i'd purchased a 25' coil way back in september, when my original plan was to do 5 gallon batches. after some research and checking out some new offerings from stainless brewing, i jumped at a 50' coil. this one has a 14" diameter which will be perfect for my spike kettle. stainless' previous 50' offering i believe only had a 10" diameter. that would have fit in the kettle but would result in the need for a lot of water in the hlt to keep it submerged during mash recirc. i was too excited and despite the long drive home from vacation, i jumped into the hlt. compression fittings on the coil:

coil set in the kettle, with the remaining fittings ready for install. the ports for the herms coil are threaded on both the inside and out so it was a snap to get the coil installed:

valve and camlock fitting installed for the herms inlet/outlet:

elbow for water inlet, to go inside the kettle:

water inlet elbow installed:

close nipple taped up and inserted into the kettle outlet:

rtd probe threaded into the outlet tee:

everything hooked up:

and a view from above, with the heating element test-fitted for appearance:

 

[itsnotrequired]

3/28/2016 update

more fittings work! pumps and mash tun:

pump inlets:

pump complete:

the awesome full threads on the spike kettle:

outlet installed:

didn't have many photos of progress this time around, two kettles on the stand:

turned my attention to the hoses. started to put together the 'big c' couplers from brewhardware:

 

[jcav]

Nice job, that's a very nice looking HLT!

John

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/2/2016 update

time to make some hoses:

tubing is a tight squeeze onto the fittings so i heated the tubing in some hot water to soften it up:

i decided to add hose clamps. probably overkill given the temperatures/pressures the connection will be exposed to but it is cheap insurance:

after making the first hose, i quickly realized how annoying the retaining pins on the fittings are. removed:

a completed hose:

too excited to finish making all the hoses, i needed to try them out with some water. hooking up to the pump:

we have flowage! i hadn't used the pumps yet either so good to see stuff was working:

and of course, bring on the leaks. you can see a nice fat drop hanging off the elbow. i added the tape to remind myself which fittings leaked:

another hose built, time to check the herms coil for leaks:

a couple leaks but nothing a quarter-half turn of a wrench can't fix:

hoses complete, all hooked up like it will be when mashing:

water moving in the hlt:

water test complete, leaky fittings tightened up, hoses hanging to dry:

i didn't take a photo but i used the opportunity with the hlt full of water to test the heating element threading for leaks. all good, ready to wire them up.

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/3/2016 update

time to make cords for the heating elements. so cord cut to length:

i don't need them to be the same length but they can be interchanged if they are the same, why not. l6-30 plug:

the plug disassembled:

braided sleeving installed over the cord. the yellow electrical tape holds the end of the sleeving so it is easier to slide the plug cover and cord grip on to the cord:

stripping off the outer jacket:

outer jacket stripped of and conductors dressed (and blurry):

conductors clamped down and temp tape removed:

heat shrink tubing applied:

cord grip slid into place:

cover secured:

cable complete:

repeat the process for the second cable:

now on to attaching the heating elements. i'm using the hotpod kits from brewhardware, with a 2" tri-clamp connection to mate-up with my kettles. element threaded into one-half of the hotpod. there is an o-ring between the heater element base and the tri-clamp fitting, which i checked yesterday for leaks:

parts of the kit:

the kit comes with nice instructions. 3" of outer jacket removed and an inch cut off the ground conductor:

3/8" of insulation removed from each conductor:

lugs ready to be crimped:

here is one spot where i deviated from the instructions. there is a ground post on the body of the hotpod enclosure, for attaching the ground lug. the post is simply a bolt but the head is on the outside of the enclosure, with a washer/locknut and the threads on the inside. idea is to place the ground lug onto the threads and then attach a nylon locking nut to secure in place. for the life of me, i could not get that nut on there, too cramped a space. so i removed the bolt/washer:

and attached the head to the inside, with the lock nut on the outside:

bolts are removed from the heating element and the cord lugs are bent slightly to better fit onto the bolts. reattach the bolts:

twist the two hotpod enclosure pieces together, tighten down the cord grip nut and complete:

you may notice the braided sleeving looks a little beat up at the cord grip. i originally placed a piece of shrink tubing over the end but could not for the life of me get the rubber sleeve of the cord grip slid over it without beating everything to hell. so i took the sleeving off.

