Supergrump
Well-Known Member
I was getting sick of carrying full pots from my laundry room to my garage, or acting as a one-man bucket brigade to fill my HLT with brewing liquor. I decided to plumb my brewstand with a copper water manifold so I could plug in a garden hose and get on-demand brewing liquor plus cold water for chilling my wort. Garden hose water tastes bad, so I needed a filter to clean the water that will be used as brewing liquor. I live in the Vancouver (BC, Canada) area, and our water was recently voted best in the world, so I wouldn't require a filter otherwise, except for the rare times when the municipal water supply flushes the lines with extra chlorine. But, it doesn't hurt.
I created a copper manifold with an in-line water filter, and a bypass to route water to my chiller. This is before mounting to the bottom of my brewstand:
I tested it for leaks and surprised myself with my soldering ability. I'm getting better at it!
The line continues towards the lower-left of the image and terminates with a ball valve and a hose barb.
Here it is mounted to my brew stand:
The blue line at the far end of the brewstand is meant to plug into a chiller. I intend to purchase a plate chiller that will be mounted to my stand and the blue hose at the far end will attach permanently to the cold water input of the chiller. I might have to replace the blue hose with a braided line - I haven't checked how hot the stand gets near the bottom.
I've tested it and overall it works great. There's no off-taste on the output side of the filter - the water tastes clean and fresh.
The only potential flaw is with the power supply for my two 12-volt pumps. You can see near the middle of image 3 above that my power packs are plugged into an extension cord and strapped to the bottom of the frame. It would pose a serious danger if water were to come into contact with the power supply, and it could potentially charge the entire frame without me knowing till it's too late. The flaw is with the power supply and not the water line, however, and I'll have to find a more compact power supply that can be safely contained within a watertight box soon.
Just wanted to show off a little 'cause I'm so proud of my latest project. Thanks for indulging me.
I created a copper manifold with an in-line water filter, and a bypass to route water to my chiller. This is before mounting to the bottom of my brewstand:
I tested it for leaks and surprised myself with my soldering ability. I'm getting better at it!
The line continues towards the lower-left of the image and terminates with a ball valve and a hose barb.
Here it is mounted to my brew stand:
The blue line at the far end of the brewstand is meant to plug into a chiller. I intend to purchase a plate chiller that will be mounted to my stand and the blue hose at the far end will attach permanently to the cold water input of the chiller. I might have to replace the blue hose with a braided line - I haven't checked how hot the stand gets near the bottom.
I've tested it and overall it works great. There's no off-taste on the output side of the filter - the water tastes clean and fresh.
The only potential flaw is with the power supply for my two 12-volt pumps. You can see near the middle of image 3 above that my power packs are plugged into an extension cord and strapped to the bottom of the frame. It would pose a serious danger if water were to come into contact with the power supply, and it could potentially charge the entire frame without me knowing till it's too late. The flaw is with the power supply and not the water line, however, and I'll have to find a more compact power supply that can be safely contained within a watertight box soon.
Just wanted to show off a little 'cause I'm so proud of my latest project. Thanks for indulging me.
