Brew Rig Design - build in progress

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Mike123

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Well I've been toying with this design and collecting parts for a couple of years and finally started building it. Here is the Sketchup design I'm working to. I can add pics if anyone is interested or has questions. I'm open to suggestions too. So far I have the steel frame welded and the keggles mounted to hinged bases as shown in the image. Hinges not visible.

Keggles rotate out and down for cleaning, hoist has a custom 400 micron basket for Brew-in-a-Basket approach. I still need to order the basket. Right keggle is for heating water, left keggle is for mashing, sparging, and brewing. In the center is my 14.5 gallon ferminator. After chilling and pitching the ferminator will be moved to a temp controlled fridge I bought second hand. There is a food-grade pump and a heat exchanger, and I have a submersible non-food-grade pump not shown to circulate cooling water through the heat exchanger. Banjo burners with heat shields hard to see in the drawing. One propane tank will have a dual feed one to each burner. What do you guys think?

MASTER BEER STAND with Ferminator.jpg
 
Thanks I'll look into that before I buy the basket......my basket will be almost the same diameter as the keggle, much bigger than typical spiders I think.
 
I just reread your post and if you are going BIAB route why do you have the other keg? Are you planning on a 3 vessel system at some point? You will be doing all your heating, mashing and boiling in 1 vessel so no real need for it now.
 
Regarding pulling the basket, I plan on using the basket for mashing/sparging grains, and then dumping and using the basket again for brewing (boiling) the wort....the basket would hold the leaf hops...therefore I would not pull it.

Regarding the 2nd keggle, I built the steel frame with a 3 vessel rig in mnd, and then changed my mind when I learned about the Brew in a Basket approach.
 
Any one have experience with Brewing in a Basket, using only one vessel for mashing, sparging, and brewing? Grains in the basket initially, then dumping the grains and brewing with hops in the basket.
 
What's the reasoning behind a space right next to your burners for a steel fermentor? You could just build a separate furniture dolly for the fermentor and roll it up to your BK after flame out.
 
I'm not 100% convinced to go with the Brew in a Basket approach, so I can still do a 3 vessel approach.
 
The original intent of the middle space was for a mash tun that would be well below the heat wash from the burners. I'm now thinking of using that space to store my fermenter. I can go either way with this design.
 
I don't understand that basket idea. If you are going to have that nice setup why not have a 3 kettle system with mashtun, boil kettle and that conical fermenter?
 
Here is what I intended to do initially, a 3 vessel rig. I have the frame welded together with casters, and the keggles outfitted with couplings, valves, sight glass, and the hinged base. I'll post some photos next.

MASTER BEER STAND Z.jpg
 
Regarding the basket idea I'm still toying with that notion. I am currently building a 3 vessel design, which I posted an image of today, which has two keggles, an igloo mash tun, and the ferminator not shown in the image. That is what I'll have and may go to the brew in a basket approach later after I use this a few times.
 
So far I have the frame welded and started working on mounting the banjo burners with heat shields. Sorry about the sideways photo, I don't know how to rotate it yet.

IMG_0075.jpg


IMG_0073.jpg
 
I do brew in a basket and love it. Just took 3rd with my robust porter at a large comp. I have brew club members who are real respected judges in their own right and love me beer. Don't discount the method if you do everything else right and maintain ferm temps then you will get a great product.
 
Do you have any pictures? I'm wondering what is the diameter of the brewpot and the basket.....specifically the difference? Do you have spillage when you sparge? Do you use the basket for hops during the boil? What do you use for hoisting the basket, if anything? I'm essentially asking if you are doing everything in the same brewpot with the basket in it?
 
Regarding the basket idea I'm still toying with that notion. I am currently building a 3 vessel design, which I posted an image of today, which has two keggles, an igloo mash tun, and the ferminator not shown in the image. That is what I'll have and may go to the brew in a basket approach later after I use this a few times.

Not sure why the mash tun has to be lower, since you have two pumps...why not single tier? At first I thought you had some sort of tippy-dump setup, but it looks like the keg tips out the wrong way.
 
The mash tun is lower so I can gravity feed water into it for the mash and sparge. I would then have to pump the wort into the brewkeg for brewing, and the brewkeg is high so I can gravity feed down through the heat exchanger into the fermentation vessel. Another convenient aspect of the two kegs up high is that it allows me to rotate them out at approximately eye level for cleaning.
 
The mash tun is lower so I can gravity feed water into it for the mash and sparge. I would then have to pump the wort into the brewkeg for brewing, and the brewkeg is high so I can gravity feed down through the heat exchanger into the fermentation vessel. Another convenient aspect of the two kegs up high is that it allows me to rotate them out at approximately eye level for cleaning.

But...but....you have a pump.
 
I have the option of gravity feeding or pumping, and hinged keggles at this height allows me easier access to them for cleaning. I'm getting too old to lift them and move them around during cleaning, so I made them hinged at eye level.
 
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