i was too excited to try out the heating element that i skipped making the second one and stuck the complete element into the hlt. definitely need some cord management:

hlt filled with water and firing away. damn, that 5500 watt element really throws off some heat, notice the bubbles and heat lines in the water:

i took the opportunity to run auto tune on the system. also adjusted the temp offsets by a half a degree or so, based on checking with a thermapen:

and since i had all this nice hot water, i decided to throw in some oxyclean and run it through the hoses, pumps and kettles:

system in operation, with bonus brewing partner in the corner:

 

[BrunDog]

Now I know what's taking so long!! Sorry I ever said anything! Congrats!!

 

[WI_Wino]

i don't need them to be the same length but they can be interchanged if they are the same, why not. l6-30 plug:

the plug disassembled:

cord grip slid into place:

cover secured:

Any chance you got the plug off of ebay from this guy that has like a 1000 of them? I bought a 2 sets for $18 shipped. Just wired them in but haven't used them yet. They seemed like they had never been used.

 

[itsnotrequired]

Any chance you got the plug off of ebay from this guy that has like a 1000 of them? I bought a 2 sets for $18 shipped. Just wired them in but haven't used them yet. They seemed like they had never been used.

nah, got the cord and braided sleeving from ebrewsupply, got the plugs from brewhardware. heat shrink tubing is from menards.

 

[jcav]

Wow it's really coming along now and your on the home stretch! Looks like there is a brew day coming up in the near future!

John

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/8/2016 update

got some goodies in the mail today:

first box:

beverage tubing, john guest fittings and primary regulator:

second box:

faucets and shanks:

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/9/2016 update

i need the means to dispense beer before i brew it so i switched gears to some keezer work, got the parts yesterday. i put 1.5" of xps foam around the inside of my collar but realized later i wouldn't be able to tighten the beer nuts without smashing the foam. so i needed to cut an area out of the foam where the shanks would stick through. foam marked for cutting:

starting to bust out the foam. of course, i had glued it down previously:

foam cut out, still need to scrape the adhesive off the wood:

i still wanted some insulation beyond just the 2x10 pine so i used a scrap piece of 1x6 oak to fit where the foam was cut out, pre-drilling where the screws will go:

pre-drilled board fitted into place. i cut the foam a little narrower than the board to get a nice, tight fit:

board screwed into place:

holes drilled. i already drilled holes through the finish board previously so it was a simple matter of inserting the bit from the front and drilling through:

a fine mess to clean uo:

nothing the shop-vac couldn't fix. i put a bead of caulk where the board meets the foam:

time for the finishing. shanks/collars mounted to the front, along with one faucet:

ta-da!:

from inside the keezer:

and with the john guest tailpieces attached:

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/10/2016 update

not much time to work today so i tackled the counterflow chiller. laying out the pieces:

wort outlet and thermometer hooked up:

water connections made. one water connection was 1/2" and the other was 3/4" so i needed different fittings:

mounting holes drilled to the underside of the brew table. this piece of lumbar runs down the center axis of the table:

temporarily supported. i used 1.5" lag bolts. it was a pain to tighten the bolts, no real room to work:

and installed:

hoses hooked up and water flowing. no leaks! i used 1/2" reinforced vinyl tubing:

damn, my brew area is a wreck...

 

[BrunDog]

Inching closer!

 

[kal]

faucets and shanks:

What brand faucets? Are they forward sealing?

Kal

 

[itsnotrequired]

What brand faucets? Are they forward sealing?

