Updated Brewery Pics!

Hi All,

I had a great brew session yesterday and brewed up a 10 gallon batch of German Pilsner which was the 1st beer brewed on the newly plumbed out system. The session went pretty good and Brad and Bob stopped by to witness the event and to check out the new setup. The new changes sure did make my brew day a LOT easier as I did not have to wrestle with changing hoses and getting my hands burnt by hot liquids. And I did manage to achieve an 82% efficiency with my mash. That made me real happy!

Below is a pic of the plumbing schematic.

The line that is Blue is for the wort chiller loop. I use a 15 gallon cooler that doubles as a hot liquor tank, and also as a place to dump ice into for the wort chiller.
The Red Lines are for the hot liquor Sparge.
The Brown Line is for the HERMS Recirculating loop and for the wort runoff into the kettle. Notice that a portion of this loop is being shared by the wort chilling loop. The loops function is directed by the valves located on the back of the mash tun. and from the valve outlet on the pump.
The Green Lines denote the delivery of hot water to the HLT when ready to sparge, and performs the whirpool in the kettle when cooling, and also delivers the cooled wort to the fermenter.
Also I am using 3 stainless 3/8 racking canes for wort and liquid distribution. It worked really well! (click on the image to see a larger version...if you have to right click and save it then open it)

And here is what the real deal looks like. Looks like a mess, but it is actually very easy to operate!

Below is my new Burner setup with an ASCO valve which is plugged into a temp controller and is used to regulate the water temps for the HERMS. It works like a dream. Do notice the tin foil wrapped around the outside of the burner. I use this to look and make sure that the pilot flame is always burning (beats getting on my hands and knees!!). Also pictured is the HERMS Stainless Steel coil that is attached to the boil kettle cover. That's 50 feet of 1/2 inch stainless there and was a real B!*#h to bend! The kettle is a 28 gallon Italian kettle. The coil also doubles as an immersion wort chiller. No worries about copper changing the color of my beers! It works great and cools as fast as a copper coil.

And a view of it without the kettle on it.

I also replaced the copper coil that I installed in the conical fermenter with a new 30 ft 3/8 inch SS coil. That stuff was real easy to work with compared to the 1/2 inch coil. Here's a pic of it. I had to stage it this way as I didn't have anyone to hold it up right at the time.

And here's the batch of German Pils boiling in the kettle.

And for cleaning the mash tun, you can't beat my home made "tippy dumper!" This is one improvement that saves me a LOT of end of brew session work! The spent grains are dumped into the wheel barrow and then is used to fertilize my fruit trees. Very handy indeed!

And here's the recipe that I used. It was based on a recipe that I found on Beertools.com and was formulated by a member there. Thank's James!

Bitburger Clone
2-A German Pilsner (Pils)
Size: 14.5 gal
Efficiency: 82.0%
Attenuation: 81.0%
Calories: 150.13 kcal per 12.0 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.046 (1.044 - 1.050)
Terminal Gravity: 1.009 (1.008 - 1.013)
Color: 3.02 (2.0 - 5.0)
Alcohol: 4.84% (4.4% - 5.2%)
Bitterness: 36.0 (25.0 - 45.0)

Ingredients:
18.29 lb Durst Pils
3.66 lb 2-Row Brewers Malt
0.91 lb Carapils®/Carafoam®
2.43 oz Perle (7.1%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min
0.75 oz Hallertau (4.1%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
0.25 oz Liberty (4.0%) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
1.0 oz Liberty (4.0%) - added during boil, boiled 1.0 min
2.0 tsp Wyeast Nutrient - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
2.0 ea Whirlfloc Tablets (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15.0 min
4.0 ea Fermentis S-23 Saflager S-23

Schedule:
Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:15:00 Dough In - Liquor: 7.15 gal; Strike: 136.9 °F; Target: 128.0 °F
00:30:00 Protein Rest - Rest: 15.0 min; Final: 128.0 °F
00:31:43 Ramp up to 147 - Heat: 1.7 min; Target: 147.0 °F
01:31:43 Sacc Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 147.0 °F
01:33:31 Ramp up to Mash Out - Heat: 1.8 min; Target: 168.0 °F
01:43:31 Mash Out Rest - Rest: 10.0 min; Final: 168.0 °F
02:28:31 Fly Sparge -

Notes:
01/26/2008 - Brewed recipe as is. Got 82% efficiency and had to dilute with 4 gallons H2o to bring SG with in starting range of recipe. Durst pills malt mashed real nice and converted easily. Adjust recipe efficiency next time before brewing again. Pitched yeast @ 48 degF.

01/27/2008 - Adjusted efficiency from 75% to 82% to adjust malt bill and to match brewery numbers.

Results generated by BeerTools Pro!

Well...that's it for now. Hope you enjoyed the pics too. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!!

Cheers!!

(_)3

I'm Back!! (08)

Hi all...

Sorry once again for not keeping up with this thing, but I had a heck of a busy year! But now...I'm back!!!

An awful lot has been going on with the home brewery lately and a lot of great beers have been made. During my blogger absence, we have brewed IPA's US and English, ESB's, a real nice Southern English Brown Ale and with the 2nd runnings an award winning Dark Mild, (won 2 gold 1st place medals in 2 different competitions), APA's, Porter's, Wit's, Amber Ale and more!

I'll be kegging and bottling an American Brown tomorrow (10 gallon batch) and am in the middle of conditioning another one of my American Pale Ale's.

I'm also in the middle of re-configuring the plumbing for the brewery and have recently added some simple automation to the brew kettle by attaching an ASCO solinoid valve with a pilot to control water temps of the HERMS. I have done away with all of my copper coils and have replaced them with Stainless Steel coils both in the Conical Fermenter and in the Boil Kettle. I have also gone to all stainless steel fittings and I only have 2 brass fittings left on the entire system!

In postings to come I'll post new photo's of the brewery, including the plumbing schematic, and more information about my processes and how I put this rig together.

I have also met many new homebrewing friends, and have had the pleasure to brew with them at my place and at theirs too!

I'll be taking some pictures real soon once the plumbing has been completed, (still waiting for parts), complete with explainations.

So...until then.....Brew On!!

Wotta (_)3