Brunken Dastard's Big Bad Brewery! 10gal eHERMS

[HokieBrewer]

Oh no! You can't combine Dubs and brewing! I had to get out of the Dub scene in order to keep brewing... The wife will not be happy about this at alllll haha.

Here's mine! (In it's prime)

 

[bendavanza]

I think you will want some stainless washers to hold the silicone down, and I don't know what "tank connector" is though. You also might want to use putty or something to keep outside air from your probe.

 

[Walker]

Will this work?

Looks a lot like my https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/diy-mashtun-thermowell-easy-cheap-156772/

 

[onelegout]

Great dub dude! Epic stance
Bendavanza yeah I plan to use some washers if I need to, but will try it without. It turns out actually that the company I bought the original dodgy thermocouples from is going to replace them free of charge without me needing to return them, which is great as I'll be getting some of the ones that fit through a keg wall.... I'll try both systems and see which works best for me.

Today I got to work making a thermowell for the coil output, I used a 15mm to 8mm reducer on a 15mm tee peice, with a length of 8mm pipe running into the top of the tee peice with an end cap on it. It seems to have worked ok but I think I might need to replace it with a 22mm system around the 8mm pipe as it looks like it's going to restrict the flow a lot!

Please excuse the terrible soldering, I've only done it once before and forgot that with solder-ring fittings I needed to do all of the joints at the same time

 

[Walker]

Yeah, I'd suggest going larger on the 'T' fitting so that you don't have too much restriction.

As for your soldering... my opinion is that if it doesn't leak, you did it perfectly.

 

[onelegout]

I'm going to try it with just the 15mm fitting - The reason for this is that I figure that slower transfer times mean more complete temp transfer in the HEX coil. If I need to upgrade it in the future I can, but got to take into account the fact that the hex coil is 10mm pipe anyway.

Talking of the HEX coil...
Here's a pic of it before it was finished, I just soldered it to the back of the tank connectors, and realised that this wasn't strong enough as only the solder was holding it together.

I had an old IC that I had built ages ago, just bent and cut it to fit. If you want to solder the coil to the back of two tank connectors, you will need to drill out a 15mm hole using a blacksmith's drill. I don't have a vice so I fitted the connector backwards into a keg. This meant that I could drill it and if it spun round it would tighten up and stop. The result was superb, it soldered together fine (be sure to heat the brass tank connector more than the copper pipe as it has to get hotter to accept the solder).


More pics soon!

 

[Walker]

What is the outside diameter of that coil? I am guessing 9mm or 10mm?

If so, I wouldn't worry about the temp chamber diameter. It think it will have no more flow restriction that your coil will have. Making the probe chamber larger won't change anything from the pump's point of view.

 

[onelegout]

What is the outside diameter of that coil? I am guessing 9mm or 10mm?

If so, I wouldn't worry about the temp chamber diameter. It think it will have no more flow restriction that your coil will have. Making the probe chamber larger won't change anything from the pump's point of view.

Yeah that's what I figured : )

got to take into account the fact that the hex coil is 10mm pipe anyway.

I've been working on the electrics today, just got the control box pretty much finished - needed to swap it around so that the mains input went in on the right hand side, and the control output went out on the left hand side, luckily this was just a simple case of switching around the MDF mounting panel and swapping the wires around. I also took this opportunity to install some cable glands that I bought online from ebay for SO cheap, theyre great quality and work fine!

 

[onelegout]

Ok today is a good day!
I'm picking up some of the last few parts for the brewery today, a couple of ball valves for the inlets to the kegs, a couple of bits and bobs like elbow fittings for the plumbing, washers etc.

Got to work out how to make a manifold or false bottom for the mash tun now!


To Do:
1. Test fit all valves, elements and fittings
2. Build mash tun's bottom manifold (going to adapt the previous one that I had for my coolbox I think)
3. Drill out the 22mm tank connectors when the drill bit arrives.
4. Solder up those tank connectors.
5. Build a return manifold for the mash tun
6. Grind or file down the lips of the kegs which are still all jagged
7. Cut hose to fit round the lips of the kegs.
8. Cut hose to length
9. test and Fit new thermocouples
10. Ground everything, and have it inspected by an electrician friend.
11. Test run, tune PID as best as possible.
12. Take everything apart, clean and sanitise everything thoroughly, including all fittings, pipework, etc.
13. Put everything back together with fresh washers.
14. Another test run
15. Brew day!

