Commercial Brew Sculptures

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The Pol

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Okay, so I need links to all the places that make and sell brew sculptures... I know B3 isnt the only one, but that is all I can seem to find with my searches... anyone with any links?
 
Besides morebeer, there's the brew magic, but I thought I had heard they weren't going to produce this anymore.

There's also the brew tree, which is grossly overpriced IMO.

Honestly, I can't think of any others.
 
Brew Tree is rediculous... B3 is alot more for less money
 
If I had a welder, I would build my own, I dont want to run all over to job shops to get things welded and such... Id much rather do it myself.
 
If I had a welder, I would build my own, I dont want to run all over to job shops to get things welded and such... Id much rather do it myself.

You would save enough putting 1 sculpture together to purchase 2 good welders....then you could make them for everyone you know...and what a great Christmas Gift...I'm on your list right?
 
I bet if you start asking around, you know someone who has a welder. I'd definately recommend just building one if you can.
 
Building is alot more fun, it is alot cheaper, and there is alot more pride in ownership. I'd love to have a HERMS system, single tier with LOVE controlled burners and a tippy dump! Oh, 10 gallon capacity would suffice.
 
I looked yesterday and they were almost 6k.... I could build something INCREDIBLE for 6k!
 
Yeah, that's way too much IMO. I've only got $1300 invested in everything brewing related, including my kegerator. $400-500 probably covers my single tier stand w/ 3 converted kegs, pump, chiller, etc. and I'm very happy with it.
 
Yikes. The three tier i'm building (largely influenced by Lil' Sparky's old 3 tier) hasn't even hit the $200 mark yet.

At 6k....wow. I'm thinking 1 bbl brewing. With lots of sensors and valves.
 

That's not much of a "sculpture" for $1500. :confused:

picosys.gif
 
I've been planning on getting a rig together for a little while and was thinking of hammering together some pressure treated wood and heat shielding a platform that I would put my Bayou Classic burners on. I figured it would be easy and cheap and I could do it myself.

Then - my lovely wife told me that if I was going to do it, do it right and go find a welder and do some research and put together a serious system that she can be proud of (back off - she's mine). Long story short, I spent every spare moment of a 10 day business trip researching everything I could find and at the end of the day I'm basically going to oversize the Brutus Ten (I've got the storage space and want to have footprint to swap in larger kettles in the future). Final dimensions will be 30"h x20"w x60"l and I'm going to take my time assembling the ASCO valves and controls and run the burners on manual for the time being. The MoreBeer sculptures were really really slick, but the build time is 10-12 weeks and they're pricy. I called and asked for a price for just the stand, thinking I could MacGuyver the rest of the system myself, and the guy quoted me just under $2k for stainless steel, not including delivery.

The upshot is that I googled welding and fabricating and found 40-60 shops within 30 miles of my sleepy wine town and am designing a stand with a shop that's 1.5 miles from my house. The price is a fraction of the commercial built ones, you get to design your own rig and my build time is something like 5 days (I'll know more later - I just faxed the plans over today). In addition, when you inevitably want to customize or tinker with it down the road, you've got a local welding buddy to bribe with beer to get it done.

Anyway, just thought I'd throw down my thoughts as I'm in the middle of the same thing...

Gordie
 
After looking (mostly drooling) for a couple of years at the various commercial home breweries available, most notably the more beer 2050, I decided to build my own the way I wanted. Given my biotech manufacturing background, I wanted to build something that first and foremost gave me consistency and control of my process. I wanted the ability to select from various processes (single step or multi-step infusion or decoction), enter the process parameters I wanted (beer recipe), connect a water, propane gas, and electrical supply and just sit back and monitor the process with minimal interaction other than adding the ingredients at the various times. I didn’t have to worry about monitoring the various temperatures, levels, timing of additions and a ton of other things that go on brew day. It’s not that I’m lazy; I just wanted to be able to watch a ballgame, brew and drink some beer at the same time:mug:. Maybe even watch over some hotdogs on the grill!

I've been planning my HERMS system now for over a year. Most of that time has been spent designing and figuring out the automation sequences that I wanted and both researching and collecting necessary parts. I also looked at many other system designs out there, both commercial and from my home brewer brethrens out there.

Fabrication began last month with the delivery of 3x 20' stainless steel square tubing (1.5" x 16gauge). I had bought a TIG welder (which I have wanted to get for some time for other projects) the previous month. I shopped around and got the stainless I needed for $400 and change delivered. I decided to do the welding myself, both to learn a new skill and because I didn't know any welder in the area.

In addition to this, I ordered 3x 20gal Blichmann BoilerMakers, 3x March 809 pumps (for the automated process sequences I wanted, I had the option to get automated 3-way valves or add an additional pump...pump was much cheaper). All "product contact" valves are stainless and all valves, except the flow control valves are solenoid diaphragm valves. All “product contact” connections are 3/8” or ½” tri-clamp stainless fittings.

