alright already, im going electric.

[maltbarleyhops]

talked with a few of my electronic/electrical savvy friends this weekend.
as merely reading the schematic for a control panel on electricbrewery.com gave me a migrane, ive decided to take the advice of friends in the profession.

"Dave, buy the parts, we will build it, you brew the beer and we're all happy"

so i started with "procuring" 2 more half barrels and 2 rheem 240v 4500w elements.

now the plotting/planning and scavenging begins.

Ive decided not to brew until the new E rig is complete due to a square footage issue in my brewery.
will definitely be going with the control panel described on the electric brewery sight.

Any advice at all is greatly appreciated.

Slainte' from Ridgewood Brewery

 

[iijakii]

Good luck! What's your plan, just a straight Kal clone? He has great documentation. You'll do fine.

 

[passedpawn]

Good luck. Electric brewing will have a profound, positive effect on your brewday.

 

[maltbarleyhops]

well, the control panel ill clone. ill use kegs and my 10 gallon gott will continue to do duty as MT as ill be setting it up as HERMS.
i may go with a bottom dump for the BK. im thinking a dirty pump hooked to a bottom valve and run the pump exit to a floor drain. after brewing, fill with water, scrub, open valve and turn pump on. viola! one less keg to carry around.

working on the stand (wooden with 1/2" glass covered top) today

 

[maltbarleyhops]

what i would really like to simplify is removing spent grain from the MT. not a fan of the "tippy dump" as it wont work for the location and position of my work area.

a dedicated shop vac sounds doable but all that will do is make it where i dont have to remove the MT from the station. ill still have to empty and clean the shop vac as well as the MT.

probably go with a big scooper and vac the very last of what cant be scooped.

although, i have an extra barrel i could insulate, put a valve on the bottom and use the same dirty pump ill be using for the BK. the pump is made for moving "dirty" liquid. meaning in can handle a bit of muck in it.

ok, so both the BK and MT are cleaned and effectively "flushed" using the dirty pump.

then use the rigs water pump to final rinse each with leftover hot water from the HLT.

all "media" being pumped to the streetside storm drain.

 

[DubBrew]

Word if caution, I decided not to brew until I finished my build too. Mostly as motivation to finish. Long story short after buying every thing, building it, troubleshooting etc. it took me a solid six months and I was fresh out of brew.

The plus side is I need to brew a ton to catch up!

 

[maltbarleyhops]

ive chosen not to brew til its done because of a sq ft issue. i do have 2 batches in process. on bottle conditioning for a couple more weeks and one lagering for about another 3 weeks. and 1 on tap now.

im sure ill probably sneak one batch in, but mostly im done til it (the e rig) is done.

and "catching up" is like "make up sex" - awesome!

 

[LordUlrich]

all "media" being pumped to the streetside storm drain.

Fyi this is not a good idea. Storm drain are not subject to treatment, and all the brewing organics are being flushed directly to a surface water. Now while one home brewer wont kill the fish it is a bad prescient to start. Your lawn or garden on the other hand will love the extra fertilizer.

 

[frankstoneline]

Fyi this is not a good idea. Storm drain are not subject to treatment, and all the brewing organics are being flushed directly to a surface water. Now while one home brewer wont kill the fish it is a bad prescient to start. Your lawn or garden on the other hand will love the extra fertilizer.

This is good advice.

 

[aquenne]

ive chosen not to brew til its done because of a sq ft issue. i do have 2 batches in process. on bottle conditioning for a couple more weeks and one lagering for about another 3 weeks. and 1 on tap now.

im sure ill probably sneak one batch in, but mostly im done til it (the e rig) is done.

and "catching up" is like "make up sex" - awesome!

Im only 3 batches in on my new eherms setup, and let me tell you, im not sure the setup your coming from, but if it was like mine, this one is alot more "involved". Fly sparing, mash recirculation, pumps, controls, etc etc.. In some ways I miss the old propane days of gravity fed batch sparging.

But its the engineer in me that enjoys those complexities as well. Hopefully as I get more familiar with the setup things should go smoother

 

[maltbarleyhops]

Fyi this is not a good idea. Storm drain are not subject to treatment, and all the brewing organics are being flushed directly to a surface water. Now while one home brewer wont kill the fish it is a bad prescient to start. Your lawn or garden on the other hand will love the extra fertilizer.

my street drain empties into a draught water system in our commons area. its an area purposely left wooded with a fairly fast drain and runs dry hours after the longest rain storms.

and im the person that cares for the entire common area. considering all the crap ive had to remove from there over the years (including a couple of motor oil clean ups from some *ssholes that used to live here) i doubt a little water and grain and hop trub would do any damage.

there is zero chance of it going into any stream or creek. except through extreme osmosis.

i am a bit of a tree hugger, so im not going to poison the Ol' Mother.

 

[maltbarleyhops]

**idea**
what if instead of building cfc as in Kals rig. i use the herms coil?

in situ-
boil is done, pump out hlt into 4th (?) vessel (10 gallon gott). fill with cold tap water and ice. pump bk through a now chilled herms coil and pump to fermenter.

???

coil will be clean and clear as the last media through it would be sparge water. hot water from hlt is saved in gott cooler for return to hlt and used for clean up of system.

 

[lzrdkng14]

**idea**
what if instead of building cfc as in Kals rig. i use the herms coil?

in situ-
boil is done, pump out hlt into 4th (?) vessel (10 gallon gott). fill with cold tap water and ice. pump bk through a now chilled herms coil and pump to fermenter.

???

coil will be clean and clear as the last media through it would be sparge water. hot water from hlt is saved in gott cooler for return to hlt and used for clean up of system.

I like this idea, seems like it would work.

 

[maltbarleyhops]

will be building the element assemblies this weekend. 2 4500w elements. Kal uses 2 5500w but im using kegs @ 15 gal for 5-10 gallon brews, mostly 5s, so im quite sure a single 4500w element in each the BK and HLT/HERMS/CHILLER will do fine.

 

[iijakii]

It'll be plenty, but why not just go 5500 if you haven't bought the 4500 already? Same price.

 

[maltbarleyhops]

already purchased the 4500. and that was the highest my home depot had. its all good. im completing the build as if i had the 5500s so a swap out would be seamless