System advice

[spamman1368]

Hey all! Me and a friend are looking into going in together on making a three-step system for ourselves. We're thinkin of going with kegs as the HLT, mash/lauter, and kettle and have a local fab shop make up a mild steel stand and then get it powder coated. We definitely want it as a flat arrangement, not a tiered system. We're still unsure about pumps, tubing, and burners though. So, my obvious question to you fine folks is, can you shed some light on what we should get? Also, if you have any other advise its certainly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[HDIr0n]

We probably need to know how "hands on" do you want it in terms of temperature control in order to point you in the right direction. Also if you have a budget already planned.

-G

 

[spamman1368]

Good point! We're looking to spend around $400-500 all-in-all and have moderate hands-on for temp control and various other aspects (vorlauf, sparge, etc). We figure we can control the burners with just standard regulators and just turn on/off the pump as needed. We can make a sparge arm from copper or food grade plastic tubing and probably make our own false bottom by drilling holes in a stainless plate (or have the local machine shop cut some slots with their water jet) and block it up from the keg bottom. The things we're not sure about are pumps, what kind of metal/plastic piping and valving we should use to hard plumb everything together, what size burners and propane tank we should use for a 15 gallon system (we want a binder under each kettle for max flexibility), and just any general input you have on how/how not to build a system. Like if plastic piping falls apart for whatever reason after a year or two, or blocking the false bottom up is bad for some reason.

 

[spamman1368]

* should say 'burner under each' instead of 'binder'

 

[maida7]

You can spend 400-500 on just one brew pot.

 

[hunter_le five]

If you are wanting to do flat/single tier and three vessels, you may want to expand your budget a bit. My brewstand frame alone cost about $300, not including any plumbing, burners, gas system, pumps, kettles... and that was using cheap slotted angle iron and bolting it together instead of hiring a welder.

You are going to need at least one pump, two if you want to fly sparge. Plus fittings and valves and hoses for all the plumbing. Add $150-$400 right there.

Burners... anywhere from $60-$240 for all three.

Right now I'm sitting at about $900 in my stand (again, using cheap angle iron), and I haven't bought a single kettle yet. I also plan on adding an electronic control panel eventually, but that's not necessary for a simple system.

 

[spamman1368]

Hunter, what kind of plumbing are you using? Copper, stainless, etc? Also I know I can get a cheap turkey fryer burner on Craigslist, but is that enough btu for 5-12 gallon batches? In a reasonable amount of time (say 30 minutes to bring to a boil).

 

[hunter_le five]

Hunter, what kind of plumbing are you using? Copper, stainless, etc? Also I know I can get a cheap turkey fryer burner on Craigslist, but is that enough btu for 5-12 gallon batches? In a reasonable amount of time (say 30 minutes to bring to a boil).

I'm using high-temp rated silicone hoses for the liquids with SS disconnects and chugger pumps, and black pipe for the propane.

I'm using 3 bayou classic BG-12s for the burners. I think I paid $17 a piece for them. They work fine for me, but I've never boiled bore than 6.5 gallons of wort, so I don't know about larger batches.