My Brew Setup "Designed to Brew"

[Jthornburgh]

I have spent quite a lot of time wanting to start brewing. When I got serious, I wanted to make sure that I would have everything that I needed, not just to make great beer, but also to make the process go smoothly. I went through many threads here, as well as all over the web looking for what people wish they had done differently, or common problems. I took all of this into account and fully designed my system online before buying anything. This included deciding to build my own Boil Kettle and Conical Fermenter.

I planned on turning a chest freezer that I already had into the keezer, and during the design phase, had an upright freezer given to me that would turn into the fermentation chamber.

So I ordered everything, and started working on making the Kettle and Fermentor.

The day after I cut everything out, I found someone selling an entire setup, including a 7.3 Gallon Stout Conical.

Now to the system Pictures.

Stir Plate:

Mash:

Chilling Process:

Today I made a Whirlpool arm, I didn't include one in the Kettle because I wanted to be able to move it around.

Transferring to Fermentor:

In the Chamber:

Keezer

 

[bosster01]

Looks great! Is it difficult to put temperature controllers on your keezer? I just got a wine chiller that I'm using for a fermentation chamber - but it only goes down to 41 and up to 65. I'd like some more temp control to make it down to ~35, and possibly heat it too using a ferm wrap type device.

I'm really impressed how you designed everything!

 

[Jthornburgh]

Looks great! Is it difficult to put temperature controllers on your keezer? I just got a wine chiller that I'm using for a fermentation chamber - but it only goes down to 41 and up to 65. I'd like some more temp control to make it down to ~35, and possibly heat it too using a ferm wrap type device.

I'm really impressed how you designed everything!

The stc-1000 work really good, and were cheap. I've heard good things about the black box which is programmable for less than $50. I didn't see it until after I had built these two.

 

[bosster01]

Can you explain how you're using the pumps/hoses that are attached to the brew kettle?

Also are you straining your wort prior to putting it into the primary fermenter?

Also - what is this black box thing? Can you provide me with a link so I can research it.

 

[Jthornburgh]

Can you explain how you're using the pumps/hoses that are attached to the brew kettle?

The hoses recirculate the wort during cooling, and create a whirlpool. I am able to get from boiling to 80 in 15 min. I also use the pump to transfer to the fermenter.I had been just angling the hose, but made a rigid arm for the next batch.

Also are you straining your wort prior to putting it into the primary fermenter?

Yes, I don't have anything in the kettle, so I tried my grain bag for the last two batches. There mesh is too small on it, so it didn't drain very well. I have bought a paint strainer bag from Lowes to use in my batch today.

Also - what is this black box thing? Can you provide me with a link so I can research it.

www.blackboxbrew.com It looks like they're sold out for now. It only takes me a couple minutes to adjust the temperature using the standard stc-1000

 

[jddevinn]

Looks great! Is it difficult to put temperature controllers on your keezer? I just got a wine chiller that I'm using for a fermentation chamber - but it only goes down to 41 and up to 65. I'd like some more temp control to make it down to ~35, and possibly heat it too using a ferm wrap type device.

I'm really impressed how you designed everything!

Off original topic but, wine chiller generally use a thermoelectric cooler that works on the Peltier effect. The limits of possible set temperatures on this type of cooling is limited to +/- a certain amount from ambient.

The temperature controllers used to control freezers work by externally regulating the power to the freezer so that the freezer is only on long enough to reach the set temp then turn off. Adding a controller to a cooler that already has a lower limit (either thermally or simply control limited) will not allow for a lower temperature.

 

[bosster01]

Hi!

I apologize for getting off topic.
-The wine cooler I have has a compressor like a fridge so I do not believe it's thermoelectric. It's a danby dwc512bl-1 (single zone). I can see the black compressor in the back that looks just like a minifridge.

So if it is indeed ran by a compressor can I use a temp controller?

 

[bosster01]

The hoses recirculate the wort during cooling, and create a whirlpool. I am able to get from boiling to 80 in 15 min. I also use the pump to transfer to the fermenter.I had been just angling the hose, but made a rigid arm for the next batch.



Yes, I don't have anything in the kettle, so I tried my grain bag for the last two batches. There mesh is too small on it, so it didn't drain very well. I have bought a paint strainer bag from Lowes to use in my batch today.

www.blackboxbrew.com It looks like they're sold out for now. It only takes me a couple minutes to adjust the temperature using the standard stc-1000

Very impressive. How about the stir plate? Is that an old hard drive magnet? I made a stir plate recently (much smaller scale), but what the heck is that big white thing? Is that some sort of giant fan? Why is it so big does it have a different purpose than simply making starter cultures?

 

[Terek]

like the whirlpool are, im steeling that idea, muah ha ha ha

 

[Jthornburgh]

Hi!

I apologize for getting off topic.
-The wine cooler I have has a compressor like a fridge so I do not believe it's thermoelectric. It's a danby dwc512bl-1 (single zone). I can see the black compressor in the back that looks just like a minifridge.

So if it is indeed ran by a compressor can I use a temp controller?

It has a timer so it dosen't cycle the compressor too often

 

[Jthornburgh]

Very impressive. How about the stir plate? Is that an old hard drive magnet? I made a stir plate recently (much smaller scale), but what the heck is that big white thing? Is that some sort of giant fan? Why is it so big does it have a different purpose than simply making starter cultures?

Yes, a hard drive magnet, The white thing is just the base that I made for it. I have used it to stir 3 gallons of Mead in a 6 gallon bucket for the first several days.

 

[Jthornburgh]

like the whirlpool are, im steeling that idea, muah ha ha ha

Here's a video of it working.

https://goo.gl/photos/hBj3WhqoWQ15NnxBA