show us your brewing rig

[NcHooch]

I know some of Yall must have some fancy rigs...let's see 'em.

My RIMS rig

[Prairiepiss]

Not quite finished yet. Ok only about 75% finished. But I'm getting there. My soon to be HERMS rig.

[King Of Hearts]

BB Brewery. I need some fancy insulation for my mashtun.

[NcHooch]

Yall are lookin good

[Coyote]

Roller stand for the boiler

Way cool rolling rack for fermenter's

dang I have got to get the floor done!!

Coyote

[BrooklynTech]

No fancy rig here. Just a simple BIAB setup shown on a video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nYwf86unc4

[qball]

Built from these specs... (and tweaked a little)

http://www.electricbrewery.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Prairiepiss]

Did you build the controller of buy it from them? Thats what I'm working off of too.

[HookLine]

Some beautiful home brew rigs here.

WARNING, image heavy site.

http://www.brewzilla.nl/brewhalla.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Prairiepiss]

Lots of good ones on that page Hook. But some of them are down right scary.

[qball]

Prarie... if your question was directed at me, I built mine from parts I gathered.

[Prairiepiss]

You copied their controller pretty damn good. How did you get the kegs so shiny. And what did you use in the boil kettle to strain off the hops? Did you use a mash tun kit for the mash tun keg? How are you returning the sweet liquor to the MT from the HERMS coil? Manifold or something else? Did you go with the 1/2" HERMS coil in th HLT? And how long?

How is it working out for you? Anything you would change?

It would be nice if you could put together a build thread for us to check out.

[King Of Hearts]

I'm brewing an English IPA today.

English IPA
14-A English IPA
Date: 8/26/2012

Size: 11.0 gal
Efficiency: 90.0%
Attenuation: 71.0%
Calories: 222.26 kcal per 12 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.066 (1.050 - 1.075)
Terminal Gravity: 1.019 (1.010 - 1.018)
Color: 12.56 (8.0 - 14.0)
Alcohol: 6.18% (5.0% - 7.5%)
Bitterness: 50.8 (40.0 - 60.0)

Ingredients:
19.0 lb (86.4%) Bairds Pale Ale Malt - added during mash
1.0 lb (4.5%) White Wheat Malt - added during mash
1.0 lb (4.5%) Crystal 75 Bairds - added during mash
1.0 lb (4.5%) Light Brown Sugar - added 30 min before end of boil

2.3 oz (53.5%) Target (10.0%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 Whirlfloc tablet 15 m
2 oz (46.5%) Styrian Goldings (5.2%) - added during boil, boiled 10.0 m
1 tspn Wyeast Yeast Nurient 10m

1.0 cup slurry WYeast 1968 London ESB Ale™ ferment at 70'-75'f
Pure oxygen with stone for 2 m @ pitching temp
Ferment 10 days

Mash Schedule:

00:45:50 Mash In - Liquor: 5 gal; Strike: 159.45 °F; Target: 150 °F
01:45:50 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60 m
02:12:49 Mash Out - Heat: 20.0 m; Target: 168.0 °F
03:42:49 Sparge - @ 170.0 °F, 90 m Total Runoff: 13.0 gal
05:12:49 Boil - Heat: 90.0 m; Target: 212 °F
06:12:49 Cast Out - whirlpool Rest: 30 m

[qball]

Prarie...

I just followed all of the instructions at http://www.electricbrewery.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

That website is free and documents the build step by step.

The only difference is I used Kegs for brew kettles instead of the more expensice Blichmann's.

To polish, I used Gator Grid pads and an angle grinder. And then finished off with 2 different types of metal polishing compounds with a felt pad and my angle grinder. It took about 5 hours per keg (ugh).

Here's the guide I followed. http://www.suebob.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=64" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[qball]

I'm currently brewing a pumpkin ale!

[NcHooch]

Q , your rig is off the hook.
is it semi-auto?/

[qball]

is it semi-auto?/

Yes, it fires of 33 brews per minute. LOL...

Well... you can dial in temperatures +/- one degree and hold things there... mashing, boiling, etc.

You still have to switch around the various hoses to redirect flow using two pumps, so that isn't automatic.

The nice part is that you can achieve VERY high efficiencies in brewing... up to about 95%. This means less grain is needed.

The best I've been able to achieve is 90% so far, but I only have 5 beers under my belt with this system and I'm still tweaking things.

[Barney Fife]

I'm another simple BIAB homebrewer. Love seeing the wild setups some of you have, but I'm perfectly happy with my simple rig....

