BrokenDog
Well-Known Member
So a while back I built this guy after doing a ton of reading and sweating over small details. The system worked great, but my wife and I decided to relocate and I sold the system in order to help with the move. I did advise her though that if I was selling the system it came with a price and that was that one day I would be able to rebuild bigger and better and that day is here.
So here's the plan.
I'm looking at building a 10 gallon system with the ability to still do 5 gallon batches if needed. (I have a basic 5 gallon gas setup now, but would like to be able to do away with that entirely.) To make this more feasible I'm thinking that if I went 15/15/20 for my pot sizes I could always swap my HLT with my boil kettle to keep the element submerged depending on what I get, which I'll consider in a minute.
I haven't decided on RIMS or HERMS yet so I could be swayed either way. While I like the idea of a HERMS for simplicity going this route would certainly add to some time to my brew day since the HLT couldn't be ramped up to mash out temp in advance without stopping recirculation early. Also flipping the pots for smaller batches would be problematic. RIMS on the other hand would certainly add versatility, but at a higher cost, a little more plumbing and more work inside the control panel.
Speaking of the panel, I don't plan on going too crazy, but I would like to have temp control for the HLT and MT along with switches for both pumps. It seems that having temp control for the BK isn't really necessary, but if I want to swap pots around I guess I have to plan for that as well. I have a friend who is a master electrician so this is probably my least concerned area, I'll just buy the guts and let him go to town.
As far as the frame and it's placement it will likely be made out of wood since that will be far cheaper than metal even if I do all the welding myself. For location I have two options, either the basement or the attached garage. The basement would be preferable, but I have no utility sink since the waste line doesn't go to the floor so I would have to install a pump to make that work. The garage on the other hand I could just use the faucet outside or an adaptor in the bathroom in the winter.
So here is where I'm at. I need to decide what components I want based on some of the things I've outlined. For pots I'm considering either the Blichmann G1 blemished from Great Fermentations, Spike or Mega Pots and getting all the fittings from brewhardware.com. The Blichmanns and Spike would be slightly more than the Mega Pots after the additions, but I certainly like the sightglasses better. Any other ideas here are certainly welcome, but I have to be somewhat mindful of price.
As for the heating elements I definitely like the boil coils, but I worry that doing small batches I wouldn't be able to submerge the element even on the 15g pot, I'll have to look into that. Again brewhardware.com is a likely option for my elements, but then I have to get some tri-cloves welded on if I want cleaning to be easy.
For the mash the Hop Rocket/coil would be an easy option, but again Bobby_M has a pretty nice tube design. If I went HERMS I'm not sure where I would find what I need.
For a panel I'll probably order a builders kit from somewhere just so I don't have to place a bunch of small orders and let my buddy do his thing.
For all my plumbing again probably brewhardware.com. I ordered all cam-locs and Chuggers before and they served me well.
I guess this ramble is as much for me to help get my ideas down as to ask for opinions. Overall the goal is to build something that is all eclectic with some versatility for smaller batches, automated temperature control that produces very repeatable results.
I've got about 15 years to retirement and we have often talked about opening a small restaurant with a 2-5 bbl system on site so this is the basis for some long term plans, so it needs to have the durability to be brewing test market batches 10+ years from now.
If you made it through reading all this, thanks and I look forward to your ideas.
Oh and if someone can make a case for a Brutus 20 or Easybrew I'll happily hear that argument.
So here's the plan.
I'm looking at building a 10 gallon system with the ability to still do 5 gallon batches if needed. (I have a basic 5 gallon gas setup now, but would like to be able to do away with that entirely.) To make this more feasible I'm thinking that if I went 15/15/20 for my pot sizes I could always swap my HLT with my boil kettle to keep the element submerged depending on what I get, which I'll consider in a minute.
I haven't decided on RIMS or HERMS yet so I could be swayed either way. While I like the idea of a HERMS for simplicity going this route would certainly add to some time to my brew day since the HLT couldn't be ramped up to mash out temp in advance without stopping recirculation early. Also flipping the pots for smaller batches would be problematic. RIMS on the other hand would certainly add versatility, but at a higher cost, a little more plumbing and more work inside the control panel.
Speaking of the panel, I don't plan on going too crazy, but I would like to have temp control for the HLT and MT along with switches for both pumps. It seems that having temp control for the BK isn't really necessary, but if I want to swap pots around I guess I have to plan for that as well. I have a friend who is a master electrician so this is probably my least concerned area, I'll just buy the guts and let him go to town.
As far as the frame and it's placement it will likely be made out of wood since that will be far cheaper than metal even if I do all the welding myself. For location I have two options, either the basement or the attached garage. The basement would be preferable, but I have no utility sink since the waste line doesn't go to the floor so I would have to install a pump to make that work. The garage on the other hand I could just use the faucet outside or an adaptor in the bathroom in the winter.
So here is where I'm at. I need to decide what components I want based on some of the things I've outlined. For pots I'm considering either the Blichmann G1 blemished from Great Fermentations, Spike or Mega Pots and getting all the fittings from brewhardware.com. The Blichmanns and Spike would be slightly more than the Mega Pots after the additions, but I certainly like the sightglasses better. Any other ideas here are certainly welcome, but I have to be somewhat mindful of price.
As for the heating elements I definitely like the boil coils, but I worry that doing small batches I wouldn't be able to submerge the element even on the 15g pot, I'll have to look into that. Again brewhardware.com is a likely option for my elements, but then I have to get some tri-cloves welded on if I want cleaning to be easy.
For the mash the Hop Rocket/coil would be an easy option, but again Bobby_M has a pretty nice tube design. If I went HERMS I'm not sure where I would find what I need.
For a panel I'll probably order a builders kit from somewhere just so I don't have to place a bunch of small orders and let my buddy do his thing.
For all my plumbing again probably brewhardware.com. I ordered all cam-locs and Chuggers before and they served me well.
I guess this ramble is as much for me to help get my ideas down as to ask for opinions. Overall the goal is to build something that is all eclectic with some versatility for smaller batches, automated temperature control that produces very repeatable results.
I've got about 15 years to retirement and we have often talked about opening a small restaurant with a 2-5 bbl system on site so this is the basis for some long term plans, so it needs to have the durability to be brewing test market batches 10+ years from now.
If you made it through reading all this, thanks and I look forward to your ideas.
Oh and if someone can make a case for a Brutus 20 or Easybrew I'll happily hear that argument.
