Show us your sculpture or brew rig

[bendavanza]

Mylo. You should start a thread for that one, it is beer equipment porn indeed.

A year of wishing, dreaming, and planning, and building has come to an end. She's operational. I wouldn't say complete, but operational. I'm going to pop her cherry this weekend. I still need to insulate all the copper. The control panel is spartan and temporary. Just switches for now.

A special thanks to cdburg for answering a few questions for me as they arose.

A few of my "must have" features that I implemented:
- Stainless
- Single Tier
- Future upgradable to 20G
- Hard plumbing and redundant connections (so I don't have to move hoses)
- HERMS
- Intermittent Pilot on HLT
- Sight glass

Future:
Control panel with 2 PIDs, countdown and absolute timers, alarm, liquid level detector (to enable burner lockout on empty tun and overflow protection), mash tun float switch.

Have a look.


Mylo

 

[sailorb]

Here is my new rig, just brewed day before on it and it performed well, Did my first lager based on a Slovakian beer called Golden Phesant

 

[slimer]

Zlatý bažant!!!

Nice!

 

[sailorb]

Yes, and I visited the Pivovar in Moravia? last month when I visited a freind for two weeks, It was like a beer tour of Slovakia and Czech, they gave me a hard time cause I wouldn't go to any castles or museums , eventually they just called me Degustator Piva

 

[NormBrews]

heres a shot of my poor boy set up

<a href="http://s666.photobucket.com/albums/vv30/norm_58183/finished%20sculp/?action=view&current=finished2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv30/norm_58183/finished%20sculp/finished2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

and a nother
<a href="http://s666.photobucket.com/albums/vv30/norm_58183/finished%20sculp/?action=view&current=ignitors.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv30/norm_58183/finished%20sculp/ignitors.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[TerapinChef]

^^^Fail^^^

 

[SowegaBrews]

heres a shot of my poor boy set up

and a nother

fixed that for you... you used html code instead of BB code.

looks good!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Nice, that certainly aint no "poor boy set up" though! Nice rig, nice truck, nice driveway...aint nothin at all in that pic that's "poor boy".

We all can't brew like Claudius B now can we really?

edit...maybe now I get the expression...might be a regional thing yall.

 

[gruversm]

 

[TommyBoy]

Just switched the bottom end of my rig around. I now have the O2 unit hooked directly to the pump which saves a hose and clamp. (Not to mention now I don't have to lay the thing down on a bucket and worry about it falling off.) The thermometer is now easier to read with it aiming up instead of horizonal.

 

[dstar26t]

Not a rig, more like a disorganized mess:

 

[nostalgia]

My work in progress:

-Joe

 

[dutch101st]

Still have the plumming to do...

Rig minus plumbing...

Proposed plumbing

 

[crabtre]

Here's mine in use at 2008 Big Brew in Zanesville, OH at Weasel Boy Brewing

Different brew session showing CFC and cooling process.

 

[dutch101st]

Well, plumming is 99.9% done and TESTED. So far, looks good.

Just need a couple more high temp hoses and a couple more sets (I think 2) of quick disconnects. Once done, have to modify my brew keg burner as so to allow heat venting and then we are SET.

 

[brewslut]

Yesterday under a 10'x10' canopy in the POURING rain. made an black IPA called Dark Side IPA 1.062 OG 84 IBU's

 

[Wade E]

Finally getting around to start building a rig here. I started to brew beer and then we ran into some financial problems but am back again need to learn all over again. I have some extruded 2" square aluminum that I will use and it was free from a big slide saw from work that we scrapped. Hrer is what I have and also a commercially built unit which I am sort of copying fro except with 2 uprights.

 

[Brewsmith]

Here's mine in another thread

A wet, water only run to make sure all the connections worked, pumped correctly, and didn't leak. I'll post pics of the first brew session later this week, planned possibly Thursday.

 

[jordanpace]

Here are some pictures of my rig..
Its been going through some updates recently.

 

[opengun]

nice setup JP!

 

[Brew-ta-sauraus]

 

[Wade E]

Got my rig all set up tonight! Phooshopped in the HLT as thats this weekends project, Ill be using the same one as my MLT as it works fine (38 quart) and cheap for $19,95 at Target. Holes good stable temp for around 1 1/4 hours.

 

[metaltim]

ok so I'm a newb.. I've only done one extract brew..

so what are the 3 different kegs for? I'm assuming it is only for all grain brewing.. but without thinking too hard I can't figure out what happens in each step..

can someone enlighten me?

 

[Catt22]

Typically it's like this:

Top platform = HLT (Hot Liquor Tun = holds hot sparge water (gravity flow to MT)

Middle platform = MT (Mash Tun) = holds the mash (grain) (gravity flow to Boil Kettle.

Lowest Platform = BK (Boil Kettle = Where you boil the wort (gravity flow from MT)

That's the basic configuration. One of the first things you will notice with these systems and rigs is that it's rare to see identical setups. There are a lot of options if one wants to build an elaborate system which might include electronic automation with automatic temperature controls and such. Seems there's no limit sometimes.

It's not ONLY for all grain brewing. Any AG system can be used for extract batches. All you need is a boil kettle, a chiller and a fermenter for extract brewing and you would have that and a lot more.

 

[metaltim]

ah thanks.. what I meant was, if you were doing extract, you wouldn't need the 3 kegs.. just a pot and heat

So the top keg is just water? how hot is that usually? and when that pours into the second, does it sit for a while, or just pour through?

and if I have it right, the middle station is the one that is like ~150 deg? meaning the top one is too? (trying to answer my own question)

and bottom, of course, needs to boil.

is that right?

Thanks,

 

[Homercidal]

ah thanks.. what I meant was, if you were doing extract, you wouldn't need the 3 kegs.. just a pot and heat

So the top keg is just water? how hot is that usually? and when that pours into the second, does it sit for a while, or just pour through?

and if I have it right, the middle station is the one that is like ~150 deg? meaning the top one is too? (trying to answer my own question)

and bottom, of course, needs to boil.

is that right?

Thanks,

Just about like that. Although the top one can go up to 200 or even boiling, depending on the brewers method and purpose.

For extract, you could have boil kettle and then a gravity flow through a chiller to a fermenter.

 

[TommyBoy]

and if I have it right, the middle station is the one that is like ~150 deg? meaning the top one is too? (trying to answer my own question)

The middle is usually between 150 and 158. The reason the top one can be up to boiling is when you do step mashes (mashes where you need to ramp up your temperatures.) Through a simple calculation you can add a set amount of boiling water from the top to achieve a certain rise in temperature in the middle.

 

[Catt22]

ah thanks.. what I meant was, if you were doing extract, you wouldn't need the 3 kegs.. just a pot and heat

So the top keg is just water? how hot is that usually? and when that pours into the second, does it sit for a while, or just pour through?

and if I have it right, the middle station is the one that is like ~150 deg? meaning the top one is too? (trying to answer my own question)

and bottom, of course, needs to boil.

is that right?

Thanks,

Yes, more or less. I'd like to suggest some reading for you. Check out John Palmer's "How to Brew". It's a free download or you can just buy the 2nd edition:

How to Brew - By John Palmer

John pretty much gives you the whole enchilada in his book and it's a good general handbook of brewing to have around. You will quickly understand the basics of brewing and then you can figure out how to configure your brewery. A word of caution though, it's not usually a short journey.

 

[amercuric]

this is how we transient college students do it.

 

[lapdog]

made from my dogs kennel fencing. Since he didnt use it anymore I thought I might as well.