Hi
Im an Italian homebrewer and I have started some months ago a project in order to build a single vessel electric heated brewing system ..something similar to the well known Speidel Braumeister . The main driver behind this project was to build an all in one system very compact, light, easy to use, easy to clean system that implements the BIAB process and brewing philosophy
Now Im completing last construction details and Im near to close the make phase and start testing the system. In order to understand all the fundamentals of BIAB brewing I have registered the forum and started reading the posts. Lot of useful information and ideas and viceversa I would like to share my project details open to any comments and suggestions
Lets start from some construction details and schema !
Here is some printout of Google sketchUP 3D CAD and a 2D drawings
I will use for the external vessel a stainless steel thermo pot with external diameter 40cm and internal 35cm the suitable eight is 40cm so I have a total volume of 38L. The use of a thermo insulated pot should help boiling and mashing with lower power.
Inside the external vessel there is the malt pipe . I have used a light stainless steal stove pipe . The diameter is 25cm in order to have enough space for heating element, pump inlet/outlet and so on. Few centimetre from the bottom I have inserted a polyethylene false bottom cut form a cheese mold. The polyethylene is food grade and can resist to hot temperature, moreover its easier to cut and shape than stainless steal. The bottom of cheese mold has the right size hole and they are a little bit conical.
In order to fix the filter to the pipe I take the advantage that the pipe is conical and one side has a slightly higher diameter. Everything is sealed by food grade silicone
Considering empty space on the bottom and 1-2 CM of difference on the top the malt pipe I have a total volume of 18-19 L ( 25 cm radius x 40 cm height)
The heating is provided by a general purpose bend to shape heating element the total power is 2,5Kw and the length its perfect in order to create 2 coils inside the external vessel. I have also bought a gland kit in order to fix and insulate the terminal
At the end there is the circulating pump I think is a well known component for the recirculation Laing Ecocric E1 with ½ inlet/outlet. It has been fixed on the bottom of the external vessel
Pump and heating element are controlled by a panel where I have inserted a PID controller and SSR relay and all the switches and cables
I have added 4 legs to support the external vessel some industrial surplus with fine regulation of the height I have modified in order to join to the bottom of the vessel and the complete set up is very compact and light.
The pipe must be pressed to the bottom in order to seal it. This is one of the most critical point I have tested different sealing solution but with poor results I have tried with designed silcon U channel extruded but with poor result
I have played a little bit around the sealing issue one point I would like to improve was the system on the top of the malt pipe that press down on it in order to guarantee sealing
I have build a little aluminium cross that has 3 anchorages on the external vessel (the one used for the original cover)
In this way I can easily lock the malt pipe and with the external lever amd proper spring I can apply a good pressure on the malt pipe
Moreover I have a short threaded pipe in the middle of the cross where I can screw in the top filter. Easy solution to apply and remove at the end of the mash phase.
You can see the result with pure water in this video
http://youtu.be/HDFqfHjE7-c
At the end I have changed the approach: I have bought a plug for the stove pipe hand I have implemented a 15cm hole where I have applied a soft and thick silicon O-ring.
The plug could easily inserted and removed from the stove pipe and the contact surface is much higher and guarantee and optimal sealing.
In this way I have a light and modular solution and the hole dimension allow me to drain the wort more easily than a pot with just a small connector.
The video below show you the assembling and you can see that the flow rate of the pump eliminating the leakage is quite good
[ame]http://youtu.be/QjXofrOrU5c[/ame]
Finally I have built the top filter with again with a cheese mold bottom and fine grid. The filter is anchored to the top cross and can be easily inserted and removed.
I have done a final test with 4kg of crushed malt grain just to see if the pump , the filter, the sealing, the heating element is ok in running condition and everything seems work well as you can see in this last video !
