Nice job, keezer's really coming together!
John
John
inr brewing - basement brewery build
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kal
Well-Known Member
If you have room outside the keezer, store the CO2 tank(s) there. Since you already have a collar, it's easy to go through and not worry about hitting freon lines.
Like stratslinger mentioned, the bigger tank, the better. A 20lb tank is not much more than a 5 or 10 lb tank and the real savings is in the cost to fill: It's only about 10-20% more to fill a 20lb tank compared to a 5lb but you get 4x as much CO2. Having to fill 4 times less is also a bonus.
P.S. Great job on the keezer!
Kal
Like stratslinger mentioned, the bigger tank, the better. A 20lb tank is not much more than a 5 or 10 lb tank and the real savings is in the cost to fill: It's only about 10-20% more to fill a 20lb tank compared to a 5lb but you get 4x as much CO2. Having to fill 4 times less is also a bonus.
P.S. Great job on the keezer!
Kal
OP
OP
If you have room outside the keezer, store the CO2 tank(s) there. Since you already have a collar, it's easy to go through and not worry about hitting freon lines.
Like stratslinger mentioned, the bigger tank, the better. A 20lb tank is not much more than a 5 or 10 lb tank and the real savings is in the cost to fill: It's only about 10-20% more to fill a 20lb tank compared to a 5lb but you get 4x as much CO2. Having to fill 4 times less is also a bonus.
P.S. Great job on the keezer!
Kal
i considered an exterior tank but the keezer is in an open area and we have younger kids. yeah, i can chain it up, tell them not to mess with it, etc. but at the end of the day, having it inside the keezer was a requirement.
regarding filling, it seems most places charge less per pound for larger tanks? maybe my place is uncommon, they charge the same rate per pound regardless of the tank size. so the smaller tank really only means a few additional trips to the store, not a big deal for me since they are only five minutes away. and if i have hassles fitting a bigger tank in, i can always sacrifice a keg spot. i'd still have space for ten kegs which should last for a while.
kal
Well-Known Member
That makes a lot of sense. I'd probably do the same. Hopefuly you have some way of stopping them from playing with the taps too.
CO2 is cheap so most of the expense is their time and it takes about the same amount of time to fill regardless of tank size. The place I've been charge a set rate per tank size but it's something like $23 for a 10lb and $26 for a 20lb (going by memory here so don't quote me). Other places may do it differently like you mentioned.
Kal
Sparticus06
Member
I just sat here reading this entire thread getting ideas for my own brewing area. Lots of great ideas here. I wish I had the money and time to go electric, but I only brew occasionally. Not enough to justify getting all those great gadgets. So I am in the process of finding a used gas stove for heating. Right now I am cleaning out my basement getting ready to build. Love your hood idea and may borrow the idea for mine. I found one of those vent motors on ebay. Buying it as we speak, or at least hoping to win the bid for it. Cant wait to see more.
OP
OP
i got thinking about the co2 tank situation some more and thought i misheard the gas place on their pricing. i just called them back to confirm and they charge $1/lb plus tax. no minimum charge, no additional fees, nothing. sales tax here is 5.5% so i can fill a five pounder for about $5.25. based on some limited internet research, that seems like a crazy-good price.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
That IS good! I always get surprised at how much folks pay for CO2 compared to what my place charges, but that sounds cheaper than what I pay. I guess my 15lb cylinder was close to that last time I filled it, but my 5lb costs around $10.
I have to ask, why didn't you run the edge of the J channel between the FRP and the frame? I built one of those hoods myself and was able to get it in that configuration which gives the advantage of being water tight(enough with a drain hose) and fewer penetrations through the FRP.
OP
OP
the gutter was somewhat of an afterthought, sandwiching between the frp and the wood frame is a better installation.
