National Homebrew Club Ireland

I was looking at upgrading my plastic EBIAB re-circulation setup and was looking around at various products on the internet.  I love the idea of single vessel brewing simply because of its simplicity.  I wanted something that would not take up a lot of space, was quick to assemble, and is very easy to maintain and a breeze to clean.   I have nothing against 3 vessel brewing, I just don't have the time or space for this method of brewing.

I did a lot of research and looked into the Grainfather and Braumeister.  The braumeister was too expensive and the grainfather didn't have the capacity that I wanted but is a very well-priced piece of kit and if I was in a position to purchase, the Grainfather would be the one.

I then came across the braumeiser project and this appealed to the diy'er in me and I felt it was something that I or anyone could do a version of with very limited fabrication skills and tools.  I was initially just going to use my PID controller, but was swayed by the Ardbir for control as this gives a massive amount of control to the brewing process.  I decided pretty early that I didn't want the central bar and malt pipe that needed to be clamped down (I didn't have the tools).


The goal of this project was to create a single vessel brewing system with upward  mash re-circulation.  The aims were:
•   Use as much stainless steel as possible.
•   No central bar or clamped down malt pipe.
•   Upward mash re-circulation.
•   Mash temperature control.
•   Easy store, setup and clean
•   Pump not mounted to pot, this is easier to clean and I also pump to a plate chiller and recirc the cooled wort back into the kettle (Whirlpool).
•   As cheap as possible but maintain a level of quality.

The total cost at the time of writing is around the 565 euro mark for a 45 L insulated brewing system with a 21L malt pipe.  This could be done much cheaper (300 euro or less) using a standard outer pot, immersion chiller, a cheaper pump and a PID.  I use a Topsflo TS5 pump @ 73 euro, a plate chiller @ 125 euro, a 50L Thermopot  @ 76 euro and an Ardbir unit @ 140+ euro built to my spec.

The breakdown of items used and cost are included in the attached excel sheet

The Mechanical build

The Outer Pot

For the outer pot I used a Bergland 50l thermo pot.  I wanted a thermo pot as I aimed to use a 2.5kw element and the pot would be well insulated for a better boil.   I was going to use a bendable heating element like the braumeister but this was working out to be too expensive (80 euro with shipping from the UK), so I decided on a burko element which worked out about 25 euros total.
I installed a deck fitting from brewbuilder into the kettle for minimum deadspace.  This is connected to a ball valve and this is the only drainage point in the kettle.  I use this ball valve to connect to the pump for re-circulation back to the inner pot.

The outer pot required two holes to be drilled i.e. a 40mm hole for the heating element and a 20mm hole for the deck drain.  I used a hole saw for the 40mm hole and step bit for the 20mm hole.  I earthed the pot and element by drilling a hole in the lip of the pot and securing the earth wires from the plug and element to a bolt using suitably rated terminal connectors.  I also used 2.5 mm 3 core wire rated at 16 amps.

I purchased some cheap stainless furniture legs from aliexpress.  The thermo pot has a lip on the bottom so I was able to fix some wood flush to the base of the pot and attach the legs to the wood.  I fastened the wood to the pot with some 3" inox screws and it is very sturdy.

The Mechanical build

The Inner Pot

The inner pot is a Bergland 21 litre stock pot.  I drilled three 20mm holes in the base of the pot for three brass tank connectors.  Two of the connectors are for draining the pot when it is lifted from the outer pot and one is for the wort intake from the pump.  These connectors also keep the pot off the heating element.

I cut the wort intake tank connector in half and connected a female male connector to it.  I then connected a 50cm length of flexible 304 grade stainless steel tubing to the male connector.  The flexi tube could be shaped to the side of the pot and fed through one of the handles on the pot.  I then connected a male brass hose tap connector to this flexi tube.   I got the idea for the wort intake tube from Jim Payne on YouTube (The Old Farts brewery channel), thanks Jim!

Now for the filters. 

I wanted to keep the price down so I decided I was going to use the Lid of the stock pot.  I got a pizza tray and stencilled some holes onto a piece of paper.  I then stuck the stencil to the inside of the pot by spraying some milk on first.  I then got a step bit and drilled lots of holes in the lid. The benefit of using the lid is that it offers a perfect seal on the pot and is very rigid.
I had intended on using some stainless steel latch fittings to secure the lid, but this required more drilling.  Instead I opted for some paper binders that work really well.  I am waiting on some stainless steel binders from China.

