Show us your electric brewing rig

[Layne]

BrewBeemer, thanks. I'm really proud of it, and will enjoy brewing on it for a long time.
It took me a year of designing and redesigning to come up with the perfect rig for my cookshack.

 

[Walker]

these threads kill me.

I have a fully frunctional e-HERMS, but if Kal's and Oihio Ed's (and some others) are playboy centerfolds, then mine is a $5 crack whore.... and nobody wants to see that.

 

[BrewBeemer]

It took me a year of designing and redesigning to come up with the perfect rig for my cookshack.

Key word "redesigning" times a couple reams of paper ya think?
I go thru printer ink as much as the kids in high school with a mountain
of paper notes aka "Stanford & Son's Trucking" the wifey comments, damn well cost a tree or two I bet.
What's your heating degrees a minute with 20 gallons 5.5KW in the BK from
150 to boil without insulation may I ask?

 

[Brewmoor]

Here are my two rigs. My home rig and the one I use at the Brewery.

 

[Layne]

BrewBeemer, I'll have to check my notes at home tonight.
I know it was quicker than my stove

 

[klyph]

these threads kill me.

I have a fully frunctional e-HERMS, but if Kal's and Oihio Ed's (and some others) are playboy centerfolds, then mine is a $5 crack whore.... and nobody wants to see that.

I have no shame about posting my $5 crack whore.

 

[gunner65]

Nice, would have to move it up to a 2 dollar whore though, not quite a rock bottom crack whore!

 

[kal]

...if Kal's and Oihio Ed's (and some others) are playboy centerfolds, then mine is a $5 crack whore....

Ha! I love it.

In keeping with that thought, here are a couple of the more 'artsy-fartsy' pictures I've taken of my setup. Kind of like the soft focus 'dream sequence' shots you'd see in the center fold-out section of the aforementioned magazine...

Kal

 

[Walker]

here's my crack whore, with the added atmosphere of of dimly lit grainy pictures. Makes you feel dirty, doesn't it?

 

[gunner65]

Walker, It looks as good as your profile! LOL!

I see no problem with that rig at all!

 

[Walker]

Walker, It looks as good as your profile

LOL. That was a good one...

 

[Jmurm]

How well does your vent hood work? I could use something like that if it worked. I just like to humidify my basement with a gallon of water that gives me a stuffy nose at night

 

[klyph]

If you're asking about my vent hood, it worked flawlessly, but the outlet is above the hood, so it drafts the steam out. I do need to rig up a condensate trap, as the flexible aluminum ducting leaked a fair amount of water on the outside of the hood.

 

[wildwest450]

here's my crack whore,

Did you have to show her with her legs open?

 

[Walker]

Did you have to show her with her legs open?

Wasn't sure what would tickle your fancy, so I gave you the front shot, the spread shot, the close-up, and a pic of her back-side.

 

[hatfieldenator]

Well here is mine! Its only currently "half" electric in that I still have to do my boil outside on a burner. However, this will be changing soon as I upgrade to a larger boil kettle and make it into an e-kettle. I just completed my Kal clone panel a few weeks ago and had my first brewing sessions on it this past weekend. They both went very smoothly. Its a real joy to use. Excuse the messy wires underneath. I haven't figured out how I want to organize those yet.

Inside HLT

Inside Mash Tun

Chiller Set Up

Keezer

 

[bullywee]

where do you get your control panel "placards" from?

 

[hatfieldenator]

I ordered them from a local company here in Cincinnati and picked them up. I just googled signs and tags Cincinnati or something like that and found it. You could probably do the same in your area, or if you're interested I'll pm you the name of the place I went to?

 

[ToV]

Literarily finished about 2 am last night. Cleaning and leak test this afternoon. Imperial IPA mashing now, sadly it seems I had a keg unexpectedly go down last night . . .

 

[gunner65]

Here is my single vessel electric BIAB setup.

 

[Walker]

I upgraded my mash tun to stainless now.

 

[gunner65]

@Walker I never can find kegs around here got lucky on the one I found on CL. Look on there nearly everyday.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I upgraded my mash tun to stainless now.

Sweet!!

Ed

 

[klyph]

I'm really digging these 1 and 2 vessel systems.

 

[Walker]

@Walker I never can find kegs around here got lucky on the one I found on CL. Look on there nearly everyday.

we have a lot of colleges around here (duke, wake forest, nc state, unc). frat houses have kegs piled up, they have no deposit slips, and no store will take them back without deposit slips.

i got 10 of them last year for $300, and the guy even delivered to my house!

i sent email to the BMC companies out of due diligence to let them know I had them. They never responded. *shrug*

 

[gunner65]

I'm really digging these 1 and 2 vessel systems.