Question for y'all..: Has anyone ever considered adding a full reflux condenser to their kettle, in order to not lose all that water during the boil? Thinking like a home distiller for a moment, it occurred to me one day that if I sealed-off my kettle and added a short column and a good coil condenser that I could stop my shed from feeling like a rain forest on brew day(I brew indoors) and also have to compensate for the water lost during the boil. Have to wonder what it would do for the flavor and body of the beer, which is why I'm asking? Surely, the big breweries aren't sending millions of gallons of water, that they used tons of money to turn to steam, out into the air, to be lost? They must have a recovery system of some sort, I would think.

EDIT to add... With a closed kettle/boiler and full reflux column/condenser, we could also insulate it all, and use much, much less energy during the boil!! !

Damn... Now I'm think I need to transfer the hot wort to my still's boiler, add my old Bok column and try this....! Perhaps on the next 10 gallon brew, I'll split the wort into two 5 gallon "batches", and boil one batch in the open kettle and the other in the still with full reflux, and see first hand how they differ(if there's any difference at all).

EDIT #2..: Will the hops addition forever taint my still's boiler and the column???

[heartcut]

The few breweries I've toured run the boil steam out a stack. I typically lose 1-2 gal during a boil, though I bet it seems like 50 gal indoors. I'm going electric and plan for a fan and hood for indoor brewing.

[Prairiepiss]

Well some boil to condenser the wort down to a certain SG and size. But if you were trying for that you could use a pot still head and reclaim the water for later use?

But how would you deal with the hot break in a sealed pot?

[Barney Fife]

I typically lose 1-2 gal during a boil, though I bet it seems like 50 gal indoors.

Exactly!

The more I think about it, the more it makes sense for me to try it. If it affects the beer to a degree that makes my beer unpleasant, all I need to do is run the takeoff on the old Bok wide open and collect the water separately; this way, the beer will remain unchanged, and my stillin'/brewin' shed won't feel like a swamp.

The few breweries I've toured run the boil steam out a stack

Now I have to wonder if it is because of possible adverse affects to the beer, or simple economics? One a large scale, it could very well be that the energy required to reflux all that steam(as well as the initial costs of the infrastructure and of the equipment required) would cost more than the energy saved.

[Barney Fife]

But how would you deal with the hot break in a sealed pot?

It happens early, so we could simply leave the kettle open until we're done with the foaming. Also, the hot break, as it is, happens to us all-grain home distillers too(but we call it "puking" ); we just have to watch-out for it at boil-up, and lower the power input until we reach full boil.

[Barney Fife]

Okay, just read the following excerpt from john Palmer's book:

"Once you achieve a boil, only partially cover the pot, if at all. Why? Because in wort there are sulfur compounds that evolve and boil off. If they aren't removed during the boil, the can form dimethyl sulfide which contributes a cooked cabbage or corn-like flavor to the beer. If the cover is left on the pot, or left on such that the condensate from the lid can drip back in, then these flavors will have a much greater chance of showing up in the finished beer."

Seeing as how I detest cooked cabbage, I do not want even a remote chance it that flavor in my beer...

Guess I can just collect the condensate separately and discard it.

[King Of Hearts]

I wouldn't bother trying to conserve water, water is cheap, it would cost more to save it. And you need to get those compounds out of the boiler.

[Barney Fife]

Yeah, but keeping the moisture out of the rafters would be nice....

[King Of Hearts]

Yeah, but keeping the moisture out of the rafters would be nice....

Powervent.

[Prairiepiss]

I have 2 of the older style egg shaped kegs in stainless. I'm planning to cut them in half. And build a vent hood out of them. It's lower on the priority list. I got to get the brew rig done first.

[King Of Hearts]

I have 2 of the older style egg shaped kegs in stainless. I'm planning to cut them in half. And build a vent hood out of them. It's lower on the priority list. I got to get the brew rig done first.

Waste of a good keg, I ferment in mine. I cut an 8in hole in the top and made covers and brazed screws to it to hold them done, at hard at all. My boiler is a Coors keg.

[Prairiepiss]

I have more then enough at this point. But I was trying to find one of those rubber coated ones to make my mash tun out of. But it hasn't happened. And I'm looking at just insulating a reg keg now. More to come on this.

[heartcut]

Damn those are some nice rigs. I have a 20 gal ss pot with a boiling basket and BIAB to fit the basket and a 15 gal boiling pot. The basket lets me drain the grain without a hoist (hoisting a bag over hot water seems like a potential trip to the ER). Next step is a HLT with 20' of ss tubing (exchamner) and an electric element. I have a diaphram pump that'll have to do for now, but am drooling over a small ss centrifical pump. Might have some pics worth posting here someday.