Kal

cmbecker v3s, forward sealing. they also have a creamer function. found good reviews online and they cost the same as the perlick 630ss.

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/22/2016 update

been a hectic couple weeks with work, lots of travel. haven't had much time to work on the brewery but still inching closer. got some goodies in the mail today:

sort of a hodge-podge of stuff from brewhardware. co2 tubing, hose clamps, garden hose attachment, misc cam-lock fittings, a refractometer and 'brewing classic styles'

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/23/2016 update

11% off sale at menards so i splurged:

and dragged into position:

this will serve as my fermentation chamber. it is a 10.2 cu ft model which is a little bigger than what i need. i took some circle cutouts to lowes and menards and the 7 cu ft models they had just weren't going to work. the compressor hump was 'low and wide' as opposed to 'tall and narrow' so i couldn't fit two carboys/buckets in there or it would have been an extremely tight squeeze (or required a collar to set something on the hump). the 10.2 cu fu has plenty of space to move things in and out.

 

[itsnotrequired]

4/24/2016 update

no photos, all i did was replace the tubing on my spray arm. recall that i used a garden hose fitting and 3/8" vinyl tubing to connect the existing utility sink faucet to the new shower arm:

a couple months ago, i was running hot water through it for an extended period of time and that tubing swelled up like a football. it didn't burst but might have. checking the specs, it was rated for 150 degrees and 55 psi. my water doesn't get up to 150 but the pressure is probably around 55. i think the combination of the heat and pressure caused the deformation. so i decided to replace with a short length of silicone tubing, which is good up to several hundred degrees (you can see the tubing and garden hose adapter in my photos from friday). i got everything hooked up and started running water. lots of leaks at the garden hose fitting. i fooled around with washers for a while but couldn't get the leaks to stop. it was at that time when the tubing suddenly bulged and exploded! this was just cold water but i was really surprised. i never looked into the pressure ratings before but sure enough, that stuff is only good for about 20 psi. so that was a failed experiment...

ran to menards to get some 3/8" tubing but this time, i got the reinforced tubing. that stuff is good up to 225 psi. put it together and ran hot water for a while, no deformation. it is fda-grade so it should be fine for my use with water. i used the same tubing to set up my feed to the hlt. originally, i was planning on daisy-chaining a couple of the silicone hoses i have for the rest of the brewery but due to pressure ratings, i am back to vinyl tubing. i will be filling the hlt with cold water anyway, off-odors shouldn't be a concern.

i also somewhat set that hose up behind the brew stand in a semi-permanent fashion. but then i realized stagnant water will sit in that hose, better to have it out in the open and hang it up to dry.

 

[BrunDog]

Use proper braided hoses for water pressure. Silicone is way too soft for any significant pressure, as you learned!

 

[itsnotrequired]

5/6/2016 update

got some goodies in the mail today:

two inkbird itc-308 temperature controllers, one for the keezer and one for the fermentation freezer. also got an eva-dry for the keezer. i played around with the inkbird and used my hand on the temp probe to move past set points. very easy to use, should work well. i actually used it for real on saturday night. we had a family event on sunday and cooked up a turkey for shredding into sandwiches. also made turkey broth. so now we have all this hot stuff that needs to cool down and no easy way to do it (fridges were full). hell, i got a freezer just sitting there down in the basement! i put all the hot stuff into the fermentation freezer, plugged it into the inkbird and set the temp to 35 degrees (didn't want to freeze the shredded turkey). got up in the morning and it was sitting right at 35 degrees, nothing frozen. turkey went into the crockpot and the chilled broth moved over to our chest freezer (didn't want to stick the hot broth in there the night before). unplugged the fermentation freezer and it is back to being off, waiting for the first brew day...

