The Brewflex

[jas0420]

Hi all. I’m new to the board here, but have been snooping around for a couple of weeks. I decided last month to take the all-grain plunge and have been working on a new brew-stand to accommodate it. I wanted to show it off now that it is finally taking shape. If you have any pesky exercise equipment laying around, it may have hope of actually becoming useful… That thing’s going to sculpt me a new body one way or another……………… :cross:

Anyway, I’ve still got a few weeks of building and parts scavenging to go before I get to try it out, but I wanted to pop in and say hi now so that I’m not a total stranger when it comes time to actually try all grain and I find that I have a ton of questions!

You guys have done some pretty amazing projects here, so I also wanted to thank those of you that have shared your ideas. Very helpful!

http://www.photosbyjasonsmith.com/brewing

 

[olllllo]

That is so awsomely dripping with irony, I can't take it.

What's next? A defibulator controlled deep fryer?

 

[John Beere]

very cool. Man, I gotta learn to weld...

 

[EdWort]

very cool. Man, I gotta learn to weld...

I hear ya brotha! Me too. Brewflex looks very cool so far.

I wish I had an empty clean garage like that too!

 

[Jester369]

That thing’s going to sculpt me a new body one way or another…

Too freakin' funny! What a great idea

 

[brewitall]

What can you do with the Eliptical trainer gathering dust in my garage?

 

[jas0420]

Heh... I've got an eliptical sitting in the same room as the Soloflex was before I plucked it, so check back in on my website every now and then 'cause you never know......................

Actually, I SHOULD drag it out to the garage and make myself use it while I brew. Maybe siphon off the wattage it creates to power the water heater element for the herms tank........... naw.

 

[98EXL]

BeerFlex, I am in love. That is so freaking awesome....and yet another reason why I want a mig or a tig....and a plasma torch, and ..................... you get the idea

 

[Dude]

That is pretty damn sweet!

 

[Short Drive]

Jason, I really like the rig. Clever use of items on hand. One question though. What kind of kettles are those, where did you get them and how sturdy are they?
Ok, so thats three questions.

 

[Lil' Sparky]

I am mightily impressed!! That's some great ingenuity there!

 

[jas0420]

Thank you for the comments everyone!

Jason, I really like the rig. Clever use of items on hand. One question though. What kind of kettles are those, where did you get them and how sturdy are they?
Ok, so thats three questions.

Short Drive, these are Bayou Classic 62 qt. SS part #'s 1160 (with basket) and 1060 (without basket). I searched high and low and found them with a basket at www.bbqguys.com for $120.71 + shipping. That one became my birthday gift from my wife.

http://www.bbqguys.com/item_Bayou-C...W-Lid_Basket_path_7112-7133_item_1509117.html

Then I decided it needed friends so I searched higher and lower and found a few places that sold it without a basket. I wound up getting two more like this from www.patiolover.com for $101.99/ea plus very reasonable shipping (they call them "60-qt" online, but they're really the same 62-qt as the first one). Was a LITTLE hesitant about patiolover.com... Couldn't find any reviews about them, but they came through very nicely for me. Would buy from them again.

http://www.patiolover.com/products.php?pid=77716490

Anyway, I haven't ever played with any of the kettles from the LHB shops to compare with, but these are thicker than my previous 9'ish gal SS pot I got at Academy for... seems like about $75. I haven't put a drop of water in them yet, so my opinion may change but for now I'm very happy with them.

-jason

 

[Short Drive]

Thanks.....

 

[jas0420]

Mannnnnnnnn.... I've had a couple of the older KAB4 Banjo cookers on order with Amazon for the older $65 price w/ free shipping and they let me know today that they won't ship 'til July now (which to me says they'll never ship b/c the KAB5 is around the corner). These were just about the last (I hope) pieces of hardware I was needing, so I don't really want to wait for either of them.

