Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

I went to all grain this summer and have really enjoyed it and it's renewed my desire for this hobby after several years of extract brewing. I did this on a serious budget and simply mash in a cooler, boil in a turkey fryer. It works well, but I know efficiency is lost, but it does work and is silly cheap.

Recently acquired 3 half barrels to do as I please with. What would YOU do differently, suggestions, links, must haves, "don't waste your $$ on this" are the tips I am looking for and hope they help others.

I have 3 burners, turkey fryer style but I doubt they are up to the task. I am debating on running natural gas to the garage to not worry about propane refills or going all electric. I sat in on a brew day with a member (forget his username) Brandon I think and really liked that electric setup and my wife is far more on board with electric over gas as she is nervous about the house exploding The panel is in the garage and 220 is not an issue.

Should I use two for now, one for HLT and one for boil and continue to use my cooler for mash? Gravity style 3 tier or a pump and keep it all on one level? User preference is one thing, efficiency is another. I want to build this to be the last setup I need, so if it takes a while to build to add things like a HERMS, whirlpool I would rather do it now than later.

The plan is to compile a list of fittings, thermometers, tubing, pump(s) heating pieces (gas or electric) and either acquire all this stuff over time or have a real good grasp so I can hopefully order one big order and start the assembly.

I have found this site to be great for fittings http://www.bargainfittings.com/

The Electric Brewery for drool factor http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/

The biggest concern, issue I have going down this path is space.....it takes a lot of space and I only have a 2 car garage and have it organized pretty well already but fear this would always be "in the way". I have access to a welder so making a stand isn't a huge deal. Also use CAD daily so I can draw up everything and make cut sheets for all steel tubing.

I'm currently planning out my electric setup.  I hope to have it going in a basic form "real soon now."

I'll sketch it out, and toss it up here for people to take shots at.
-Jim

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Thanks Jim, much appreciated.

Trying real hard not to get in over my head

Getting closer to the top of my list of stuff to get is a RIMS tube to hook up to my cooler MT. Likely one of these so you can actually clean them:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/build-r ... be-159639/
http://www.brewershardware.com/tri-clov ... -tube.html

With a large enough heating element I believe these can deliver 'on demand' sparge water, too. making it possible that you can brew using 2 vessels, saving space.

Something along these lines would be on the top of my list for a major upgrade to my system. If you decide to do this, Dan, let me know please.


On 08/26/2013 12:25 PM, whitedj wrote:

Getting closer to the top of my list of stuff to get is a RIMS tube to hook up to my cooler MT. Likely one of these so you can actually clean them:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/build-relatively-inexpensive-tri-clover-rims-tube-159639/
http://www.brewershardware.com/tri-clover-rims-tube.html

With a large enough heating element I believe these can deliver 'on demand' sparge water, too. making it possible that you can brew using 2 vessels, saving space.



The guy who submitted a barley wine in the Furious competition...

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I have been really happy using electric for my HLT and a gas burner for my boil. I brew in my basement and have yet to get any readings on my CO2/natural gas detector. I have a decent setup with fairly low investment. I like to use stuff for more than one task. For example, my whirlpool chiller is also a HERMS coil in my HLT. The temp controller for my HLT is also the temp controller for my fermentation fridge. My mashtun is not heated directly and I have not missed that at all. I would want that if I did lots of double batches. I use natural gas and love it! I purchased a Hurricane burner with no stand and a natural gas adapter from Williams Brewing. Cheap, no noise, seems efficient and heats well.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICAN ... P2677.aspx

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/HURRICAN ... P2214.aspx

As I recall from meetings at your house, Matt, you've got some pretty serious ventilation going on there. Although a former member who shall remain nameless did propane in his basement w/ a fan in the window and no CO detector and survived. Hard to tell if that's what killed off the brain cells or something else.

My hood is built from normal household rectangular duct work. It is riveted together which is really easy to do. I used a fan from a retired furnace from my mom's house. I have less than $20 in my vent hood and it can move a bunch of air. Whatever you do, don't invest in some expensive hood you don't need. You are not venting grease which simplifies what you need greatly. I have a make-up air fan that cost $30 and I usually leave windows open in the basement to provide a little more air as needed. You can sort of see it in the picture from another post.

http://www.crbeernuts.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=2469
BTW-the welding project has been on hold because of time constraints but I may try to do that soon.

