For the past five years, I've been doing my boils on a Campmore two burner propane stove. It's big, has its own legs, and puts out a ton of heat, so I've never really had the inclination to build a brew stand. I was mostly happy with the quality of the all grain batches I was brewing with this stove and my round cooler mash tun, but it seemed like I was always over- and undershooting my mash temperatures. Last year, I decided to add a RIMS tube and pump to my system to get those mash temps under control. I read all of the RIMS threads I could find, shopped around, and over the past few months have been assembling my system. I've been taking pictures sporadically through the build process and thought you all might be interested in seeing what I've put together.
I chose the following components for my RIMS:
I had a vision of mounting all of this hardware on a compact frame that wouldn't take too much storage space and could be easily rolled in and out of the shed on brew days. Because I'm a total nerd, I drew up a design in SketchUp:
The design shows the RIMS components, my Dudadiesel 20 plate chiller, and a mount for my water filter -- basically, it should hold everything that I need for brewing except for the burners. Having the model helped me figure out the relative positions of all of the equipment and how I wanted to lay out the plugs and door on the controller box. I had intended to build the frame using strut material or to have it fabricated out of stainless steel stock. In the end, I found a less expensive alternative as you will see below.
The Controller
There are plenty of high quality, prebuilt controllers available for purchase, but I wanted to assemble my own box to ensure that I understood how it works and for the fun and challenge. Getting the RIMS component kit from ebrewsupply.com was like receiving a really cool Lego set for my birthday. I can read schematics, and Ryan from Electric Brewing Supply was very helpful when I had questions. I took things slowly, worked in stages, and tested everything as I went.
I used Adobe Illustrator to make layout templates for the front and the side of the enclosure. Armed with a Greenlee conduit punch and my trusty Dremel tool, I put lots of holes in my new box. After a dry fit of the components, I painted the box with the traditional hammered metal black spray paint.
The plugs on the side of the box are for the temperature probe, heating element, and two pumps. I split the bus on the 110V receptacle so I could control the top and bottom plugs independently. All of the circuits in the box used 12-gauge wire and I used spade clamps on the ends to ensure good connections. I've read forum posts which suggest that you can use 14 gauge for internal connections, and that would be something I would consider if I was to build another controller as the 12 gauge wire can be a bit stiff and hard to route. About halfway through assembling the controller, I realized that the 10" x 8" x 6" box was a just a little cramped for the amount of wiring specified by the schematic. In the end, I got everything to fit, but I think if I were to build another controller, I would buy a larger enclosure. The final wiring job looks like this (sorry for the blurry photo):
Here's everything lit up like Christmas:
Plumbing
I prototyped my liquid flow by mounting the pump and RIMS tube on sawhorses, planks, and some shelving supports (the controller is out of view on the left):
A couple of iterations on the sawhorse setup taught me two things: I wanted to mount the RIMS tube horizontally and the pump works best when it is mounted as low as possible. I also determined that I really need a three way valve for the pump inlet, because pulling off liquid lines to switch between recirculating and sparging from my HLT is messy and a burn risk. While I was experimenting, I added a bulkhead fitting at the top of my mash tun that leads to a Loc-Line hose inside. The hose lets me control the level of the wort return; I can put it underneath the liquid surface during recirculation and lift it out of the liquid during fly sparging. I recently added a cheap plastic aerator to the end of the Loc-Line to divert the wort stream and minimize channeling in the mash bed.
In the end, it took me a few brew sessions to really get the controller dialed in. Running the PID's auto-tune process was critical, as was setting the temperature offset so the wort temperature displayed on the controller matched the temperature in the mash tun as measured by my Thermapen.
