My Next Step in Homebrewing

Homebrewing is a great engineering hobby. It is a hobby that allows one to build his own equipment, tweak and control the brewing process, and then of course enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Brewing up a yeast starter

In my day job I am paid to improve and make things better. Production is king. This carries over to my hobbies. This is part of the reason I am upgrading my brewing setup to produce over 1bbl (31 US gallons = ~117 liters) per brew session.

My rationalization for this is as follows:

·        Brewing 31 USGAL takes about the same amount of time as brewing 5 USGAL

·        I drink too much beer to brew in 5 gallon increments – the cycle time doesn’t work out so I end up drinking beer before it is ready to be consumed

·        Further to the previous point, I will be able to age some of my beer for proper lengths of time (I include dry hopping and oak aging in this, as they tend to add weeks to the process)

·        I am tired of having a half assed brew system where I have to lift and dump 5-10 gallons of wort

·        Actually brewing that much beer will be physically impressive – aka AWESOME

The future state of my brew system will be a 3 vessel single tier electric system with RIMS. I am planning on 9 or 10 kW for both the Hot Liqour Tank (HLT) and boil kettle with a 2000 W element in the rims tube.

Both the HLT and mash tun will be 55 USGal High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) barrels, while the boil kettle will be either aluminum or stainless, and be 40 US gallons or larger. I have yet to decide on what kettle I want, as my options are varied. I will dedicate an entire post to what I am considering for a kettle.

What I am currently brewing with

Current State of the Project

Vessels:

·        HLT – top is cut open and a drain valve is installed. I use this as a holding tank during my current brewing activities.

·        Mash Tun – currently sitting as an unconverted barrel waiting for me to find my jigsaw and get down to business

·        Kettle – unpurchased

Control Panel:

Many of the electronics are purchased and are on their way. Items remaining for purchase are the following:

·        Wiring

·        Fuses/breakers

·        Spa panel (GFCI for panel feed)

·        Enclosure

·        Heating elements

·        Plugs

·        Terminal Strips

Miscellaneous Hardware Remaining for Purchase:

·        Valves

·        Tubing

·        Tri-clamp adapters

·        Kettle

·        Ventilation for indoor brewing

So, in short, the current state of the project is a pile of parts and an alcohol soaked dream.

Box of parts and a glass of bourbon

I’ll update as things advance. I recently ordered a tri-clamp RIMS tube for this project, and will likely post in excitement when it arrives. Please comment with feedback and questions (although I'm sure no one will read this)!