TST Workshop Creation Lives!

[stuey]

Worked an early yesterday so managed to set-to on finishing my HLT/Boiler and Mash Tun late afternoon.

Fitted cable glands and plugs to the boiler and nipped up the compression fitting on the hop stopper finger tight.
Cut an insulating jacket out of some silver foil bubble wrap.


Cut my false bottom out of the sheet of perforated SS I paid hard earned cash for... Tense 30 mins or so with an angle grinder cutting out then fine tuning the fit. Worth taking the time though as it is a nice snug fit in the tun. I have sat it on top of a ring of Vossy's fine silicon hose which stands it off from the centre drain perfectly and gives a fantastic seal. 4 SS nuts and bolts from Joe arranged around the drain offer support for the weight of the mash.

Time for leak testing. Cold first.

Mash tun filled to brim with hot water and oxy clean to get rid of the polishing compound they use at the factory.

All good, no leaks but one heavy beast to move when full!


Boiler topped up to 20 litres or so. All good so far.

Topped up to 40 litres or so. Steady drip from right hand element.

Wiggled and waggled the element to try and bed it in to the seal. Nipped up screws too but no success. I took the element out, cleaned and re-seated it but it just won't seal.

I was working outside so ploughed on regardless and fired up the elements to hot test everything and give the vessel a good clean.

I'm guessing it took around an hour to bring 50 odd litres up to 72c with me faffing around with the STC1000 from Cedaronics during that time. Took maybe another 40 mins to an hour to bring it up to a vigorous boil.


Here she is warming up :

No further leaks other than the persistent drip from the right hand element so well chuffed :)

Planning on butchering Em's silicone baking sheet later today to make an additional seal for the element.

So a massive thanks to Chris, Mike, Joe and Marmite for their invaluable help with the conversion! :thumb:

Fermenting fridge is up and running using one of Tims STC1000 units from Cedaronics.
Still on the lookout for a larder fridge from Freecycle but the undercounter one will do well for 23litre brews for now.

Water analysis next followed by an order to Rob for the makings of the inaugural AG brew! :)

I will try to post a couple of pics when I get home.

Cheers!
Stu :)

 

[PD]

I did my first brew with an element drip ! one wet towel and a re assemble afterwards and it was cured.
Well done on your build

 

[stuey]

I did my first brew with an element drip ! one wet towel and a re assemble afterwards and it was cured.
Well done on your build

Hi PD :)

I was crossing everything my boil up and cool down would bed everything in but alas not

Reckon it will be easily fixed with a silicon washer cut from a silicone baking sheet :)

 

[Vossy1]

Good to hear you're getting it sorted stuey :party: A tip, for the first 3 or 4 brews keep checking the element backing nut for looseness and nip up if required. I'm not sure if the seal relaxing or the nut but all the builds I've done so far have required a little tightening after the first few uses

 

[stuey]

Good to hear you're getting it sorted stuey :party: A tip, for the first 3 or 4 brews keep checking the element backing nut for looseness and nip up if required. I'm not sure if the seal relaxing or the nut but all the builds I've done so far have required a little tightening after the first few uses

Cheers for the tip JP :) Will keep a beady eye on it :thumb:

 

[stuey]

Fixed the leak this afternoon on the right hand element :party:

Filled her up to cold test her and the left hand one was leaking!! :hmm:

Drained down again and have made and fitted an additional silicone washer.

We now have a slightly smaller silicone baking sheet in the cupboard :whistle: :evil:

All re-fitted and filled back up for a cold test. All clear :party:

In fact... I'm so confident she is leak free, I have brought the boiler back in to the kitchen and am now heating her up for a hot test!! :shock:

Here she is singing gently sat on top of the fermenting fridge. :thumb:

 

[cnelsonplumber]

Great news.
:-D

 

[stuey]

Great news.
:-D

Without you Chris there would be no news at all!!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you !!!! : :thumb: :clap: :hat:

Coming up to 72 degs now and still dry so looks like the silicone washers have sorted it :thumb:

 

[BigYin]

SWEET! :mrgreen: :

Have you had a chance to test the immersion chiller for leaks yet?

 

[stuey]

SWEET! :mrgreen: :

Have you had a chance to test the immersion chiller for leaks yet?

I'm spitting about that one Mike.... 2 weeks ago sorting out the tool store at work I found about 3 or 4 Hozelock tap connectors. We don't use them at work favouring the commercial brass nursery fittings so I gave them to the contractor.

I could have sworn we had three or four of them here at home.... We didn't

I might pop out now and see if the hose will just stuff on the end of it..... :pray:

 

[stuey]

Pour yourself a drink Mike! :

IC is running fine and leak free :thumb:

Nice soldering mate

 

[BigYin]

Ye ha!!

It looks like it could do with a wee scrub up where the flux has run down and not been cleaned off - do give it a good scrub before you use it in a brew :thumb:

It was an education watching Chris solder - I thought I was pretty good at it - he's got the touch of a master!

 

[BigYin]

Ain't it great what you can do with a gas cylinder and a pan!!

 

[stuey]

Ye ha!!

It looks like it could do with a wee scrub up where the flux has run down and not been cleaned off - do give it a good scrub before you use it in a brew :thumb:

It was an education watching Chris solder - I thought I was pretty good at it - he's got the touch of a master!

I've just ordered a tub of citric acid from ebay so will probably dump it in that and set-to with a scotchbrite pad.

I'm guessing Chris gets plenty of practice at soldering

I'm a little off my first brew yet as I would like to get the water tested first. I also need to buy a load of malt and hops and yeast and liquor treatment and and and and and

I also need to tax my van at the end of the month Boooooo!

 

[stuey]

Ain't it great what you can do with a gas cylinder and a pan!!

I wondered what you had used as the formers!!!!

I was away at B and Q for that bit buying noisy toys for cutting metal

 

[joe1002]

Glad it's all working :thumb:

Looks awesome.

 

[EskiBrew]

Glad to see things are working out as expected :party:

 

[bobsbeer]

Looks great Joe, and you have an angle grinder as an added bonus. :thumb: :lol: Not used my counter chiller in anger yet but hooked it up to the garden tap to check for leaks. Of course Chris did the soldering so as one would expect. NO LEAKS. Thanks guys. :thumb: :thumb: :hat: