Plastic Conical!

After struggling with racking my last brew to secondary and talking to the guys at St. Louis Wine and Beer Making,  I decided to risk $140 on the FastFerment conical.  It should eliminate racking to secondary and make yeast reuse a lot easier. I also have a plan to make kegging easier.  I am going to  mount a cheap boat winch and pulley to the basement support pole and beam respectively, allowing me to lift the conical out of its stand and gravity feed into the keg. It has mounting bolts on either side above the balancing point that will work great for attaching a cross chain and in turn the winch cable.  Another bonus is that FastFerment will soon be introducing an insulated wrap that you can pump cold water through to control temperature!  I would just have to add a pump and my temperature controller to get the same effect as an expensive jacked setup.

Fixing Acrid Aftertaste (RO water)

Every brew that I have done on the electric system, other than the porter, has had a very pronounced acrid after taste.  You take a drink and think, this is GREAT, then right as you swallow you get hit by this taste that I can only describe as over cooked super strong black tea.  After some research I came to the conclusion that my mash is suffering from high residual alkalinity.  I never obtained a water report but I know from seeing extreme scale build up on water faucets that our water is EXTREMELY hard.  All along I have been using PH 5.2 stabilizer but apparently it was not able to lower the PH that much.  My experiment of using Potassium chloride softened water to dilute by half also had no effect.  In fact, the American Wheat I made was even worse.  At this point I decided that I was not going to waste any more beer or time experimenting and I installed an RO water system.  Rather than trying the dilution trick again I decided to simply use all RO water and just build a balanced water from scratch.  I am planning a brew day for Sunday the 24th where I plan to brew a NB English Pale Ale.  I will be using Burton Water Salts from LC Carlson to approximate the Burton on Trent water profile.  I will also make sure to have precision PH test strips and gypsum at the ready just in case.  What I am not sure about is if I will use the PH 5.2 stabilizer.  After doing some forum research I discovered that most people recommend not buying it and if you have already bought it, through it away.....

Updates and Mash Efficiency

I have completed the 3rd 5 gallon brew on the electric brewhouse!  Here is what I have learned so far:

1)  Always make sure your hydrometer/reflectometer is calebrated!!!  Failure to do this has caused me an enormous amount of stress.  On my last two brews I relied on a borrowed reflectometer to take my gravity readings and calculate my mash efficiency.  On the second one (American wheat), there is no doubt that I had problems with the grain bed so I chalked the low numbers up to that.  On the third (vanilla porter) the numbers were also low but I had no grain bed issues.  This prompted me to double check using my trusty (mostly calibrated) hydromenter.  Turns out the reflectometer was low by .013!

2) There is not enough drop between my brew vessels and my pumps.  I am not sure why but while making the vanilla porter, I had several instances of my pumps not priming properly.   This was so frustrating that my head nearly exploded.  This situation caused me to loose more than 1 quart of very concentrated wart while tying to get the pump primed.  It also caused me to have problems with chilling down the wort.  I did not realize that the pump was not primed and I ran it dry for quite some time.  It is a wonder I didn't burn it up!  As a solution I plan to elevate my mash tun by about 2 inches, lower the pumps by 2 inches and do a flip/swap of the pump heads so that the input is once again on the bottom.  In this configuration I have never had my pumps fail to prime.

3) It is important to only use the amount of sparge water necessary to get the boil volume you need.  On my last 3 brews I figured that I had plenty of sparge water so I could just keep adding it until I get the proper boil volume.   WRONG!  The extra water is apparently diluting the run off so that there is a lot of sugar left floating in the MLT when the run off reaches volume.  I am hoping that fixing this problem will increase my mash efficiency by quite a bit...

Efficiency!

I need to brew a few more batches to be sure but it looks like my mash efficiency is coming out at about 82%!!!  Not too bad!!!   It may even turn out to be a bit higher once I figure out what my flow rate needs to be on the HERMS side.  I know it was definitely to high on the American wheat due to the fishers that formed in the grain bed and to low on the vanilla porter because the efficiency was down a bit.  As I said above I also plan to calculate my sparge water volume and stick to it!

4/20/15 Northern Brewer Dry Dock URCA Vanilla Porter - 5Gal - UPDATED!

Recipe Data

Date:  4/19/15

Type of beer: Dry Dock URCA Vanilla Porter

Recipe Author:  Northern Brewer

Batch Size:  5gal

Yeast:  Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast.

Sacch' Rest: 156 for 60 min

Mashout: 168 for 10 min

OG at 75% efficiency:  1.061

Fermentation Temperature:   65-70 F

________________________________________

Brew Day Data

Starter: 1 liter 70grams light DME 36 hrs stir plate
             Stopped stir plate after 24 hrs
             (used temp controller with heater and fan)

Sacch' Rest: 50 min @ 156
                     15 min raising to mashout temp
Mash-Out:   10 min 168
Sparge:         60 min 165

Pre-Boil Gravity:    1.046

Pre-Boil Volume:    7 gal

Mash Efficiency:   75.4%

Realized OG:  1.060

Actual Post Boil Batch:  5 gal

Pitch Temperature: 68

Yeast Nutrient:  2.5 tbs

Notes:  While adding grain I lost about 6 oz to the floor so the actual mash efficiency was most likely just a bit higher.  I also lost several ounces of highly concentrated wort trying to get the recirculation pump primed.  On this batch I ran the recirculation at a VERY slow rate.  I am thinking it may have been a little two slow...  I love the new recirculation kit from Brew Hardware.

