I was tired of lifting buckets of water over my head

[DustyTheBrewer]

So not too long ago I posted my new three-tier wooden brew stand (www.dustysbrew.com). Since my HLT was so damn high on the top tier, it made filling and topping it mid brew with water difficult and annoying.

I wanted to use my hose but everyone knows how gross hose water is. Below is my solution.

My garden hose goes though a ball valve to an activated carbon canister filter. Then it was just a few more dollars for some copper pipe and elbows. I had to teach myself to solder the pipes but that turned out to be a sinch.

It's hard to see at first in the picture, but you can see the dark blue handle for the ball valve against the light blue filter.

Here is the water flowing into the HLT. That canister filter has a damn nice flow-rate.

I can't wait to use this this weekend for my next brew. Filling the HLT is soooo easy now! One turn of the handle!

Dusty

 

[kpr121]

You want to run that filter at a much slower flowrate. It does not perform as well when you have it full blast.

BTW, I LOVE that setup! Very simple, and looks like it will get the job done well. If I didnt have my setup on the garage wall/counter, I would be doing something like this!

 

[Ace_Club]

Very nice! I also have a fairly high HLT, but I just use an RV hose (made for potable water) that doesn't impart the hose flavor.

 

[drac0]

Very nice! I also have a fairly high HLT, but I just use an RV hose (made for potable water) that doesn't impart the hose flavor.

I was just going to suggest that too. These hoses are made safe for drinking water. Garden hoses can contain products like lead and other chemicals that are unsafe for drinking. I picked one up last weekend at Wallyworld for under $10.

 

[DustyTheBrewer]

I was just going to suggest that too. These hoses are made safe for drinking water. Garden hoses can contain products like lead and other chemicals that are unsafe for drinking. I picked one up last weekend at Wallyworld for under $10.

You really can buy anything on amazon these days, huh? I might look into one of those anyway (googled the lead in hose thing) but the whole setup still makes everything soooo easy. I'm a military pilot in training and will be moving all around the country for the next few years. Never know when I'll be on that chlorinated city water...

 

[ultravista]

Nice build!

 

[r8rphan]

I want to do something similar.. Have most of the stuff to do it already, but I need to install a sight glass first...

If I want to stop lifting buckets of wort over my head though, I'll need to invest in a pump... I'll get to it eventually......

 

[kpr121]

If I want to stop lifting buckets of wort over my head though, I'll need to invest in a pump... I'll get to it eventually......

When do you need to lift buckets of wort over your head? With a gravity system like this, you don't need to lift the bucket until it is drained from the BK.

Unless you have your fermenting chamber in the ceiling? :cross:

 

[jcaudill]

Personally I'm not even sure I would trust the water that's gone through a garden hose even if it has been filtered. Like mentioned above you need a potable hose and then you're guaranteed there's no issue for all of 10 bucks.

 

[r8rphan]

When do you need to lift buckets of wort over your head? With a gravity system like this, you don't need to lift the bucket until it is drained from the BK.

Unless you have your fermenting chamber in the ceiling? :cross:

I use my HLT for MY BK... So I heat water in the keggle, drain it into the mash tun via gravity.. from the mash tun it goes into collection buckets via gravity.. Then I gotta lift them over my head to pour them back into the keggle for the boil....

I have a second keg out in the shop, that I'll eventually turn into a mash tun, and use a pump to recirc it during the mash right back into the BK.. So then it'll become a two kettle system.. But I'll still have to deal with getting on a ladder when I want to get all that spent grain out of the mash tun (unless I rig up a tippy dump system somehow)...

 

[DustyTheBrewer]

Alright so I replaced the hose. Kind of defeats the purpose of the filter now but it's another level of water control I suppose. I must say though, the whole setup worked amazingly on Sunday for the brew!

 

[kpr121]

That filter is probably still catching some things you dont want in your brew. Do you know if there are chlorines/chloramines in your drinking water?

 

[DustyTheBrewer]

Im on well water so it should be pretty good. I'll be moving to city water in the next couple of months so the filter will definitely be uselful then.

 

[biggerthanyou83]

Nice!