Anyone up to review my brewery design ?

bigvalen · March 27, 2016, 10:38:30 PM

I'm finally nearly ready to build a brewpi-based brewery that molc gave me tips on a few months back. I've my design specced out. I just need to itemise it & start the ordering. I nearly have my workshop finished, likely will finish the sink & waste tomorrow.

Before I blow a stupid amount of cash on this, have I forgotten anything ?

John

molc · March 28, 2016, 11:06:16 AM

I gave up on brewpi as it wasn't ready for mashing. The functionality is there now but the gui isn't great and it's a hassle to switch back to fermentation mode after.

The ardbir is working great and can use the same sensors, so that's my rig now.

Sorcerers Apprentice · March 28, 2016, 02:48:31 PM

I feel ardbir is good for single vessel systems but for my multi vessel set up, I opted for a BCS 460 http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/bcs460.html
On the downside it uses thermocouples rather than the one wire probes as used in ardbir and they more are expensive, but you get a system which can be operated remotely via pc or smartphone app, plus data logging

DEMPSEY · March 28, 2016, 03:05:42 PM

A clean as you go system is best. If you hard plumb the system then know how you clean up. I would recommend that water from HLT passes through the HERMS coil and on to the MASH TUN. Helps clean it and then after you complete your Mash your sparge water passes through the HERMS to flush out the wort and to help clean the HERMS as well.

Shanna · March 28, 2016, 03:41:18 PM

Quote from: DEMPSEY on March 28, 2016, 03:05:42 PM
A clean as you go system is best. If you hard plumb the system then know how you clean up. I would recommend that water from HLT passes through the HERMS coil and on to the MASH TUN. Helps clean it and then after you complete your Mash your sparge water passes through the HERMS to flush out the wort and to help clean the HERMS as well.

How does that work? Surely the nascent wort from the mashtun is passed through the heat exchanger in a herms system? Are you describing how a rims system would work? I have a herms & only after sparging is complete can I clean the herms coil. Generally I wait till boiling is complete & run a cleanup by heating water in the boiler along with some cleaning agent and recirculate it through the herms coil, pump & back into the boiler for about twenty minutes. Then do another run with just water for another 20 minutes to flush out the cleaning agent. This allows me to clean coil, tubing, pump & boiler in one go.

Shanna

Sorcerers Apprentice · March 28, 2016, 03:51:08 PM

It's a flush, you flush through the wort in the herms coil with your sparge water, this rinses the wort out of the coil and stops it cooling and becoming sticky before you get around to cleaning it. Cooled wort is an ideal habitat for all sorts of infections including amonst others Butyric Acid

Shanna · March 28, 2016, 04:17:30 PM

Quote from: Sorcerers Apprentice on March 28, 2016, 03:51:08 PM
It's a flush, you flush through the wort in the herms coil with your sparge water, this rinses the wort out of the coil and stops it cooling and becoming sticky before you get around to cleaning it. Cooled wort is an ideal habitat for all sorts of infections including amonst others Butyric Acid

OK I don't actually sparge with the herms but instead pump the sparge water in to my mashtun en mass and then run the sparge water through the herms to bring it up to mashout temperature & run that for 10 minutes to complete the process. I then drain the mashtun of the sparge water. Yes butyric acid is not something you want in your beer. Is waiting for a few hours to flush the herms coil too long or should it been done straight after finishing with it? Starting to get a bit paranoid now

Shanna

Sorcerers Apprentice · March 28, 2016, 07:06:32 PM

It's a good habit to get into to flush everything directly after use, eg herms coil pumps and hoses, the best laid plans and all that can result in you being pulled away before you get a chance to clean up properly, and you mightn't get to clean up properly until the next time you use your kit, and you could end up leaving your system full of old rancid wort.

molc · March 28, 2016, 07:24:40 PM

Yeah I spare using my herms coil to clean it out. Every 5 brews or so I also clean it with W5 with a full system recirc while the wort is boiling.

Shanna · March 28, 2016, 08:08:43 PM

Quote from: Sorcerers Apprentice on March 28, 2016, 07:06:32 PM
It's a good habit to get into to flush everything directly after use, eg herms coil pumps and hoses, the best laid plans and all that can result in you being pulled away before you get a chance to clean up properly, and you mightn't get to clean up properly until the next time you use your kit, and you could end up leaving your system full of old rancid wort.

Cleaning up always happens short of a disaster happening. However no harm to clean the coil directly after use. Everything else gets used (pump + tubing) up until the chilling has finished as I recirculate my wort through a copper pipe to ensure it gets agitated to speed up the chilling. Thanks for the tip.

Molc I use W5 to clean my pump, hoses, coil etc every brewday with water heated to about 45-50C. I would assume this is sufficient to clean everything out.

Shanna

Manu · March 28, 2016, 09:19:00 PM

It looks like the HLT and the boil kettle are a a bit small compare to the size of fermenter or even mash tun.

DEMPSEY · March 28, 2016, 09:30:55 PM

I have a 3 keg set up,HLT,MASH TUN,KETTLE and a small HERMS pot. I also have 2 chugger pumps. The first pump has at the inlet 2 connections, one from the HLT and the other from the Mash Tun outlet.
I first fill the Mash Tun from the HLT via the pump and through the HERMS and into the Mash Tun.When I dough in I switch the pump inlet to connect the Mash Tun outlet so the wort now is pumped around through the HERMS and back to the Mash Tun. After completing the mash I close the connection to the pump and reopen the connection to the HLT. Open the HLT and pump sparge water though the HERMS and into the Mash Tun thus clearing the wort in the HERMS and flushing it with 76C sparge water.
While this is happening I have outlet on the Mash Tun Connected to the second pump to begin my transfer of wort to the boil kettle. For me I do the transfer via the counterflow chiller but that is not necessary.
Advantage of the first clean through the Mash Tun is while the Boil is on I can easily clean out the Mash Tun and run boiling water though the HERMS and pump and it is all done before the boil is complete.

Shanna · March 28, 2016, 09:51:09 PM

Quote from: DEMPSEY on March 28, 2016, 09:30:55 PM
I have a 3 keg set up,HLT,MASH TUN,KETTLE and a small HERMS pot. I also have 2 chugger pumps. The first pump has at the inlet 2 connections, one from the HLT and the other from the Mash Tun outlet.
I first fill the Mash Tun from the HLT via the pump and through the HERMS and into the Mash Tun.When I dough in I switch the pump inlet to connect the Mash Tun outlet so the wort now is pumped around through the HERMS and back to the Mash Tun. After completing the mash I close the connection to the pump and reopen the connection to the HLT. Open the HLT and pump sparge water though the HERMS and into the Mash Tun thus clearing the wort in the HERMS and flushing it with 76C sparge water.
While this is happening I have outlet on the Mash Tun Connected to the second pump to begin my transfer of wort to the boil kettle. For me I do the transfer via the counterflow chiller but that is not necessary.
Advantage of the first clean through the Mash Tun is while the Boil is on I can easily clean out the Mash Tun and run boiling water though the HERMS and pump and it is all done before the boil is complete.

Ah so I see you don't continue to use the herms for the sparging process.

Shanna

DEMPSEY · March 28, 2016, 09:54:59 PM

No my sparge water is already heated in the HLT to correct temp

DEMPSEY · March 28, 2016, 10:02:13 PM

here is my set up

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