____________________________________________ 

Fermentation Data

No thermowell on this batch so no detailed temperature info.

After 9 hours there was heavy activity in the air lock and there is a very slight brown tint to the liquid in the air lock.  This leads me to believe that there was really heavy activity over night.  The basement temp is about 64 degrees and I made no attempt with this batch to heat or cool it.  I am hoping that by pitching below 168 degrees will keep the overall temp in the fermenter in a reasonable.  It must have been really crazy at some point during the night because there is at least 5 inches of head space in the brew bucket.

After 34 hours the activity is still pretty strong but there is no head of foam on top of the airlock.

The fermentation died off to a bubble every minute or so the evening of the 22nd (about 3 days)

As per the instructions from NB I did not rack to secondary until Sunday May the 3rd.  The smell was great and the taste was even better.  There was no sign of the off taste from PH being too high in the mash.  I am guessing this is because of the amount of dark grain in the grain bill.

Monday May the 11th I cut up the Vanilla beans and put them in the secondary.  I was not sure how to handle sanitation so I just soaked the package, scissors and my hands in sanitizer before cutting.  I opened the fermenter lid just enough to dump the bag, then quickly sealed it.

I am scheduled to keg and start carbonation on the 18th.



 


   

American Wheat Fermentation

A little warm but lots of activity!

Bling for the MLT

Last night while replacing the thermometer on the MLT, I remembered that I had bought a small sheet of polished aluminum to mount to the front of my MLT to bling it up a bit and give me a place to put a cut vinyl sticker of my logo.  I think it makes the old cooler look like it almost belongs along side all the stainless.  To add to the effect I am going to replace the small screws with some short fat lag bolts.  I may also put some on the bottom corners.

4/5/15 Northern Brewer American Wheat - 5gal - UPDATED!

Recipe Data

Date:  4/5/15

Type of beer:  American Wheat 

Recipe Author:  Northern Brewer

Batch Size:  5gal

Yeast:  WLP320 American Hefeweisen

Sacch' Rest: 152 for 60 min

Mashout: 170 for 10 min

OG at 75% efficiency:  1.043

Fermentation Temperature:   65-70 F

________________________________________

Brew Day Data

Starter: 1 liter 70grams light DME 36 hrs stir plate

Sacch' Rest: 10 min 146 (strike temp. too low)
                     50 min 152
Mash-Out:   10 min 168
Sparge:         35 min 170

Pre-Boil Gravity:    1.036

Pre-Boil Volume:    6.6 gal

Mash Efficiency:   80.27!!

Realized OG:  1.050

Actual Post Boil Batch:  4.5 gal

Pitch Temperature: 70

Yeast Nutrient:  2.5 tbs

Notes:  Sunken recirculation hose and to fast recirculation and sparge caused fishers. UPDATE*  the reflectometer was off by .013.  Instead of the OG being low it was a bit more than expected.  I would not have had to boil as long as I did to bring up the gravity.

____________________________________________ 

Fermentation Data

Initial Thermowell Temperature:  70 F
Ambient temp was about 69 from heaters and brewing

4   Hours Thermowell Temperature:  73 F  (No Airlock Activity)
Ambient temp was about 67 and falling

12 Hours Thermowell Temperature:  71.6 F (Slight Airlock Activity)
Ambient temp was about 65 and falling

30 Hours Thermowell Temperature:  69.8 F  (Extreme Airlock Activity)
Ambient temp was about 63.

38 Hours Thermowell Temperature:  66.8 F  (Low Airlock Activity)
Ambient temp was about 63

After 15 days in the fermenter I the FG was 1.000 which gives me a ABV of 6.56!

The beer was EXTREMELY clear.  I plan to give it about 5 days to carbonate at about 45 degrees. I will set up the carbonation tonight.


Using the thermowell really opened my eyes!  The yeast activity really kept the temperature up.  Last night at about the 26 hour mark I put a small fan blowing on the base of the fermenter and the temperature began to fall within a few minutes.  My guess is that the air was stratifying around the bucket causing heat build up.  I know what to do next time...  I hope the time the fermentation was above 70 degrees did not cause too much ester production.

UPDATE!!!!

Turns out that the reflectometer  I was using was consistently low by .013!!!  I am changing the Data above to reflect this. 

First Brew with New Coil!

Sunday April 5th was my first brew day using the new HERMS coil.  I did a Norther Brewer American Wheat kit.  I picked this kit because I wanted to try a wheat beer and also because of the simple grain bill for calculating efficiency.  The coil worked as expected but my first solo brew day brought to light some issues:

1. The MLT must be preheated.  I am guessing that with my previous outdoor brews the temperature was warmer which negated the need.  This time it caused me to come out low.  The initial temperature came out at about 146 instead of 152.  It took nearly 10 minutes of recirculation to bring it up to where it should have been. I plan to go about 6 degrees over in the future and stir it with the lid off until it reaches temperature. 
2. I still can not see into the MLT to place the recirculation hose properly.  Due to this and my unfamiliarity with the new high flow fittings, I managed to allow tunneling in the grain bed which brought my pre-boil mash efficiency down to 53 %!  The bad part is that I was not checking gravity readings in the boil kettle until it was too late. It also turns out that I did not have enough DME to make up the difference... When I pulled the MLT to empty and clean it, I discovered that the recirculation hose end was nearly half way buried in the grain bed.   To solve these issues I am going to purchase a clamp on mirror for the racking above the MLT and also will replace the hose with the recirculating mash kit from brewhardware.com. 
3. Recirculation must be done much slower.  After examining the grain bed during clean up it appeared that there were fishers caused from putting too much pull from the bottom side.  I plan to run at about 20% valve open next time.  
4. I did not account for the extra volume required for the new coil and the loss that occurred when I was connecting hoses.  This caused me to under estimate the amount of sparge water required. I kind of freaked when I was within .5 gallons of completing the sparge and the pump ran dry....
5. The body thermometer in the MLT seems to stick.  Flicking on the glass sometimes fixes the problem, sometimes not.  I plan to calibrate my spare and replace it. 
6. Even though I slowed my sparge considerably, it still only took about 35 minutes.  I am sure this did not help my efficiency and may have contributed to pulling the recirculation hose down into the grain bed.  Next time I know what to expect and will do a better job timing this process. 
7. It is VERY difficult to control the flow from the pumps using the ball valves.  When sparging I had the output pump set with the valve open by about 10% but the flow was apparently still to strong and the sparge ended about 20 minutes too soon!  I am going to take the advice I found in an online forum and start with the valve completely closed and move it about 1 degree at a time until I get a trickle in the boil kettle.
8. Even though the basement stays around 64 degrees , once the 70 degree wort was in the fermenter and pitched, the temperature very quickly went up to about 73.  I am guessing this was due to yeast activity.  I had never noticed this before because I had no way to directly monitor the internal fermenter temperature.  With the new thermowell and controller it is easy.  I now know that I need to bring the wort down to a maximum of 65 degrees before pitching.
9. I need about 25 lbs of ice to quickly cool the wort.  I had about 10 pounds and three small frozen water bottles.  This was not enough so I had to drain off 2/3 of the HLT water and refill with cold water from the sink.  Still I was only able to get it down to about 70 including the 20 minutes I let it settle out after the whirlpool.

Things that went well:

1. After reading quite a bit about water profiles I decided to use 1/3 filtered un-softened water.  I have not had a water test done but I know for a fact that our local water is extremely hard.  I know this because I once decided to brew with filtered un-softened tap water.  The result was so many deposits on the equipment, especially the boil kettle, that it took me a whole day to clean it all.   Rather than adding water salts back in to completely softened water, I thought this might be a good option.  We will see how it affects the beer but I do know that there were no deposits on my elements or the kettles.
2. I now know for sure that my boil-off rate when running the element at 80% is about 16% per hour.  In my previous tests I changed the setting a lot to try and find a boil level I was comfortable with.  Now I have a good base.
3. The MLT temperature held steady during the entire mash with only about .5 degree variance once I got everything dialed.  A 3.5 degree higher temperature in the HLT seems to be perfect.  Because my temperature controller does not allow less than 1 degree changes I will have to make the decision for the individual brew if I want it to be .5 above or below my mark.
4. It took about 15 minutes using the coil to bring the MLT up to mash-out at 168 degrees.  I learned that it is best to just set the HLT temperature controller to 175 and leave it.  It seems that the heat exchanger looses a bit if efficiency as the temperatures get higher so 7 degrees is not too much.  I plan next time to simply leave the lid off the HLT while rigging for sparge and adding a little ice to it if necessary to bring it down to 170 before starting.
5. The whirlpool seemed to work great.  The hot and cold break along with the Irish Moss collected in a nice cone in the middle of the boil kettle.

When I checked the fermenter this morning it was gently bubbling.  I am hoping that by this evening it will be in full swing and the ambient temp in my basement brings the temperature down a couple degrees....

Coil Test Results

Getting the coil connections leak free was much more difficult than I thought it would be.  Twice I tried to tighten up the top compression fitting to stop a drip and just couldn't get enough leverage on the wrenches to turn the nut more than 1/16th of an inch.  I finally removed the coil and did the tightening outside the kettle.  After finally getting it all put back together, no leaks!  The performance of the coil was similar with respect to temperature transfer.  The maximum gain in temperature I could coax out was 3 degrees and I will still need to keep my HLT approximately 3 degrees above my mash temperature.  One big advantage of the upgrade is that due to the low position of the coil I only have to add a small amount of cold water to cool the HLT after dough-in instead of adding 4 gallons to cover the coils then raising the temperature again.  Another is that I have better control of the temperature of the wort as it leaves the coil by using the output ball valve of the pump.  With the old small diameter coil tubing the flow was very restricted which is why I nearly always got a 3 degree gain.  Now with the flow wide open the gain is only about one degree.  By closing the valve I can increase the gain! 

I also did a mash-out test.  I increased the temperature of the thermo-controler to 175 and adjusted the ball valve to about 15%.  With this combination I was able to bring 6.5 gallons of water in the mash tun from 153 to 168 in approximately 10 minutes.  My plan during an actual brew would be to lower the controller to 170 when the MLT reaches 166 and open the valve to full with the lid off the HLT.  I would then let mash-out recirculate for another 5 minutes before rigging the system of sparging.  The temperature in the HLT should continue to rise up to about 170.

New Coil Installed!

As you can see, the HERMS coil is installed and ready to test!  I placed the coil as low as possible while leaving 2 inches between the bottom ring and the element.  The thermowell is about 1.5 inches above the top coil.  I also modified the recirculation inlet tube at the bottom of the picture so that the water is forced between the two HERMS bulkheads.  With this setup I only need 7 gallons in the vessel for there to be 1/2 inch of water over the thermowell.  Bringing the temp up for mash out should take only a couple of minutes and the only water I will need to add during the brew process will be cold water to bring the HLT temp down after dough in.