Yeah before I was doing a RIMS with a cooler and sparging into buckets then pouring that into the keggle for the boil. Then Switched to just heating water in the keggle and batch sparging trying to decide which method I liked best then I would invest more time and effort. However once I did my first BIAB I was hooked single vessel electric all the way! :rockin:

 

[gunner65]

we have a lot of colleges around here (duke, wake forest, nc state, unc). frat houses have kegs piled up, they have no deposit slips, and no store will take them back without deposit slips.

i got 10 of them last year for $300, and the guy even delivered to my house!

i sent email to the BMC companies out of due diligence to let them know I had them. They never responded. *shrug*

Hell Walker the largest campus in my state UK is two miles from my door. The frat boys here must not be wise enough to list them on CL!!!!

 

[DeeDub76]

Mine is still a work in progress.

 

[klyph]

Aw man, that is so frickin sweet.

 

[TheFlyingBeer]

Mine is still a work in progress.

Very clean! I am using the same kind of stainless work table just a bit larger... where did you get the black edge protectors for the holes you put through the top?

Great idea for mounting the control panel as well, is that standard channeling?

 

[Windsors]

Alot of really nice builds.

DeeDub76 - very nice.

Like you and TheFlyingBeer, I am using a stainless steel table. I got mine from Costco a while back for something else and figured it would be cheaper than building a stand.

Looks like you used unistrut for the control panel. I am using that as well for mounting alot of the components.

Here are some shots of mine partially done. It's missing the HLT that goes on the left.

 

[klyph]

I've never seen a keg with a 4" triclamp welded to the front like that. Is that a Sabco unit or custom? It would be cool to have a big end cap window on there.

 

[TheFlyingBeer]

Alot of really nice builds.

DeeDub76 - very nice.

Like you and TheFlyingBeer, I am using a stainless steel table. I got mine from Costco a while back for something else and figured it would be cheaper than building a stand.

Looks like you used unistrut for the control panel. I am using that as well for mounting alot of the components.

Here are some shots of mine partially done. It's missing the HLT that goes on the left.

That is a killer looking setup as well. I knew it before, but it is now official, stainless is my favorite color.

 

[Windsors]

Klyph - you're right on both. It is a 4" TC and it started as a Sabco. I got the basic Mashtun from them and had some fittings welded on including the 4" TC. Its on a hinged base and will tip forward and the grains pushed through the 4" hole. Beats getting it all stuck in the handle and upper rim.

FlyingBeer - I'm with you on stainless being the best color. I thought about putting a butcher block top for something different, but then why mess with a good thing.

I saw you got those valves. They look great. I'll be interested to hear how they do with the actuators you have.

Bill

 

[klyph]

Klyph - you're right on both. It is a 4" TC and it started as a Sabco. I got the basic Mashtun from them and had some fittings welded on including the 4" TC. Its on a hinged base and will tip forward and the grains pushed through the 4" hole. Beats getting it all stuck in the handle and upper rim.

Very nice, I just use a shop vac.

 

[benbradford]

Here is a picture of mine in its storage and set up in kitchen...This is now a two batch(both 6 and 12 gallon) simaltaneous system with both systems working on the herms setup and 120 electric elements(2x2500).

The brewmoire fermentation and storage area...

https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426603242236978

closed...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426637953308946

set up for brewing...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426648097280866

including the 7 gallon bk...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426660936243090

water supply...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577427025449465250

close up of pump and herms...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426804136709074

final shot of electric boil kettle...
https://picasaweb.google.com/108488...hkey=Gv1sRgCL_XyfLKwf3gPQ#5577426396700676674

working on membership, so that I don't have to add these silly links to picasa

 

[Walker]

Very nice, I just use a shop vac.

I've seen a bunch of people talk about doing this. Doesn't that make for a sticky, stinky mess in the shopvac?

I'm trying to decide how to handle cleaning out my mash tun now that I went from the cooler to the converted sanke. I have to lug my grain around to the back of my property and dump it over the fence, and the keg is sort of bulky.

 

[gunner65]

Walker, why not just make a voile grain bag for the mashtun? If you make it big enough it should not change any of your operation. The when you finish mashing you can just ift the bag out and toss the grain.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I've seen a bunch of people talk about doing this. Doesn't that make for a sticky, stinky mess in the shopvac?

I'm trying to decide how to handle cleaning out my mash tun now that I went from the cooler to the converted sanke. I have to lug my grain around to the back of my property and dump it over the fence, and the keg is sort of bulky.

I scoop most of the grain out of my MT into a 5 gallon bucket (2 trips). I then hose down the inside, draining all I can through the valve. I finally use a small (2 gallon) dedicated shop vac to suck up the last of the water & any last bits of grain. I dump the vac and use it again to suck out the last of my cleaner then rinse water. I have rinsed it down to the point that there is not mush "stickyness" left by the time I get to the shop vac. When I'm finished, I open the vac, quick rinse & let it air dry.

Sounds like a lot when typing it out like that, but it's really not bad at all.

Ed

 

[Walker]

Walker, why not just make a voile grain bag for the mashtun? If you make it big enough it should not change any of your operation. The when you finish mashing you can just ift the bag out and toss the grain.

Yeah, I guess I could do that.

I used the new MLT on monday for the first time, and what I did was pull the tun off the table and dump it into one of those huge plastic storage bins. Then I carried that out back and dumped it. Didn't lug the whole MLT back there.