Newbie seeking info on building a 2 vessel system

[Laminarman]

Great forum here, just found it. Duh. I have done extract and some BIAB in small batch size stovetop to develop recipes. I am now interested in going to all grain 5 gallon batches. Of concern are cost, EASE of use, SPACE (small footprint) and using what equipment I already have. I really am drawn to the Blichmann BrewEasy system, but holy cow at $1600 I have other things to buy. I have a 7.5 gallon kettle I could probably get a false bottom for and use as a mashtun. I would like a 10 gallon boil kettle, the Blichmann coil element for that if 120v will work, and to be able to pump and recirculate the mash with temperature control. I am pretty good with a mig welder so am not worried about fabricating a stand/cart out of much stainless or steel I have laying around and I already have a half dozen stainless ball valves laying around, just need bulkheads. I have 240v but prefer 120v as it's more accessible. I was looking at brewhardware.com at components. I'd ideally like to be able to mash and recirculate, and in the boil kettle whirlpool before draining to a conical fermenter. I guess I'm leaning this way versus eBIAB for increased efficiency and cleaner wort. Any thoughts are appreciated. I don't know what it is, but I have sticker shock at a $260 kettle when I might be able to use the 7.5 I have and buy a cheaper 10 gallon and drill and outfit it myself. I have all the tools I need including bits. My wife said "When will you learn that it's sometimes easier to just pay for the finished product and save yourself time and money in the end." I figure if I can save $500 dollars it's worth it. If I'm going to save $100 not worth it. Any thoughts or advice or plans or images are appreciated. Thanks for reading this long post!

 

[jekeane]

I know this isn't a 2 vessel system but if I were doing it all over again I would likely just buy a grainfather. I have a 3 vessel Eherms system that I love but after seeing a few of my buddies using the grainfather and being very happy with it. It is probably the route I would go if I were starting from scratch.

https://www.grainfather.com

 

[Dcpcooks]

No reason I can think of why you can't just make a version of the brew easy. Not a lot to the system you can replicate. I would suggest you focus on a good false bottom.

 

[Laminarman]

No reason I can think of why you can't just make a version of the brew easy. Not a lot to the system you can replicate. I would suggest you focus on a good false bottom.

Thanks for the responses. I looked at the Grainfather but want something not so proprietary and easy to clean. I already have a wort chiller and equipment I'd like to use. The real question I have is that Blichmann uses gaskets to control the flow from the MT to the HLT and their sparge arm. I'll buy the sparge arm most likely, but do I need to use gaskets to control flow? I was thinking of just draping a silicone hose down to the HLT and controlling flow with a ball valve. Also, what is a good false bottom? I did intend to purchase one rather than make one. My kettle is 7.5 gallons and 12" wide. I looked at the Titans but open to recommendations. Thanks again.

 

[Darkness]

I run two 2 vessel systems. I use kegels rims setup on mash tun. The key for me is hot water. Never understood waiting for water to get hot when you have a water heater that can preheat it for you. Day before you brew turn up the water heater as high as it can go. Then your heat up time is cut by the rims in line heating of water. I have a gas water heater and after running some water out it will put out 148 deg water. I can answer any questions Sir. I brewed 80 gallons in one 12 hour day by myself.

 

[Laminarman]

Thank you Darkness, I would appreciate any help with building the control unit. I'm temporarily involved with other projects right now but yes, would LOVE any help you can give. Thanks.

 

[doug293cz]

Williams Brewing is offering what looks like a Grainfather work alike for about half the money. Might want to look into that.

As far as 120V goes, I have a Grainfather size electric kettle with a 1650W @ 120V element that heats at 1.45˚F/min (covered, uninsulated.) If you have a 20A circuit available, you could use a 2000W element, which would heat faster. If you want to do more than 2000W, then you are looking at using two separate circuits from your main panel to supply power to two separate elements, or going to 240V. It's possible to have a control panel that will run off of either 120V or 240V. Here's a design for one that I did.



Control panels usually aren't too complex (unless you want to control lots of elements, and want lots of bells & whistles. If you can tell me what features you want, I may have a design already, or can put a new one together.

Not sure why you have eliminated eBIAB from consideration. Clear wort is over rated, IMO. All the stuff in cloudy wort drops out in the fermenter, but if you really have a thing for clear wort, that's ok. As far as efficiency, you can get ~80% mash efficiency with no-sparge and aggressive mash squeezing, or ~85% efficiency with sparging and no squeezing.

Brew on

 

[BrunDog]

Two vessel systems rock!