In the picture above you can see the changes I made to the MLT.  I put a return bulkhead in the top edge.  I am now reading the temperature of the recirculating wort just as it passes back into the MLT.  Between this temperature and the reading from the MLT body thermometer I should be able to manage the process much better and with greater accuracy.  You can also see that I made up a couple of new 18 inch quick connect hoses specifically for use during HERMS.  I was able to eliminate over 3 feet of hose which should help lessen temperature loss.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I plan to put two layers of insulation on the new MLT lid.  Another plan I have which is strictly for looks, is to curve and attach a 12 by 18 inch sheet of thin polished aluminum to the front of the MLT and put a vinyl cut-out of my logo on it.

This is a picture of the new HERMS plumbing layout.  I can't wait to give this thing a test run and gather some data on the new coil!

New Coil Has Arrived!!! ....and other updates

Well last night my parts and HERMS coil from Stainless Brewing arrived!  I managed to get the holes marked and drilled in the HLT and did a test fitting to make sure everything lined up.  Now I have to clean up the holes and mount it permanently.  I also got the inlet bulkhead installed in the MLT and checked the fit of the aluminum lid I bought.  It fit perfectly!  I can already tell that these updates are going to make mashing SO much easier.  The old lid was very cumbersome to screw on and off without disturbing the hose laying on the grain bed.  If you are using a rubber maid 10 gallon cooler you should pick one up.  To help it hold the heat I plan to cut a couple of circles out of some reflectix insulation and fit them on top using the handle to hold them in place.  This order also contained a few cam-lock connectors that will allow me to reorganize my hose lay out and have 2 - 18" ones to lower heat loss.  I will post some pictures tomorrow.

My first Brew using the electric system has been kegged and is being forced carbonated!  I am trying to slow carbonate this time in a effort to eliminate a slight metallic taste in the finish of some of my previous brews.  I found a chart on-line that I am using to ensure I do not over carbonate. The beer smelled great and the taste I took from the hydrometer tube was pretty good.  I got really good attenuation and wound up with an FG of 1.005 putting the ABV at about 3.5.  I think the kit called for 4.5......  I know the reason for the problem is that I misread the site glass on the boil kettle and wound up with too much volume.  Then I made the mistake of not taking an FG reading until after I drained into the fermenter.   Still can't believe I goofed this up!  Basic stuff!    I should have known when I came up with 6 gallons of wort after a 70 minute boil instead of 5.5.   From now on I am going to base my boil time on gravity readings and not time.

Pump Plumbing Change and Updates

Well I finally got a photo to post of one the pumps with the new plumbing setup.  The input is now located on top and the priming and output valves are on the bottom.  A lot of people seem to think it is necessary to put the input on the bottom but my testing proves otherwise.  I have no problem priming and this layout actually seems more logical.  I put the elbow in just to shorten the the width.  I also switched the full size priming valve with a mini-valve that I had been using on the old HERMS coil.  I didn't realize it but these mini-valves restrict the flow down to 3/8".   This was just not acceptable for the new 1/2" coil.

I also got the thermometer installed in the MLT and both the hose barb and elbow fitting for the false bottom installed.  I am still waiting for my new coil, its bulkhead fittings, the inlet bulkhead for the MLT and a few female quick connect fittings.  Once these things are all installed my entire system will be 1/2" ID plumbing through out!

Due to a delay in getting the coil, I am considering moving the brew day back a week.... This will give me time to not only install the new gear but also hook up the ventilation hose and do some much needed testing.  The new brew date should be 4/4!   I am planning to brew a 5 gallon batch of American style wheat beer!

 OOOhhh.... One other thing I decided to do was to put a quick connect female and male on either end of the T fitting I am using for the HERMS output temperature sensor.  This will allow me to connect it in several different places in the system for testing and also connect it directly to the inlet bulkhead for the MLT while mashing.  Having it directly connected to the MLT will give me a much more accurate reading on the temperature of wort entering the MLT after passing through the coil.
I will post a photo as soon as the hardware is installed. 

HERMS upgrade ordered and progress update!

The re-purposed 3/8" wort chiller that I was using for my DIY HERMS coil just didn't cut it on brew day.  The flow rate caused a lot of stress during the sparge process and that was not the only flow choke point in the system.   There is no way I want to face another brew day like this one so I made the decision today to order a new stainless steel 1/2" coil and fittings from Stainless Brewing.  I Hope to have it installed for the brew day I have set for the 28th.

I decided to go with Stainless Brewing because you just can't beat their price and all the online comments I could find were glowing.  Not only can you order the coil in 2 different lengths but you can also select between 6 different diameters and you can even have custom bending done!    My kettle is a little over 15" in diameter and about 18" high so I went with a 25' length and a 10 inch diameter.  The page states that the bent ends that connect to compression fittings on the inside of the kettle should be between 2 and 2.5 inches long so I should be able to center it pretty well.  One thing that I plan to do though is use some short pieces of silicon hose as spacers in 4 places around each coil to separate them.  This should allow better water circulation hence better heat transfer.  I discovered what a difference this can make when experimenting with the old copper wort chiller.  Simply stretching the coils to allow 1/4 inch gaps increased output of the coil by 2 degrees.

I also ordered some parts to convert my MLT over to all 1/2" ID fittings.  This includes a top return bulkhead with inside hose barb and outside male camlock, a 1/2" hose barb for the inside connection from the drain bulkhead to the false bottom and a full flow 1/2" barb elbow replacement for the false bottom itself.