I built an all electric RIMS system about a year and a half ago. If I had to do it over again I would do the following:

- Large enough capacity for 1/2 bbl batches... right now I can put out about 10 gals.. maybe 11 max.

-Tippy dump for removing spent grain

-Stainless structure (or a really good corrosion resistant coating)

-Water resistant control panel (I use a Lego Mindstorms brick)

-Anything to make it easier to clean...

Things I did to mine that I am happy with:

-Put it on rollers so I can roll it out into the driveway and hose it down.

-Electric! Super easy to control and automate.

-Cleanout valves in bottoms of all vessels

-Disconnects at pump to easy head removal/cleanout

-Used fiber reinforced vinyl tubing instread of silicone (saved $$)

-Made my own fittings and RIMS tube (saved big $$)

-Used this project as an excuse to buy a plasma cutter (WHOO HOO!!!.. Look what I can cut )

Here is my brewery on its "maiden voyage".. I have made some small improvements since then. http://hackaday.com/2012/05/30/brewing-beer-with-lego/

I use to have the vinyl tubing and really don't like it because of its lack of flexibility, especially when not hot. I think the silcone tubing I bought was one of the best and relatively low cost upgrades ($2.49/ft) I ever made to my brewery. Highly recommended.

I have bought a bunch of stuff through bargainfittings.com and have had good experiences. My former brew partner knows the guy running it in Dallas and said he is cool.

I also really like my cheap and easy to use plastic QD's. The stainless stuff out there is cool but all cost more, have moving parts and can get hot to the touch. I have been using my plastic ones for over 10 years now and have not had to replace any of them and no leaks or failures. Put a QD on your sink/hose and it makes for easy tubing clean up and kettle filling too.

http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.ph ... path=51_66

i have had both the thermo plastic hoses and silicon. for me the silicon is better, also i recirc during the boil to "sanitize" things because i used the pump to recirc during cooling.

cam lock fittings, on just about everthing, very useful.

plumbed the mashtun for 3/4 inch except at the very end.

instant read thermometer.

one of the things i like the most is i can manualy interrupt the electricity for each element, regardless of the ssrs,

Things I love about my setup.
1. Camlocks
2. Pumps
3. Hinged mounts to drain the pumps
4. Electric HLT with a PID controller
5. CFC heat exchanger (used for both HERMS heating & wort cooling)
6. Whirlpool inlet on my BK
7. 2-piece ball valves (very easy to clean)
8. Strainless screen false bottom & bottom drain in my MLT
9. Sight gauge on my BK
Things I did not like about previous setups
1. No pumps
2. Hose braid in my MLT
3. No direct control of HLT/MLT temps
4. Polysulfone QDs
5. Hauling around propane tanks
On Aug 27, 2013 12:46 PM, "mjmarsha" <brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org (brew-equipment@crbeernuts.org)> wrote:

I built an all electric RIMS system about a year and a half ago. If I had to do it over again I would do the following:

- Large enough capacity for 1/2 bbl batches... right now I can put out about 10 gals.. maybe 11 max.

-Tippy dump for removing spent grain

-Stainless structure (or a really good corrosion resistant coating)

-Water resistant control panel (I use a Lego Mindstorms brick)

-Anything to make it easier to clean...

Things I did to mine that I am happy with:

-Put it on rollers so I can roll it out into the driveway and hose it down.

-Electric! Super easy to control and automate.

-Cleanout valves in bottoms of all vessels

-Disconnects at pump to easy head removal/cleanout

-Used fiber reinforced vinyl tubing instread of silicone (saved $$)

-Made my own fittings and RIMS tube (saved big $$)

-Used this project as an excuse to buy a plasma cutter (WHOO HOO!!!.. Look what I can cut )

Here is my brewery on its "maiden voyage".. I have made some small improvements since then. http://hackaday.com/2012/05/30/brewing-beer-with-lego/

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Lee, Can you post a picture or description of your whirlpool inlet, please? I'm building a new BK and want to incorporate that into it. If I remember right, you have center drains on your equipment. How does the whirlpool work with that?
I want to make sure I "do it right" with this new kettle.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33275630@N08/sets/72157632244211454/
I bought a new kettle from Stout Tanks, which does not have a bottom drain.  I tried whirlpooling with a bottom drain in my old electric kettle but could only do so with limited success.  With the new one, I pump for ~15 mins then let it settle for ~15mins.  You can run off into the BK through the whirlpool inlet, too.

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