Long time brewer making changes

[Carlyle]

As the brew stand unfolds it has become a natural progression at this time to install a Rims unit and a controller. I searched the HB forums for quite a while and finally contacted Paul aka stlbeer who built his own system form scratch and was gracious enough to agree to build one for me as well.

Paul began the procedure and slowly put the project together.

Using a ammo can as the control box was ingenious. Sturdy, water resistant and oh so good looking. What better combination than beer and 50 cal ammo...

 

[Carlyle]

As the brew stand unfolds it has become a natural progression at this time to install a Rims unit and a controller. I searched the HB forums for quite a while and finally contacted Paul aka stlbeer who built his own system from scratch and was gracious enough to agree to build one for me as well.

Paul began the procedure and slowly put the project together.

Using a ammo can as the control box was ingenious. Sturdy, water resistant and oh so good looking. What better combination than beer and 50 cal ammo...

 

[Carlyle]

Control unit complete and literally plug and play when it arrived. Talk about keeping it simple for the electronically inept.


Thanks Paul!

 

[Carlyle]

Heating unit complete with drain valve in place and a quick buffing of the stainless. Strictly because stainless deserves to shine a bit and there is a lot of stainless at this point.

 

[Carlyle]

Okay how am I going to mount this thing?

The heating unit was fairly simple, I found the diameter and simply found two tri clover disconnects that fit over the unit.

I bolted the tri clovers fittings to the front of the stand after my welder put a hole in each with his plasma cutter.

I put a slight able on the unit so that it drained towards the valve for ease in cleaning and draining.

 

[Carlyle]

Next I had to figure out how to mount the control unit. At first I thought about having the welder put together something, but in the end decided on a using a flat screen monitor arm to do the job and ordered one off of Amazon.

In addition it folds out the way when not in use.

 

[Carlyle]

Brew stand up to this point.

 

[Carlyle]

In storage position

 

[Kahler]

Man i'm jealous. Nice build!

 

[NYC]

Hey NYC,

I rebuilt the pump and put it back in operation along with an identical one to augment the procedure. Using both at this time and Little Giant being plumbed soon. Thanks for the offer though.

Hey Carlyle, thanks for the response. It's really inspiring to watch your whole setup come together.

 

[Marquez]

Nice build!

Great how its come together.

How long is your typical brew day now?

 

[Carlyle]

Hey Steve!


Thanks!


Typical brew day for 20 gallons now is about six hours, down from a much longer time...

 

[kerber]

This is a great build. Thanks for taking the time to document everything out so well. This is a lot what my dream system will look like.

 

[Pyroholic]

That's just pretty. I'm a little surprised you would do all this and not have a business brewing.

 

[hoptopia]

Looks awesome! What are you fermenting in?

 

[Carlyle]

This is a great build. Thanks for taking the time to document everything out so well. This is a lot what my dream system will look like.

Thanks for the vote of confidence

 

[Carlyle]

Looks awesome! What are you fermenting in?

Thanks!

Currently fermenting in ball lock kegs and a Sanke, but just sent three sankes to the welder yesterday for modification. I'll update on those when complete.

 

[Carlyle]

Currently working on a better pump stand. i picked up this welding stand from Harbor Freight and have been doing a little work on it. Should be a little taller so the pump don't have to work as hard, and a little sturdier.

 

[Carlyle]

Here is a picture of my grain mill as it is now. It is in the flipped up position and shows the 1/2 slow speed drill and the Lovejoy connector.

And here is a little closer shot, don't mind the grain dust...

Here is the router rheostat, still needs to be mounted, but works well. The drill if you notice is clamped full open with a hose clamp and I use this to adjust my speed depending on the number of pounds in the hopper.

 

[Thundercougarfalconbird]

What Piece is that on the end of your sparge arm. I really like the design(with camlock)

 

[joshatx]

what an inspiration! I just started kegging and am already looking to upgrade my simple brew system. after looking at your build, i am going to dream big!

 

[Carlyle]

What Piece is that on the end of your sparge arm. I really like the design(with camlock)

The piece on the end of the arm is a sprinkler head. Works great and nice even spray on the grain bed

 

[Tomtanner]

This has been an inspiring thread, great build!

 

[cfrazier77]

Congratulations on a great build. One question though, is there any concern with lead leaching from the garden sprayer for your mash tun?

 

[Carlyle]

Congratulations on a great build. One question though, is there any concern with lead leaching from the garden sprayer for your mash tun?

I believe the the sprayer head is cast aluminum.