Benefits of Stainless set up?

[Baldbrewer]

Hi all,
This may well have been asked before, But what are the benefits of a stainless brewery over a plastic set up?

Are the stainless HLT's and coppers twin wall? (insulation between the 2 stainless walls?)
Curious before I consider slowly changing over to stainless.
Which would give the greater benefit, understanding and installing a Herms with exisiting plastic set up and cool box mash tun or going stainless?
thanks in advance

 

[calumscott]

You could use thermopots for HLT and Boiler if you are going electric as the heat source will be within the insulation.

If you are going gas then of course you need an uninsulated standard pot.

The advantages as I saw it were:

1) Going gas fired. I wanted the burner for outdoor cooking as well as heating the copper.
2) Durability.
3) Probably more importantly - it's shiny and will look superb in my shed!! :lol:

As to your "where to spend the cash" dilemma - I'll leave that to the more experienced chaps.

 

[Frogfurlong]

A benefit of plasic:

Less likely to have "Sam the Scrote" aka "Billy burglar" popping the lock off your shed to get at it for the scrap value also cheaper to replace if he does

 

[Hawks]

A lot of individual reasons I think, I have an insulated thermobox for mashtun, copper is non-insulated pot. My HLT is an old 10 gallon Burco, so not stainless...

My main reason was safety - plastic and boiling liquids made me a bit uncomfortable.. although I brewed in them for a couple of years.

When I decided to go from 5 gallons to 10 ( ish ) I made the decision to spend more and go stainless, as my kids were getting more curious what I was doing in the garage and at that point the safety became #1

Plus - it shines....

 

[calumscott]

When I decided to go from 5 gallons to 10 ( ish ) I made the decision to spend more and go stainless

Actually that was one of my considerations too - I wanted to be able to do double lengths, either just for building stock quickly or to have a brewday with a friend and send them home with a 5 gallon can of wort...

 

[Aleman]

My stainless setup will outlive me! So if brewing is going to be a lifetime hobby then consider going stainless. . . . also then consider you brewlength . . .build once it's cheaper than doing it 5 times !!!

Like Hawks safety is a big concern for me, I have had a plastic boiler fail and it wasn't pretty

I can be a bit rougher cleaning it.

A thermobox mash tun will easily outperform a plastic cooler setup . . . even the expensive coolers.

Thermoboxes can be converted for HLT's and Boilers and perform wonderfully, staying cool to the touch even after 90 minutes boiling. . . . and heating times, even outside in cold weather, are really quick.

You can always add a HERMS unit to a plastic set up however and if you go stainless later on just swap it over.

 

[Baldbrewer]

Thank you all for your answers,
:thumb:
Which size Thermobox would you recommend for brewing 46-50L batches?
I would like to make thermobox HLT,Copper and mashtun.

Obviously when your'e dealing with this volume of liquid it would be a job to lift 50L of hot wort and the H&S implications are not worth thinking about, What pumps are recommended?

: and thanks again :hat:

 

[alexe]

Stainless steel is SHINY...

Do you need a proper reason? :nah:

 

[TRXnMe]

Stainless boiler, simply because I don't want 30 odd litres of boiling wort to suddenly pe out the hole where the valve was before I cack handedly tried to open it....

My HLT and mash tun are plastic, mainly because they were cheap and I'm tight

A 70 litre would do you a 50 litre brew, but considering the cost difference, buy the 100 litre, you'll only regret it if you don't

 

[31bb3]

i have a 50L thermobox and 70L hlt and boiler i can do 50l brews easy enough
As the others have said SS will last you many more years than plastic its all about budget and how you are in the long term

 

[Vossy1]

Which size Thermobox would you recommend for brewing 46-50L batches?

A 70ltr will do it, but I'd get the 80ltr though for flexibility on stronger brews.

A 70 litre would do you a 50 litre brew, but considering the cost difference, buy the 100 litre, you'll only regret it if you don't

Do they make 100ltr thermo boxes now :hmm: ...no don't tell me...I'll want one for a boiler :P

 

[TRXnMe]

Which size Thermobox would you recommend for brewing 46-50L batches?

A 70ltr will do it, but I'd get the 80ltr though for flexibility on stronger brews.
[quote:2qsnasv9]A 70 litre would do you a 50 litre brew, but considering the cost difference, buy the 100 litre, you'll only regret it if you don't

Do they make 100ltr thermo boxes now :hmm: ...no don't tell me...I'll want one for a boiler :P[/quote:2qsnasv9]

I thought Bergland did the big round jobbies in 100 litres? I may be wrong as I've banned myself from browsing their site any more

 

[caerleon]

Stainless steel is SHINY...

Do you need a proper reason? :nah:

What he said!

I have the most expensive shiney in a such a compact size i am ever likely to own or need, until i get ambitions beyond my payscale and setup a micro brewery...oh shiney ! But i digress, the kit i have will outlast me and help me develop more controlled brews in future.

 

[Baz Chaz]

..... and not forgetting it's nice and easy to clean as well

 

[Vossy1]

I thought Bergland did the big round jobbies in 100 litres? I may be wrong as I've banned myself from browsing their site any more

:lol: ...I think I may be showing my age but the last time I looked the thermo boxes were 80ltr max, the pots went to 100ltr though :hmm:

 

[TRXnMe]

I thought Bergland did the big round jobbies in 100 litres? I may be wrong as I've banned myself from browsing their site any more

:lol: ...I think I may be showing my age but the last time I looked the thermo boxes were 80ltr max, the pots went to 100ltr though :hmm:

I'll go with that, if I go looking at shiny in oreder to find out my sex life will be over

 

[PD]

your sex life would be over ?

Come on...are you a man or a mouse, would you rather have sex than beer ? ?




At least with beer I don't have to wait half an hour for another one....

 

[robsan77]

I have a 30l mash and a 50l boiler. I can 40 - 44 litres in the fvs. Sometimes I brew a bit stronger and liquor back in the fv to get a full 50 litres

 

[TRXnMe]

your sex life would be over ?

Come on...are you a man or a mouse, would you rather have sex than beer ? ?




At least with beer I don't have to wait half an hour for another one....

squeak

 

[darkonnis]

I said the same about going big but the trouble is: The bigger your output the less you have to brew. I enjoy brewing, so for me I have my big rig to fill cornies and barrels and stuff. but I'm also now having to make a "demijohn" set up so I can make 4L of beer for varieties sake and because I wont get to brew often otherwise. I went 70:60:70 on the pot sizes (effectively).