Rank_Amateur
Member
Hey guys...
I'm in the very initial stages of thinking about the next stage in my home brewery design and I need some advice. Firstly some back ground. For the last year or so I've been brewing all grain using a 46l square cooler as a mash tun and 50L kettle.(yes sorry metric brewer). However I recently moved from New Zealand to Germany. So I have dropped to a 30L kettle and will carry on with my cooler mash tun. I brewed some OK beers but really want to focus on quality beer rather than volume given German beer is very good and cheap compared to NZ.
Also I have a few limitations around space. Its likely that I will be in Germany for a couple of years but beyond that I don't know. So much as I would love a 3 vessel hard plumbed sculpture full electric automated system I need to keep to a small tight system that can be packed up nice and tight with the rest of my normal household stuff. Also there is a 200l limit per annum here in Germany. As I normally brew 23l batches about once a month this works out OK... And I will really only be brewing beers that are easy to get here such as the wider IPA and APA styles porters stouts and experimental type beers... Give German and Belgian beers is easy to get and about the same cost to make as to buy. Budget is a consideration but only so far as I get to spend around 1k euro at a pop once a year from my annual bonus. So I can't do everything in one hit but in stages. I'm also conscious that sometimes this can result in compromises that cost more in the long run, which I would like to minimise.
So I'm thinking about the following. Firstly getting a cheap fridge and stc 1000 for temp controlled fermentation... Ideally long term I'd replace with a programmable ferm control system. Also building a kegerator. This probably covers my first years budget (as I also need to get a suitable burner, tank and malt mill as grain here seems to only be sold in fixed amounts.
Second stage is the brew process. Firstly I want to go down the herms path. BUT I want to stick with my existing cooler tunand kettle. But I think I have a possible solution which is not too much more than the traditional 3 vessel approach. I have seen a very cool heat exchanger that might work in well with what I already have. Paul Wickstead from the another1 channel on YouTube built a nifty small exchanger rather than convert his hlt as standard. It is in effect an enlarged rims tube with a small coil inside. The details of the shroud can be seen here and the rest is on Paul's channel. http://banksbrewing.blogspot.de/2012_04_01_archive.html
My process would be to heat strike water in my kettle then get the mash going in the cooler. I will add a false bottom to my cooler (custom made square to fit) and a pump then recirculate through the hex. Control this via a pid controller with the temp control on the input at the top of the cooler. Would plumb something like the adjustable black recirculation tubes on brewhardware.com into the top of the cooler to recirc. I have a 12l pot as well that I would use to batch sparge after running the first runnings in my 30l pot which now becomes the brew kettle. As my batches will be a Max of 23-25l then my sparge requirements will never be more than 12l. Then recirculate at mash out temps for 5-10 mins then run off
Bearing in mind my restrictions this would seem to fit the bill. As I will be renting I would of necessity avoid full electric but the small Hex works off a standard household kettle element which should mean no issues electrically while using gas for heating larger quantities of liquid. Chilling is via a 50 foot copper immersion chiller and I will add a whirlpool port to the kettle.
At some point I would also like to automate the hex coil to be able to do automated step mashes. Can this be done with and existing pid controller or would that need to be replaced?
As said given my limitations I can't go to a full scale 3v set up but long term I would like to automate the mashing and fermentation steps (with separate controllers if needed) but I guess I don't want to automate the whole thing as I still want to do a bit more than add the grain and hops and clean even if it was only to turn on the pumps and change a few hoses around...
Any way open to some suggestions on any major flaws in my thinking, alternative solutions and suggestions on the automation piece.
Cheers!!!
I'm in the very initial stages of thinking about the next stage in my home brewery design and I need some advice. Firstly some back ground. For the last year or so I've been brewing all grain using a 46l square cooler as a mash tun and 50L kettle.(yes sorry metric brewer). However I recently moved from New Zealand to Germany. So I have dropped to a 30L kettle and will carry on with my cooler mash tun. I brewed some OK beers but really want to focus on quality beer rather than volume given German beer is very good and cheap compared to NZ.
Also I have a few limitations around space. Its likely that I will be in Germany for a couple of years but beyond that I don't know. So much as I would love a 3 vessel hard plumbed sculpture full electric automated system I need to keep to a small tight system that can be packed up nice and tight with the rest of my normal household stuff. Also there is a 200l limit per annum here in Germany. As I normally brew 23l batches about once a month this works out OK... And I will really only be brewing beers that are easy to get here such as the wider IPA and APA styles porters stouts and experimental type beers... Give German and Belgian beers is easy to get and about the same cost to make as to buy. Budget is a consideration but only so far as I get to spend around 1k euro at a pop once a year from my annual bonus. So I can't do everything in one hit but in stages. I'm also conscious that sometimes this can result in compromises that cost more in the long run, which I would like to minimise.
So I'm thinking about the following. Firstly getting a cheap fridge and stc 1000 for temp controlled fermentation... Ideally long term I'd replace with a programmable ferm control system. Also building a kegerator. This probably covers my first years budget (as I also need to get a suitable burner, tank and malt mill as grain here seems to only be sold in fixed amounts.
Second stage is the brew process. Firstly I want to go down the herms path. BUT I want to stick with my existing cooler tunand kettle. But I think I have a possible solution which is not too much more than the traditional 3 vessel approach. I have seen a very cool heat exchanger that might work in well with what I already have. Paul Wickstead from the another1 channel on YouTube built a nifty small exchanger rather than convert his hlt as standard. It is in effect an enlarged rims tube with a small coil inside. The details of the shroud can be seen here and the rest is on Paul's channel. http://banksbrewing.blogspot.de/2012_04_01_archive.html
My process would be to heat strike water in my kettle then get the mash going in the cooler. I will add a false bottom to my cooler (custom made square to fit) and a pump then recirculate through the hex. Control this via a pid controller with the temp control on the input at the top of the cooler. Would plumb something like the adjustable black recirculation tubes on brewhardware.com into the top of the cooler to recirc. I have a 12l pot as well that I would use to batch sparge after running the first runnings in my 30l pot which now becomes the brew kettle. As my batches will be a Max of 23-25l then my sparge requirements will never be more than 12l. Then recirculate at mash out temps for 5-10 mins then run off
Bearing in mind my restrictions this would seem to fit the bill. As I will be renting I would of necessity avoid full electric but the small Hex works off a standard household kettle element which should mean no issues electrically while using gas for heating larger quantities of liquid. Chilling is via a 50 foot copper immersion chiller and I will add a whirlpool port to the kettle.
At some point I would also like to automate the hex coil to be able to do automated step mashes. Can this be done with and existing pid controller or would that need to be replaced?
As said given my limitations I can't go to a full scale 3v set up but long term I would like to automate the mashing and fermentation steps (with separate controllers if needed) but I guess I don't want to automate the whole thing as I still want to do a bit more than add the grain and hops and clean even if it was only to turn on the pumps and change a few hoses around...
Any way open to some suggestions on any major flaws in my thinking, alternative solutions and suggestions on the automation piece.
Cheers!!!