[ame]http://youtu.be/S6Toru4CIJQ[/ame]
Hope you like my assembly and I will update as soon I start testing BIAB brewing
enjoy
Davide
Im an Italian homebrewer and I have started some months ago a project in order to build a single vessel electric heated brewing system ..something similar to the well known Speidel Braumeister . The main driver behind this project was to build an all in one system very compact, light, easy to use, easy to clean system that implements the BIAB process and brewing philosophy
Now Im completing last construction details and Im near to close the make phase and start testing the system. In order to understand all the fundamentals of BIAB brewing I have registered the forum and started reading the posts. Lot of useful information and ideas and viceversa I would like to share my project details open to any comments and suggestions
Lets start from some construction details and schema !
Here is some printout of Google sketchUP 3D CAD and a 2D drawings
I will use for the external vessel a stainless steel thermo pot with external diameter 40cm and internal 35cm the suitable eight is 40cm so I have a total volume of 38L. The use of a thermo insulated pot should help boiling and mashing with lower power.
Inside the external vessel there is the malt pipe . I have used a light stainless steal stove pipe . The diameter is 25cm in order to have enough space for heating element, pump inlet/outlet and so on. Few centimetre from the bottom I have inserted a polyethylene false bottom cut form a cheese mold. The polyethylene is food grade and can resist to hot temperature, moreover its easier to cut and shape than stainless steal. The bottom of cheese mold has the right size hole and they are a little bit conical.
In order to fix the filter to the pipe I take the advantage that the pipe is conical and one side has a slightly higher diameter. Everything is sealed by food grade silicone
Considering empty space on the bottom and 1-2 CM of difference on the top the malt pipe I have a total volume of 18-19 L ( 25 cm radius x 40 cm height)
The heating is provided by a general purpose bend to shape heating element the total power is 2,5Kw and the length its perfect in order to create 2 coils inside the external vessel. I have also bought a gland kit in order to fix and insulate the terminal
At the end there is the circulating pump I think is a well known component for the recirculation Laing Ecocric E1 with ½ inlet/outlet. It has been fixed on the bottom of the external vessel
Pump and heating element are controlled by a panel where I have inserted a PID controller and SSR relay and all the switches and cables
I have added 4 legs to support the external vessel some industrial surplus with fine regulation of the height I have modified in order to join to the bottom of the vessel and the complete set up is very compact and light.
The pipe must be pressed to the bottom in order to seal it. This is one of the most critical point I have tested different sealing solution but with poor results I have tried with designed silcon U channel extruded but with poor result
I have played a little bit around the sealing issue one point I would like to improve was the system on the top of the malt pipe that press down on it in order to guarantee sealing
I have build a little aluminium cross that has 3 anchorages on the external vessel (the one used for the original cover)
In this way I can easily lock the malt pipe and with the external lever amd proper spring I can apply a good pressure on the malt pipe
Moreover I have a short threaded pipe in the middle of the cross where I can screw in the top filter. Easy solution to apply and remove at the end of the mash phase.
You can see the result with pure water in this video
http://youtu.be/HDFqfHjE7-c
At the end I have changed the approach: I have bought a plug for the stove pipe hand I have implemented a 15cm hole where I have applied a soft and thick silicon O-ring.
The plug could easily inserted and removed from the stove pipe and the contact surface is much higher and guarantee and optimal sealing.
In this way I have a light and modular solution and the hole dimension allow me to drain the wort more easily than a pot with just a small connector.
The video below show you the assembling and you can see that the flow rate of the pump eliminating the leakage is quite good
[ame]http://youtu.be/QjXofrOrU5c[/ame]
Finally I have built the top filter with again with a cheese mold bottom and fine grid. The filter is anchored to the top cross and can be easily inserted and removed.
I have done a final test with 4kg of crushed malt grain just to see if the pump , the filter, the sealing, the heating element is ok in running condition and everything seems work well as you can see in this last video !
[ame]http://youtu.be/S6Toru4CIJQ[/ame]
Hope you like my assembly and I will update as soon I start testing BIAB brewing
enjoy
Davide