Mounting
Once I had the box built and an idea of how I wanted to arrange things, I just needed something to bolt them onto. I started pricing out strut material and fittings and reading the threads on this site which describe how to use strut to put together a brew stand. Around the same time, my brewing buddy Eric purchased a stainless steel work table from webstaurantstore.com for his all-electric build. He sent pictures of his setup, and a light bulb went off in my head: why build when you can buy? I looked through the various tables on that web site and ended up ordering a 30" x 24", 18 gauge stainless steel work table for a price that was less than what I would have paid for strut or a custom fab. The table has an overhang on the front and sides and a backsplash at the rear, so I had plenty space to mount things. I ended up deviating from my model, putting the RIMS tube on the right side of the table and the plate chiller on the left. This worked out better based on the location of my hose bibs in the area where I generally brew. The RIMS tube kit came with triclover clamps that were welded to M8/1.25 bolts, which I attached to the table. To install the RIMS tube, I open the TC clamps, drop it in, close the clamps, and tighten. The outlet of the RIMS tube on the temperature probe side points upwards, so when I start recirculating the mash, air is driven out of the tube by the liquid and I don't have to worry about any bubbles inside the tube. I used clear brewery tubing so I can monitor flow and see immediately if the mash gets stuck.
Here are a couple pictures from the first brew day using the new "stand":
The chiller is mounted with wing nuts so it can be removed for cleaning. The pump is held in place with clamps for now until I get the three way valve installed on the inlet side. It was clear by the end of the day that mounting the controller box under the table would be a mistake. The controls and displays would be harder to see, and the box would be exposed to more accidental spills and splashes. I picked up some square aluminum tubing and bolts from Home Depot and fabricated the controller box stand shown in the following photos:
The box is a little tilted toward the front of the table because the backsplash is a little bent. I'll probably bang it into place with a mallet the next time I take out the table. The stand itself is very stable and doesn't have a tendency to wobble.
My todo list for the system is currently down to:
I'm sure I'll think of more things to bolt on to the table, but I'm really looking forward to brewing with this system even in its current state. I guess nothing is ever really finished in a home brewery, is it?
Many thanks to Bobby at BrewHardware, Ryan at Electric Brewing Supply, and everyone who has shared their electric build knowledge on these forums, particularly PJ, who is the superstar of schematics. There are more construction photos in my gallery if you didn't get enough in this post. I'd love to hear suggestions and feedback, and once I get a few more batches done on this system I'll post my efficiency numbers. Thanks for reading!
I chose the following components for my RIMS:
- The RIMS Hardware Kit (RIMS tube, camlock fittings) from brewhardware.com.
- The 1 PID 20a 120v RIMS Kit from ebrewsupply.com.
- A 120V/1500W low density water heater element
- The SYL-2352 PID from Auber Instruments.
- A K-type temperature probe, also from Auber.
- A wall mount box precut for a single PID controller from Auber.
- A Steelhead Pump from Northern Brewer.
- Camlock fittings from brewershardware.com.
I had a vision of mounting all of this hardware on a compact frame that wouldn't take too much storage space and could be easily rolled in and out of the shed on brew days. Because I'm a total nerd, I drew up a design in SketchUp:
The design shows the RIMS components, my Dudadiesel 20 plate chiller, and a mount for my water filter -- basically, it should hold everything that I need for brewing except for the burners. Having the model helped me figure out the relative positions of all of the equipment and how I wanted to lay out the plugs and door on the controller box. I had intended to build the frame using strut material or to have it fabricated out of stainless steel stock. In the end, I found a less expensive alternative as you will see below.
The Controller
There are plenty of high quality, prebuilt controllers available for purchase, but I wanted to assemble my own box to ensure that I understood how it works and for the fun and challenge. Getting the RIMS component kit from ebrewsupply.com was like receiving a really cool Lego set for my birthday. I can read schematics, and Ryan from Electric Brewing Supply was very helpful when I had questions. I took things slowly, worked in stages, and tested everything as I went.
I used Adobe Illustrator to make layout templates for the front and the side of the enclosure. Armed with a Greenlee conduit punch and my trusty Dremel tool, I put lots of holes in my new box. After a dry fit of the components, I painted the box with the traditional hammered metal black spray paint.
