The building of a New Brewery
- Thread starter rabeb25
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
So the adcraft burner can be used with a PID to be switched on and off easily?
This system and thread is amazing!
John
John
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
Correct!
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
Thanks all. I have been steadily brewing on the system, I have done no sparge, traditional 3 vessel, 4 vessel with decoctions, 3 vessel with direct heat step mashes, anything you could imagine. Love it.
I replaced the 5500 watt element with a 3750 watt boil coil, as I didn't like the flavors I was getting, and the boil with the bigger element. LOVE, the boil coil, no scorching, no off flavors. Was able to get my boil off to a nicer 12%/hr with 75% on the PID. I would still like to lower it to 10%, so I will be working on that.
Here are some updates.
HLT fill:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HdiXvHa7Es[/ame]
Dough in while underletting the mash:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEMYIaZzk4U[/ame]
Boiling and Hot break:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99D2fvHe3Ns[/ame]
Mash clarity:
Preboil:
And lastly the beer that as brewed in the pictures from the posts above, cheers.
I replaced the 5500 watt element with a 3750 watt boil coil, as I didn't like the flavors I was getting, and the boil with the bigger element. LOVE, the boil coil, no scorching, no off flavors. Was able to get my boil off to a nicer 12%/hr with 75% on the PID. I would still like to lower it to 10%, so I will be working on that.
Here are some updates.
HLT fill:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HdiXvHa7Es[/ame]
Dough in while underletting the mash:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEMYIaZzk4U[/ame]
Boiling and Hot break:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99D2fvHe3Ns[/ame]
Mash clarity:
Preboil:
And lastly the beer that as brewed in the pictures from the posts above, cheers.
Very nice, and that beer looks fantastic!
John
John
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
Very sweet setup man. I really dig the mixing rake design.
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
This is interesting since theres very little info on this forum or side by side comparisions where people have used different power and watt density elements and reported a change in the flavors produced by it...
I Too wondered about this and thus far im using an ULWD 4500w element which only puts out 4026 w or power and have been reluctant to replace it with something more powerful for fear that it could cause heavier flavors somehow ... if what you say is true there should be quite a drastic flavor difference on a beer produced with a boil coil vs those using lwd or even HWD elements...
I have thought about wiring 2 4500w elements and using a manual potentiometer ssvr setup to limit there top output but have not been able to find any evidence to suggest it would actually have an effect or not.
It does make sense though that it could since the heat intensity can effects the flavors of some sauces and caramel type mixtures from what Ive been told... and breweries tend to use a gentler method yet for applying heat to the wort with stem jackets so...
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
99% of my beers are light pale german lagers. I can pick up the nuances and I started to correlate the more the weirdness the more time it was boiled, or the intensity it was boiled. Watts per sq in are watts per sq in... using a PID you are pulsing the full power on and off, even if its 30% you are still 100% for that 30%. It was those 100% pulses that did weird stuff for me, hops and wort. The hops would always get a bit vegetal on me, the more hops the more pronounced, even when adding them 10 minutes and below. I have it down to 70% now, and seem to be at about 10% boil off and getting a very clean boil flavor now. MUCH happier.
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
Let me preface this with, I am no camera man, I am no actor. I fought with youtube all weekend. Uploading a bunch of HD videos that youtube decided to make SD now.. So the video sucks, as does the editing. However this should give an overview of a brew of mine. I will link the abridged video first, and then show my channel, so you could see any of the 30 full videos it came from. The abridged version is pretty quick and dirty. The individual videos give much more depth and detail.
The 6hr brew day abridged from start to finish:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HxK1J65f0[/ame]
The channel with all the indiviudal videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx58Qq4GJheOAiyCoxBOfRQ
Again, sorry for the quality, I will most certainly take donations for a go pro, and a camera man.
Here are some of the pictures I took as well.
Mash pH:
Hotbreak:
Postboil pH:
The 6hr brew day abridged from start to finish:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4HxK1J65f0[/ame]
The channel with all the indiviudal videos:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx58Qq4GJheOAiyCoxBOfRQ
Again, sorry for the quality, I will most certainly take donations for a go pro, and a camera man.
Here are some of the pictures I took as well.