Then future to-do's are:

1. Buy another pump, adjust system to work off two pumps so I can fly sparge.
2. Make any adjustments needed to the brew stand
3. Have brew stand sandblasted and powdercoated
2. Drink lots of homebrewed beer!

So, that's my lists done, looking forward to working on it after work!

Today was also a good day as, like a lot of homebrewers/beer enthusiasts, I've been trying to lose weight.... I started on the 12th of april, when I weighed 201lb, I'm 20 and 6ft, so this was overweight for me and I was feeling it! Now it's the 12th of May, exactly a month later and I've lost exactly 1 stone! I think it's got something to do with not drinking any homebrew recently

- H

 

[Photomask]

Haha! yeah the clue which gives it away is the 'making cups of tea' in my advanced skills list I am indeed a jolly old uk chap!

What area would you be near?

I lived in the UK for a total of about a year in places around RAF Bentwaters, RAF Woodbridge, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath. And yes, I've been to Sherwood Forrest. The last time I was in the UK was nearly 20 years ago. I always had a wonderful time there, even with the weather. Car boot sales usually had some goodies and pub crawls rock! A trip to the coast was always an eye opener. On a sunny day, the light reflecting off of the average englishman at the beach could hurt the eyes of a blind man.

 

[onelegout]

What area would you be near?

I lived in the UK for a total of about a year in places around RAF Bentwaters, RAF Woodbridge, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Lakenheath. And yes, I've been to Sherwood Forrest. The last time I was in the UK was nearly 20 years ago. I always had a wonderful time there, even with the weather. Car boot sales usually had some goodies and pub crawls rock! A trip to the coast was always an eye opener. On a sunny day, the light reflecting off of the average englishman at the beach could hurt the eyes of a blind man.

Haha! Yeah seeing us lot at the beach always reminds me of that Bill Hicks line, "I just don't get the beach, man. I think it's just that I don't it in; everyone at the beach has tanned skin, white teeth... I've got tanned teeth and white skin!"

I live on the south coast, in Sussex; the weather here is a mix of 'miserable', and 'tolerable'... right now it's just warm enough to walk about outside comfortably, but if you do so you will get wet, as it's raining. They say that the British are never short of conversation, because they can always talk about the weather!

Talking of which, I hope it's sunny at the weekend 'cause I plan to BREW!

- Henry

 

[Photomask]

Haha! Yeah seeing us lot at the beach always reminds me of that Bill Hicks line, "I just don't get the beach, man. I think it's just that I don't it in; everyone at the beach has tanned skin, white teeth... I've got tanned teeth and white skin!"

I live on the south coast, in Sussex; the weather here is a mix of 'miserable', and 'tolerable'... right now it's just warm enough to walk about outside comfortably, but if you do so you will get wet, as it's raining. They say that the British are never short of conversation, because they can always talk about the weather!

Talking of which, I hope it's sunny at the weekend 'cause I plan to BREW!

- Henry

Best of luck to ya' then. The US is a young country in relation to the UK. As such, we don't have quite the concept of time. Here, 200 years is a very old and rare building. In the UK, many of the pubs I was in were much older than that. The ceilings in those old pubs were very low. It was not uncommon to see names carved into the beams from a few hundred years ago. The history that I ran into, daily, over there was very humbling.

As to the weather.... It does fog, mist and rain a lot but the countryside is beautiful, lush and green.