With these upgrades installed my entire system will have 100% 1/2" plumbing!  This should increase the liquid I can move along with giving me more control over the flow with the pump outlet valves.  I also found that when pumping out of the MLT on brew day the pump would get louder.  After reading some on-line forums I found out that it is not a good idea to restrict a chugger pump on the inlet side and that it can cause it to overheat.....

Sorry... Still no photo of the new pump config.... I should be able to post it this weekend.

UPDATE***  The HERMS coil is running behind for shipment due to a backlog at Stainless Brewing.  They say my order should be shipped by the end of the week  3/13.

New pump configuration and other updates

One of the major things I discovered on brew day was that my MLT was too high for me to see the water level from my wheelchair.   Through some experimentation I was able to determine that I needed it lowered by about 3 inches.  With the mess of hose fittings and the pump configuration this was going to be impossible without moving the pumps.  My solution was to mount the pump housings on the shelf instead of in front of it and re-orient the fittings and heads to the configuration you see in the photo above.  As you can see I was able to lower the MLT to an appropriate height and also make the hose routing easier to follow.  The only other change that is coming  to the pumps is the addition of a street elbow off the outlet side of the T-fitting that will be connected to the outlet valve.  This will shorten the outlet stack and point the outlet valve and male quick connect toward the front.  (This is hard to explain... I will post a photo when I get one done.)

I also increased the height of my BK with an inch and a half thick wooden round from Lowes.  The additional height will allow a fermentation bucket to fit under the ball valve so I can drain it without using a pump.  I will also be putting one of the wooden rounds under the HLT.

There are even more changes to come:

• Change out three of the straight female quick connects with 90 degree ones.  This should help prevent hose kinks when the silicone is hot.
• Install the old ball valve thermometer in the front of the MLT at the 4 gallon mark to give me a better idea of the over all MLT temperature.
• Install a permanent 1/2" stainless HERMS coil in the HLT.   This should be more efficient, easier to clean and move the brewery toward a full 1/2" flow. 
• Update the false bottom elbow/hose barb and internal inlet hose and hose barb to 1/2".  This also will increase the liquid flow.
• Install a 1/2" bulkhead at the top edge of the MLT with a male quick connect on the outside and 1/2" hose barb on the inside.  This will increase liquid flow, allow for easier operation of the lid and make things more streamlined on brew day.
•  Add two 18" hoses with straight female quick disconnects.  This will make brew day easier and cut down on heat loss during HERMS.
• Install the outside part of the venting system and the flexible hose.  This can not be done until the outdoor temp is over 70 degrees to prevent damage to the vinyl siding.  The aroma was a bit much and lasted for too many days after brewing.
• Install wire supports on the walls to raise the electrical and sensor wires off the floor.

I am planning my next brew day for Saturday March 28th, and plan to have implemented these changes by then.

WLP200 Yeast Starter!

My yeast starter churning away on the new DIY stir plate!  It went very well except for the fact that I didn't start it soon enough.  I am sure that it did a good job of waking the yeast up a bit but it would have been better if the count would have gone up a bit more.  I didn't really have an an extremely active fermentation by looking at the bubbles in the air lock.... 

First All Electric Brew Day!!!

 

 First brew day complete!

Things went pretty well with one exception.  The boil off rate was no where near what  I got in my tests.  In both the tests a one hour boil reduced by 1.5 gallons per hour and the actual brew was closer to .75 gallons per hour. My best guess is that the difference in density and the amount of humidity played a roll....   As a result this totally threw off my boil schedule and required an extra 30 minutes.

EDIT***
In hind sight.... I think I might have read the sight glass wrong while sparging and pumped 1/2 gallon too much in the boil kettle.....
 

First Brew Day set for March 1st!!!

Well if all goes as planned and my White Labs WLP200 Best of Both Worlds yeast is still alive after 3 months in the refrigerator, Sunday March 1st will be the first brew day on the new electric system!

I will be making a 5 gallon batch of Norther Brewer Irish Red Ale All-Grain.  I have made this recipe several times and love the way it comes out with the WLP200 yeast.  The yeast is very fast and clean fermenting.  In my opinion it comes out very lager like which makes it an extremely good session beer.

Testing has gone well with a few exceptions:

• I had to add a fan to the heat sync for the boil kettle.  Even though the SSR was properly paired and installed with the sync it would over heat and stick in the closed position after being on at 100% for more than 20 minutes.  The fan seems to have solved the problem.
• My design for the measuring the temp of the outgoing HERMS liquid was way to complicated  and used too much hose and too many fittings.  The result was a temp drop of 5 degrees between the HLT and MLT during HERMS.  With the sensor assembly screwed directly into the HERMS coil output, it only drops 2 degrees.
• The long dip tube on the HLT return port was swirling the water around the bottom of the pot but not causing enough turbulence around the HERMS coil so I removed it and aimed the elbow directly at the coil.  Before I was getting about 1 degree gain in the coil where as now I am getting 3 at the same HLT temp!
• I stretched the HERMS coil out a little more to also help reduce temperature stratification.

Fermentation controler completed!

There are plenty of websites out there that have plans for these and the wiring is easy so I won't go into any real detail.   The main component I used was an STC 1000 controller from Amazon.  This controller has a lot of bang for the buck.  It is a dual mode device, that is it can cycle between both heating and cooling with out having to manually make the change.  In the pic, the bottom outlet connects to a heat source and the top plug connects to the cooling source.  What I am planning to do is use an old chest freezer to do the cooling and tape a FermWrap to the front inside as the heat source.  I purchased a long thermowell that I am going to mount through a fermenter lid to house the temperature sensor.