Y'all think the 19" at the bottom of this page would heat 10 gallons?
http://www.tejassmokers.com/newproducts_page6.htm

Ok, more seriously... I do like the multi-jet burners (I'll admit to some degree that it's because they look cool). I've been eyeballing these: http://www.instawares.com/propane-gas-32-tip.tfs-226804p.0.7.htm I was already cringing at what two of the Banjos were going to set me back.... Shipped, these will be about $26 more. I'm certainly no heat transfer expert, but I've convinced myself that the wider burners like these are going to heat more evenly. My old turkey fryer setup was pretty easy to see where the hot spot was after wort boil b/c there was always a thin layer that baked onto the bottom of the pot afterwards. On the other hand, the goal was to make it boil, and that's what it did, so I haven't tossed the idea of going with a less expensive one. Before I pull the trigger though I was wondering if anyone had found a better deal on the multi-jets like at Instawares.

 

[98EXL]

any more updates?

 

[jas0420]

Yes! Sorry, I haven't checked in here in a while.... Life has been getting in the way of my project here, so it's drug out longer than I had hoped. I've been sneaking time in on it every chance I get though. I am pretty sure I will be wrapping the whole thing up this weekend. Finally. Just in time to be out of town on vacation the next two weekends! Can't win, sometimes.

Anyway, I still need to build a shield of some sorts for the pump, finish rigging up the valves and thermometer on a couple of the pots, decide how I'm going to make my sight guages, install them, get my hoses cut and the quick disco's on everything, plumb up the coil for the heat exchanger, and probably a few other odds and ends that I'm not thinking about, but it's close!!!!

Got all of the pics updated to the point that it exists as of right now. Hopefully some final pics online by tomorrow night!

http://www.photosbyjasonsmith.com/brewing

 

[gnets99]

Me thinks I'll be taking the torch to my wieght bench next week!!!!! That set-up is truly awesome!! :rockin:
I'm sort of an electronics geek, so I'm kinda curious as to what you got in that control panel!!

 

[jas0420]

Haha, thanks gnets! Yes, I'm hoping to start a grass-roots movement to improve all exercise equipment in a similar manner.

The control panel is sadly empty inside. It WAS a panel with a 12v DC converter in it that played some part in our door badge control system at work. We upgraded to a new system, and I found that hanging up in the ceiling one day. Happened to be the same time frame that I was looking for just such a thing, so it worked out well.

I haven't found a use for the 12v board just yet (thinking "lights" tho), so the only things that are in it are the three toggles, a PID like one that you'll see several of if you search eBay for "pid", and a solid state relay to boost the PID signals up to 120v to control the water heater element. So aside from what you see poking out the front, the SSR is the only thing behind the curtains. Again, I do think that's a pretty sad situation to be in, so I'll keep an eye out for more toys to cram in there. Either that, or just keep it locked and let people use their imaginations.

 

[98EXL]

you can always use the "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you" routine

 

[jas0420]

I finally got to brew on Brewflex yesterday!! I was a little too busy trying to figure everything out to take many pics, but I did put a few more online.

All things considered, it went really well. I wasn't expecting it to be a flawless day, and it wasn't. I do have one piece of advice to pass along to anyone who cares... If you build your own sight glass, pony up and buy a valve to stick inline. I thought I'd be smart and lessen my chances of breaking it by just using a piece of hose to hold it to the pipe that goes into the kettle. It had quite a bit of sway and could take a pretty decent bump, so I wasn't too worried about it. What I didn't take into consideration though was the heat. The HLT and MT did ok, but when it came time for the boil, the hose couldn't hold up. It wound up getting so soft that the entire sight glass took a nose dive to its demise on the garage floor, soon to be followed by about a gallon of wort before I could get another glass moved in to fill it's spot. I've got some better hose, some pipe reinforcement to slide over it, and some valves ordered to hopefully reduce further tragedy, but figured I'd share my mistake to help others.

The only thing I didn't have complete was my heat transfer pot to circulate my mash through. Wound up not being able to coil the 1/2" copper small enough to fit into the first pot (ok, it was a little trash can), so for this time I heated up the coil in my old pre-Brewflex kettle. Will probably break down and move the water heater element over to that kettle since it was big enough.

All in all though, given how much changed on me since last time I got to brew, it went pretty well! Well enough that I had fermentation this morning, so that's what counts I guess.

I've been eyeballing the stirplates you guys have been working on.... Think that's going to be my next project (it never ends!). Got some "clumpage" in the starter this time for some reason.............

 

[98EXL]

wow, that looks great all done man!