30 Gallon e-HERMs project

[Kayakr1988]

Just finished my 30 gallon E- HERMs project and figured I would post a few pictures.

I got two 30 gallon as concord pots from eBay that I will be doing a fly sparge to help me from having to purchase a third vessel.

I have a 50 foot ss 1/2 HERMs coil that I use to both keep my mash at temp and cool down the boil after the boil is done.

A single 5500w element boils the entire batch. It took about 45-hour to get up to mash temp from 60 degrees with recirculating the HLT/boil kettle.

The mash tun has a blichmann false bottom welded to an outer ring for fitting purpose and added 8 legs for support while holding up to 80lbs of grain.

My mash went over great I didn't even lose a degree throughout the entire mash since I recirculated the entire hour.

Boil took about 45 minutes to star with the lid on and held the entire 60 minutes. I need to add a site gauge to get more accurate water volume numbers as I used a gallon to much water in the fly sparge.

For the cool down I whirlpooled for about 20 minutes and moved the wort to my mash tun to get more trub/hops out and so I could add ice water to the HLT/boil kettle to cool the wort down. It took one pass through the coil and went directly into the fermentor.

Here's some pictures.

 

[lschiavo]

What size batch are you doing? Looks like a nice setup for no sparge.

 

[Kayakr1988]

I am doing 15 to 20 gallon batches. Maybe even a 25.

 

[lschiavo]

I have your third vessel. its a concord 25 gallon with a few fittings soldered in. Its yours for cheap. PM me if youre interested.

 

[chapusin]

Where did you find a 30 gallon concord? I thought they only had 100 qt (25) and 180 qt (45), though the 25 gallon is actually a 23.20 gallon.

 

[Kayakr1988]

I found it through two sellers on eBay. Importcookware and concordpots it something like that. The only problem I had was the handles leaked so they did refund some to get it fixed. The rivets in the handle are NOT stainless steel they are either aluminium or zinc I believe.




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[augiedoggy]

I have the same pot only the 13 gallon version and its marked "Ballington" on the side.($73 ebay special).. One of the handles also leaks from the rivet holes... otherwise its worked well.

 

[chapusin]

Damn it, I haven't tested them yet and I'm out of the 30 day return window. Oh well.. For 120 bucks shipped, they are a very good deal.

 

[Kayakr1988]

The guy said he has never had a complaint on any of the pots leaking and both of mine did from at least one handle.

But if i had to do it again I would buy them again. He was nice about the whole thing and answered all my questions and concerns and even refunded part of the price.


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[LandoLincoln]

Where did you find a 30 gallon concord? I thought they only had 100 qt (25) and 180 qt (45), though the 25 gallon is actually a 23.20 gallon.

My 25 gallon Concord pot is closer to 26 gallons. Yes, I did carefully measure.

 

[chapusin]

My 25 gallon Concord pot is closer to 26 gallons. Yes, I did carefully measure.

You might have a different one, just look at your dimensions. Outer rim is 19.5 inches, height is 19.5 inches. Inside diameter is 18.75 inches, that means it has a radius of 9.375 inches, total volume is 5384.27 cubic inches, which equals to 23.30 gallons.

 

[iijakii]

Maths.

 

[LandoLincoln]

You might have a different one, just look at your dimensions. Outer rim is 19.5 inches, height is 19.5 inches. Inside diameter is 18.75 inches, that means it has a radius of 9.375 inches, total volume is 5384.27 cubic inches, which equals to 23.30 gallons.

Obviously I do have a different one, but it is definitely a Concord pot. Strange.

I have three of them, actually. Two of them I have fitted with sight glasses and both of them have been calibrated and both of them are over 25 gallons. The third one I just received for a 25g MLT but it doesn't have a sight glass so I wasn't planning on calibrating it or testing to see if it was indeed 25+ gallons like the other two.

But I do know that the inside diameter of the new one is around 19.5", since I had to fit a false bottom into it. Haven't measured the inside height yet.

 

[chapusin]

Obviously I do have a different one, but it is definitely a Concord pot. Strange.

I have three of them, actually. Two of them I have fitted with sight glasses and both of them have been calibrated and both of them are over 25 gallons. The third one I just received for a 25g MLT but it doesn't have a sight glass so I wasn't planning on calibrating it or testing to see if it was indeed 25+ gallons like the other two.

But I do know that the inside diameter of the new one is around 19.5", since I had to fit a false bottom into it. Haven't measured the inside height yet.

Looks like you have the one that fits the bayou 19 5/8 false bottom, I believe I saw it in another thread as well. I don't know how these are supposed to be the same pots and they have different sizes. My ebay seller was importcookware. I just emailed them asking for the ones with the correct size. That's 2.5 gallons in difference right there (your pot should be around 25.8 gallons).

 

[Kayakr1988]

I think my 30 gallon is a little short of 30 but I just roughly estimated by throwing five 5 gallon jugs of water in the pot and it was pretty close to the top. However this pot had a heating element, 50' HERMs coil and fittings taking up some volume so it could be exactly 30 gallons.

Edit: I plan on adding a sight glass in the future but have not had time yet.


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[LandoLincoln]

Looks like you have the one that fits the bayou 19 5/8 false bottom, I believe I saw it in another thread as well. I don't know how these are supposed to be the same pots and they have different sizes. My ebay seller was importcookware. I just emailed them asking for the ones with the correct size. That's 2.5 gallons in difference right there (your pot should be around 25.8 gallons).

The first two pots I bought on ebay last year was from overstockcookware.
The third pot I bought this year was from importcookware.

All three pots are about 19.5" diameter and about 19.5" tall inside.