OP
OP
5/21/2016 update
no photos, just picked up some more supplies. in anticipation of a menards 11% off sale, i stopped by the lhbs and grabbed some parts for my diy keag/carboy washer build. i got a gas and liquid ball disconnect, star-san, pbw and what the hell, a 6.5 gallon carboy.
i also discovered that my municipal water is extremely hard, 250+ ppm for clacium. one of my coworkers is a big saltwater aquarium guy and mentioned he had a spare ro/di system he wasn't using! i stopped by his place to pick it up. i'll need to get filters and an ro membrane for it but he had the mounting frame, filter canisters, ro membrane housing and some miscellaneous fittings/tubing. i have always planned on doing salt additions by style but had concerns over seasonal fluctuations in water quality as well as hardness extremes. this system will make it pretty easy to build whatever profile i need.
no photos, just picked up some more supplies. in anticipation of a menards 11% off sale, i stopped by the lhbs and grabbed some parts for my diy keag/carboy washer build. i got a gas and liquid ball disconnect, star-san, pbw and what the hell, a 6.5 gallon carboy.
i also discovered that my municipal water is extremely hard, 250+ ppm for clacium. one of my coworkers is a big saltwater aquarium guy and mentioned he had a spare ro/di system he wasn't using! i stopped by his place to pick it up. i'll need to get filters and an ro membrane for it but he had the mounting frame, filter canisters, ro membrane housing and some miscellaneous fittings/tubing. i have always planned on doing salt additions by style but had concerns over seasonal fluctuations in water quality as well as hardness extremes. this system will make it pretty easy to build whatever profile i need.
crusader1612
Well-Known Member
Hot Damn this is impressive stuff. ( I did just look atthe pictures though.)
but your doing a s**t tonne of work, and its awesome.
I'm not far away from getting my bar up and running - i need something for my special kegerator.
but your doing a s**t tonne of work, and its awesome.
I'm not far away from getting my bar up and running - i need something for my special kegerator.
OP
OP
5/24/2016 update
below is that ro/di system i mentioned earlier, the one my coworker had just lying around:
the 'jars' on the bottom will house the sediment filter, carbon filter and di resin (l to r). the cylinder on top houses the ro membrane. still need to get some more tubing and fittings. plan is to mount the system on the wall under the brew stand, sort of behind the counterflow chiller:
most of the filter parts came in the mail today:
l to r is a canister wrench, ro membrane flush valve, flow restrictor, 5 micron sediment filter, 1 micron carbon filter, ro membrane, di resin canister and a package of di resin. the sediment filter, carbon filter and di resin canisters will go in those large jars on the ro/di frame. the wrench is used to take the jars on and off. the flow restrictor is installed on the ro membrane waste line increases the efficiency of the membrane. the flush valve is installed in parallel with the flow restrictor and is closed during normal operation. it is opened up to bypass the flow restrictor to increase flow across the membrane and help flush away deposits. this prolongs the life of the membrane.
water from the faucet first passed through the sediment filter to remove large particles and increase the life of the downstream carbon filter. i'm not expecting the sediment filter to catch too much stuff since i am on a municipal system. next is the carbon filter which primarily removes chlorine/chloramines. from there the water passes through the ro membrane, which removes the bulk of the minerals in the water. finally, the water passed through the di resin to remove the last little bits of minerals.
below is that ro/di system i mentioned earlier, the one my coworker had just lying around:
the 'jars' on the bottom will house the sediment filter, carbon filter and di resin (l to r). the cylinder on top houses the ro membrane. still need to get some more tubing and fittings. plan is to mount the system on the wall under the brew stand, sort of behind the counterflow chiller:
most of the filter parts came in the mail today:
l to r is a canister wrench, ro membrane flush valve, flow restrictor, 5 micron sediment filter, 1 micron carbon filter, ro membrane, di resin canister and a package of di resin. the sediment filter, carbon filter and di resin canisters will go in those large jars on the ro/di frame. the wrench is used to take the jars on and off. the flow restrictor is installed on the ro membrane waste line increases the efficiency of the membrane. the flush valve is installed in parallel with the flow restrictor and is closed during normal operation. it is opened up to bypass the flow restrictor to increase flow across the membrane and help flush away deposits. this prolongs the life of the membrane.
water from the faucet first passed through the sediment filter to remove large particles and increase the life of the downstream carbon filter. i'm not expecting the sediment filter to catch too much stuff since i am on a municipal system. next is the carbon filter which primarily removes chlorine/chloramines. from there the water passes through the ro membrane, which removes the bulk of the minerals in the water. finally, the water passed through the di resin to remove the last little bits of minerals.