The final pieces of the filter system are two 28cm splatter guards.  These fit the Bergland pot really well.  I place one filter on the bottom of the pot to prevent the grain from draining through the tank connectors.  The other one is secured to the lid using two stainless steel nuts and bolts.

So that's it for the mechanical build.
The outer pot is connected to a pump via some silicone tubing from the ball valve.  The Pump is connected to the wort flow pipe on the inner pot by a brass hose connector and the wort recirculates up through the mash and out the top of pot and down the sides where it is drained through the deck drain and out to the pump again.

Electrical Control Unit – The Ardbir

I am not an electrician so if you are not sure about using mains voltage seek advice as mains voltage kills.  I would advise the use of terminal connectors that are properly crimped for save connections and heat sleeves where required.

When I started I had intended to use my PID controller (Rex c100), but a forum post on the National Homebrew Club got me very interested in the Ardbir control unit.  This looked like it did everything the Braumeister does and more. 

The forum post is here, http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php?topic=10671.0, and was started by gazz.  Thanks to pob, McMellow and molc for the help. 

What you require
•   Ardbir all in one board
•   40a SSR  (comes as optional add on)
•   DS18B20 temperature probe (comes as optional add on)
•   1x4 membrane keyboard (comes as optional add on)
•   Box ( 190 X 140 X 70 )
•   Mains cable 3 core 1.5 or 2.5.  I use 2.5 for anything over  10a
•   12v power cable ( recycled from a computer psu )
•   13 amp plug
•   13 amp terminal block

Optional
•   SSR heatsink
•   Thermal Paste for heatsink
•   Neutrik powercon connectors ( detachable )
•   Gx16 3 pin aviation connector for the temp probe ( detachable )
•   A suitable mains to 12v switchable power unit

My unit is only controlling a single heating element using an ssr and a 12v 3 amp pump.  At the time of writing I am waiting on the pump relay and a female socket panel mount to relay the power to the pump.

My unit uses all detachable cables and will eventually be mounted to the wall in my brew shed.
I only wanted one mains input into the box so I purchased a mains to 12v power supply to power the ardbir.
I purchased Neutrik Powercon type connectors for the mains in and mains out connections and gx16 3 pin connectors for the temperature control. 
All these connectors are optional extras

Prepare your box
Spend some time and have a think about how everything is going to fit inside your box, draw it out on a piece of paper before you start drilling your holes.  I decided to mount the ssr heatsink externally; this gives more room to the inside of the box, and also keeps the inside of the box nice and cool.  If you do this make sure and earth the heatsink.

I am not going to include a wiring diagram as the official ardbir Github documents contain everything that you require. 

They can be found here:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/96o6i39o50llama/AAD3cgNyiUxKXF73_qjhm_uia?dl=0
https://github.com/arzaman/Open-Ardbir-NANO

The ardbir is on going and I will update as I go along.

Some vids of first brew day, brewing a Hefeweizen
Everything went well with the system

Initial Water Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLXtORhQ5Xc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLXtORhQ5Xc)


Initial Mash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWtE6wDTx5E (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWtE6wDTx5E)

Mash after 30 Minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5iF0PWH_aU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5iF0PWH_aU)

Boil Test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYe6Gk_rGk (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYe6Gk_rGk)

Whirlpool test - Topsflo TS5 12v pump, diy whirlpool arm, in 28 litres of water and some porridge..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj1t-15OsAY

When your mash is complete how do you intent to remove the malt pipe before you start to boil. It will be heavy with the wet malt in it and will need time to fully drain.

I did my first brew over christmas with 5 kg and I was able to easily lift it out manually. The malt pipe drains a bit when the pump is turned off.

I made some lifting handles out of the handles of the splatter guards and I plan to attach them to a hoist in the future.

Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 05, 2016, 11:44:33 AM
When your mash is complete how do you intent to remove the malt pipe before you start to boil. It will be heavy with the wet malt in it and will need time to fully drain.

I've seen Darren's videos and pics of the system in action. The malt pipe sits nicely on the rim of the outer pot and drains through the tank connectors. I think there's some magic involved though :P

Great writeup. I really like the way you heat sink sticks outside

Did you just cut a slot or is there a big square hole in the side?

Also how warm / hot is the SSR/heatsink getting as its 40 amp rated and only switching 10 amps?

Thanks Will.

