calumscott
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- Sep 12, 2011
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As it's only going to be a month or two until I get my megashed, it's probably a good time to start to build, at least in theory, my new AG brewery. Well, SWMBO is busy planning interior design and spending theoretical money so I should to right? :thumb:
I'm going to need a lot of input with this because I want to get it right, I want to build something that I really enjoy using because that way I'll brew more and better beer I reckon. Here's where my head is:
I've been brewing kits now for 6 or 7 months and have had some really great successes. I've just about bought a new house with plenty of space and a lovely big shed with power already installed. I've been thinking I need to go to the dark side for a little while now and was going to go BIAB in my tiny kitchen but put all that on hold when we decided to move. Basically what I want to do is build a fully functioning but simple and expandable AG brewery from day one, so no HERMSes or anything really clever, just a simple system that I can fire up, brew and clean down and leave ready for the next one.
I've already decided that I'm going to go gas for water heating and boiling, simply because I'm a charcoal BBQer and sometimes, to do something a bit swish on the outdoor cooking front, a gas ring for making sauces and stuff is proper handy, two birds one stone.
Q: Should I be going propane or butane for my burner? There doesn't seem to be a lot to separate them price-wise...
My "phase I" build
The setup I think I'm going to use is a 50l stainless pot which I will convert myself to use as both HLT and boiler. I'll add a tap and a sight glass which I'll mark off in handy half or quarter litres.
For a mashtun I'm going to go stainless thermopot with a bottom drain and false bottom. I'll convert the pot myself and build a copper tube based sparge arm.
Q: Should I get a 50l or 36l mashtun? I'm mostly going to do 23l brews but I would imagine that the odd 46l might happen, particularly if I have brewing chums over, make a double batch of wort half each and send them off with a 25l drumful... would a double mash fit in a 36l?
Those will be set up in a three tier gravity fed system culminating in my existing plastic 25l FVs to collect the runnings at floor level.
I think I'll then add one of those nifty little solar pumps to lift the runnings (or at least the majority of them) back to the HLT/Boiler.
The Malt Miller's twin coil chiller seems expensive until you see what the parts cost. And I don't necessarily trust my soldering skills to build something so intricate. I'll just buy one of them.
Then I'm going to plumb it all together, I'm thinking standard plastic domestic plumbing stuff and the John Guest pushfit joints as they look to be the easiest to break down for cleaning.
Steam extraction will be courtesy of some domestic extractor fans and some kind of, probably very Heath Robinson, hood arrangement. Oh, and the door... :)
Temperature controlled fermentation will be courtesy of just bringing the prepared wort inside to room temperature. For now...
Phase II
Once I'm up and running with mashing and boiling, I'm going to get a temperature controlled fermentation environment sorted out.
But not just a fridge. My thinking is that you can only get one FV in a standard fridge. I want space for 3 - so maybe a couple of FVs and one set of bottles at any time. I need it to be able to get hot and cold because I really want to get into AG lagers.
I reckon I can build something with similar or better thermal performance than a fridge because I have easy access to the best insulation products on the market. A Cedaronics controller, a tube heater, the workings from a fridge (imagine the "Tesco kettle element" how to but bigger and more delicate!) and a purpose built and insulated cabinet. My reckoning is that you don't need anywhere near the cooling capacity to store food for brewing. Basically for ales I'd need to maintain 18 degrees and for lagers 12. I think a normal temperature for fridges is around 5 isn't it? So basically normally a differential of 13 degrees less than a fridge normally does and 7 degrees less for lagers. Given the effort increases exponentially the bigger the temperature differential I reckon this should work well for relatively low energy consumption.
Q: Anyone stripped down a fridge to build a brew cabinet before?
So that's where my head is, your thoughts and experiences are, as always, gratefully received and appreciated (particularly before I go and spend money on stuff!).
I'll keep this updated with pictures and stories as I get the brewery built. Watch this space!
I'm going to need a lot of input with this because I want to get it right, I want to build something that I really enjoy using because that way I'll brew more and better beer I reckon. Here's where my head is:
I've been brewing kits now for 6 or 7 months and have had some really great successes. I've just about bought a new house with plenty of space and a lovely big shed with power already installed. I've been thinking I need to go to the dark side for a little while now and was going to go BIAB in my tiny kitchen but put all that on hold when we decided to move. Basically what I want to do is build a fully functioning but simple and expandable AG brewery from day one, so no HERMSes or anything really clever, just a simple system that I can fire up, brew and clean down and leave ready for the next one.
I've already decided that I'm going to go gas for water heating and boiling, simply because I'm a charcoal BBQer and sometimes, to do something a bit swish on the outdoor cooking front, a gas ring for making sauces and stuff is proper handy, two birds one stone.
Q: Should I be going propane or butane for my burner? There doesn't seem to be a lot to separate them price-wise...
My "phase I" build
The setup I think I'm going to use is a 50l stainless pot which I will convert myself to use as both HLT and boiler. I'll add a tap and a sight glass which I'll mark off in handy half or quarter litres.
For a mashtun I'm going to go stainless thermopot with a bottom drain and false bottom. I'll convert the pot myself and build a copper tube based sparge arm.
Q: Should I get a 50l or 36l mashtun? I'm mostly going to do 23l brews but I would imagine that the odd 46l might happen, particularly if I have brewing chums over, make a double batch of wort half each and send them off with a 25l drumful... would a double mash fit in a 36l?
Those will be set up in a three tier gravity fed system culminating in my existing plastic 25l FVs to collect the runnings at floor level.
I think I'll then add one of those nifty little solar pumps to lift the runnings (or at least the majority of them) back to the HLT/Boiler.
The Malt Miller's twin coil chiller seems expensive until you see what the parts cost. And I don't necessarily trust my soldering skills to build something so intricate. I'll just buy one of them.
Then I'm going to plumb it all together, I'm thinking standard plastic domestic plumbing stuff and the John Guest pushfit joints as they look to be the easiest to break down for cleaning.
Steam extraction will be courtesy of some domestic extractor fans and some kind of, probably very Heath Robinson, hood arrangement. Oh, and the door... :)
Temperature controlled fermentation will be courtesy of just bringing the prepared wort inside to room temperature. For now...
Phase II
Once I'm up and running with mashing and boiling, I'm going to get a temperature controlled fermentation environment sorted out.
But not just a fridge. My thinking is that you can only get one FV in a standard fridge. I want space for 3 - so maybe a couple of FVs and one set of bottles at any time. I need it to be able to get hot and cold because I really want to get into AG lagers.
I reckon I can build something with similar or better thermal performance than a fridge because I have easy access to the best insulation products on the market. A Cedaronics controller, a tube heater, the workings from a fridge (imagine the "Tesco kettle element" how to but bigger and more delicate!) and a purpose built and insulated cabinet. My reckoning is that you don't need anywhere near the cooling capacity to store food for brewing. Basically for ales I'd need to maintain 18 degrees and for lagers 12. I think a normal temperature for fridges is around 5 isn't it? So basically normally a differential of 13 degrees less than a fridge normally does and 7 degrees less for lagers. Given the effort increases exponentially the bigger the temperature differential I reckon this should work well for relatively low energy consumption.
Q: Anyone stripped down a fridge to build a brew cabinet before?
So that's where my head is, your thoughts and experiences are, as always, gratefully received and appreciated (particularly before I go and spend money on stuff!).
I'll keep this updated with pictures and stories as I get the brewery built. Watch this space!
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