 

[itsnotrequired]

5/7/2016 update

we were having a bunch of family over on 5/8 and most of them had not seen the brewing setup yet. i took this opportunity to clean up the area as well as do some little miscellaneous tasks that i have been putting off. first project related to the power cord for the brew panel. my hood sat nice and flush against the rear wall until i put the cord in. the cord was too short to wrap 'around' the hood so it rested between the wall and the hood itself, creating a gap:

probably not the end of the world if there was a gap but it was bugging me. i didn't want to buy/make a new cord so i decided to trim out part of the hood frame to let the cord pass through. it would be too hard to work a saw in such close quarters so i drilled a hole:

then i used a tiny pull saw to remove enough wood from the edge of the hole to slip the cord through:

now the hood rests nicely against the wall:

yes, i've weakened the wood by drilling through it but the hood is very light and supported on all four corners. it will be fine.

next project was cleaning up the hood. i never caulked all the various gaps in the frp and j-channel so time to clean that up. before:

and after:

also sealed up the corners in the j-channel gutter system:

the j-channel is only screwed into the hood frame every foot or so, not very watertight. i had concerns about water running down the inside of the hood and passing between the j-channel and the hood, missing the gutter entirely. so i busted out some extra foil tape and covered up the gap:

it looks a little sloppy in the photo but from ground level, you can't even really see it. i want to see how much water accumulates in the gutter, if any, before i install a drain of some type.

next was a pump stand. i just wanted them mounted to something so they stopped flopping around. i had a scrap piece of 2x10 from the keezer build:

one pump mounted:

don't seem to have a photo with the pumps under the table, oh well. i also did a little cord management:

 

[itsnotrequired]

5/14/2016 update

got some more goodies in the mail today:

lots of paper in this one:

bubble wrapped goodies:

six-body secondary regulator setup for my keezer:

also got a couple 5 lb co2 tanks, a tank wrench and some gas tubing:

 

[itsnotrequired]

5/15/2016 update

more keezer work today, getting the secondary regs mounted. started by removing some of the collar insulation:

and fully removed:

pre-drilling an oak board for mounting the regs:

board drilled and mounted. i put some caulk at the foam-board intersection. i did it before i attached the regulators, it would be too cumbersome to add it later:

not much to it, secondary reg assembly screwed into place. the screws are long enough to go into the pine collar lumbar behind it:

decided to throw one of the gas lines on:

first one looked so good, i decided to make the rest of the gas hoses. each one is six feet long, for maximum flexibility in keg placement:

hoses attached:

and coiled up for neatness:

starting to look like a legit setup!

 

[AkBrew907]

Very nice.. Looking good

 

[stratslinger]

If you don't mind my asking, why the 5lb co2 cylinders? Seems an oldish spot to cut costs considering the rest of your setup, and might cost you in the long term...

I have a 15lb primary, and a 5lb backup/portable cylinder. Pound for pound, the 15lb is cheaper to fill and lasts longer. And I push fewer lines than you're laying out.

 

[itsnotrequired]

If you don't mind my asking, why the 5lb co2 cylinders? Seems an oldish spot to cut costs considering the rest of your setup, and might cost you in the long term...

I have a 15lb primary, and a 5lb backup/portable cylinder. Pound for pound, the 15lb is cheaper to fill and lasts longer. And I push fewer lines than you're laying out.

the original way i wanted to lay the kegs out, there wasn't space for a 10+ lb cylinder unless i wanted to sacrifice a keg spot. i planned on having a five pounder in the keezer and the second tank in my brew area, for transfers and purging kegs (would also serve as a backup for the keezer). the place near me charges refills by the pound, regardless of vessel size. i am only about five minutes away so no real worries about the smaller tanks.

all that being said, i took another look at how the kegs were laid out. i found a way to arrange them in an asymmetrical pattern and place one keg half on the hump (will need a support below). this arrangement basically made a whole 'bay' available for a larger co2 tank. a 20 pounder would be a tight squeeze but a 15 pounder would fit easily. my plan is to roll with the five pounders for now but if the extra refill trips prove to be annoying, i'll jump up to 15 pounder.