I just cut a thin enough slot in the side of the box and slotted the heatsink in.  Also the two screws that hold my ssr to the heatsink tighten up nicely to the side of the box, so the heatsink feels very solid. I cut the end of the heatsink off, it was a bit bulky.
I haven't measured the temp inside the box yet, I just went by feel and it wasn't warm at all.  I used the Ardbir for mash and full boil.  I will get a temp reading on the next boil.

Thanks Darren, this gives a very good picture of what you have build. Well done.

Two little remarks. I just wonder or the grain is not circulating to much in the grainpipe?
I you mount your control box to the wall. Make sure you can get is of easy. I was surprised how often my box was opend again and/or connected to my laptop. My box is hooked on to the Grainfather and secured with velcro ribbon.

Gool luck and happy brewing with this equipment

Brill, great write up.

Love these builds.

McMellow I like the idea of Velcro and this is probably how I will mount the unit to the wall.

The grain didnt fill the pipe so there was room for recirculation.  The ardbir has pump rests that kick in at defined intervals. This lets things settle down.

Darren great job, get yourself a couple of 304 bolts and secure them half way up to side walls and get some bar and you can rest an drain like the BM or GF  drain it whilst your pot boils.
Other option ive seen are substantial cake racks or oven shelves on the top

Cheers CH I was considering an oven grill/rack thingy, I also have a beam directly over where i brew so I am considering a hoist also..

That looks great Darren. Can you let me know if your happy with the pump? I'm going to pick one up myself any day now.

Quote from: Mossy on January 06, 2016, 01:17:28 AM
That looks great Darren. Can you let me know if your happy with the pump? I'm going to pick one up myself any day now.

Hi Mossy I have this pump about 10 months or so and have used on a good few brews now and would highly recommend it. Ita 12v dc with 12L/min flow rate. I use it for mash recirc and cooling through a plate chiller etc. I got it from brewbuilder

That's great Darren, thanks for the info. Just a question on that, if your using it for recirculating I'm guessing that some grain particles are going through the pump, is this ok for the pump?

No grain passes through the pump as I biab or I use the inner pot which has filters. I also use my biab bag for the hops. I did a whirlpool test with some porride and no filters and the pump handled it no problem.

These are not chuggers so I would be carefull with hops etc.

Whole hops will fook with a chugger but pellet is OK ;)

Had a few bits left over so I made up a Whirlpool arm out of a 500mm piece of flexi tube, a reducer nossle and brass garden hose fitting.
Filled the beoirmaker with 28 litres of water and put some porridge in, yum...

Left for about 10 minutes and came back.  I slowly drained the kettle and was left with a nice enough cone in the middle.  I will throw up a vid later on.  Its more a gentle whirlpool than vigorous but it did the job.

Ha Haa well done. Love how our brains work when we apply them to a task :)

Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 06, 2016, 02:43:51 PM
Ha Haa well done. Love how our brains work when we apply them to a task :)

All in the name of beer

That's a great post. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.  I bought the ardbir and have a 30l HLT that I want to convert into a single vessel system. I have a feeling this post will become the template for that build.

Quote from: auralabuse on January 06, 2016, 02:58:55 PM
That's a great post. Thanks for taking the time to write this up.  I bought the ardbir and have a 30l HLT that I want to convert into a single vessel system. I have a feeling this post will become the template for that build.

Cool, if you have any questions give a shout

Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 06, 2016, 01:07:53 PM
Whole hops will fook with a chugger but pellet is OK ;)

They didn't fook it for me on the small cone but ....

I'll never tire of this


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSORiSaRW8

Hi Darren, excellent stuff, great build with some great ideas thrown into the mix! Could you tell me where you got the flexi stainless hose?

Hi Tk got it in woodies 9 euro for 500mm

Cool, does it hold shape or does it need to be fixed to something? Also is there rubber inner tubing?

Its 304 grade stainless solid pipe no plastic on the inside at all, its bends by hand and can be shaped easily.  I just popped into the kettle and bent it to the shape i wanted, and it stayed in place no problem.   There is a shoddy vid of it in action on post 4 of this thread

genius! Once again great set up! May have some more queries (hopefully in the not so distant future) as I'm chipping away at my own build

Quote from: TK on January 07, 2016, 09:41:11 PM
genius! Once again great set up! May have some more queries (hopefully in the not so distant future) as I'm chipping away at my own build

No problem at all, if I can help I will , this build was great fun, I hope you enjoy your build

Folks, I am working on some upgrades to my malt pipe, i need to cut a stainless deck drain down to size, i have no power tools, just a hack saw, any advice on what the best approach is. What type blade should i be looking at..  thanks

Getting ready for brew day, made a few changes to my system. I mounted my new pump underneath the main pot and installed an on off switch for it as I fried the ardbir pump control.

New stainless steel fermenter with thermowell and ssbrewtech rotating racking arm. Etched my kettle and fermenter as well. I put a 3kw element in the kettle.

Had some half inch barbs ao in installed them in the malt pipe and this gives nice clearance on the heating element and drainage when the malt pipe is lifted out.

Going to get a heffe on with a multi stage mash profile..

Happy Patricks Day!

Looks great!! Are they rubber stoppers on the 'legs' of your malt pipe?

Hi Tk. They are rubber fermenter grommits, they work well and give a prrfect seal. Hows your project coming on?

That's fantastic looking.

How did the (Hefe) brewday work out?

Cheers pob, all went well, very easy brew day and the 3kw element is savage. The ardbir is a great piece of kit. I am doing another in a couple of weeks, i will do a brew day log with a few pics and some video

Small delay atm as my pump came to a halt last week so waiting on another also a cheap ass aliexpress element i had started leaking so thats being replaced with hopefully a more robust spare part element for a parry ban marie 300w element http://www.ebay.ie/itm/130402984764?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Nice looking element. I got a pump from bridgewater, its works really well. Its a topsflo pump and it is fairly cheap, I would recommend it if you are after a 12v pump

This is the element I went with
http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=200935471240&alt=web
Its a geniune burco 3kw element. Very happy with it

Some more upgrades

Quick disconnects finally arrived from China, good quality.

I got y filter from bridgewater and attached this to the a quick disconnect, the idea here is that it will be a quick release from the kettle tap so easy to rinse and clean.  Nothing should be getting to the pump or the plate chiller. 

Finally got around to finishing the malt pipe.

I secured the lid with a piece of stainless steel flat bar, its 3mm thick and seems pretty sturdy, so hopefully it wont bend.

I put two stainless steel coat hangers on each side of the pot and then modified some stainless eye bolts that I had in my spares box.

The eye bolts are threaded through the flat bar and secured with some more eye bolt, the plan here is that I can lift the malt pipe with a hoist attached to these eye bolts.  Hopefully the flat bar is strong enough.

Getting ready for brew day next Saturday, hopefully.  I will put a heffe on with a 4 step mash profile to test out the new modifications. 

To date, i have done about 10 brews on the beoirmaker but one thing was bugging me was that I could only do 5 gallon brews, not so good for test batches.

I was looking more into the grainfather design and like the way it has the overflow tube in the middle and that this is adjustable for smaller brews.  I also prefer top down re circulation as this mimics sparging on a traditional 3 vessel system.

So started to scratch me head and think how I could achieve this and after a good old google I came across a post on AHB that looks like it will do the job I need.

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/83760-adding-recirculation-my-easy-urn-upgrade/

I had most of the parts as spares from other projects so I said I would give this a go.  I have upgraded my pump to a chugger and would like to be able to run this full blast.

I put put a few eyebolts on the end of the malt pipe to keep it off the element and qmax'd out a few holes. 
I had a left over deck drain that I am going to use for the overflow out and this is connected to a male quick connect so I can detach the overflow pipe for storage.  this is image 1.
Image 2 is a top down view of the malt pipe with false bottom and quick disconnect.
Image 3 is the overflow pipe.  This is a couple of pipe fittings joined together with some connects and a female quick connect on the end.  At the top is a t connecter, I am debating if I should connect a bazooka screen here or use a top filter like the grainfather.
Image 5 is everything in place. 

I will take it for a spin next brew day and post back the results if anyone is interested.
Do you think I need the top filter ?  Anyone any opinions on this..

Thanks

Nice pics, wheres your disconnect for the feed for that herms ;D
Only comment I would make is that with smaller batches getting a consistent product is harder, I'm going the other way and finding I'm getting a better overall consistent product on my core recipes from bigger 50L batches v's when I used to do 20-23L batches.  There is no real cost on time and its probably a €10-15 per batch. Oh the extra product I don't want or need gets tipped or given away :o.

Cheers CH, no herms in this,  that's for the whirlpool arm and feed for recirculating.  I can pop the lid on the thermo and walk away while mashing.

Finding it hard to get through the beer I have at the moment and I am giving away a good bit as it is.  We do 50 litres batches I  the club as well so I have access to that if I want to scale up.