The Upgraded Brewery

During the mounting process one of the balancing pumps fell resulting in an unfortunate head breakage. I figured ebay was the place to go for my stainless upgrade from the CHUGGER people. I have noted a slower output rate from the stainless, but I am more comfortable pushing cold wort through it over the poly. It was a rough first brew day but I am sure with a few brewdays I will be running this thing like a well tuned machine (who are we kidding, every brewday is different and I still need to finish the gas rail before I can call this project complete).

Thanks Swagman for the nice metal work, I know stainless can be a pain from what I understand. (This guy also does tri-clamps if you are interested)

The Herms coil was bent using my hands, a 90° pipe bender, and my weber grill for as a heat source to keep the stainless malleable. I recommend Silicone kitchen mitts for handling the hot tubing. The compression fittings were a real pain to work with. I recommend slipping them on both ends before any bending. Once that stainless bends it's no longer a smooth circle and it can be a serious bugger to shove it together

As always, feel free to ask any questions. I will attempt to get you answers.

note: I also found a great deal on ebay for the 5/8" stainless compression fittings for the copper counterflow chiller from morebeer at a great deal. I've been following the lead from http://theelectricbrewery.com/ lately and found them extremely resourceful.

Prepped pumps and other equipment for the next Brew day!

I have since acquired a new march pump, 10 sticks of 12' stainless 1" .125" thick for a brew stand (or two? anyone out there interested in negotiation?), a sump pump is on the way for cleaning equipment, two more thermometers for the keggle and the mash tun.

Theoretically, all of this equipment will help to save my back and brew better beer! Now that I am able to ferment in the house with the modified mini fridge (not the Wifey's favorite new toy ::shrug::). I still have some work to get the temp below 60 but I am sure I will figure it out. Maybe letting the compressor breath (vent) better would be a good start. I think everything should begin to get more consistent (as far as quality is concerned...ok, maybe consistency with process and not necessarily the quality of beer). Time will tell.

I have found a connection around town in the brewing community who may be willing to provide the welding needed to get the brew stand in order. Maybe I can talk him in to making another from the extra SS and he could keep it for his work or I could possibly sell it around town to pay him for all of his work. I still have a few things to iron out but I am a bit excited to say the least!!!!!!

With luck, I can talk the Wifey in to joining me down at the next brewfest down at Zona Rosa considering the Elders are playing. How nice it is to have great entertainment (while drinking great beer!).

In the meantime, I am passing time drinking Odell's St. Lupulin (I love the bottles for repackaging, even if I'm resting on the idea of kegging most of my beer from now on) and enjoying the new deck! 

PLC : Programmable Logic Controller

http://www.brew-magic.com/rims_brwy_pro.html

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=16&products_id=115

http://just-brew-it.com/

http://rims-brewery.blogspot.com/

http://www.beerbelliesbrew.com/HERMSController.html

http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/

http://home.highertech.net/~cdp/rims/rims_inf.htm

http://home.highertech.net/~cdp/

http://hbd.org/kroyster/construction.html

http://www.zymico.com/david/gott.htm

GRAIN STORAGE

Carlisle 10736 22 Quart White Square Carlisle StorPlus Container



http://www.webstaurantstore.com/carlisle-10736-22-quart-white-square-carlisle-storplus-container/27110736.html

$11.50 Each

GUESS WHAT I MADE LAST NIGHT....

My new Stir Plate! I have been working with the idea of makeing yeast starters and have decided it was time. Until now I have been working with the Wyeast Smack Packs. They have performed well but I think that I lost out on my OG while making my un-Imperial Porter. An OG of 1.062 is definately not 1.092. I will still have to decide on a housing, but at least the unit will function.

Note: The other accessories have been ordered and I am waiting on a shipment from http://www.morebeer.com/ and http://www.northernbrewer.com/

Crankandstein

http://www.sawdustangels.com/crankandstein.html

Mash Paddle

Schutte Lumber


Walnut 1x4x6 @ 20.34


At this price we could definately invade Leland's shop and sell them on ebay @ $30 a pop and and profit $40 to create some funds for overhead.
I think I recall people using lemon oil to condition the paddles


(they did not offer olive wood)

H.E.R.M.S.

http://hunahpu.blogspot.com/search/label/HERMS

The Bayou Classic Banjo Burner KAB4

It has arrived today via FedEx after ordering this last Friday...that is nice expedited STANDARD shipping! Thanks http://www.webstaurantstore.com/!

