Klemay83
Junior Member
I agree with MyQul. Plus it's a massive step up on the safety front, rather than have open and live electrical elements around liquids.
Brewery build.
- Thread starter Greenhorn
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So, after it's first use, how did my new set up perform?
Firstly, the mash tun worked pretty well. There were a couple of issues with the manifold I need to address. It is only a loose fit into the tank connector and when the cooler was full of 4kg of grain and 12L of water, the sides bulged out just enough for the manifold to disconnect. This meant I had to empty it, reattach the manifold and lash together a support for the tap to stop it popping off the connector again, before refilling the tun. All this faffing dropped the temp of the mash and buggered up my efficiency somewhat. The slots in the manifold also led to a really slow sparge of about 1L every 4 minutes. So I'll be cutting a few more. Lastly, the lid got quite warm so I'll be insulating that as well. But for a first try, I'm pretty happy.
Secondly, the boiler worked very well. A bit too well in that it had a massive boilover which came up incredibly quickly. I've only had time to print one element cover and thankfully managed to yank the plug before it got covered in how wort. The other one, with the cover, got drenched as well, but the cover worked brilliantly. I'll be offering these as cheaply as I reasonably can to other members as soon as I have design sorted. It's such a big safety issue. The pick up on the bottom of the boiler didn't work all that well, and didn't ever get a steady enough flow to syphon the bottom of the vessel properly. I'll see about modifying it, but I may end up whirlpooling and then racking if I can't get it to work.
Lastly, I'll be building an immersion cooler before my next brew as it took forever to cool.
Overall, I was pretty happy.
Firstly, the mash tun worked pretty well. There were a couple of issues with the manifold I need to address. It is only a loose fit into the tank connector and when the cooler was full of 4kg of grain and 12L of water, the sides bulged out just enough for the manifold to disconnect. This meant I had to empty it, reattach the manifold and lash together a support for the tap to stop it popping off the connector again, before refilling the tun. All this faffing dropped the temp of the mash and buggered up my efficiency somewhat. The slots in the manifold also led to a really slow sparge of about 1L every 4 minutes. So I'll be cutting a few more. Lastly, the lid got quite warm so I'll be insulating that as well. But for a first try, I'm pretty happy.
Secondly, the boiler worked very well. A bit too well in that it had a massive boilover which came up incredibly quickly. I've only had time to print one element cover and thankfully managed to yank the plug before it got covered in how wort. The other one, with the cover, got drenched as well, but the cover worked brilliantly. I'll be offering these as cheaply as I reasonably can to other members as soon as I have design sorted. It's such a big safety issue. The pick up on the bottom of the boiler didn't work all that well, and didn't ever get a steady enough flow to syphon the bottom of the vessel properly. I'll see about modifying it, but I may end up whirlpooling and then racking if I can't get it to work.
Lastly, I'll be building an immersion cooler before my next brew as it took forever to cool.
Overall, I was pretty happy.
Richie_asg1
Junior Member
My main fridge uses a 12v bulb, so if yours has a 12v one you could use that supply for a fan. Just make sure to take the supply before the switch or you could end up with the fan only on when you open the door.:mrgreen:
If it uses a 240v bulb you could still use the supply for a fan if you stick the guts from a 12v charger inside a small hard-wired box.
Very nice shelf and 3D printing.
If I were setting up for production I would leave the end face, flat and fit it with a nice thick neoprene gasket.
If it uses a 240v bulb you could still use the supply for a fan if you stick the guts from a 12v charger inside a small hard-wired box.
Very nice shelf and 3D printing.
If I were setting up for production I would leave the end face, flat and fit it with a nice thick neoprene gasket.
But that would still only run the fan while the fridge was on. I've set about ordering a load of new (but cheap) bits to make everything a bit better. This includes a 12V pc fan which I'll wire up to an old phone charger.
My current list of additions and improvements.
1. modify the mash manifold so that the weight of mash doesn't make it part company with the connector to the valve.
2. Increase the number of manifold slots to up the sparge rate a bit.
3. Insulate tun lid.
4. Investigate lack of siphoning in boiler. Maybe increase number/size of slots in manifold.
5. Build immersion cooler using a coolbox full of ice water, a submersion pump, 10mm copper pipe, 10mm PVC tube and some jubilee clips.
6. Build my own stir plate using a pc fan, some magnets, a few electronic components and a project box. (should cost about �ã30).
Hopefully all this will be done by the time of my next brew, a 10L trial of a Gose. Should be on the go over the bank holiday weekend.
1. modify the mash manifold so that the weight of mash doesn't make it part company with the connector to the valve.
2. Increase the number of manifold slots to up the sparge rate a bit.
3. Insulate tun lid.
4. Investigate lack of siphoning in boiler. Maybe increase number/size of slots in manifold.
5. Build immersion cooler using a coolbox full of ice water, a submersion pump, 10mm copper pipe, 10mm PVC tube and some jubilee clips.
6. Build my own stir plate using a pc fan, some magnets, a few electronic components and a project box. (should cost about �ã30).