OP
OP
5/26/2016 update
came home to find this on my front porch:
brewing partner army-crawled his way across the entire living room when i set it down:
same packaging as my previous kettles:
there was some new packaging, a cardboard slip sheet between the lid and the kettle. the lid handle rests in the rectangular opening in the center:
sight glass. etching is still faint. spike is getting a new laser etcher and has offered free replacements but in the meantime, they are using up the existing inventory:
the sight glass brush is a little different as well. it has softer clear bristles near the tip and courser black bristles further down:
shiny goodness, baby not included:
quality welds, as always (those aren't black marks in the first photo, just weird reflection from the flash and some oil):
the boil kettle has the simplest fittings, just an output valve:
partially installed:
and complete:
next was the rtd probe:
heating element inserted:
sitting next to its brothers:
starting to look like a real brewery:
came home to find this on my front porch:
brewing partner army-crawled his way across the entire living room when i set it down:
same packaging as my previous kettles:
there was some new packaging, a cardboard slip sheet between the lid and the kettle. the lid handle rests in the rectangular opening in the center:
sight glass. etching is still faint. spike is getting a new laser etcher and has offered free replacements but in the meantime, they are using up the existing inventory:
the sight glass brush is a little different as well. it has softer clear bristles near the tip and courser black bristles further down:
shiny goodness, baby not included:
quality welds, as always (those aren't black marks in the first photo, just weird reflection from the flash and some oil):
the boil kettle has the simplest fittings, just an output valve:
partially installed:
and complete:
next was the rtd probe:
heating element inserted:
sitting next to its brothers:
starting to look like a real brewery:
Top notch build all the way! When you opening up the tap room?! 
John
John
Tap room? What about making some wort? ;-)
Good one BrunDog! I was wondering that myself actually. It's gotta be time to fire up that beautiful creation and make some beer! Hey Brun' we might have to take a road trip up North and enforce the "No more packages until you brew" rule on him!!
John
OP
OP
and it doesn't get any better on the brew schedule, i have a couple weeks worth of business trips in the middle of june. i'm charting a late june inaugural brew day.
Good one BrunDog! I was wondering that myself actually. It's gotta be time to fire up that beautiful creation and make some beer! Hey Brun' we might have to take a road trip up North and enforce the "No more packages until you brew" rule on him!!
John
Exactly! Although I get it - building is a lot of the fun!
Yea I know, I had a blast building mine! Hey good luck on the maiden voyage!
