steadfasthops
Active Member
So its time for me to start sharing my progress on our (girlfriend/ brewing partner Rachelle and I) 1bbl system that has been in the works for coming up on 10 months. The things we wanted in the system were that we wanted it to be able to brew batches from 10g-1bbl, needs to last forever and make it easy for anyone to use (no heavy lifting or straining to do anything). After lots of research, like may others, I became infatuated with Kal’s Electric Brewery system and that led me to want something like it but shot in the neck with HGH. I ordered all the control panel parts from Kal and made the necessary additions that I would need to power a 1bbl batch and so that I could power both kettles at once. I have a 5500w and 4500w element in the BK and two 4500w elements in the HLT; to get enough power I have two live feeds instead of one (one 50a and one 30a). It’s made so you can select the HLT or one BK element and there is a separate switch for one BK element.
I also got talked out of using the Blichmann Boilermaker 55gal kettles which I had planed on using and instead went with Stout Tanks. John is a great person to do Business with I special ordered a 55g HLT 45g BK and 40g MLT with all the bells and whistles. I can’t say enough about how great they look. It not only saved a lot of time and headache but it also saved me money in the long run. I calculated it out a few months ago on how much it was going to cost to pay for the Blichmann kettles and all the hardware/ shipping that goes on them to make a Kal clone and I saved close to 2 grand going with stout tanks.
I went a little overboard with the brew sculpture… but I made it so like I said earlier anyone can use it (I could teach grandma to use it and she could). The MLT and BK are on my version of a tippy dump, which I will take better pics of soon, and use air spring to help ease the load of tipping the kettles both ways. I wanted the kettles to be able to tip straight into a trash can for easier cleaning and to help the back. Because of that I made a cat walk so you can get up to the level of the kettles to check on everything. I also added a little sink and work station.
This is my extreme plate chiller pics say it all.
All in all it’s coming along and should be ready to brew on this next week end! I want to do a couple batches before I finish it just so I can still weld anything else I might want to add before paint.
I also got talked out of using the Blichmann Boilermaker 55gal kettles which I had planed on using and instead went with Stout Tanks. John is a great person to do Business with I special ordered a 55g HLT 45g BK and 40g MLT with all the bells and whistles. I can’t say enough about how great they look. It not only saved a lot of time and headache but it also saved me money in the long run. I calculated it out a few months ago on how much it was going to cost to pay for the Blichmann kettles and all the hardware/ shipping that goes on them to make a Kal clone and I saved close to 2 grand going with stout tanks.
I went a little overboard with the brew sculpture… but I made it so like I said earlier anyone can use it (I could teach grandma to use it and she could). The MLT and BK are on my version of a tippy dump, which I will take better pics of soon, and use air spring to help ease the load of tipping the kettles both ways. I wanted the kettles to be able to tip straight into a trash can for easier cleaning and to help the back. Because of that I made a cat walk so you can get up to the level of the kettles to check on everything. I also added a little sink and work station.
This is my extreme plate chiller pics say it all.
All in all it’s coming along and should be ready to brew on this next week end! I want to do a couple batches before I finish it just so I can still weld anything else I might want to add before paint.