Mash pH:
Hotbreak:
Postboil pH:
HarpuaScorpio
Well-Known Member
You're good. The videos are HD, you just have to select that after it starts. Hover your mouse over the video panel, a gear will appear, click that and then click "quality". You'll see a bunch of video resolution options.
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
No, I know that. But the videos themselves are HD, but upon the upload it downrezed them( read: fuzzy, grainy). The originals are much better quality.
HarpuaScorpio
Well-Known Member
Gotcha. In that case, I apologize if I came off pandering or insulting your intelligence. That's not what was intended.
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
Gotcha. In that case, I apologize if I came off pandering or insulting your intelligence. That's not what was intended.
Its all good. Cheers.
bierdeblanche
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2016
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 0
This is great to be able to watch this off and on today. Once I move out to California, I'm going to start putting together a build very similar to yours.
Do you just set the rake for your decoction vessel to on, or is it automated in any way?
Do you just set the rake for your decoction vessel to on, or is it automated in any way?
bierdeblanche
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2016
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 0
Well what are you automating with the mash rake though? Different speeds depending on temp? I'm just trying to understand the process you use.
I watched the 3 minute long video, and as far as I could see you were only automating the induction burner itself.
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
https://www.facebook.com/thebeerery/videos/655551291254141/
That video may help. I may not have any finished ones. Basically I set the speed on the rake via a router speed controller. When the burner is on the rake turns on, controlled via the program.
That video may help. I may not have any finished ones. Basically I set the speed on the rake via a router speed controller. When the burner is on the rake turns on, controlled via the program.
bierdeblanche
Member
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2016
- Messages
- 21
- Reaction score
- 0
That's just too freaking awesome.
Cool! Sorry I dont have time to watch 7 hours!
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
I now have about 50 batches on the system and have worked out most of all the kinks. The bulk have my batches have been no sparge, but still using the HERMs. I have been really happy with the beers that turns out. This poor fellow has been sitting in the corner collecting dust once I realized decoctions where hurting me.
So if someone is looking for a direct heat, mash rake, stand alone automated vessel, hit me up.
This is the current everyday config of the system.
I will explain it a little.
From left to right:
Motorized crusher
Brew Monitor, that split screens brunwater, and beersmith
Control panel with main interfaces. The control panel features On/Auto/Off controls, this is for manual over rides
BK
HLT
MT
All pumps and electric valves, there is no manual valves on the system
Brewery water panel Hot/RO/Cold waters. The RO has an electric valve and a flow meter on it, to auto fill the HLT. The RO fill is going to be moving to the left of the HLT, behind the BK. You can see the white PEX line in that stud bay, that is the cooling water for the CFC, with is also valved and automated.
Close up of the kettle config showing HERMS and sight glasses. All my kettles are bottom drained and have both in and out feeds there allowing for all vessels to be drained, or filled from the bottom. The HERMS has 2 loops a Heat and a "Cool", this is controlled with a 3 way valve, and based on the 2 temp probes in the mash ( MT exit, and MT entrance), it will float the valve to mix the loops to achieve temp to .1. I have sight glasses to make sure flow is good with no air bubbles in solution.. and cause its great to watch.
In this picture you can see the SS CFC in the bottom left corner.
Close up of the control panel. Every "device' ( pumps, valves, heating elements, pressure and flow sensors) has a manual override switch. It has a buzzer on the panel and will sound at the end of every step (If I want) to let me know it completed a task. It also has a 17" touch screen monitor which is what I use for the recipe, brunwater, etc.
Top view
Mash tun. Standard false bottom in, and bottom drain/fill. Temperature sensors are in the outs and the ins of the vessel for easier cleaning. I have still not found a pressure sensor to work for this application.
HLT. HERMs coil, 5500watt element, pressure sensor, temp probe. This vessel has bottom drains, and bottom fill with a elbow for whirlpooling.
\
Boil Kettle. Temperature probe, Pressure sensor, Bottom drain/fill, blichmann 3750 watt boil coil, that I run at 40%(can't say enough about how awesome this element is, it heats 1f/min faster than my 5500 watt elements!). the top port is a whirlpool port from out of the CFC.