Can't wait to try making a Lager!

Stir Plate 2.0!

This is my second try at a DIY stir plate.  I made it by taking a 12 volt computer fan with a couple of high powered hard disk magnets glued to the top, and screwing on a plastic surface through some rubber spacers. By using rubber spacers you can do some very fine adjustments to get the magnets as close as possible without letting them touch.  The fan I used for the first model was not nearly as heavy duty.  When the flask with the stir bar came in contact with the surface the magnets would pull the actual fan up against the plastic.  I am guessing that the motor's shaft was loose.  This one works GREAT!

Now all I need is to plan the brew date and get that yeast starter going!

Sink Installed!

I now have easy water access and a far better way to clean my gear!  When the plumbers did the install I also had them add a cold water valve above the left bowl so I could directly connect quick connect hose either directly or through a water filter.

Test, Test, TEST!

Testing has begun! Here are the things I have completed since the last update...

• Sight glasses on both kettles calibrated and labeled.
• Vent fan installed in stainless bowl for vent hood
• Control panel and vent hood mounted.
• All the wires have been connected routed including temperature sensors. 
• Temperature sensors tested.
• 13 gallon wet test of kettle elements using PWM and temperature controller.
• All the hoses and fittings pressure tested at boiling temperature.
• Whirlpool test in boil kettle.

In testing I only found two faults that needed to be corrected.  One was an overtightened hose clamp on the HLT outlet hose fitting and the other was my failure to put a clamp on the HERMS coil inlet.  Due to the proximity of pump #2 to the HLT I am finding that the output hose is tending to kink.  I am thinking that replacing the straight fitting with the elbow type will solve it.  I also found that I am going to need further testing on the boil kettle SSR.  When it is on at 100% on the PWM for more than 5 minutes or so it seems to be sticking in the closed position requiring me to turn off the element to reset it.  I guess that is what I get for buying a cheap SSR.  More on this later...

Here is an updated list of things yet to do:

• Purchase a 10 foot piece of hose and an extra connector to facilitate both filling and draining the kettles and MLT during the cleaning process.
• Purchase a couple of elbow type quick connects to replace straight ones that are tending to kink hoses.
• Troubleshoot possible problems with boil kettle SSR.
• Install outdoor vent and hose to vent hood.
• Find a way to route cables to keep them up off the floor but still allow me to swivel and move the control panel on its mount. 
• Do a full run through to simulate a brew day.

Lots of Progress in Fe-BRU-ary!

Current State - 2/12/15

The pumps are now mounted and I have started measuring and building the quick connect hoses.  I have also ordered a 2 bowl laundry sink which the plumber should have installed early next week.  I hope to have the ventilation hood built and installed over the weekend along with mounting the control panel.  If everything goes as expected I should be ready for a test run before the end of  next week and a brew day Saturday the 21st or Sunday the 22nd!!!

Remaining Projects

These are the remaining projects that need to be completed before I can set the first brew day:

1. Installation of a two bowl laundry sink next to the brewery with an extra hose connection valve on the cold line for use when filling the HLT. 
2. Mount the control panel to the wall using a re-purposed TV wall mount.
3. Mount the two Chugger pumps to the mash tun wire rack.
4. Measure and assemble all quick connect (BL and BigC) hoses.
5. Installation of the vent hood above the boil kettle. This includes modification of a 30 quart stainless bowl as the hood itself, mounting of the 190 cfm exhaust fan through the top of the bowl, mounting the motor and bowl to a re-purposed TV wall mount and install of the outside vent and flexible hose.
6. A full test and walk through of the brew process using only water.  

I will be calling the plumber today to set an appointment and based on their availability I will determine when to order the sink. Tonight I will be cutting the stainless bowl for the exhaust fan and mounting the pumps to the MLT wire shelving unit.   Wednesday night I will be borrowing my Dad's hammer drill to get the two TV mounts bolted to the wall and I am hoping to have a friend come over this weekend to help get the outside vent flapper and hose installed.

Control Panel Update!

The control panel is complete!!! I first checked everything with the multimeter with no power and everything checked out.  Next came the power on test.  All looked good initially:

• The power light came on
• HLT temp sensor accurate
• Mash Tun temp sensor accurate
• Pump #1 worked
• Pump #2 worked
• HLT Controller was able to power HLT element outlet
• HLT Element Control circuit switch worked
• BK PWM powered on and seemed to function but no power to outlet......

OOOPS!!!

In my diagram I forgot to take into consideration that the PWM runs on 120 Volts AC but it's control leads are 12 Volts DC!  I wired the PWM side the same as the HLT side SSR which promptly destroyed the DC controlled SSR.  I rewired and tested to find that the PWM didn't seem to suffer any damage.  I ordered a new SSR and everything should be a go when it arrives.

I will update this post when it arrives....

*** Update ***  The SSR arrived and worked perfectly when installed.  All systems GO!

Evolution Part 3 - Control Panel

I have to say that the electrical control panel was the most challenging part of this project.  Before I started, the only electrical knowledge/experience I had was a class in high school and helping my dad wire 3 way switches in our old house.  Thanks to a LOT of reading and a little advice from three electricians who just happen to be friends, I now have a working panel.

