Collaboration System Progress

Our system is progressing. We were able to order our larger kettles, read: 55 gallon stainless steel barrels. All three of them have arrived and we have begun converting them. We are going to have tri-clover ferrules welded in for the element attachments. The boil kettle and hot liquor tank are off having that done right now.

I only currently have a picture of the mash tun in progress but all three kettles look the same. Eventually I will polish them all to a mirror finish, but for now they will be used as is.

Mash tun with outlet and sight glass. Sight glass
still needs to be trimmed for height. Hole in the top
right is for the inlet, I was short a washer so I was not
able to install that fitting.

Inside view of the mashtun, fairly simple.
Now I just need to order the parts to build a custom
false bottom.

Yet another new system... (progress)

My kettles and cheapo stand have been moved into the basement. This is what we will use until we have the money to build a new stand and order the large 55 gallon kettles.

Almost everything is in place, just a couple modifications need to be made still. We switched the flow from starting on the left side and moving toward the right. It now flows from the right toward the left. This necessitates moving pumps and couple other small changes.

The vent hood has been fabricated and ducting purchased. It will be installed today or tomorrow and first full wet test, mock brew, and calibration will happen tomorrow.

Hoses in this pic are stretched weird. Once the pumps are moved
over it will look and operate better. 

A better view of the Control Panel. 

Panel is complete! (well, almost...)  All wiring is finished and has been tested. The only thing now is to add a little bit of silicone to some of the joints to keep it waterproof.

The picture looks the same as the previous post but the amp meter is now reading the amperage going through. I only had one element hooked up so its showing 22.1 amps. If I run both it will show the total 44 amps.

Another note, only the boil PID is showing temp.
I didn't bother to bring out all the temp probes while
testing. I just moved from one to another to make sure
each one works correctly.

An update on "Yet another system"

Panel tags have arrive and been installed. Wiring is going well. At this point the only things we have yet to finish are the following:

1. Install top plate with heatsink
2. Run 6 Gauge power wiring to the heating element contactors (this includes the SSR connections)
3. Run wire from the temperature probe receptacles to the PID's
4. Run wire from the AC Shunt to the ammeter
5. Run 2 hots to the voltmeter
6. Final testing

Pics:





A look at some of the wiring inside. Not everything is
finished. Once the wiring is complete everything will
be attached well with no loose wires hanging around.

The bottom with all receptacles installed and tags installed as well

Everything lit up. Volt/Amp meters have power
but are not reading anything yet, same with PID's

Yet another new system

A few months ago, Andy and I decided to collaborate our two homebrewing systems into one large one. It makes perfect sense. Andy is better at brewing and I love building stuff. I get to design and build a brand new system, bigger and better than before. Andy gets to design better recipes and eventually we will be brewing together a lot more often. What's better than homebrewing? Brewing with a friend!

The plan is to build another electric system with 55 gallon kettles so we can brew a full barrel at a time and split it. It will be located in the basement at Andy's house and provide a comfortable place to brew year round with easy cleaning. It will have blichmann boilermaker kettles, utilize HERMS for temperature control, and have a 50 amp control panel running 11,000 watts of power.

At this point the main structure of the CP (Control Panel) is built. Wiring was started yesterday and we are still awaiting the arrival of panel tags. Once the panel is done we will look to start acquiring kettles and attachments.

The build so far in pictures: (sorry about the poor photos, I use my old iPhone and the light coming through my kitchen window can screw things up)

Here is the panel with the parts just placed on top. I was so excited when the parts arrived I just had to put things in their general place to see what it looked like.

The CP front panel with the holes cut for
 the 22mm lights and switches

The CP front panel with all holes cut including
holes for volt/amp meters and PID's



The back plate with components attached



The CP body with backplate installed and receptacles
placed to get a feel for what it looks like








Main CP body with receptacle holes cut and custom paint job

The CP with all components installed





















 

15% Rye IPA

Ingredients:

Grain-
16.5 lbs 2 Row Pale Malt
3.5 lbs Rye Malt
2 lbs Victory
1 lb Crystal 60l

Hops-
2 oz Columbus (17.1%aa) @ 60
1 oz Columbus (17.1%aa) @ 20
1 oz Columbus (17.1%aa) @ 10
1 oz Columbus (17.1%aa) @ 5

Yeast-
Safale 05 American Ale

OG- 1.064
FG- 10.14
Yield- 10.2 gallons
Efficiency- 80%

27APR2013: One of the better brew days I've had. No problems at all. I realized as I'm was recording all this though that I was supposed to do the 20, 10 and 5 minute addition hops with Chinook but did all Columbus instead. Oh well, should still be good. I just built a stir plate so I'm running a test on this brew. Fermenting in two 5 gallon batches with the same yeast. Half with a started run on the stir plate, the other half with a packet directly pitched. Hoping to have time to record times to start seeing CO2 production, time to terminal gravity, and if terminal gravity it equal.

UPDATE 27APR2013: 8 Hours from pitching the half with the starter is producing CO2. The direct pitch half is showing no signs so far.

UPDATE 29APR2013: Checked the buckets. Both are fermenting away. Side that had the starter came out so much that there is actually visible yeast in the airlock. Below are the pics side by side.

UPDATE 12MAY2013: Transferred the half with the starter to keg for carbonating. Down to 1.014 for an ABV of 6.6%

Red Rocket Clone

Ingredients-

Grain:
24 lbs 8 oz 2 Row Pale Malt
2 lbs Crystal 40
2 lbs Munich
1 lb Crystal 120
1 lb Victory
8 oz Chocolate Malt

Hops:
2 oz CTZ @ 60
2 oz Cascade @ 10
2 oz Centennial @ 10
2 oz Cascade @ 0
2 oz Centennial @ 0

Yeast:
WLP 001  California Ale (starter)

OG: 1.084

16FEB2013- Randy wanted me to brew him so beer so I did a 10 gallon batch. He got the recipe online and didn't realize it was for a 6 gallon batch not a 5. Also, the recipe was set for 70% efficiency but my system has been hitting around 82-83%. All in all we ended up with 11 gallons at 1.084 which means this beer will be a little bit bigger than intended. we'll probably hit the 8.5% ABV mark.

Rye IPA

I did a Rye IPA recently. I sort of made up the recipe offhand and didn't save it. I think it was like 15-20% Rye, used a lot of CTZ and Cascade and came out around 1.066. Other than that I have no idea what I did.

Scottish Wee Heavy

Ingredients-

Fermentables-
26 lbs Pale Ale
3 lbs Crystal 90L
3 lbs Munich
4 oz Simpsons Peated
3 lbs corn sugar (beginning of boil)

Hops-
2 oz Magnum @ 60
1 oz Fuggles @ 10
1 oz Fuggles @ 5

Yeast-
Safale-04 English Ale

OG: 1.105
FG: 1.028
ABV: 10.1%
Brewhouse Effeciency: 80%

01JAN2013- Had the mailmen and their families over for this one. Crazy day, but good to hang out with some friends on brew day. This beer should be interesting.

15JAN2013- Bottled Randy's half today. Came out with 52 12oz beers. Tastes sweet and alcoholic.