Brewery Build - Single Tier HERMS

[mplutodh1]

Update 2/22/10

Got some work done over the last few weeks. Picked up more of the parts we were still looking for.

Saturday we mounted the control panel box, drilled and bolted the keg skirts to the tippy trays, bent the copper into the HERMs coil, mounted the burners to the burner boxes and then brain stormed several other parts.

Have a few more packages on the way to finish up the gas plumbing and liquid plumbing. Have to drill the kegs this coming weekend hopefully and then they're off to Greenmonti to be welded.

 

[BrewSapiens]

How many feet of copper in your herms coil? What did you bend it around?

 

[mplutodh1]

How many feet of copper in your herms coil? What did you bend it around?

Just under 30'

We used a corny keg, 2 people and wrapped it that way, one person holding the coils tight to the keg and tight together, the other wrapping from the packaged coil to the corny. We then by hand separated the coils from each other a bit to allow fluid to contact the full coil.

 

[diatonic]

Does the arm that holds your control panel have a way to lock in place?.. or does it move freely? I'm still working on the final plan to mount the panel on my single-tier build.

 

[BrewBeemer]

All he would need is a long 1/4-20 bolt with a piece of rod stock as a Tee handle welded on, weld a nut on the back side of the leg to hold it closed. Add a tab on the arm and the back of the leg with a welded nut then use the same bolt to lock the panel in the open position.

 

[RegionalChaos]

Lookin good!

 

[mplutodh1]

All he would need is a long 1/4-20 bolt with a piece of rod stock as a Tee handle welded on, weld a nut on the back side of the leg to hold it closed. Add a tab on the arm and the back of the leg with a welded nut then use the same bolt to lock the panel in the open position.

That's an idea...

Honestly, we haven't even bothered - the arm and control panel weigh enough that they stay pretty stationary unless we're moving the whole brewery around.

 

[Cyan]

That's an idea...

Honestly, we haven't even bothered - the arm and control panel weigh enough that they stay pretty stationary unless we're moving the whole brewery around.

Yeah, and you could easily install a latch if you needed it.

 

[mplutodh1]

Update 3/1/10

Brewed a honey nut brown this weekend for my buddies bachelor party so didn't get a lot done on the brewery.

Hardware to mount the burner boxes/burners showed up so they're bolted on now. Also tracked down 3 brass swivel nut elbows for the burners. Fitted the black pipe and gas plumbing, picked up a regulator and gas ball valves.

 

[diatonic]

Looking really good! What regulator did you get?

 

[mplutodh1]

Looking really good! What regulator did you get?

After much debate and help from folks on the board - decided to go with a Marshall 290.

 

[jvino]

Any progress??

 

[mplutodh1]

Work and other commitments have slowed progress - pretty much stuck to a few hours on the weekends here and there. We drilled the kegs last weekend and are hoping to get them off to Greenmonti this coming weekend. Also should have the pumps mounted this weekend - now we're going to mostly be focusing on electrical.

My buddies are all giving me hell for how long it's taken, I was optimistic that we'd be done months ago, but hey, good things come to those who wait right?

 

[jvino]

I agree, I'm patiently waiting to see the finished product. I am putting together a single tier herms in my head and love to see all the options before I start the build. Your build looks great so far. Excited to see it finished up!!

 

[mplutodh1]

Kegs are in Greenmonti's hands to weld on the couplings; just about done with the electrical schematic and will post soon.

 

[jvino]

Where is Greenmonti located?? I will need some kegs welded up sometime too.

 

[mplutodh1]

Where is Greenmonti located?? I will need some kegs welded up sometime too.

Seattle area.

 

[mplutodh1]

Electrical:

 

[GreenMonti]

Kegs are in Greenmonti's hands to weld on the couplings; just about done with the electrical schematic and will post soon.

They are now done. I will see you tomorrow. Thank you for your buisness

A couple of pics to tease the crowd.

These are your 1/4" couplings. I hope I got them low enough for you.

 

[mplutodh1]

They are now done. I will see you tomorrow. Thank you for your buisness

A couple of pics to tease the crowd.

These are your 1/4" couplings. I hope I got them low enough for you.

They look great! See you tomorrow.

 

[jvino]

You are a pro!!! I hope you can find time to weld up mine when I get the project together. Looks great!!!

 

[mplutodh1]

Update: April 4, 2010

As the previous photos showed, GreenMonti wrapped up the keggle welding for us and we picked them up yesterday. With the holiday weekend we didn't get much else done but did dry fit some of the parts to see how it all looks.

Next weekend we're hoping to knock out a good chunk of work (cutting hoses to length, final assembly on all of the gas plumbing, drill the holes for the pump cover, etc).

Here are some photos of the dry fitting.

 

[purdue09]

Man that is a sexy looking rig! Plan on powder coating that frame?

 

[BrewBeemer]

The frame in Polyurethane or Urethane I can see that without a problem on the main frame, the keggle holders with heat shields need to be Jet Hot, HPC (High Performance Coating) in silicone to prevent any burning away of the coating.
Silicone will withstand 1,000*F or 2,000*F depending on the type of silicone requested. This can take temp surges to 24-2,500*F. If it were my stand I would grind off one head of each hinge pin, take the frame apart then use different powed coat processes for the different heat ranges your dealing with. Bottom line not cheap unless you have a friend in the business.

 

[mplutodh1]

Yeah...not going powder coat. We're sticking with BBQ paint, yeah might not be as nice sexy and yeah sure we'll possibly need to reapply a few times but much cheaper in the long run and should work just fine.

 

[mplutodh1]

Update: April 10, 2010

Spent the better part of the day working on the brewery.

Completed assembly of the gas plumbing - sealed, tightened, mounted.
Installed all of the fittings on the HLT, Mash Tun and Brew Kettle.
Mounted the transformer in the control panel.
Built the pump brackets and mounted the pumps and pump cover.
Cut our fluid hoses and assembled.
Assembled the HERMs coil and dip tubes.

Still have to finalize our designs for our sparge setup and assemble the electrical but we've got our schematics all completed so it's just assembly.

Hoping one more build day before we can fire it up and run some water tests. Unfortunately busy schedules always put kinks in the timeline but we'll be brewing soon and we're finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[kladue]

Nice looking build so far, a suggestion, move the automatic gas valve back so it is not under a burner and the radiant heat from the flame, it might not work so well if it gets hot.

 

[passedpawn]

Update: May 10, 2010

Wow, May already. Time flies!

 

[mplutodh1]

Wow, May already. Time flies!

long day?

Thanks...

 

[EarthBound]

You did just about everything wrong...



















Just kidding.
Excellent work!