Mk-i

[GreenMonti]

I have been doing some thinking and I have an idea about what might be going on. I don't really have a clue but, it's a theory. I believe condensate is getting in the way and robbing precious energy. So to see if I am right the MK-I went under the knife. I moved the steam input down and on the side. I plan on running it this weekend. I hope there will be an increase in performance. This will be a test too. Since I don't want to weld in another fitting into my test keegle, I will need to fill it up just about to the top. So the test will be with something like 15 gallons of water.

Since I am a fan of pics, here is a couple to show the new input.

 

[WortMonger]

You are one sick individual... sick... :cross: Your fabrication skills are a testament to "All That Is Man!!!!" I hope everything works out for you and you get this figured out soon.

Every time I see adds to this thread I have to pop in and check it out, lol.

You frickin' rock man :rockin:

 

[BrewBeemer]

You are one sick individual... sick... :cross: Your fabrication skills are a testament to "All That Is Man!!!!" I hope everything works out for you and you get this figured out soon.

Every time I see adds to this thread I have to pop in and check it out, lol.

You frickin' rock man :rockin:

"A sick mind is a happy mind that's thinking all the time" (RIP from dad).

 

[GreenMonti]

You are one sick individual... sick... :cross: Your fabrication skills are a testament to "All That Is Man!!!!" I hope everything works out for you and you get this figured out soon.

Every time I see adds to this thread I have to pop in and check it out, lol.

You frickin' rock man :rockin:

"A sick mind is a happy mind that's thinking all the time" (RIP from dad).

I guess that settles it then. I have always wondered if I was. Now that's two who confirm it.

 

[willynilly]

GM, your fabrication skills are unrivaled on HBT... and you arent a jerk, that sayes a lot.

 

[GreenMonti]

GM, your fabrication skills are unrivaled on HBT... and you arent a jerk, that sayes a lot.

Thank you,

I have the rig all setup and ready for water. I will be running it tomorrow.

 

[ScottyBones]

still trying to wrap my brain around the function of this kind of system, but i love the fab work you are doing. keep the pics coming!

 

[GreenMonti]

still trying to wrap my brain around the function of this kind of system, but i love the fab work you are doing. keep the pics coming!

Which part?

 

[passedpawn]

I love the look of SS. And I doubly love the look of a lot of it.

 

[pickles]

Slightly OT but I'm curious what equipment you use to give your pieces the brushed/shiny look? I have a few items I want to spiff up but not polish.

 

[diatonic]

Slightly OT but I'm curious what equipment you use to give your pieces the brushed/shiny look? I have a few items I want to spiff up but not polish.

^ What he said

 

[bendavanza]

I will take a guess and say scotch brite pads, at least that's what I use for my motorcycle parts.

 

[passedpawn]

Slightly OT but I'm curious what equipment you use to give your pieces the brushed/shiny look? I have a few items I want to spiff up but not polish.

Bar Keeper's Friend (BKF) will clean SS pretty well. To get SS to look like Monti's items, you will need to sand it in some manner. Power tools work great (angle grinder, polishing pads and compound), but if you don't want to do that you could get a sheet of 800 or 1000 grit sandpaper from an automotive parts store and sand by hand.

 

[Jonathon]

I will take a guess and say scotch brite pads, at least that's what I use for my motorcycle parts.

That's what I use also, gives the brushed look..

 

[GreenMonti]

Slightly OT but I'm curious what equipment you use to give your pieces the brushed/shiny look? I have a few items I want to spiff up but not polish.

As others have mentioned. I am a very big fan of scotch brite pads. The main body is made of two short pieces of SS tubing that I welded together. It had a nasty outside finish on it. Being they were rems, they had nicks and dings in them. Once I welded them together I used sand paper and spun it on my wood lathe. Everything else has just been hit with scotch brite. I also like to use the unitized wheels from 3M.(Grey) They move material faster then you would think and they don't leave heavy scratches behind. A quick rub with a scotch brite pad and you can blend it all in.

