Hello!
Got a bunch more fabrication done last night in hope I can brew over the holiday weekend.
Progress: I (finally) got the wheels on which should make the whole brewing process loads easier. Welded another TC port on the kettle for the whirlpool/stirring inlet.
This time of year with the ground water 64º I can knock out to ~66º in one pass through the CFC so I typically do that straight into fermentor and that knocks a good 25 minutes off my brewday. But when I brew a beer where I want to leave sediment behind I'll put it to use. But during the brew it serves the dual purpose of stirring the wort as I heat to boil. That way as soon as mash is over, I can swing the sparge arm over to the whirlpool inlet, turn the pump on, begin stirring the wort to not scorch it, turn the coils on, yank the basket, rest it atop the kettle and begin sparging. This was I can go from mash end to boil in 22 minutes (last batch with 10.5 gallons).
One of my big goals for this build was to shorten the brew day. This past sunday, from filling the kettle to pitching the yeast it was 4 hours and 25 minutes for a 10g batch (60min mash, 60 min boil). I'm hoping with the new features and ones to come I can get it around 3:30 for 12g.
Plate for the feet
Got to love the Edwards Iron Worker. Punching through 0.25" 304 is a walk in for park for that machine.
Whirlpool/stir arm
Port fit up. I've tried about five different methods for putting ports on kettles. If you're going to weld one on. I think the best way is to buy a hole saw the same size as the ID of your TC fitting. Drill the kettle, the TC port won't fit right away, take a file and ream it until you can forcibly jam the port into the hole which will ensure good fit up. Then weld away. If you can fit your head on the inside, weld both. If not, the outside wild do with a back purge. Perhaps solder the inside afterwards.
Here are the different configurations for brewing-
Mash
Sparge/ heat to boil
And cooling/ draining after cleaning.
Yet To Do -
As I've become a bit obsessive about shortening the brewday the whole bag part of the BIAB thing is a bit of a pain. Been thinking of fabricating a bag-less grain basket. It would also allow for the grains to sit fully in the water as about 3" is exposed with the current basket. Also an increased grain capacity would be well used. We'll see, that mush SS is expensive ...