I have set up remote monitoring, for brewing remotely. That interface looks like this:
So thats where it sits today, still some work I would like to do...Namely to automate the hop additions. Right now I have to add grain, and add hops. I am fine with grain, but I would rather automate the hops. The less interaction from me on brewday the better, I always screw it up.
So if someone is looking for a direct heat, mash rake, stand alone automated vessel, hit me up.
This is the current everyday config of the system.
I will explain it a little.
From left to right:
Motorized crusher
Brew Monitor, that split screens brunwater, and beersmith
Control panel with main interfaces. The control panel features On/Auto/Off controls, this is for manual over rides
BK
HLT
MT
All pumps and electric valves, there is no manual valves on the system
Brewery water panel Hot/RO/Cold waters. The RO has an electric valve and a flow meter on it, to auto fill the HLT. The RO fill is going to be moving to the left of the HLT, behind the BK. You can see the white PEX line in that stud bay, that is the cooling water for the CFC, with is also valved and automated.
Close up of the kettle config showing HERMS and sight glasses. All my kettles are bottom drained and have both in and out feeds there allowing for all vessels to be drained, or filled from the bottom. The HERMS has 2 loops a Heat and a "Cool", this is controlled with a 3 way valve, and based on the 2 temp probes in the mash ( MT exit, and MT entrance), it will float the valve to mix the loops to achieve temp to .1. I have sight glasses to make sure flow is good with no air bubbles in solution.. and cause its great to watch.
In this picture you can see the SS CFC in the bottom left corner.
Close up of the control panel. Every "device' ( pumps, valves, heating elements, pressure and flow sensors) has a manual override switch. It has a buzzer on the panel and will sound at the end of every step (If I want) to let me know it completed a task. It also has a 17" touch screen monitor which is what I use for the recipe, brunwater, etc.
Top view
Mash tun. Standard false bottom in, and bottom drain/fill. Temperature sensors are in the outs and the ins of the vessel for easier cleaning. I have still not found a pressure sensor to work for this application.
HLT. HERMs coil, 5500watt element, pressure sensor, temp probe. This vessel has bottom drains, and bottom fill with a elbow for whirlpooling.
Boil Kettle. Temperature probe, Pressure sensor, Bottom drain/fill, blichmann 3750 watt boil coil, that I run at 40%(can't say enough about how awesome this element is, it heats 1f/min faster than my 5500 watt elements!). the top port is a whirlpool port from out of the CFC.
I have set up remote monitoring, for brewing remotely. That interface looks like this:
So thats where it sits today, still some work I would like to do...Namely to automate the hop additions. Right now I have to add grain, and add hops. I am fine with grain, but I would rather automate the hops. The less interaction from me on brewday the better, I always screw it up.
Cool new overview! Thanks for sharing!
L
L
Hey, question... I have 2 inline CFCs made of copper tubing (homemade hybrid design). I am in South FL so the groundwater is too hot for one chiller. The second chiller recircs ice water. I want to get away from copper altogether (mild concern around toxicity but also considering improvements toward LODO). I have been looking for stainless chillers. Being I whirlpool, I don't think a plate chiller is in my future, and they are copper brazed anyway. I see the stainless CFC from Williams is supposedly convoluted but has brass fittings (boo!) which would need to be removed. I see other companies have SS CFC's but they don't claim convoluted. I need two units so it's no small cost endeavor
What's your feedback on yours? Where did you acquire it, how is the performance, and what did you do for connections?
What's your feedback on yours? Where did you acquire it, how is the performance, and what did you do for connections?
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
Hey brun,
I use the Williams brewing convoluted. I got mine sans fittings so it was just male threads( 1/2" wort side,3/4" water side). Then just put Camlocks and qd's on it. It's certainly not as fast as my plate chiller, but it works well. No complaints from me.
I use the Williams brewing convoluted. I got mine sans fittings so it was just male threads( 1/2" wort side,3/4" water side). Then just put Camlocks and qd's on it. It's certainly not as fast as my plate chiller, but it works well. No complaints from me.
Thanks! Does it flow free, or does it create a restriction? Last question: how did you order without fittings?
OP
OP
rabeb25
HE of who can not be spoken of.
I see no restriction. I have no idea, I have had it for about 2.5 years... maybe it was different then?!?
Thanks man!
Similar threads
