Brew UK Forum | Equipment
Brewery Build cont...
As the original thread is now 2 pages long I thought it would be more convenient to continue with a new thread.
This isn't a how to, its just showing what I did.
I now have a mash tun.
The inner hole is 25mm, the outer 32mm & used an old washing machine hot water hose to connect the barrel tap to the manifold.
Planning: Vienna lager, Wheat beer fermented with Gutmann yeast, ESB
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Responses
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
No jugging required, circulation pump, reckon I can power it with an old phone charger.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
Won't be long now...
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Indeed Greg, I'll probably put an order in for ingredients this week.
Not sure what to do about the sparge arm. A rotating one is beyond my fabrication skills & it would be limited by the width of the cool box anyway. I thought about laying 2 lengths of pipe over the length of the mash tun connected & fed in the middle, like an H, & letting the water dribble from strategically drilled holes? - no smut you lot
Any suggestions most welcome.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Yeah thatll do it. I would do one like your strainer but with an extra length in the middle (like the england flag) and then you could hold it in place with those "s" hooks (which you can make from hangars).
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Thanks mate, I'll do that.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
HLT
Boiler
Just a few more bits & pieces to do but essentially its good to go.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Looks great mate. Did you use ptfe tape inside boiler? The olives should be enough to make the joins water tight. I wouldnt want any melted ptfe anywhere!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
I did & never gave it a thought. Think I'll have it to bits & clean it up, the shakedown boil should clear up the rest of it.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
No PTFE in there now but if it leaks I know who to blame.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Admin
That is shaping up very nicely Hamish.
Fermenting:
Conditioning:Pale with Styrians
Drinking:Cascade Pale Ale, Summer Lightning
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
I knew I should of put a disclaimer in my signature!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
You're ok mate, no leaks so far.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Hamish
Does the barrel distort when its gets a boil on? I'm guessing that the plastic softens a little when it gets hot. I'm sure I've read that some keep the lid on to hold the shape but for boiling you don't want a lid on. I suppose cutting a very large hole in the lid would allow you to put the lid on without steam condensing and falling back into the wort.
BTW - When and what is the inaugural brew?
Fermenting:
Condtioning: Twibute Clone
Drinking: 100% wheat, Fixby Gold
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Simon, I guess the plastic does soften a touch but nothing to be concerned about, did notice the top of the barrel went a little oval shaped. Short of destroying the lid I'll make something to help it keep its shape.
Going to christen it this weekend if everything goes to plan with a Bavarian Wheat beer, feet first in the deep end I know but I want to compare it to the extract Wheat before it runs out.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Behold the Mango Chutney Barrel Nano Brewery
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
Wow looks really nice job.
How much does it brew ?
Any automation ?
Cool.
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
P O R N !
Excellent job mate, looks the nuts.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Thanks guys.
The barrels are 50 litres but how much wort you could boil without a boil over I don't know, the cool box is 28 litres but I'll stick to 40 pint brews for now.
The little pump powered by the battery charger is for recirculation.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
I cant wait for your first brew. Any ideas/recipes yet?
Are yuo running both elements from 1 plug? I usually run my 2 from seperate points as the elements are 2.4kw each, last time I ran it off 1 extention it blew!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Everything went ok when I did a test boil from one socket, brought it to the boil with 2 elements then switched 1 off alternating between them every now & then for an hour.
How does this grab you!
Bavarian Weizen
Pale Malt 2280 grams 43%
Wheat Malt 2650 grams 50%
Carapils 370 grams 7%
Hallertauer Hersbrucker 45gms 90 minutes
Wyeast Weihenstephaner – 1 litre starter
Final Volume: 23 litres
Original Gravity: 1.052
Final Gravity: 1.012
Alcohol Content: 5.2% ABV
Total Liquor: 33.6 litres
Mash Liquor: 13.3 litres
Mash Efficiency: 75%
Bitterness: 15 EBU
Colour: 10 EBC
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
What ball valve are you using hamish
Full bore or peglar ?
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Hi Hamish. As usual, great workmanship. Love it! Wish I had room to build one myself. It will be interesting to see how well the Mango barrels do. I would have thought the plastic will be thick enough to tolerate the heat. The 2 elements worry me a bit. If they really are 2.4 KW each, then they draw 20 amps, and that's way too much to pull from 1 socket. If your house wiring stands it without blowing a trip, something will melt. 13 amps is reckoned to be the maximum to draw from 1 socket so for peace of mind I would strongly recommend you run them from a separate socket each. The last thing you want is all the lecky going off in the middle of a brew!
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
Posted 1 year ago by Moderator
Thanks for the words of caution but I did feel the blood pressure rise a tad when I read that, with respect you worry too much. It reminded me of an article I read yesterday about the way we are governed, namely by petty officialdom obsessed with rules and regulations and over the top health and safety, unfortunately it seems to be the way our society has gone.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8306012/My-long-crusade-for-common-sense.html
I'm going to shout this for all to see, ITS NOT A HOW TO GUIDE, ITS JUST WHAT I DID!
OK, I'm calm now.
The mango barrels are made from HMHDPE and whilst the top does go a little oval during the boil they have stood up to 10 full mash brews plus the all associated Wheeler water treatment, which I do in 2 lots, I make that 30 boils between the 2 barrels. Clearly not as good as stainless steel but they do the job for me.
The elements are 2200W, my concession to elf n safety is the circuit breaker you see in the picture. It hasn't tripped once and nothing has melted. For the record I live on a farm, we draw big amps for various bits of kit all the time, thanks for your concern but the wiring is good.