As an American GI in a UK pub, I sometimes ran into angry locals that had the misplaced idea that we were there to take over. Sometimes they were very confrontational about it, (usually some hot-headed, young lout trying to make a name for himself). I was always quick to reply, "Nothing could be further from the truth. I have seen what my government and businesses have done to the US and would not wish that on this place. No, I'm just here for a short time to drink a bunch of your beer and have sex with as many of your women as I can. Then I'll be headed back to the US." (Big smile... BIG SMILE!!!!). Seldom did this improve the situation.... But the results were often the source of great stories....:rockin:

 

[onelegout]

Hahah yeah we do have a lot of what we call 'chavs' who want to pick a fight with anyone possible, best part of England though is the beer

 

[onelegout]

Ok! I haven't worked on the brewery in ages, been super busy but back from holiday and ready to get back started. I've got a new PID controller, and have got it all working. The measured temp is now correct, and I'm running a test. Ramped to 66*c, set temp at 66*c, going to see how it handles the temperature hold for an hour. Anything within 5*c would be superb, but I'm expecting it to be all over the place as the PID settings aren't configured yet.

 

[AmandaK]

Well don't keep us waiting, show us some pics!

 

[onelegout]

unfortunately the weather took its toll on the brew stand and now it's all rusty and 'orrible! I can post pics but I won't be brewing on it in this state - It's just in prototype stage at the moment : )

 

[JetSmooth]

unfortunately the weather took its toll on the brew stand and now it's all rusty and 'orrible!

 

[onelegout]

SUCCESS! The brewery held 66*c for over an hour easily! The PID control is finally up and running the temperature oscillated by 0.3*c every 2 minutes, which is more than adequate for a brewery. I'm also expecting it to be much more stable when the mash tun is full of insulating grain
next job is to strip the whole thing down, shot blast and paint the frame, remove every trace of rust and clean every square millimeter down ready for brewing.

I'm just so glad to have the herms working properly after months of struggling with it - big thanks to walker who helped me out a lot with the PID side of things
Pics tomorrow once it's cleaned.
- Henry

 

[onelegout]

So now that the brewery was functional, it's time to disassemble it, clean every square millimeter of it., and get it brew-ready.

First job is to strip down the rusty steel frame, and paint it with good thick rust-proof hammerite. I decided to use hammered finish paint as it shouldn't show bumps/scratches as much as smooth paint would.

Before:

First coat done:

Tommorow I'll paint the second coat, then get to work cleaning up the kegs.

Anyone got any tips on cleaning out 10 gallon kegs and pumps?

H

 

[onelegout]

Just got one of these on ebay for £15 ($23 USD)
The PID won't fit depth wise, but I'll either fix that by spacing it out with some sort of control panel fascia or I'll mount the PID in the side of the box. Not sure which way I'm going to do it yet

 

[onelegout]

Control panel is getting there Just got to work out how best to mount it! I might mount it in a way that it can have a clipboard bit on the top of it for brew day notes

 

[onelegout]

I think it will be mounted like this, with some decent labels (the current ones are just to remind me which switch does which while I wire it all up).

It feels great to finally be able to get things done properly without cutting corners - now the prototype is done I'm on a mission to create my dream 10 gallon brewery and won't be cutting any corners if I can help it

 

[Layne]

Nice!

 

[brrman]

lookin really good so far! I'm enjoying the build thread.

 

[onelegout]

Cheers I'm sure I'll have loads more pics soon Only problem is I've run out of money for the rest of the month!

 

[onelegout]

IT LIVES!

Just need to get 2 28mm (PG21) cable glands to fit the bigger holes. The pump cable and PT100 temp probe cable will go through one of them, and the other is just a spare used to plug the hole

H

 

[onelegout]

Fitted the casters the other day, which was a nice simple job. I was worried that only having 3 bolts in each would be a problem, but it's more than strong enough to hold the kegs full of water

Today I ordered some aluminium tread plate for the top and shelf of the brewery - having it cut to size with a lip folded over the front so It's easier to clean.

I'll probably fit that next week but first job is to brew the first batch! Will be brewing a batch of ordinary bitter on it on saturday - will probably just do a 5 gallon batch to start with, anyone got a recommendation for a good recipe using east Kent goldings? H

 

[onelegout]

Just heading off to pick up the aluminium tread plate which has been cut and folded to size, really looking forward to seeing if it fits

 

[onelegout]

I had planned to just have shelves on the top two bits but they've given me the offcut from the sheet I got, and it's big enough to do the two bottom shelves too!

 

[CoalCracker]

That's pimp. Awesome work!