Stir Plate

I think we should make a kick ass Stir Plate like this!

-120mm comp fan
-25 ohm rheostat
-12V switch
-DC plug from a phone or similar 6 to 12V
-rare earth magnets or hard drive magnets
-stir bar
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A 12V DC fan such as found in PC power supplies. Other voltages will work if you have the right power supply.
Two rare-earth (strong!) magnets around 12x5mm. I bought mine from Alpha Magnetics in Boronia for 75c each (+GST).
Plastic plate (must be non magnetic) for the flask to sit on. Furthermore with the aluminium plate I first tried, although it didn't interfere with the magnetic coupling between the motor and stir bar, it really gave the motor a hernia so I resorted to wood. I will replace with perspex when I get a chance.
Misc machine screws and spacers. I ended up using 40mm M3 screws which allowed me to fit two 9mm spacers (threaded) to the motor and some M3 short machine screws to hold the platform down.
One or more stir bars. I made the mistake of buying the variety that has a ring in the middle to act as a pivot. Well unfortunately it pivots every revolution and the rattling forced me to leave the starter out in the garage overnight. I will be getting the "no ring" version very soon. I sourced these from Science Supply Australia in Mitcham. They also have conical flasks.
You will also need a suitable vessel for stirring in, such as a conical flask, ideal because it has a flat base. Common glass vessels typically have a convex bottom (looking at the inside) making it difficult to centre the stir bar.


http://brewiki.org/StirPlate

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http://www.thebitterbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=64
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www.stirbars.com

Brew Sculpture

Brewdog has a nice basic DIY BrewSculpture that I think we can build and it looks cheap enough.

Sanitization

StarSan
-Stay under 110F (equally effective regardless of water temp as long as withing working range), work for 3 min.

Bottling
-hold caps in Star San while bottling

Copper

Never store your copper "wet". It corrodes!

Keg Despensing

LINE LENGTH
longer line = more pressure to compensate for lost pressure over the length

Each keg with a different style beer needs separate regulator

higher volume

PA @ 2.5 Volume (cross-reference PSI vs Temp = Volume) Here will be a link for this spreadsheet

LINE DIAMETER
smaller diam. = better pressure
Sold by the foot. 3/16" is the best size for most beer lines under 9' in length. Ideally, 5' provides the correct restriction for serving beer in the 8-14 psi range.
morebeer.com Beverage_Line_3_16_ID_-_By_the_Foot @ $0.55


Cornie Keg Dispenser
morebeer.com CO2_Injector_Ball_Lock @ $21.95

Kegging

NEED TO PURCHASE:
Ball Valve connectors x 1 gas
Ball Valve connectors x 1 beer
keg post O-Rings (spares) loof for cracks etc.
co2 line
beer line? can I use the one I have ....need to look.


ADVANTAGES:
-less to clean (1 keg vs. 48 bottles)
-can select amount of pressure (carbonation) with regulator


TIPS:
-spray starsan on everything
-when an o-ring is replaced, replace the other one as well
-inspect often (gas can leak from poor o-ring condition and lose all of the gas over one night)
-look in to KEG WASHER
-Lube Keg when equipment is warm
-BLC Beer line Cleaner (caustic cleaner)
-can naturally carbonate by adding sugar directly to the keg
-pin lock or ball lock? Ball lock is more available.

PROCESS:
connect, run to 10-15 psi to check for leaks and then release some pressure.

HopBack

http://www.deerislandbrewery.com/projects.html

I like this one

Keggle Conversion Info

step-up bit from Harbor Freight

Carboy Cleaner

Stainless Steel

DIY SloBrewer using HBN Solution that works for Cornies as well!

Grain Mill Ideas

Brewkats

DIY SloBrewer

Tubing

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=0&idproduct=2490