BTW sam
15mm full bore compression ball valve from bes.co.uk
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 1 year ago by Member
An outstanding piece of work Hamish! Outstanding!
(with grateful thanks to the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and slightly adapted)
Posted 12 months ago by Moderator
Seems there's a lot I didn't understand.
I won't make the same mistake again.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
Posted 12 months ago by Moderator
Think I must have had a bad day at the office, apologies for the little rant.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 12 months ago by Member
I love the setup - something to aspire to
Posted 12 months ago by Moderator
Shiny, thats what you should aspire to.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 12 months ago by Moderator
Shiny don't mean great beer though. I love your setup Hamish. Practical, well thought out, Decent price and makes great beer. What more could you ask for!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 12 months ago by Member
I must admit I like shiny - my bike is shiny (usually) even my car is shiny (occasionally) - and would aspire to a shiny rig - but would it make a better product? Sadly I'll never know.(lottery notwithstanding)
Posted 12 months ago by Moderator
I doubt it. I saw a "microbrewery" on a local news program last year and although they use big well made boilers and mash tuns the fermentation vessels were just boggo plastic and they were supplying pubs across Andover.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 4 months ago by Member
Hamish I am in the process of gathering all the bits to basically copy your set up, chutney barrels in their way!. I have zero imagination so couldn,t possibly design something myself. Is there anything you would have done different if you new then what you know now? I read one of your posts somewhere and you say for instance you now batch sparge so could of saved a bit there. One other thing (and I may be answering this myself in the question) do you simply add 9 litres to the volume to allow for the amount needed to cover the elements or am I over-complicating things
Posted 4 months ago by Moderator
Coincidentally I was just think about building a new stainless steel boiler.
I bought some expensive brass pushfit tees and elbows to make a sparge arm thinking I would fly sparge. Trouble is the HLT doesn't have a thermostat so its quite difficult to stand there for an hour trying to maintain the temperature. The sparge water just channelled through the grains anyway and I missed the gravity by miles. I used the sparge arm just once so obviously wished I hadn't bought the tees and elbows.
When draining the mash tun it takes about 9 litres to completely submerge the elements. You could fit them lower down but too low they'll be on the tapered part of the barrel so they won't be level. With it being tapered and curved I thought there might be an issue with the seal.
I might fit a sight gauge to the HLT if I can acquire the tube cheap enough. The mango barrel diameter is about 13/14 inches so the evaporation rate is quite high, other than that I've been quite happy with the setup.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 4 months ago by Moderator
While I remember, the mash tun stainer now connects to the tap from the middle of the strainer so it sits flatter.
I managed to switch the elements on without any liquid in the boiler, it all got a bit hot before the thermal cut out tripped and plugs were a bit, ahem, distorted.
These are much better quality than the Maplins ones and a bit cheaper too...
http://www.audiospares.com/product.php?productid=2160&cat=0&page=1
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 4 months ago by Member
just 1 more question, i noticed you used cordless kettles and then bought the leads. Is this because they were the only ones available at the time or is it known that the corded ones don,t fit. My local supermarket has both the corded and cordless in stock at the moment. Thanks
Posted 4 months ago by Moderator
I bought the plugs because they're heat rated (120C).
http://www.audiospares.com/product.php?productid=2160&cat=0&page=1
The leads came from the kettles I just wired them up.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 4 months ago by Member
last one I promise, any chance of popping round and knocking it me up
Posted 4 months ago by Moderator
Don't worry about the questions, anything you're not sure about don't be afraid to ask.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 4 months ago by Member
thanks a lot, i,m sure there will be plenty more !
Posted 3 months ago by Member
Workmanship beyond my capabilities, very awesome. I'm sticking to extract brewing!
FV;Hopback Summer Lighting (1st AG)
Conditioning;Tettnang
Drinking; Geordie Lager, Rocker APA and Thunderbolt
Finished; Way to Amarillo, Coopers IPA
Posted 3 months ago by Member
Hi Hamish, just test boiled the first boiler and it worked perfectly. I did notice the barrel went oval shaped. Did you cut out the lid in the end or do you just have an oval boiler
I,m thinking oval is good 
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
No, I didn't destroy the lid.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 3 months ago by Member
thanks Hamish I didn't think you would of cut the lid. My brewery "the Hamish" is just about ready for me to pop my all grain cherry
Unfortunately though I,ve just gone on 12 hours a day 7 days a week until christmas so it may be a new year thing now but there you go
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
Pictures?.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 3 months ago by Member
Presenting "The Hamish"
As you can see the other "Hamish" stole most of my ideas
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
Nice.
I don't know how I managed to build it.
Fermenting: Wheat beer
Maturing/Conditioning:
Drinking: Pseudo-Lager, Oatmeal stout & Shop bought stuff
Posted 3 months ago by Member
it was surprisingly easy to make, once someone had designed, built, tested and posted loads of detailed photo's !!
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
Nice one, great to gave a dedicated setup going on, I hate having to move mt stuff around my neighbours garage everytime I have a brewday.
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
Still got the 'phone then, Nath.
Planning: - To get some more brews on now the weather's a bit cooler
Fermenting: - Ginger Beer experiment
Conditioning: - A normal bitter with Styrians
Drinking: - All of it!!
Posted 3 months ago by Moderator
Nope just wonky fingers on the keyboard!
Conditionin' - LEB Pale
Conditionin' - Thwaits Nutty Black
Plannin' - A user upper!
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