Disclaimer

I am not a professional electrician, nor do I play one on TV.  Please do not use any photos or descriptions in this post as an example.  If you do not have direct experience and or knowledge in this subject, please consult a professional.  Although I am going to describe my process and the major components I settled on, I will not be providing a detailed schematic of the finished product  nor will I be giving specific advice on how to wire any of the components.  Please do not ask.  There are several websites including TheElectricBrewery.com that give very detailed instructions and are a far better resource than myself. 

First let me start with my requirements for this device:

1. Simple Pulse With Modulator (PWM) control of the Boil Kettle Element
2. Simple Temperature Control of my Hot Liquor Tank (HLT)
3. Temperature monitoring of wort returning to the Mash Tun during HERMS
4. Lighted on/off switches for two Chugger Pumps
5. Incoming power 30 Amp 240 Volt
6. Element activity light for each element
7. 4500 Watt elements in both HLT and Boil Kettle with only one active at a time
8. Safe
9. Easy to use

I started by doing research on how other people were doing this, then examining each individual component to see if it was optimal for my needs.  I then set about drawing crude wiring diagrams based on the components I settled on.  Here are the significant components and their descriptions.

PWM Boil Controller from Auber Instruments
This is a very simple controller for a very simple job.  It pulses the Boil Kettle element on a schedule base on the level you have the knob set to.  As the number on the display increases, the amount of time the element is on compared to time it is off goes up.  At the max setting the element is always on and at the minimum setting the element is off.  This device controls DC power to the SSR below which in turn closes it's connection and allows 240 Volts to flow to the element.

DC triggered Solid State Relay (SSR) for PWM from Auber Instruments
This functions as a wired remote control device allowing the low DC Voltage of the PWM controller above to turn of and on the much higher 240 Volt AC used to power the element in the Boil Kettle.

QTY 2 DoCooler Digital Temperature Controller from Amazon
This device functions in a same way as the furnace thermostat in your house but with much finer control.  One of them I am using as a digital thermometer to give me a constant display of the temperature of the wort as it is pumped back into the Mash Tun.  The second one is used to control the element in the HLT so that it maintains a set temperature.

AC triggered Solid State Relay (SSR) for Temp. Controller from Auber Instruments
This SSR functions as a wired remote for turning on and off power to the HLT.  It is controlled by the 110 Volt AC produced by the Digital Temperature Controller above.

QTY 2 Packard C230B Contactor 120 Volt Coil from Amazon
These two mechanical relays are controlled by a 3 position selector switch below.  They are placed in line with each of the elements.  When the switch is in the correct position to power one of the contactors, it engages and allows current to flow to the respective element.  This functions as a safety feature preventing both elements from being activated at once which would pop the electrical service panel breaker.  Their other purpose is to function as a wired remote control which negates the need to run a lot heavy gauge #10 wire to the front of the panel that has to open and close.

2 Position Selector Switch from Amazon 
This switch enables/disables the 110 Volt 15 Amp leg of power from reaching the devices mounted to the front of the panel and when closed turns on the below indicator light.

110 Volt Panel On/Off Indicator Light from Amazon
This is just a simple LED light wired between hot and neutral on the front panel that lights when the above 2 position selector switch is closed.

3 Position Selector Switch from Amazon
In it's top position this switch sends no current.  In the right position it sends 110 Volts to close the contactor that enables the HLT element and in the left position powers the Boil Kettle contactor.

Lighted 110 Volt 15 Amp Rocker Switches Red and Green from Amazon
I am using the red switches as an enable disable switch for the 110 Volt controls going form either the PWM or Temperature Controller to their respective SSR.  This allows me a second shutoff for the elements on the control side and also provides an indicator light that is on when the respective element is on.

110 Volt 15 Amp Panel Breaker
This is the starting point for the 110 Volt front panel control circuit and is a pigtail off the black leg of the 240 Volt incoming power.

Housing Box for Components from Amazon
If I had to do over again I would have looked for a bigger box.  Another two inches in length width and height would have made things much easier.   Although this plastic box was easy to cut holes in for the components, the walls were too thick for the snap in components.  I wound up using a Dremel tool and small file to thin the walls in the area where the clips snap into place.  It worked but took a lot of time.

Nearly Finished!

This is the current state of the panel.  The only things left to do are to install the external connections for the temp probes, fill the mistake holes around the on and off switch, attach the wall mount bracket to the back and label all the controls.  Following are some pics from my build process.

  

Evolution Part 2 - The Basement Brewery

New 15.5 Gallon Kettles on DIY Stand

The new brewery is well under way!  After nearly a month of research I decided not to spend time modifying the 8.5 gallon kettles only to have to do it all over again when I move to 10 gallon batches. The process to drill holes and get the fittings installed is very time consuming and NOT easy.  Purchasing new also left me the option of selling the old one to recover some of my cost. (which I have already done)

I found a great deal on Bayou Classic 62 Quart Kettles through Amazon.com.  Knowing that these kettles would never be put on a propane burner I saw no reason to splurge on the fancy ones with the aluminum clad bottoms.  I also bought the wire shelving units from Amazon.com.  These shelves are all chromed steel and each shelf is rated at 250 lbs.  With the different sizes available I was able to design an arrangement where I can easily reach everything from my wheelchair and also minimize the length of the quick connect hoses preventing heat loss.  I set up the center portion to have a top shelf allowing me to eventually suspend a plastic hopper which will allow me to add grain to the mash without requiring an additional set of hands.

