My Brutus finally done

[jcav]

She is beautiful Brewnick! You did an excellent job, you should be very proud! One question, how do you like them cam-locks? Are they 1/2 inch and what two letters on the male and female ends did you end up buying? Once again she really is a thing of beauty!

John

After eating peanut butter sandwiches all winter to get this thing done, I can now go out to dinner, and my wife can finally stop whining so much. :cross:

I have to thank Lonnie for the inspiration to build it, and to all others that I have stolen a design element or two from in order to create my own version.
It is all stainless with the exception of the Autosparger and the ASCO valves.
I've ran through fluid movement tests, boil/burner tests, but have not done a full test brew with it yet. I still need to fix my false bottom, and then I'll be ready to brew on it.

Here are the other pictures of the build progress. I hope you can view it from the Picasa link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Trailmudder/Brutus?feat=directlink

I will lead a very happy life if I never have to drill another hole in Stainless Steel. -But....it was still worth it!

Please let me know what you think.

 

[ReverseMonk]

Hey Brewnick,
What are you using for a false bottom? Looks like standard hinged in your pics, but do you mind sharing what size it is?

 

[Snake10]

Brewnick,

Awesome job! The detail is fantastic. She's definitely a clean machine. I was looking at sparge setup. Is that an auto sparge? Guess you recirculate the wort, then disconnect and then plug into the sparge unit? Or do you recirculate using the sparge rig?

Snake10

 

[brewnickbrew]

Sorry for the delay in responding to you all..........
Let me know if you have any further questions.

Nicely done! I really like the idea you had for the pump shroud. Congrats on the completion of the build, now let the fun begin!

Thank very much it has been fun so far. I cannot wait to keep the brews going.

She is beautiful Brewnick! You did an excellent job, you should be very proud! One question, how do you like them cam-locks? Are they 1/2 inch and what two letters on the male and female ends did you end up buying? Once again she really is a thing of beauty!

John

Thanks John.
I really like the cam locks a lot. They are 1/2 inch. I used a combination of the letters. I'd have to go back and look in more detail. I am sure I ordered almost all the letters they carry.

Hey Brewnick,
What are you using for a false bottom? Looks like standard hinged in your pics, but do you mind sharing what size it is?

I am using a custom made false bottom made by Jaybird (see vendors classifieds) It is solid made. I did have to modify it some. I am using the high temp silicone tubing split down the middle and wedged between the kettle wall and the False Bottom. That way there is no channeling.
Let me know if you want to see pictures of this. I can tell you it works great.

Brewnick,

Awesome job! The detail is fantastic. She's definitely a clean machine. I was looking at sparge setup. Is that an auto sparge? Guess you recirculate the wort, then disconnect and then plug into the sparge unit? Or do you recirculate using the sparge rig?

Snake10

Snake: Thank you.
I do have the auto sparge set up. I adjust it so that I can recirculate through the auto sparger. Come time for sparge I adjust it so that the float valve will do it's job.

 

[ReverseMonk]

I am using a custom made false bottom made by Jaybird (see vendors classifieds) It is solid made. I did have to modify it some. I am using the high temp silicone tubing split down the middle and wedged between the kettle wall and the False Bottom. That way there is no channeling.
Let me know if you want to see pictures of this. I can tell you it works great.

I have a couple 15" FBs from Jaybird and I can attest to their high quality. You said yours are custom made...is your FB one of his standard 15" or did you truly have a custom diameter cut for your kettles? I am looking at the same kettles you use (the specs on the Bayou website say 15 1/4" for the kettles) for a new build for a friend and curious what diameter your false bottoms are.

Cheers

 

[brewnickbrew]

I have a couple 15" FBs from Jaybird and I can attest to their high quality. You said yours are custom made...is your FB one of his standard 15" or did you truly have a custom diameter cut for your kettles? I am looking at the same kettles you use (the specs on the Bayou website say 15 1/4" for the kettles) for a new build for a friend and curious what diameter your false bottoms are.

Cheers

Yeah, I had to have J-Bird make them 15.5" and it was still too small. I think 15" 5/8 would have been more appropriate.
I ended up grinding the FB down to allow for silicone tubing to be wedged in.
This ended up being a happy accident as there is no way channeling can be taken into effect with this set up. It takes some extra work to get it set in there just right, but I have learned how to finagle it in there.

Let me know if you need to see pictures. I can try and get one uploaded for you this weekend if you'd like.
I can also get the final dimensions of the FB too.
Let me know if you have any further questions.

 

[brewnickbrew]

Nicely done! I really like the idea you had for the pump shroud. Congrats on the completion of the build, now let the fun begin!

Thank you.
So far this thing is awesome.

 

[tch1980]

Very nice build!!!

 

[USMCYoder]

Nice setup man. Definitely the new standard when others are going to start doing theirs. Makes me want to be shipped out of NYC sooner and down to Florida so I can do some building of my own.

 

[brewnickbrew]

Very nice build!!!

Thank you. It is brewing like a charm!

Nice setup man. Definitely the new standard when others are going to start doing theirs. Makes me want to be shipped out of NYC sooner and down to Florida so I can do some building of my own.

Thank you. I would highly suggest building this if you have the time. Best of luck. Be patient and it will pay off in the end. I am so glad I took my time with it.

 

[humann_brewing]

well done sir!

 

[brewnickbrew]

well done sir!

Awesome. Thank you!