Building my new brewery.

[Capt-Cudellez]

I made some space in my garage with the plan to build a 3 vessel all grain brewery - I was on the lookout for something about 1/2 bbl (100L) this would let me do 80L wort - i could ferment 20L to keg and cube 3x20L to ferment another time. This would mean I wouldn't be drinking the same beer all the time.
Also 80-100L is a great size for doing AG mashes.

While I was looking these fell into my lap


I got 4 of them - so that's the HLT, Mash Tun and boil kettle sorted, with a spare one that I'll probably use as a fermenter. They are a bit bigger than I was looking for at 210L but the price was right, and I don't have to utilise the whole vessel.

Cutting the hole for the HLT element was tricky, but I've learned a few things and I recon I'll be able to do the other two on the boil copper in no time.


Having never even put up a shelf (I kid you not), I made the strange decision to insulate the vessels and clad in pine. I did 3 wraps of foiled bubble wrap then covered in black PVC tape.
I then chiseled a lip, planed the sides to make them fit together, then screwed each part together with 4 screws.


I had to drill a hole into each plank to countersink the screws, as they were only just slightly wider than the plank.

I did this in 3 sections, then fitted dowels to fit each section together.

I then made a stand out of plywood and an old fence post - I think its starting to look quite good for a first effort.


The mash tun has a false bottom - with a bit of ptfe tube as a gasket - its a tight fit.


I have started oiling the wood - you can see here the difference in colour from the bare wood to a single coat, to 4-5 coats



I'll get it all to match before I am done - just need to sort out some banding to hold it all together - i'm thinking about using a leather strap and riveting it? But not fully decided.

Mash tun just needs a Lid and to have the plumbing done - should get to that next week. Then I can get on with the other 2 vessels - the going is slow - but I'm having fun.

[Fil]

nice, i would band with metal, ally is soft n cheap and will take a coat of black paint..
brass will be a nice touch but will require polishing just ensure the overlap is at the back and only you will know its not a hoop

what size hole do you need for your selected elements, Qmax punches make short work of making a nice clean edged hole, and can take out big bites for even larger holes, looks like immersion type elements your using?? some bigger boil kettles are heated with a number of smaller elements rather than one or 2 big ones allowing a basic form of control of the power input and sourcing lower watt density solutions at a lower cost. 4 or more X 1.5kw elements for example. use all to heat up and knock back to 2 or 3 for a big boil or 1 or 2 for a small volume boil.
wish i had done it myself as is i have 2 x elements (expensive) which when boiling under 30l for a small batch focus the heat on just the centre axis for the length of the element.

[Capt-Cudellez]

@Fil - I'm using standard domestic 3kw hot water tank elements on a 2-1/4" BSP thread, mainly because they are cheap and I can pick them up at screwfix rather than going with a smaller thread element as these seemed to be 3-5 times the price.
So I needed to cut a 64mm hole for the mechanical flange. I at first tried a HSS hole saw, ran it too fast, cooked it and tool hardened the steel, as it had barely a scratch on it, I widened the pilot hole to use as a thermo well, and then switch to one of these to cut in a different location.
http://www.drapertools.com/product/3483 ... Hole%20Saw

Did the job in a jiffy with some cutting oil and cooling as I went. The plan is 1x 3kw on the HLT, and 2x 3kw on the kettle.

[YHB]

Book me in for the first tour.

You will have to be careful. Now you have shown your true talents, there may a few more jobs for you to do around the house.

I salvaged some coper pipe that I flattened for banding, but that is as far as I got.

[Capt-Cudellez]

Thanks Brian, it was a steep learning curve, some half remembered stuff from 1st year high school technical studies (a long long time ago). And a few tips from your build.
Its not perfect, but I'm pleased with the lack of scrap, but there is a few things I'll do differently for the other 2.

I've got a pack of tongue and groove - to see if that will be quicker easier than planing all the pieces to fit, its 14mm thick rather than the 19mm I've used on the tun.

[Almanac]

Niiiiiice

AM

[Myles]

You can also get bendable plywood. It has a nice surface on one side (usually beech) and on the back it has grooves cut in it so it can bend. Might be an option.