 

[BrewBeemer]

As GM stated "blend" as it's far better than a shiny finish that amplifies ever nick, scar and dent, call it a purpose added finish. I went as far a glass bead blasting a keg, it looked good until it was hit or rubbed against any hard object then it has a shiny streak that really stood out as an eyesore. A Scotchbrite finish can reapplied to hide a flawed added mark. Then the other option is buy brand new which is way over the top in cost to have Sabco advertisement model looking kegs.

 

[GreenMonti]

Ok, There was an increase in performance. The MK-I brought 15 gallons of water from a cold start to a boil in 45-46 mins. Without any mods to it. Running a cold water feed into the boiler also. I was running my burner at a rate of 2 lbs of propane per hour. So I got right about 60-62% system efficency. I can't seem to break this barrier. Every setup I have tried latley I keep getting these numbers. I don't believe I am in a bad spot with these numbers. I mean, I am heating water....so that water......can heat up more water. Sure seems backwards. But 60% efficiency out of a gas burner is pretty good.


So, I believe I am done testing and I am going to start planning my build and get busy. Well, since I have everything out. I am going to run the last condenser I built one more time just for fun. I am going to put it in the same 15 gallons of water. It will have a little bit of a head start, but it rocks for its size and the intensity of its boil. The head start should give me a more realistic run anyway. We don't boil our beer from cold starts.

 

[GreenMonti]

where do you get scotch brite pads? Can I just get them at Target in the kitchen section? I want to give this a try.

Yes, I have used the green ones before. I like the red (maroon) colored ones. IMO you get more life and better results from them. I got mine from the auto paint store. I have also been known to grab a couple from work every once in a while. The pic of my new keggle in the begging of the thread is purely a scotch brite rub by hand.

Edit:You deleted your post as I was typing. No bother to me. You didn't have to delete it. Totally fine.

 

[GreenMonti]

Here is a video of the MK-I running yesterday.

This is right after I started making steam. You can see the little bubbles coming up and out of the calandria. I was trying to show the up flow. It seems to move a fair amount of liquid.

 

[GreenMonti]

Here is another of the boil

 

[bendavanza]

ZZ Top "under pressure" very fitting background music

 

[hammis]

what happened to all the pictures? this seems incredibly interesting and i would love to see what it looks like.

 

[GreenMonti]

what happened to all the pictures? this seems incredibly interesting and i would love to see what it looks like.

I had an issue with my photo bucket account. I lost a lot of data. I can post up a pic of the MK-I. I still have it. I'll do it soon. Is there anything you would like to see specifically? I know you haven't seen it at all but......you must be interested in some part of it?

 

[randallr]

I would really love to know how this even works.

 

[WortMonger]

Greenmonti, if you don't go back and repost your pictures...I'm gonna sneak in like the tooth fairy and cockpunch you! There, is that enough to motivate you? CP coming your way!!!

 

[hammis]

GreenMonti, to be honest i'd love to see the whole progression of the build (i know its time consuming to post all those photo's). I'm playing around with the idea of using steam (already have a 40qt pressure cooker), so your build REALLY interests me.

 

[3 Dog Brew]

I subscribed to this thread to see how it all turns out. While I know you have no responsibility to me to, but I really want to understand how this works.

 

[kladue]

GreenMonti's system utilizes a tubing type flash boiler to generate steam, like I do. This has an advantage as the same boiler can be used for instant water heating or steam with changes in water flow and burner fire level. Pressure cookers can not safely match the steam output you can achieve with the copper or SS tube boilers, typically 2-4 times as much heat. For boiling you need to make a steam jacket for the kettle like GreenMonti has, or use a coil of tubing to keep steam and wort separated, it works but is more complicated than a direct fired kettle is. Here is a picture of the SS boiler for the automated system in three parts, boiler tubing, burner and 6" chimney tube https://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/NewBoilerAndMixer#5244098716185213058.

 

[mkp133]

What happened to this thread? I started reading the Flash boiler thread and then this one about a week ago and it just stops abruptly 8/24/11 and then 6 months of nothing. Most of the photos posted lost to photobucket oblivion. Does it pick up in another thread? I had it in my head that a flash boiler and calandria were the way to go, but how does this story end?

 

[WortMonger]

I too am sad the adventure hasn't continued.