My Shiny Journey Begins..

[mr_spin]

The Hop Stopper build: - I used an idea from Aleman and others on this forum to make a stainless steel mesh hop stopper. This uses a 15mm tank connector which is sawn off at the right height, fed through a hole in the mesh and screwed into a 15mm brass compression female elbow. The lugs on the bottom of the tank connector sit on the bottom of the mesh/boiler pot and enable the pickup to work great. Only problem is I folded the mesh the wrong way up. Should really have been folded so the folds sit on the bottom. Duh!

I bought 2 x Woven Wire Mesh, 30 mesh, size 30cm x 30cm sheets from Inoxia to make the stopper following an Aleman thread on here. It works a treat - wort run off is very clear after a small initial recirc.

top of hop stopper:

bottom of hop stopper:

Hop stopper installed in boiler:

 

[mr_spin]

Disconnects:
I chose stainless steel cone seat unions and hose tails from BES as my disconnects for my simple underletting/sparge recirc pump system. They work a treat. This system allows me to underlet the strike water into the mash tun direct from the HLT and also later recirc the mash sparge before then finally sparging into the boiler.

http://www.bes.co.uk/products/165c.asp#14535

http://www.bes.co.uk/products/165c.asp#14558

my solar pump with the disconnects on:

my pump with the silicon hoses attached:

All connected up:

 

[mr_spin]

End result:
A trial boil under way:

US05 vigorously fermenting away in the temp controlled fridge:

 

[graysalchemy]

That is shiney wait while I get my sun glasses :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Vossy1]

Wow this has moved on since I last looked :party: ...very nice :party:
MS, did you give the aluminium ducting a good wash out before using it (not just for the first time)......?.....I didn't and lost 2 brews

 

[mr_spin]

yep washed and also had a test water boil using it.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Not in the slightest bit :mrgreen:

I'm a lot :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Very nice indeed :clap:

 

[graysalchemy]

Not in the slightest bit :mrgreen:

I'm a lot :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Very nice indeed :clap:

Go one baz you know you want to, I predict a email to Nordic coming on :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

 

[Vossy1]

yep washed and also had a test water boil using it

:mrgreen: :thumb:

 

[mr_spin]

lol - did you get 'aluminium essence' flavour in yours then??

 

[Vossy1]

lol - did you get 'aluminium essence' flavour in yours then??

:lol: ...dunno I binned both of them to avoid any 'risk'
I also made another mistake and that was to place the plastic wall vent vertically on my set up. It got hot with the steam and leached all sorts of 'white liquid' :shock: into my brew :sick:
I should have put a trap in the ducting (aka a swan neck) just before the boiler lid with a small hole in the neck to take a drain to a bottle/bucket.............live and try to learn :grin:

 

[mr_spin]

I've noticed that any condensate that just 'happens' to run back down the tubing mainly runs onto the pot lid and then onto the outer edge of the lid ready for mopping up and not back into the brew. If any falls into the brew it'll be boiled to buggery anyway. Once it has finished being boiled I remove the vent stuff anyway.