Hopefully all this will be done by the time of my next brew, a 10L trial of a Gose. Should be on the go over the bank holiday weekend.
The improvements have been implemented.
1. Ok this one hasn't. But the supporting block of wood under the tap still worked.....
2. Doubling the slots resulted in a very fast sparge that had to be turned down with the tap. Still, better to have the ability to go down. Also I think the pils mash I did was too thick, which slowed it down even more.
3. Simple bit of expanded polystyrene sheet nicked from the bin at work and glued into the tun lid. Worked wonders. The lid stayed cool and the tun only dropped 2ðc.
4. Just worked this time. No idea why.
5. The immersion cooler is freaking awesome and took only about an hour to rig up. I'll do a full write up when I get a chance.
6. The stir plate is vying with the Cooler for the most brilliant thing I've built in a while. Again, a full write up a bit later.
All performed excellently.
1. Ok this one hasn't. But the supporting block of wood under the tap still worked.....
2. Doubling the slots resulted in a very fast sparge that had to be turned down with the tap. Still, better to have the ability to go down. Also I think the pils mash I did was too thick, which slowed it down even more.
3. Simple bit of expanded polystyrene sheet nicked from the bin at work and glued into the tun lid. Worked wonders. The lid stayed cool and the tun only dropped 2ðc.
4. Just worked this time. No idea why.
5. The immersion cooler is freaking awesome and took only about an hour to rig up. I'll do a full write up when I get a chance.
6. The stir plate is vying with the Cooler for the most brilliant thing I've built in a while. Again, a full write up a bit later.
All performed excellently.
gl0ckage
Regular.
That cover is sweet! Loved reading through this.
Mr Greenhorn Sir,
Do you have a status update on the availability of the plug guard cover thingys that I need more than I can express in words right now? I'm considering buying a couple of outdoor junction boxes to hack up and make work in the meantime, but I want 2 of these buddy... Possibly 4...
Hit me up with details, PM if you so desire...
ElChem
Do you have a status update on the availability of the plug guard cover thingys that I need more than I can express in words right now? I'm considering buying a couple of outdoor junction boxes to hack up and make work in the meantime, but I want 2 of these buddy... Possibly 4...
Hit me up with details, PM if you so desire...
ElChem
MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
Last activity by Greenhorn was a couple of weeks ago on 4/6/16. I'd send him a PM if I were you :thumb:
yeah, sorry chaps. Just been super busy at work.
Element cover is working well. I just need to tweek the design a bit and I'm good to go.
I'll update things in general once things have calmed down a bit. I'm still here......
Element cover is working well. I just need to tweek the design a bit and I'm good to go.
I'll update things in general once things have calmed down a bit. I'm still here......
There is much woe regarding the brewery.
On saturday I got started on a wheat beer and both the elements on my homemade boiler burned out. Well, I say burned out. Actually they just got so hot that the plug melted into the shroud and contacts. Needless to say it all stopped working.
After a bit of a think, I reckon that the issue is that the shroud traps too much heat. These kettle elements are only really designed to run for 5 minutes or so, not 90. And only up to boiling, not keeping it there. I know various people have had success with using these elements unguarded, I'm not really happy doing that. Hence the shroud.
There may be some way of making the elements safer to use which doesn't capture so much heat, but I can't frankly be arsed to find it.
The upshot is that I'll be buying a 30L steel boiler with integral thermometer for ã90 and sadly shelving the shroud idea.
Sorry anyone who was hoping for a set....
On saturday I got started on a wheat beer and both the elements on my homemade boiler burned out. Well, I say burned out. Actually they just got so hot that the plug melted into the shroud and contacts. Needless to say it all stopped working.
After a bit of a think, I reckon that the issue is that the shroud traps too much heat. These kettle elements are only really designed to run for 5 minutes or so, not 90. And only up to boiling, not keeping it there. I know various people have had success with using these elements unguarded, I'm not really happy doing that. Hence the shroud.
There may be some way of making the elements safer to use which doesn't capture so much heat, but I can't frankly be arsed to find it.
The upshot is that I'll be buying a 30L steel boiler with integral thermometer for ã90 and sadly shelving the shroud idea.
Sorry anyone who was hoping for a set....
Well after the disaster of my homemade boiler cooking itself, my brewery has taken a bit of a sideways step.
I was looking at commercial boilers and saw that you can get a BIAB bag specifically made for the Peco boilers. As I've been experiencing fairly low efficiency from my cooler box mash tun (possibly not good dimension ratios or bad temp keeping, haven't figured it out yet.), I thought I'd give the bag a try.
So this weekend I'll be doing a 20L mega hoppy american pale along the lines of Brew Dog's "Hop Fiction".
I was looking at commercial boilers and saw that you can get a BIAB bag specifically made for the Peco boilers. As I've been experiencing fairly low efficiency from my cooler box mash tun (possibly not good dimension ratios or bad temp keeping, haven't figured it out yet.), I thought I'd give the bag a try.
So this weekend I'll be doing a 20L mega hoppy american pale along the lines of Brew Dog's "Hop Fiction".
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