Starting a brew house at West Point; Conicals and more!!

[iamopie2]

Hey all,

I am an avid home brewer and Army Officer. I am well versed in making 5 gal all-grain batches.

I am now stationed at West Point and am in charge of the Brewing Club (I am a Chemical Engineer).

Long story short, I now have access to full keg brewing equipment, temp controlled fermentors, march pumps, plate heat exchangers, but currently they just have extract capability.

What advice does anyone have on starting to brew on something so different? The club is going to do their first beer with me in a couple weeks (an extract Janet's Brown) for an upcoming tailgate.

Any information is appreciated.

Josh

 

[Kent88]

Is the equipment still mostly for 5-gallon batches?

 

[jmelms]

Take alot of notes. Every system is different (heat loss from HLT to MLT, ect.). Learn from every mistake. Bigger system equals bigger problems. Always keep a set of tools near by. And have a good game plan. And wait until your wort is cooling before having a homebrew! Good luck!

 

[iamopie2]

The 3 conicals are half barrel size

 

[madscientist451]

Although you can make decent extract brews, I've never been fully satisfied with them, but you have a couple of options:
-Brew 15 gallons of wort elsewhere and use the club's temperature controlled fermenting equipment.
-Bring your own kettle, propane burner and mash tun to the club area and brew up there.
What boil capacity do you have there? Maybe you can just bring in a cooler mash tun and you'll be good to go.

 

[iamopie2]

We have a brew room as well. A keggle as well as a 20 gallon pot and burners.

I am hoping to use some of the remaining fiscal year budget to get equipment for AG brewing.

 

[jddevinn]

What's your budget? Manual or semi-automatic? Gas or electric?

 

[iamopie2]

What's your budget? Manual or semi-automatic? Gas or electric?

Gas. I can probably put in about $500 or so to add on to what we have. I know I need small things like a diffusion stone to aerate.

We already have:
Conical fermentors (one is temperature controlled)
Keggle, and large boil pot (HLT/brew kettle)
March pump
blichman plate chiller

I need to figure out the best way to go to all grain for a system this size.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Before you settle on extract are you sure BIAB isn't an option? Unless your working inside on a stove the foot print would be the same. If you do go with extract I've had pretty good experiences using the Bavarian Wheat DME. Works well for fruited Berliners and it also makes a pretty decent weissbier.

Edit - I see you have a keggle and a 20gal BK. Your set for BIAB or full volume mashes with the gear you have if you wanted to do it.

 

[jddevinn]

With that low of a budget and what you already have I'm guessing you'll need to go BIAB or a converted cooler as a mash tun.

 

[madscientist451]

Get a Coleman Extreme or similar large heavy duty cooler, some conversion parts and your good to go for all grain. Use your 20 gallon pot at the boil kettle and the Keggle as the HLT. Use the existing pump to move everything around. 15 gallon batches should be no problem.

 

[daksin]

I don't know, you can make pretty fantastic beer with extract, especially given your knowledge and equipment. I'd spend your money on making MORE beer, and not on making AG beer.

 

[iamopie2]

We can make add much as we want. I want all grain because the club is made up of chemical engineers and AG allows a lot more teaching points for engineering and process control

 

[iamopie2]

I am running the brewing club at west point and was just told I have a $7500 dollar budget to spend before the end of the month and a green light to get whatever.

So, if you had five thousand dollars, what would you buy. I already have 3 1/2 barrel conicals, one that is temp controlled.

 

[cloudybrewer]

One hell of a party!! Titties and Beer!

 

[kh54s10]

What is the brewery? Temp control on the other conicals would be high on the list.

 

[iamopie2]

It is a brrewing club. We brew beer for in house consumption to the upper classmen. We are also chemical engineers so I am leaning towards a full sculpture with the blichmann tower of power as a RIMS set up. So much Chem E going on with process controls.

 

[iamopie2]

I am running the brewing club at west point and was just told I have a $7500 dollar budget to spend before the end of the month and a green light to get whatever.

If I'm looking for an all inclusive propane herms or rims system what would you recommend? Inclusive meaning burners, pumps controllers. I have a 20 gallon temp controlled conical I will be pumping to for fermentation

 

[day_trippr]

$2500 is a hella nice commission on a $5K sale....

Cheers!

 

[Sourz4life]

.