John
John
OP
OP
5/30/2016
the more i thought about it, the less interested i was becoming at the thought of constantly having to swap out garden hose fittings at the utility sink depending on what i was doing (ro/di system, counterflow chiller, spray arm, etc.) i thought about getting a wonky 4-way garden hose manifold but that seemed unwieldy and something to get in the way in the sink. i opted to hard-plumb the ro/di and counterflow chiller connections. not hard-plumb directly to the devices but rather hard-plumb dedicated garden-hose connections, such that i don't need to swap connections. plan is to 'splice' some tees with valves into the cold water line on the right, between the two support brackets on the wall:
first, a pile of parts:
tees, valves and crimp rings for pex piping at the top, push-to-connect fittings at the bottom for the ro/di tubing. to minimize the amount of time i would have to shut the water off to make the connections, i decided to pre-build as much as i could. rather than reuse the pex pipe that will be cut out for the tees, i used a small piece of tubing i had leftover from when i installed the spray arm. pipe cut to length, with adjacent fittings for scale:
i 'worked backwards' with the crimping, to minimize other piping getting in the way when assembling. valves attached:
tees installed:
checking for correct crimps with a guage:
piping assembly complete:
piping marked for cutting. i loosened the bracket above to make the pipe easier to work with:
water turned off and first cut made:
no turning back now:
installed! valves turned off BEFORE water is turned back on. no leaks:
support bracket reattached, counterflow chiller tubing attached. top valve is for the ro/di system:
speaking of which, started tackling the ro/di system a bit. not much, just getting the canisters setup. a filter:
simply set into a canister:
and screw into place:
the di resin canister is a bit more work. the resin is inside a vacuum-sealed bag and gets placed into a holding vessel, which in turn gets set into the canister:
close up of the di material. pretty funky stuff, like fine, wet sand. it is a bluish color and changes brown once it is used up and needs to be replaced:
no photo but i screwed the di resin canister on and inserted the ro membrane. that was it for today, next is tubing and hanging the setup on the wall. turns out one of the canisters was missing on o-ring so i'll need that before i can run the system:
the more i thought about it, the less interested i was becoming at the thought of constantly having to swap out garden hose fittings at the utility sink depending on what i was doing (ro/di system, counterflow chiller, spray arm, etc.) i thought about getting a wonky 4-way garden hose manifold but that seemed unwieldy and something to get in the way in the sink. i opted to hard-plumb the ro/di and counterflow chiller connections. not hard-plumb directly to the devices but rather hard-plumb dedicated garden-hose connections, such that i don't need to swap connections. plan is to 'splice' some tees with valves into the cold water line on the right, between the two support brackets on the wall:
first, a pile of parts:
tees, valves and crimp rings for pex piping at the top, push-to-connect fittings at the bottom for the ro/di tubing. to minimize the amount of time i would have to shut the water off to make the connections, i decided to pre-build as much as i could. rather than reuse the pex pipe that will be cut out for the tees, i used a small piece of tubing i had leftover from when i installed the spray arm. pipe cut to length, with adjacent fittings for scale:
i 'worked backwards' with the crimping, to minimize other piping getting in the way when assembling. valves attached:
tees installed:
checking for correct crimps with a guage:
piping assembly complete:
piping marked for cutting. i loosened the bracket above to make the pipe easier to work with:
water turned off and first cut made:
no turning back now:
installed! valves turned off BEFORE water is turned back on. no leaks:
support bracket reattached, counterflow chiller tubing attached. top valve is for the ro/di system:
speaking of which, started tackling the ro/di system a bit. not much, just getting the canisters setup. a filter:
simply set into a canister:
and screw into place:
the di resin canister is a bit more work. the resin is inside a vacuum-sealed bag and gets placed into a holding vessel, which in turn gets set into the canister:
close up of the di material. pretty funky stuff, like fine, wet sand. it is a bluish color and changes brown once it is used up and needs to be replaced:
no photo but i screwed the di resin canister on and inserted the ro membrane. that was it for today, next is tubing and hanging the setup on the wall. turns out one of the canisters was missing on o-ring so i'll need that before i can run the system:
OP
OP
5/31/2016 update
more goodies in the mail:
hopstopper:
the 'base' hopstopper model is designed to slip into connectors on the blichmann kettles but can be customized. i got mine with a 1/2" male adapter to thread into my outlet port. threading covered with protective cap:
closeup of connection:
adapter ready to be threaded in:
and threaded in. the outlet port is centered with the handle, picture is at an angle:
installed in the boil kettle:
and with the heating element in place:
more goodies in the mail:
hopstopper:
the 'base' hopstopper model is designed to slip into connectors on the blichmann kettles but can be customized. i got mine with a 1/2" male adapter to thread into my outlet port. threading covered with protective cap:
closeup of connection:
adapter ready to be threaded in:
and threaded in. the outlet port is centered with the handle, picture is at an angle:
installed in the boil kettle:
and with the heating element in place:
260 posts and not a drop of wort! How do you manage the suspense!?!
stratslinger
Well-Known Member
I can't speak for everyone here, but I died of suspense about 100 posts back.
