Recirculating BIAB Mini-rig

[kellanv]

Hi everyone. Long time lurker and recent poster. I started out making wine and mead and made my way over to beer brewing which I have come to love. Currently I have been limited to partial mashes which I have completed about 12 batches of them. Soon however my house renovation will be over and I will be constructing a brew shed and getting my all grain system together. While the brew shed will be a different post when the time comes, I plan on having a temp controlled walk in type fermenter, sinks, keezer etc.

That being said, I want to run this first bit by everyone. I want to go with a BIAB system due to the simplicity and limited drawbacks for the type of beers I typically make. My goal is to have something moderately portable and simple to maintain and clean. My time is limited so I would like to spend the majority of my time brewing rather than playing with my soldering iron and welder even tho some is absolutely fine. Here are my thoughts:

• Use my current SQ-14 for heating strike water and direct firing the kettle
• Obtain a Penrose kettle with an additional bulkhead for a top input/whirlpool
• Build a small stand (for now) to hold my DudaDiesel Plate (B3-23A 30 plate) chiller and March 815 pump. The stand will serve as the connection point for everything. I have a little connection node mounted to the stand.
• Use camlocks and hoses (for now) to switch connections
• Wife says she will make me a nylon bag of my design for the grain as well as hops spider
• Eventually if all goes well I hope to use a heater element and PID to maintain the RIMS mash temperature. Should be quite easy to put into the system. Will probably hard-pipe the majority at that point.

First image is the configuration for the mash recirculation. Hoses coded to show switching.

Second is the recirculating chill. Garden hoses omitted for clarity. Basically recirculate the wort through the chiller back to the kettle until cold break then I can disconnect the green hose to the kettle and put it into the fermenter.

Thoughts? Thanks for everyone's talent on this forum. So much great information.

Kellan

 

[Seven]

I don't see any photos / attachments if you tried including them with your post.

The 15-gallon Penrose kettle looks pretty cool. I found using a kettle with a wide opening helps with BIAB.

Can't really comment on the rest because I don't recirculate, etc., but it looks like you're off to a good start!

 

[kellanv]

I tried to direct link the images through a URL. Just attached them. Thanks!

 

[wolfman_48442]

It looks like it'd work just fine, but here are my possible gotchas:
1) Are you going to use a lid for the Penrose? It was my understanding that they don't come with lids. Obviously only an issue for mashing.
2) I put my recirculation/sparge connection in the lid of my pot (really stolen from Lonnie's BRUTUS) because:
a) My basket fits so tight I couldn't seat it past a connection in the side of the vessel. I feel that you want to have your return going into the bag; If you're using a bag without a basket, I'm not sure how you'd do that in your layout.
b) I like the idea of being able to switch lids like Lonnie does to mash/boil etc if I ever go to multiple vessels.

 

[Tinga]

you might want to incorporate a pulley system with the stand as well. I have seen a few pulley systems with BIAB and they look slick. you could add a few more feet onto the stand currently holding your plate chiller and pump.

 

[goybar]

That is basically what I do.

Mine is pretty ghetto right now.

Eventually I will upgrade system etc, but it works.

The spring clamp controls the flow of the pump so I don't drain to much out of the kettle at one time. Will get a stainless steel ball valve someday.

40qt Aluminum pot
Chugger pump
Aluminum ProFlowDynamics disconnects
Bayou Classic SP-10 Burner

Chris

 

[bullinachinashop]

That is basically what I do.

Mine is pretty ghetto right now.

Eventually I will upgrade system etc, but it works.

The spring clamp controls the flow of the pump so I don't drain to much out of the kettle at one time. Will get a stainless steel ball valve someday.

40qt Aluminum pot
Chugger pump
Aluminum ProFlowDynamics disconnects
Bayou Classic SP-10 Burner

Chris

That's not Getto, Thats a work of art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love it.

Bull

 

[kellanv]

That is basically what I do.

Mine is pretty ghetto right now.

Eventually I will upgrade system etc, but it works.

The spring clamp controls the flow of the pump so I don't drain to much out of the kettle at one time. Will get a stainless steel ball valve someday.

Yes very similar and no worries about ghetto. Whatever works! I'm probably overkilling a simple pump/chiller mount but at least I know it will be solid

In regards to the lid, I think I would rather have the input in the side of the pot due to the fact that I plan on having a male camlock on the inside so I can clip in different whirlpool/circulation attachments. I think I should be able to remove the internal component, put the bag in, and attach it no problem.

When I do my electric rims I think I may include the pully on the stand. For now tho I may just mount it on the brew shed itself!

Thanks for the input so far!

Kellan

 

[brewman !]

you might want to incorporate a pulley system with the stand as well. I have seen a few pulley systems with biab and they look slick.

+1

 

[goybar]

Right now the silcon tubing is just placed in the pot, held down with lid and large office clips (the black ones), they are also what I use to secure the bag to the top of the kettle.

I have plenty of the quick disconnects, my plan is to put them to use in the lid of the kettle for the return. to help keep heat in. I do not want to put another inlet at the top of the pot. Depending on what I'm brewing or quantity, it can get fairly close to the top.

 

[kellanv]

Hmm I may need to look into the inlet placement a bit more.

My concern about a rack mounted hoist is the overall height the whole stand would have to be. With a 19" kettle roughly 18" off the ground, the bag would have to be lifted at least 19" above its resting point in the kettle, which will leave me somewhere in the ballpark of a 5' tall stand! I'll model it and see where I get with that one.

Question as far as thermometer placement goes on this thing. Since I plan on recirculating through the majority of the process, could I forgo the kettle mounted thermometer for something placed inline with the pump/return? If I placed a thermometer on the stand's connection point, I could probably use the same one for both recirc temp monitoring and then when the hoses are switched, chilling temp. Thoughts? Would this be more accurate than something in the kettle?

 

[brewman !]

If you can, I'd do both locations.

 

[goybar]

I have the kettle one and another hand held digital one placed in the stream output of the returning wort.

I use both to help determine if I need to turn on off the heat..

 

[kellanv]

Ok so quick update here. I've been toying around with a few thoughts regarding the rig and I believe I am narrowing down what I'd like to do.

Thermometer wise I believe I'll go with a Thermoworks handheld as well as a bimetal somewhere after the chiller.

Other than that after several opinions requesting the need for some sort of pully/hook here is what Ive got. Using some metal track door hardware that I already have, I figured I could make a slider that could move the big over the pot, as well as hold it over another vessel. The RIMS tube, chiller, and pump would be located along the tower portion. The burner from my SQ-14 could be mounted to the frame. I think in this configuration I could easily roll it around and take it places for group brew days.

I'm hoping to have a cylinder bag made with the ability to attach two metal hoops to make the bottom and top more rigid. This would allow me to keep the mesh off the bottom and maximize water circulation.

Thoughts?

 

[backe]

That looks awesome. I want to build something similar (at some point), albeit slightly less complex.

One thing I would suggest though, perhaps the feet should protrude closer to the extreme of the rail. It might make it a bit more stable, as the bag/used grain can be pretty heavy.

All-in-all, I love it!

 

[magnj]

Chris, looks good. One suggestion. Restrict the output of the pump rather than the input

That is basically what I do.

Mine is pretty ghetto right now.

Eventually I will upgrade system etc, but it works.

The spring clamp controls the flow of the pump so I don't drain to much out of the kettle at one time. Will get a stainless steel ball valve someday.

40qt Aluminum pot
Chugger pump
Aluminum ProFlowDynamics disconnects
Bayou Classic SP-10 Burner
Chris