Building a home brewing set

Basic Brewer

I've been looking at small brew pubs in the US and wondered what it took to build something like that at home.

I've plenty knowledge of electrics,controls,pumps and plenty of copper,all i need is a plan and some advice. This will entertain me this summer.

oblivious

If you have the experience and knowledge you could aim to build the Brutus Ten, it s popular system in the US to build

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSwqcqzp-uU

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Brutus-Ten/175959902439568

Other than that is the plastic boiler option that most Europeans use with a pump system to recirculate the mash, transfer wort and hot liquor around

Mashtun

Fantasize about doing something along those lines endlessly. There are a shed load of sites from the US detailing these builds. Here is a diagram of what i would love to build if i had the time, patience, know-how, tools, space & money.

Do you already brew on small scale and are looking to make a more automated setup?

Mashtun

By the by, this is a good place to start reading up

http://www.hermsbrewery.com/

Basic Brewer

Cheers Mashtun, I'm going to do this, that's a great drawing but if i can find one on the link with more detail on the tanks and i should build most.

Mashtun

I could be completely wrong here but i think there are not too many people who have attempted something like this in Ireland and if they have they're not boasting enough. You should turn this thread into an account of how you progress. Please keep us posted!!!

Milsey

High Basic Brewer, I'm in the process of doing the same as you. I'm going to Herms. I have 3 kegs that I will use for the HLT, MLT and Boil kettle. I've a steel stand nearly made, and need to clean the kegs and cut top off, and Weld on fittings etc. I'm going to use 2 Ultra low watt density elements. 1 in the HLT and 1 in the Boil kettle. It's a 5.5kw element and only 1 will be on at a time. I think to buy a pot big enough will cost a lot of money so the keggs are stainless steel and perfect for now.
Check out http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/ for ideas
The dollar is weak at the moment so buying anything from there at moment will save some money. As mashtun knows I have been asking which might me best, Gas or Electric. I've decided to go electric. I'm an electrician so will wire up a 32 amp supply for my set up. I must start taking pictures as I build also and post so it may help others or people can point out improvements or mistakes in the build. I'm doing this on a budget so the build could be slow though
I'm only a noob at this too but i've done some reading over time so if you've any questions i'll give you my pennys wort.

Milsey

Well a bit of time has passed. I have made a jig from timber to cut the top of the keg with a 4 inch grinder.





Then I decided to cut the rim with the handles off the top of the keg also. I didn'y know if this would be easy or hard but it wasn't too tuff. I used a 4 inch grinder and cut along the weld. Then I used a grinding disk to remove the weld left behind. I havn't removed the weld in next photo yet.



I used a wire wheel to shine up the keg a bit but not totally happy with it.
I bought a lid for it in Ikea for 7 euro and a stainless steel silver tray that fits exactly in the bottom to use as a false bottom also for 7 euro.


I have cut the tray in half and ordered stainless steel piano hinge on ebay so I can get it in the top. I've cut many slots in the tray also to allow lauter to filter through it. I will post pictures of false bottom again.

qazxsw1

Looks good, haven't heard of / seen anyone cutting the handles off the kegs before, do you intend rigging up some alternative handle to manouver them if needed ?

Milsey

qazxsw1 wrote: »

Looks good, haven't heard of / seen anyone cutting the handles off the kegs before, do you intend rigging up some alternative handle to manouver them if needed ?

I cant say i've come up with it. I did see someone else on some forum with them cut off and thought it looked good. It changes them from looking like kegs to more bought brew pots. I'm going to be mounting these on a frame/stand so I wont need to be moving them after that so dont realy have a use for handles. I'll have three in total.

jj92

I spent the whole evening yesterday reading this and looking at the videos. There's 2 associated threads also. It's a fuly automated HERMS system they have designed and built. It's got everything: welding, programming, soldering, brewing, gas, plumbing, .... pure filth.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/automated-herms-system-132119/

Mashtun

Looks like your making progress milsey keep us updated

PhiliousPhogg

This brewery on wheels is a cracking job, but selling for four grand in New Zeland which is a little over 2K Euro.
http://www.farra.co.nz/productdetails.php?page=1&numproj=5

JnarF

PhiliousPhogg wrote: »

This brewery on wheels is a cracking job, but selling for four grand in New Zeland which is a little over 2K Euro.
http://www.farra.co.nz/productdetails.php?page=1&numproj=5

I WANT ONE!!!

Mashtun

Milsey wrote: »

I will post pictures of false bottom again.

Well Milsey any progress?