 

[jddevinn]

Much larger budget than last round!!! Why do you want to stay propane instead of electric? Y'all are all engineers, I'd find a good build on this site that you like and "copy-ish" it rather than buying a turn key. You'll get much much more for your budget. All my hot side was about $5k and I could do it much cheaper a second time, eliminating expensive items that I don't use! (between my hot side and cold side there are probably $2-3k worth of electrical connections...... that have never been disconnected)

 

[iamopie2]

Much larger budget than last round!!! Why do you want to stay propane instead of electric? Y'all are all engineers, I'd find a good build on this site that you like and "copy-ish" it rather than buying a turn key. You'll get much much more for your budget. All my hot side was about $5k and I could do it much cheaper a second time, eliminating expensive items that I don't use! (between my hot side and cold side there are probably $2-3k worth of electrical connections...... that have never been disconnected)

Do you run on 110 or 220v? We only have regular outlets and probably cant heat a 15-20 gallon batch size on 110

 

[jddevinn]

240V, can't upgrade the room that you are in?

 

[beernutz]

I am running the brewing club at west point and was just told I have a $7500 dollar budget to spend before the end of the month and a green light to get whatever.

If I'm looking for an all inclusive propane herms or rims system what would you recommend? Inclusive meaning burners, pumps controllers. I have a 20 gallon temp controlled conical I will be pumping to for fermentation

If I was in your situation with money to burn I'd strongly consider buying something like a Blichmann Breweasy or one of the NANO BIAB systems made by Colorado Brewing Systems. They're both electric but you can use some of that pile of money you're working with to pay an electrician to put in a 240V 30A GFCI circuit and outlet. Were you planning on running propane indoors?

http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/breweasy

http://www.cobrewingsystems.com/col...products/down-under-single-vessel-brew-system

 

[iamopie2]

I'm really leaning towards the 10 gal breweasy. Looks like it can do 1.050 5 gallon batches up to 15 gallon as long as it isn't a big beer at 15 gal. That gives us versatility. I'll still need to use propane. I'd love to put in 240v but...government building. It would take years for someone to come do it. Literally.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

I mean this in the nicest way possible but If I were in your position I'd have already started brewing. With a keggle and a 20gal BK already on hand I don't understand the need for spending money on a system instead of starting with what you have. You have the gear to brew plenty of beer to at least get things going. That gets the ball rolling and helps you analyze where you think your money is best spent.

 

[tjramsey]

Just a few random questions and thoughts:
1) How frequently can the club brew, and how much time can you actually spend on a brew day? (Just assuming the cadets have extremely busy lives, and this is by far not their only commitment to clubs and activities.) You want to go all grain and I would, too (And you now have a healthy budget to do so.) BUT, if you can only get 3 hours every several weeks for members to be able to brew, go extract; which would change what you spend your budget on considerably.

2) Not mentioned above (at least that I saw) was how do you actually distribute your beer; you mention parties, tailgates, etc. So think about spending some of that money on kegs, jockey boxes (or parts to make them) coolers, etc.) CO2 canisters/regulators (again, get a 20lb co2 for in the room, and a 5lb one for bringing to the tailgate/party, wherever) That, or buy a bunch of growlers for transport and see #3

3) For less portable, think about a chest freezer or 2 or 3 for lagering, keezer project (Buy taps, wood, lines, etc for future projects), and just plain storage of your kegs)

4) Since you have the budget now, is time of the essence on spending it all (Is there a deadline?) If so, and you are going all grain, by all means, spend it on one of the various pre-built systems out there.... if not, spend some of the club's time designing what you really want, with a plan to grow into it, add automation if that's desired, etc as projects you do over the year.

No matter what, sounds fun!

 

[tjramsey]

Oh, just thinking about it a little further, just as far as club activity etc goes, you could think about yeast propagation.... stir plates, canning equipment to pre-make starter wort, flasks for starters, stuff to slant yeast (and a freezer to keep it in.) All stuff that might appeal to the engineers, and be useful, but only if the interest level is there. (Again, in general, just trying to think about stuff other than brew-day equipment, you're interested in process as part of the educational element; so remember there is stuff that happens before and after brew day, and include it in your planning.)

 

[ZebulonBrewer]

Man if only I'd thought of a brewing club 10 years ago...well, Ok, 9 years ago so I'd be taken seriously (as a 21 y/o).

 

[jjeffers09]

I am currently really enthused with the Electric 240V with SBV controller with RIMS. I could say you could go as far as adding a vessel for HERMS. Although I always looked at HERMS System as a wasted opportunity for 3 SV systems.... Baskets are much cheaper than a kettle.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Man if only I'd thought of a brewing club 10 years ago...well, Ok, 9 years ago so I'd be taken seriously (as a 21 y/o).

Don't let that stop you. I learned to brew at 22 and by 23 was the president of my LHBC. If your doing your homework and brewing great beer people will take you seriously.

 

[iamopie2]

I mean this in the nicest way possible but If I were in your position I'd have already started brewing. With a keggle and a 20gal BK already on hand I don't understand the need for spending money on a system instead of starting with what you have. You have the gear to brew plenty of beer to at least get things going. That gets the ball rolling and helps you analyze where you think your money is best spent.

Oh we do. I just came on board but they have been brewing on what they have for years.