Bilbo Brewing Build Thread

[bbohanon]

EdWorts Hefe Batch was brewed this past Sat on the system. I bought a new keggle SS hop spider I broke in today. It worked like a CHAMP and no more plugged plate chiller nor hop trub! Very happy with that purchase.

Update on the plate chiller. I ended up having to bake that puppy for half a day at 425 to get all the hops in there to turn to ash. Was a messy ordeal and one I really do not want to repeat.
Needless to say, it is back in working order and with the hop spider, it did not plug up this time around.

I used a cooler full of ice to recirc the cold water but could only knock the 10 gallons down to 119Deg F before I ran out of ice. I tossed the rest of it into fermentors and put it into the fermentation freezer overnight to knock it to pitching temps.

Both fermenters were at 60Deg Sunday morning which is when I pitched the yeast. Its now fermenting like a madman and I had to put in blowoff tubes on both buckets this morning. WLP300 is a freaking beast on a hefe and it smells wonderful.

Bottom line, the new system is still performing as expected and with the addition of the hop spider, the chiller is working well. I just need to stock up a bit more on ice to finish chilling to pitching temps with the plate chiller.

Pics of the brewday with my brewbuddy and new hop spider:

System recircing the Hefe batch:

Spent grains(and no stuck sparge..I did not use rice hulls but it slowed down big time due to the amount of wheat used in this recipe..May toss in some rice hulls for the next batch as I was getting nervous it was going to plug at any moment during the sparge)

Wort slowly(very slowly) filling up the BK (which is finally nice and clean of all beerstone). Also pictured is the new SS hop spider which is awesome!

Right at the end of the boil:

My Brew Buddy waiting on any spilled wort to hit the floor for sampling:

Next up is BMunchers OctoberFAST Ale. Kicked the last keg of that 3 weeks ago and need to whip up another batch.
Thankfully the beer pipeline is getting back into good order. Been waning due to all the beer shed work which is now complete.

 

[rekoob]

Awesome shed and brew setup!

 

[jmward21]

Very nice. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brewpupil]

Very nice what a joy it must be to have a permanent brew spot, setup and tear down of my 25gal EBIAB gets to be a chore.

 

[bbohanon]

Happy Halloween from the Bilbo Brew Shed. A picture update on the outside of the brewshed as we put flagstone and a fire pit in where it was just grass before. I also lined the front with RailRoad ties to clean it up.
This area has become the weekend hangout spot for friends and family!

Makes trekking between the garage, house and brewshed a much cleaner and less muddy experience!


Added some Fall decor, lights for Halloween and a picnic table to enjoy food and beer.

With the firepit(which needs to be cleaned out along with the leaves and flagstone needing a good blow-off with the leaf blower) in the frame:

 

[bbohanon]

Well over a year later with this setup and still extremely happy with it.
This system is what I am targeting a build-out of to power (will be scaled out to accommodate the much larger heating requirements) the 1.5/2BBL Nano brewpub the wife and I are now looking to start in a nearby town where I live.

The only thing I have had to do for maintenance on this setup is tighten the electrical connections on everything inside the box about twice a year to keep everything snug and I did do a complete breakdown and cleanup of the pots and fittings, etc. as they can get gunky after a while so its good to clean these up from time to time.

Love the setup, the end results and highly recommend this project to anyone planning or building their e-brewery!

 

[bbohanon]

Sad day..wife is putting the house on the market to sell the house and buy a bit more land (15-17 acres) with a smaller modular for us to retire in with the kids departing the nest so the shed/house is going on the market.

I have brewed ALOT of beer in this shed/system and its been a great setup. Again, I cannot highly recommend doing this if you are serious about brewing indoors.

On a less sad note, the agreement I have w/her is to allow me to get a bigger building with the new property that I will be putting together for the new "Brew Shed" which WILL include plumbing and an RO system so I will be posting that build here soon once the house sells and the land/home situation get closer to done.

Onward and upward.
:fro:

 

[dsniegocki]

On a less sad note, the agreement I have w/her is to allow me to get a bigger building with the new property that I will be putting together for the new "Brew Shed" which WILL include plumbing and an RO system so I will be posting that build here soon once the house sells and the land/home situation get closer to done.

Onward and upward.
:fro:

I know how proud you are to have put together this awesome shed, but how exciting it must be to take all that you have learned and make something even better. I also have a dedicated area and I love it, but I know that if I had to do it all over again, it would be exciting to improve based on what I've learned. Best of luck with your move.

 

[BrewingChemist]

hi bbohanon!
just read through your thread, thanks for all the details! any update on a new building?

 

[bbohanon]

Late to the updates...So I managed to talk the wife OUT of moving so we are still at our previous location (thankfully as work has been killing me time-wise lately) so I am still in the same building brewing on the system in this thread which to me is NOT a bad thing.

I DID however recently (like this past week) finalized some upgrades..

I did get tired of the 15 gallon pots and got some friends in NJ to donate a new 20 gallon megapot (for a bigger brew kettle) and purchased another 25 gallon pot for a new MT so I can now make the much bigger beers (and barleywines) thankfully which is something I have wanted to do, but did not have the MT capacity to do it until now. I also put a new shiny SS element in the megapot BK which replaced the old Camco I had that was not SS.

Was sad pulling the old gear out as I know how much beer has been brewed on these pots and elements but seeing those huge pots made it better. I have pics I will post later.

All in all, this system has been absolutely great, all the original components are still being used today with exception to the new bigger pots and a heating element outlet that I had to replace.
It has made more beer than I can remember and has brewed 2 official award winning beers (and probably more if I would get off my lazy arse and enter more contests than I used to).

I am also getting closer to the Nano dream and will probably replicate this same setup in my first 3BBL system (with dual elements and it wont be a single phase electrical setup of course) as I think this system is much easier to deal with than a direct fire one is.

I still say to those looking to do this, if you have the time and funds, dont wait. Do it. You will not regret it if you are into homebrewing for the long haul (I am 5+ years in now and still going strong).