I mean, I got better, but still...
OP
OP
gin gimlets
what i am attempting to do is get all my stuff setup first so i can just roll into production without having to worry about getting any extra stuff along the way. this means the keezer is fully operational, i have all my cleaning supplies, grain storage containers, etc. i have three or four packages of stuff showing up today and without these business trips coming up, i would be brewing this coming weekend. i could conceivably still do that but being the first go around, i don't want to start fermenting and then walk away for five days without ever even setting eyes on it. after i get a few batches under my belt, i'm sure i'll be more comfortable leaving it alone but i just don't want to do that for batch 001...
More packages!!! Me and Brun are so coming up there if you don't start dropping some grains into very warm water!! Just kidding, yea I kinda know what you mean about having everything you need all set and ready. You have gone this far and all. Plus you have to go out of town. We are just rooting for you!
John
John
OP
OP
6/1/2016 update
just for jcav and brundog, more packages:
top envelope contained two smaller bundles:
not sure why i didn't take a photo but those are two 3" bar magnets for my upcoming stir plate build. unbelievable how strong they are, i can barely pull them apart! next box, a bunch of usb fans for my stir plate, keezer and fermentation chamber:
bottom box, a silicone mat to put under the boil kettle and a replacement o-ring for one of the ro/di water system canisters:
mat installed under the boil kettle. this is to reduce the chances of messing up the brew stand surface with a boiling-hot pot:
i tried to put the o-ring in the ro/di canister but that mofo wouldn't fit, just a hair too small. i had gotten a custonm o-ring made up at the hardware store on tuesday but it always looked a little flimsy and i thought i had found an online replacement for cheap. no dice, too small. so i tried the one from the hardware store and hooked up minimum tubing to test the whole thing out. of course, leaks everywhere. that hardware store gasket isn't thick enough, i have a leak on the ro canister and leaks at a couple fittings. other than that, it seems to function fine. water percolating down through the di resin:
and up through the canister and out the fitting:
just for jcav and brundog, more packages:
top envelope contained two smaller bundles:
not sure why i didn't take a photo but those are two 3" bar magnets for my upcoming stir plate build. unbelievable how strong they are, i can barely pull them apart! next box, a bunch of usb fans for my stir plate, keezer and fermentation chamber:
bottom box, a silicone mat to put under the boil kettle and a replacement o-ring for one of the ro/di water system canisters:
mat installed under the boil kettle. this is to reduce the chances of messing up the brew stand surface with a boiling-hot pot:
i tried to put the o-ring in the ro/di canister but that mofo wouldn't fit, just a hair too small. i had gotten a custonm o-ring made up at the hardware store on tuesday but it always looked a little flimsy and i thought i had found an online replacement for cheap. no dice, too small. so i tried the one from the hardware store and hooked up minimum tubing to test the whole thing out. of course, leaks everywhere. that hardware store gasket isn't thick enough, i have a leak on the ro canister and leaks at a couple fittings. other than that, it seems to function fine. water percolating down through the di resin:
and up through the canister and out the fitting:
Nice. Can you post a link to the silicone mat?
OP
OP
http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Black-Silicone-Dish-Mat/dp/B00Y0OTQHA
i was having a heck of a time finding a silicone mat large enough to fit under my pot. they make round cork ones that are big enough but i had concerns about cork getting wet and swelling, splitting, etc. largest round silicone mats i was finding were 10". that probably would have worked but then i stumbled across this large square one.
Last edited by a moderator:
6/1/2016 update
just for jcav and brundog, more packages:
:smack: Nice one !
Really nice job so far. I was just wondering if you were planning to leave the bare wood inside the keezer? I left a "temporary" piece of raw plywood in the bottom of my kegerator that turned black before long. Of course on the bottom it did see some moisture. The piece I spray painted hold the taps still looks like the day I put it in. Hope your brewing soon!
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