I actually prefer the importcookware one because the lid has a square handle that fits nicely on the side handle, so I can rest the lid on the side of the pot. The two older ones have curved handles that don't allow me to do that.

Weird.

 

[chapusin]

I went to the concord warehouse and got some answers.

There is a 30 gallon pot and they will start selling it again in 2 months.

The ones I had were sold as 100 qt but were actually around 95 qt. I gave them back my 3 kettles and got the 'newer' ones which actually say 100 qt on the front.

I must say I was super impressed. The ones I had were light and it didn't even look like they were stainless steel and 1 mm thick. They felt very flimsy. The ones they gave me are heave and the metal feels very robust. I feel like I have a megapot on my hands now. The guy said that's the new model they will be carrying now. I feel bad for the guys (like me) who got the previous model, it's a night an day difference.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I went to the concord warehouse and got some answers.

There is a 30 gallon pot and they will start selling it again in 2 months.

The ones I had were sold as 100 qt but were actually around 95 qt. I gave them back my 3 kettles and got the 'newer' ones which actually say 100 qt on the front.

I must say I was super impressed. The ones I had were light and it didn't even look like they were stainless steel and 1 mm thick. They felt very flimsy. The ones they gave me are heave and the metal feels very robust. I feel like I have a megapot on my hands now. The guy said that's the new model they will be carrying now. I feel bad for the guys (like me) who got the previous model, it's a night an day difference.

That's really nice of them to give you three new pots! Good job!

Drilling through these pots is not easy at all. I've drilled through kegs with little trouble but these pots...I think they're made of adamantium.

I finally figured out how to get through these things relatively fast:
1) Make a jig that will hold the pots on their side so they won't move on you. Also cut a 2x2 for the inside diameter so when you're bearing down on the side of the pot with the drill you won't bend the pot.
2) Buy the best cobalt drill bits you can. M42 grade if you can find it. M35 grade if you can't.
3) Use cutting oil.
4) Use a drill press whenever possible. Screw your drill press to your workbench and/or use a 2x4 to wedge against the top of the drill press and the ceiling.
5) Use the slowest drilling speed of your press and bear down on that sucker like nobody's business.
6) Once the pilot hole is drilled, a step-bit doesn't have much problem taking care of the rest.

Some of the holes will be too far away from the sides so the drill press won't be able to be used, so you'll have to resort to a hand drill. If that's the case, then invite a couple of friends over and take turns drilling. Drill slow with lots of pressure and use cutting oil.

 

[dcbw]

Huh, I never had to use cutting oil or friends and turns drilling my 26G Megapots. I did get a good Irwin cobalt bit and a high torque drill though, maybe that's the difference? I honestly thought it was a piece of cake, even after 10 or 12 holes in 3 pots.

(I went the Greenlee route, with a cobalt bit the same size as the draw bolt on the punch, so no step bit required...)

 

[chapusin]

I did 2 holes yesterday.

Drill bit to start pilot hole. Step bit to make it a little bigger for the stud to fit. Knockout punch to make it the right size. Piece of cake.

 

[LandoLincoln]

Well, I'm glad it was easy for you guys, but it has been really tough for me. I've tried three different sets of drill bits and they all did pretty poorly.

 

[chapusin]

Well, I'm glad it was easy for you guys, but it has been really tough for me. I've tried three different sets of drill bits and they all did pretty poorly.

That's really strange, I don't think I paid more than 10 bucks for mine, hell, it wasn't even only drill bits, it's one of those all in one packs that comes with screwdriver and attachments. Didn't use cutting oil either, just dipped it in vegetable oil lol

 

[chapusin]

Well, I'm glad it was easy for you guys, but it has been really tough for me. I've tried three different sets of drill bits and they all did pretty poorly.

Dude! I had 2 holes left on my kettle, I hadn't done them because I hadn't received my herms coil, so I finally got it and I said, ok, time to make these holes, no big de right? well.. wow! my drill bit didn't even make a small hole on the pots! wtf! it was the same drill bit, same kettle, I had to go and buy another one made out of this strong material at HD which I don't remember the name and still it was a PITA! So I wonder why these pots suddenly got stronger than kryptonite, could it be the weather was different? humidity? I don't know :s

 

[LandoLincoln]

Dude! I had 2 holes left on my kettle, I hadn't done them because I hadn't received my herms coil, so I finally got it and I said, ok, time to make these holes, no big de right? well.. wow! my drill bit didn't even make a small hole on the pots! wtf! it was the same drill bit, same kettle, I had to go and buy another one made out of this strong material at HD which I don't remember the name and still it was a PITA! So I wonder why these pots suddenly got stronger than kryptonite, could it be the weather was different? humidity? I don't know :s

I really feel bad for you, because I feel your pain, but I'm glad that's it's not just me.

I just ordered my HERMS coil for my HLT which means I have two more holes to drill. I probably won't be able to use my drill press on either hole. This is gonna suck.

 

[iijakii]

I just ended up having to buy punches for the build Im doing right now. I've used stepbits before, but I always had my Dad's nice drill. My harbor freight one just could not use them. I work-hardened the **** out of my pot and I had quarter inch long shrapnel sticking out the back.

 

[chapusin]

I just ended up having to buy punches for the build Im doing right now. I've used stepbits before, but I always had my Dad's nice drill. My harbor freight one just could not use them. I work-hardened the **** out of my pot and I had quarter inch long shrapnel sticking out the back.

I did all of them with punches but the problem is the pilot hole. Once I got the pilot hole, even the step bit ate that metal like butter. It's a good step bit though, one time I used a harbor freight one, it was unusable after the first hole.