Some of you may remember my old system : https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/trgs-steam-powered-1-3bbl-brewsystem-406071/
I got a bunch of flak for my steam tank. It worked great, but I knew its lifespan was relatively short. A fun experiment, if you will. But, we found that brewing 10 gallons at a time was not enough to keep up with demand. Keeping several family members' kegerators full was becoming a fulltime job.
Solution: increase capacity.
Hey! What are these guys doing in my freshly painted garage? And using my TIG welder?
Oh. They built me a new brewstand? Sweet!
Painted it, and put a shelf in? Even better. Did some plumbing myself, however.
Oh wow, 400k BTU? Sure!
Maybe I should open up some boxes?
So shiny, I guess I will have to put 45# of grain into them!
While I'm here, the control panel, in action on its inaugural brewday!
And finally, the glamourous 'no I'm not naked in the reflection' shot.
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Batch #1 went quite well. However, the walls and sink cabinet got quite hot. Too hot for my comfort, so some heat shielding was necessary.
I would have loved to have stuck with 100% electric, but the subpanel in the shop was not up to the task of boiling ~28 gallons of wort. So, we opted to put the 3/4" gas line to use and build a direct-fire style RIMS system. The HLT is my old electric BK (capacity of about 22.5gallons). Both burners have standing pilots that I light using a electronic bbq igniter that has been wired up to the whole setup. The control panel uses 1 PID to SSR for the HLT, and another PID to control the mash burner gas valve. The gas control switch on the box has 3 positions: off, PID mash enable, and activate boil (which keeps the mash on as well). I'm quite happy with how this system has turned out!
I got a bunch of flak for my steam tank. It worked great, but I knew its lifespan was relatively short. A fun experiment, if you will. But, we found that brewing 10 gallons at a time was not enough to keep up with demand. Keeping several family members' kegerators full was becoming a fulltime job.
Solution: increase capacity.
Hey! What are these guys doing in my freshly painted garage? And using my TIG welder?
Oh. They built me a new brewstand? Sweet!
Painted it, and put a shelf in? Even better. Did some plumbing myself, however.
Oh wow, 400k BTU? Sure!
Maybe I should open up some boxes?
So shiny, I guess I will have to put 45# of grain into them!
While I'm here, the control panel, in action on its inaugural brewday!
And finally, the glamourous 'no I'm not naked in the reflection' shot.
Batch #1 went quite well. However, the walls and sink cabinet got quite hot. Too hot for my comfort, so some heat shielding was necessary.
I would have loved to have stuck with 100% electric, but the subpanel in the shop was not up to the task of boiling ~28 gallons of wort. So, we opted to put the 3/4" gas line to use and build a direct-fire style RIMS system. The HLT is my old electric BK (capacity of about 22.5gallons). Both burners have standing pilots that I light using a electronic bbq igniter that has been wired up to the whole setup. The control panel uses 1 PID to SSR for the HLT, and another PID to control the mash burner gas valve. The gas control switch on the box has 3 positions: off, PID mash enable, and activate boil (which keeps the mash on as well). I'm quite happy with how this system has turned out!