The system is controlled using a touch screen SCADA system. Temperature, flow rates and liquid levels are all monitored and controlled via the automation (actual flow rates are controlled by the use of two manual valves). The system keeps track of process step times and prompts you when an ingredient addition is needed. All electronics are housed in a NEMA 4 stainless steel enclosure. During the process and the CIP cycle there is no need to change any connections. The CIP cycle is also controlled by the system, although I have to validate its effectiveness.

From scratch the system will come in under $4k (way under $4k if the wife asks). A good chunk of this was spent on the tri-clamp fittings and solenoid valves (all 9 of them total). I saw many other systems with fewer valves, but it required more human interaction…thus I ran the risk of missing my team score a touchdown or hit a home run :rockin:. I also could have gone with other types of fittings, but knowing all the benefits of tri-clamps I went with those. I didn’t want to have any regrets a year from now.

I’ll post pictures when I’m done…in like a month of two.
 
After looking (mostly drooling) for a couple of years at the various commercial home breweries available, most notably the more beer 2050, I decided to build my own the way I wanted. Given my biotech manufacturing background, I wanted to build something that first and foremost gave me consistency and control of my process. I wanted the ability to select from various processes (single step or multi-step infusion or decoction), enter the process parameters I wanted (beer recipe), connect a water, propane gas, and electrical supply and just sit back and monitor the process with minimal interaction other than adding the ingredients at the various times. I didn’t have to worry about monitoring the various temperatures, levels, timing of additions and a ton of other things that go on brew day. It’s not that I’m lazy; I just wanted to be able to watch a ballgame, brew and drink some beer at the same time:mug:. Maybe even watch over some hotdogs on the grill!

I've been planning my HERMS system now for over a year. Most of that time has been spent designing and figuring out the automation sequences that I wanted and both researching and collecting necessary parts. I also looked at many other system designs out there, both commercial and from my home brewer brethrens out there.

Fabrication began last month with the delivery of 3x 20' stainless steel square tubing (1.5" x 16gauge). I had bought a TIG welder (which I have wanted to get for some time for other projects) the previous month. I shopped around and got the stainless I needed for $400 and change delivered. I decided to do the welding myself, both to learn a new skill and because I didn't know any welder in the area.

In addition to this, I ordered 3x 20gal Blichmann BoilerMakers, 3x March 809 pumps (for the automated process sequences I wanted, I had the option to get automated 3-way valves or add an additional pump...pump was much cheaper). All "product contact" valves are stainless and all valves, except the flow control valves are solenoid diaphragm valves. All “product contact” connections are 3/8” or ½” tri-clamp stainless fittings.

The system is controlled using a touch screen SCADA system. Temperature, flow rates and liquid levels are all monitored and controlled via the automation (actual flow rates are controlled by the use of two manual valves). The system keeps track of process step times and prompts you when an ingredient addition is needed. All electronics are housed in a NEMA 4 stainless steel enclosure. During the process and the CIP cycle there is no need to change any connections. The CIP cycle is also controlled by the system, although I have to validate its effectiveness.

From scratch the system will come in under $4k (way under $4k if the wife asks). A good chunk of this was spent on the tri-clamp fittings and solenoid valves (all 9 of them total). I saw many other systems with fewer valves, but it required more human interaction…thus I ran the risk of missing my team score a touchdown or hit a home run :rockin:. I also could have gone with other types of fittings, but knowing all the benefits of tri-clamps I went with those. I didn’t want to have any regrets a year from now.

I’ll post pictures when I’m done…in like a month of two.


Dude - you are so my hero.
 
I strongly recommend this site: http://www.brewzilla.nl/brewhalla.htm LOTS of inspiration there. You should really build your rig, that way you can get it exactly how you want it. I've researched all the pre-build places, and IMHO Morebeer is the only one I'd remotely consider. The 1550 with stainless, SMART, tippy-dump, and a step-up is probably like $2500. Brew-Magic is ridiculously overpriced...probably close to twice that of the Morebeer, and doesn't offer any variability in shapes/formats. I'd be ashamed to tell people I spent that much $$$ on a brew system...they'd think I was a fool. And, the freight to get the thing to your house (especially if you're distant to B3) will cost you a few hundred $$$ more!

You can build a solid rig out of wood, take a look at my gallery. Or, if you have access to a welder, have at it. If I could do it over, I would consider unistrut in the conduit section of Lowe's. A little more expensive, but no welding involved and it's frickin' sweet, strong, fast, and cool. You can also save some time/money modifying keggles and just buy these awesome kettles: http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_33_463&products_id=11248 I think these are the ones morebeer is gonna start using on their rigs anyway.

Anyway, it's all food for thought. I just hate to see someone spend that much money on something they can do themselves for 1/10 of the price.
 
I ordered one and it's on it's way...I figured this would save me the cost of buying a welder, materials, and the Time. Plus I can't TIG weld...I got a really good deal on a stainless single tier with 2 pumps with a NG jet burner set up...I'll be running two march pumps on my system, which Im content with since I enjoy some labor during my brew days. A fully automated system would be nice, but for portibility and cost I'd rather spend a couple dollars at the store, rather than the headaches of building something unecessary!
 
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