The plugs on the side of the box are for the temperature probe, heating element, and two pumps. I split the bus on the 110V receptacle so I could control the top and bottom plugs independently. All of the circuits in the box used 12-gauge wire and I used spade clamps on the ends to ensure good connections. I've read forum posts which suggest that you can use 14 gauge for internal connections, and that would be something I would consider if I was to build another controller as the 12 gauge wire can be a bit stiff and hard to route. About halfway through assembling the controller, I realized that the 10" x 8" x 6" box was a just a little cramped for the amount of wiring specified by the schematic. In the end, I got everything to fit, but I think if I were to build another controller, I would buy a larger enclosure. The final wiring job looks like this (sorry for the blurry photo):
Here's everything lit up like Christmas:
Plumbing
I prototyped my liquid flow by mounting the pump and RIMS tube on sawhorses, planks, and some shelving supports (the controller is out of view on the left):
A couple of iterations on the sawhorse setup taught me two things: I wanted to mount the RIMS tube horizontally and the pump works best when it is mounted as low as possible. I also determined that I really need a three way valve for the pump inlet, because pulling off liquid lines to switch between recirculating and sparging from my HLT is messy and a burn risk. While I was experimenting, I added a bulkhead fitting at the top of my mash tun that leads to a Loc-Line hose inside. The hose lets me control the level of the wort return; I can put it underneath the liquid surface during recirculation and lift it out of the liquid during fly sparging. I recently added a cheap plastic aerator to the end of the Loc-Line to divert the wort stream and minimize channeling in the mash bed.
In the end, it took me a few brew sessions to really get the controller dialed in. Running the PID's auto-tune process was critical, as was setting the temperature offset so the wort temperature displayed on the controller matched the temperature in the mash tun as measured by my Thermapen.
Mounting
Once I had the box built and an idea of how I wanted to arrange things, I just needed something to bolt them onto. I started pricing out strut material and fittings and reading the threads on this site which describe how to use strut to put together a brew stand. Around the same time, my brewing buddy Eric purchased a stainless steel work table from webstaurantstore.com for his all-electric build. He sent pictures of his setup, and a light bulb went off in my head: why build when you can buy? I looked through the various tables on that web site and ended up ordering a 30" x 24", 18 gauge stainless steel work table for a price that was less than what I would have paid for strut or a custom fab. The table has an overhang on the front and sides and a backsplash at the rear, so I had plenty space to mount things. I ended up deviating from my model, putting the RIMS tube on the right side of the table and the plate chiller on the left. This worked out better based on the location of my hose bibs in the area where I generally brew. The RIMS tube kit came with triclover clamps that were welded to M8/1.25 bolts, which I attached to the table. To install the RIMS tube, I open the TC clamps, drop it in, close the clamps, and tighten. The outlet of the RIMS tube on the temperature probe side points upwards, so when I start recirculating the mash, air is driven out of the tube by the liquid and I don't have to worry about any bubbles inside the tube. I used clear brewery tubing so I can monitor flow and see immediately if the mash gets stuck.
Here are a couple pictures from the first brew day using the new "stand":
The chiller is mounted with wing nuts so it can be removed for cleaning. The pump is held in place with clamps for now until I get the three way valve installed on the inlet side. It was clear by the end of the day that mounting the controller box under the table would be a mistake. The controls and displays would be harder to see, and the box would be exposed to more accidental spills and splashes. I picked up some square aluminum tubing and bolts from Home Depot and fabricated the controller box stand shown in the following photos:
The box is a little tilted toward the front of the table because the backsplash is a little bent. I'll probably bang it into place with a mallet the next time I take out the table. The stand itself is very stable and doesn't have a tendency to wobble.
My todo list for the system is currently down to:
- add casters to the legs of the table
- permanently mount the pump once the three-way valve is installed
- add a clamp for my water filter
- add stick-on hooks for cable management
I'm sure I'll think of more things to bolt on to the table, but I'm really looking forward to brewing with this system even in its current state. I guess nothing is ever really finished in a home brewery, is it?
Many thanks to Bobby at BrewHardware, Ryan at Electric Brewing Supply, and everyone who has shared their electric build knowledge on these forums, particularly PJ, who is the superstar of schematics. There are more construction photos in my gallery if you didn't get enough in this post. I'd love to hear suggestions and feedback, and once I get a few more batches done on this system I'll post my efficiency numbers. Thanks for reading!
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I could probably resell it to recover some of that cost.
