Three Dogs Brewery finally up and running

[RunkRod]

After 4 months of work, my HERMS is finally up and running. First batch started today. (had to abort due to temp problems prior to mashing in. more about that in a minute).
First, I want to thank all of you fine folks here on HBT. This is by far the most informative site I've ever come across. All aspects of my design were inspired (stolen) from you on this forum.

Now on to the HERMS:

Close ups and better pics in next post.

 

[RunkRod]

The control box: I have 120v coming in with 2 pump switches (only one pump right now) and 24v out to the propane valve. Also input from thermister to the Auber controller.

The HLT is nothing fancy. Keggle with analog temp gage, site glass, valve and HERMS coil (5/8"OD copper tube). HLT sits overtop LP banjo style burner controlled by the electronics. I've got an electric ignitor next to the pilot light for restarts if needed.

 

[RunkRod]

For the MT, I've got a copper frame, slotted via a dremel tool for my pickup, and another copper frame on top for my sparge arm. After playing with it today I may make some changes there. More about lessons learned at the end.

 

[RunkRod]

The BK sits overtop a HP turkey fryer cast burner. I like the jet engine flame for fast heating. I don't have any internal pics because my camera crapped out, but I have an immersion chiller inside, with connections coming up and over. Side inlet for whirlpool and side pickup tube. Plan is to recirc wort during cooling which should whirlpool the cold break and trub into center and allow me to transfer relatively clear wort to carboy. We'll see how well it goes in practice.

View of the back. Water filter on side. Valves either let non-filtered water go to immersion chiller or filtered water to dump into HLT. You can't quite see it, but there is an adjustable LP gas regulator next to the control box. I use that to adjust the burner under the BK. A low pressure regulator is underneath the furnace valve to step the pressure down as necessary for that valve.

Finally, here is my staff, which the "brewery" gets its name:

 

[RunkRod]

Couple of lessons learned today in the trial run. First, a disclaimer. This is (will be) my first AG. I've been an extract brewer for 15 years and only recently decided to jump in with both feet to AG. Built the HERMS mainly for something to do (I'm a DIY'r and am renting my current house, so can't work on anything).

Anyway, first lesson I discovered during a trial run last week is that the low pressure burner doesn't heat water very fast. So, I after filling the HLT, I transfer the water over to the BK for the initial heating (under the big flame of the high pressure burner). Then pump the required water to the MT and the rest back to the HLT. Here's where this plan failed me today, though. I needed a temp of 153 to mash in. (doing American Ale kit from Northern Brewer). Brought my BK up to 160 and started transfer. By the time everything was done, I was down to 144 degrees in my MT. Lit the LP burner under the HLT and started HERMS and stood there for 45 minutes watching the temp raise from 144 to 145. That burner is just too slow to raise temp and the heat transfer through my small HERMS coil just wasn't cutting it. So I had to abort the attempt today (fortunatley haven't mashed in or opened anything). So I'll try again first thing tomorrow. (cough, cough, can't go to work tomorrow....think I'm coming down with something...cough, cough)

Next problem I've already found. The analog thermometers don't touch water until there are 6-7 gallons in the keggle. Think I may have to just plug those holes and change the sight glass into a T fitting and put the thermometers there.

Sparge arm. To stir the grains (or add or do anything) I have to take the arm out. Thinking that perhaps doing some sort of curved tube that would hug the lip of the rim and then around the edge of the keggle will give me room to work. (the opening cut into this keggle is smaller than the others. Wish I had paid attention to that before I made this the MT).

Fresh water. May add another freshwater pipe direct to the BK. This would save me the step of having to fill the HLT and transfer over to BK to do the faster heating.

Gas piping. If I get around to it, I think I'll reroute the gas pipe. I've got it coming from the valve, around the back, side and then up and over the control box so that I could have the regulator right there at the box. I think now this is not as necessary and I can have the valve closer to the BK burner. Also maybe move the control valve onto the front of the stand so I don't have to reach from front to back to push in the pilot button to light. Originally thought I was going to hard plumb, so made the gas piping in the back like I saw so many others do, in order to save the room.

Would appreciate anyones comments or other lessons learned.

One last picture. Any brewery needs a logo. So here's mine:

 

[DavidR]

http://www.3dogbrew.com/

People with dogs like to make beer...

 

[RunkRod]

First batch is in the carboy!

System worked perfectly. Temp was held at 153 like I wanted. Boil was uneventful. The only downside I can see is that I diluted the wort a little from the recipe due to having too much water in the BK. I over estimated how much would be lost due to cold break and trub I would want to leave behind, so my side pickup tube was a little high. Left behind about 1.5 gallons. Which I did calculate in my plans (ended with perfect amount in carboy) but I did not adjust the recipe to account for the extra water. So I missed by SG. Target was 1.047, actual is 1.042. Considering all the drama I read over the years about AG (that caused me to fear making the jump), I'm counting this a great success and good start to the "new" brewery. :rockin::rockin:

I'm thinking next project: Conical Fermenter.

 

[Spartan1979]

Nice Logo. What happens when you add a fourth dog?

 

[ThreeDogsNE]

Catchy name!

I'm actually down one dog now, but will fix that next month.