Cam-Lock Quick Connect Fittings and Kettle Hardware

When choosing quick connect fittings there are only two choices for home brewing as far as I am concerned. Camlocks from BrewHardware.com and  Sleeve style from morebeer.com.  For the price and recommendations from on line sources I decided to go with the Camlocks.  Tri-Clover is also used but is even more expensive and the consensus seems to be that they are not so great for the hot side of the brewery.   Brewhardware also has great priced and high quality specialty items like the Hot Pod which is used to mount a screw type heating element in your kettle.  These things are really cool and a way better (in my opinion) and cheaper alternative to the method described on theelectricbrewery.com.

All BrewHardware Fittings and Hot Pods Installed - Leak Test

I installed all the kettle hardware except for the high mount whirlpool returns which I have not received yet. Not one leak!  One thing I would do differently if I had to do over is to order my water heater elements from Brewhardware.  After leaving water in the kettles for 48 hours the faces of both elements were showing signs of rust.  After doing some research I found this to be normal due to the fact that there is no sacrificial anode like there is in a regular water heater.  Most brewers that have this problem make sure to clean and dry the face immediately after brewing.  Others buy and anode and install it.  The element from Brewhardware is double the price but has a stainless face. I am going to try the keep it dry method first and see how it goes.

My next post I will go over the electrical side and my panel build.

Evolution Part 1 - MMMMM.... BEER!

4 Gallon Brew Kettle  -  First Brew Day

I love good beer!  I love to enjoy it, talk about it, make it and talk about making it!   I am also a very technical problem solver who loves to learn and be challenged.   I think this is why I have been having so much fun brewing and working on my brewery.

My brewing adventure took root at a local bar about a year ago.  One of my best friends Kurtis and I had just finished off a few good beers and solved all the worlds problems (as usual) when the topic switched to beer.  I told Kurtis that I had been wanting to try brewing for years and how there are simple kits to get you started.   He said he felt the same way and in fact he had a kit collecting dust in his basement.  Before we left the bar, we set a date for our first brew day!   As it turned out you can't really leave beer ingredients in your basement for over two years and expect to use them.  So I started doing some research and asking around where I could buy an ingredient kit locally.  To my surprise I found out that my cousin Dan and his son Jake had brewed a few batches and that they would like to join us!  We went to the local brewing supply (LBS) called St. Louis Wine and BeerMaking where we picked up a couple of recipe kits.  It was amazing how things started to fall into place after the first brew day! FYI. Our first brews were a Kolsch and Irish Stout!

Second Brew Day - The Whole Crew

Our second brew day I upgraded to an 8.5 gallon brew kettle which allowed us to do what they call a full volume boil.  That is, you can boil down the entire volume of wort before it goes into the fermenter as opposed to only boiling half and adding water.  As I look back, this was the beginning of the never ending brewery upgrade obsession.  FYI... Our second brew day was an Irish Red and a Sweet Stout.

Preliminary Setup of New Gear

Now that I had the upgrade fever the next logical step was to go all-grain.  By all grain I mean that you actually Mash or soak the barely malt in hot water to create the wort instead of adding malt extract to water.  This was a big undertaking but with a lot of help from the guys and a lot of searching google and amazon, we got by without breaking the bank and made some very passable beer.  We actually used some tiny food grade pumps and a wort chiller to do a poor man's Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System (HERMS).  The beer, an Irish Stout, came out Ok but the tiny pumps were just not good enough.  They couldn't pump enough volume and we had to take elaborate steps to keep them from clogging.

First HERMS Brew Day

There were more upgrades for the next brew day including two new Chugger pumps, a temperature controller and a bucket heater to give better control over the HLT temperature.  The two brews we made that day were the best yet!  We brewed a Vanilla Porter and an Irish Red that were very clear and hit their respective OG projections.  I used MoreBeer Best of Both Worlds yeast which made for very clean finishing beers.  The only real problem we had with these two batches was that the 1000 watt bucket heater was not powerful enough to do the job.

First Brew With Insulated HLT

Kurtis' brother Jeremy (who just happens to be an engineer), suggested that I find some insulation material that would stand up to the heat from the propane burner and insulate the HLT.  The only thing that I could find that might work was a fiberglass welding blanket.  It did the trick!  The system worked perfectly for the East Coast Cream Ale we made that day.  We also used this same system for brewing a Scottish Wee Heavy which was the first really big beer we brewed.  This was my favorite of all of our beers.  Although this system worked well, it also had it's drawbacks.  The bucket heater was still underpowered for the job, the welding blanket was getting very scorched from burner, the blanket fasteners kept melting through, wind kept blowing out the burners, brew days kept getting further apart due to the weather and using hose barbs without shutoffs was messy and painful (literally) when changing from Mash to Sparge.

 Having made some fairly respectable beers to this point and knowing that I plan to keep this hobby for some years to come, I decided to make larger investment.  So here are the goals I wanted to meet with the upgrade:

1. Not be a slave to the weather and wind
2. Fix the HLT so I can not only maintain temperature but raise it 
3. Make it easier to switch between Mash and Sparge
4. Make the system easier to use from my wheelchair

To eliminate the weather/wind issue I needed to move the system into the basement.  I determined my best route to this end was to go all electric due to the venting and cost associated with the gas options.  Going all electric using permanent heating elements in the Boil Kettle and HLT would allow better control with more wattage/heating power eliminating my HERMS issues at a reasonable cost.  I also needed to invest in a good quick connect hose system with plenty of shutoff valves.

In my next post I will go through my thought process and what led me to the choices I made.