Effin Picobrewery Mods

[Aleman]

Well you may have wondered why the brew day session was postponed. :hmm: Very simply I spent two days replumbing the pico plant to use my nice new March May HS 809 pump, instead of the two huge cellar pumps . . . and then while I was at it I decided to take out some frustration on the two kegs that make up my kettle . . . and hacked away with an angle grinder . . . . lots of sparks . . . pretty

The first pic shows the complete brewery set up in recirculation / boiler transfer configuration

This is the mash tun under back and pump configured for RIMS operation

This is looking into the mash tun showing the RIMS (soon to be HERMS) return manifold

A close up of the under back and pump. The Value element can be clearly seen, and is used for step mashing . . . I adopted this approach because all the towel rail heaters I could find were of the temperature limiting variety. The PID which controls the heating means that the wort doesn't scorch or overheat, ball valve on the outlet of the pump to control the flow rate. Only thing I have forgotten to do is to put a drain on the lowest point of the pump . . . minor mod really.

Ok so onto the kettle side, I decided to modify the kettles by removing this top supporting ring,

Leaving the handles the handles, and cut a bit out of the top to allow me to tip up the kettle and hose out the debris from inside . . . like this with the cut away lid in place

And here they are on the stand with Concorde underneath :). The bricks are there to raise the burner up . . . Trying to cut down on gas usage really.

Looking from the top, yes I do boil with those lids on . . . But they only go on when the wort has come to the boil and the initial foaming has subsided . . . They heat up pretty well so don't trap volatiles in any condensate. . . . Tesco Stainless Steel Trays 4.87 each

This is the Kettles in transfer configuration . . . Yes the silicon tube is kinked . . . and I will sort it before using The valve between the two kettles allows me to control the fill level in each kettle and ensure I get the same gravity in each kettle more or less.

And here it is with the pump moved across and in wort cooling mode . . . I recirculate the wort across the Immersion coil . . . not shown . . . and by pumping I don't have to move the coil around in the kettle. . . . When its finished cooling I attach a piece of hose to the lower ball valve and run off via my in line aerator to the FV.

Further pics to follow of my new (bodged) double coil IC, and a few other bits and pieces . . . I must go and weigh out the grain for the inauguration brew day. And I must go and get a flapper wheel for the drill to make the kettles really shiney :lol:

 

[A T]

That is a thing of beauty Aleman, i can't wait for the brewday pics. Did you manage to sort out the effin brewday webcam?

 

[Vossy1]

Tidy work and gr8 pics Aleman :thumb:

Further pics to follow of my new (bodged) double coil IC

Strangely I bought the gubbins to make one today :shock: ....twilight zone moment.
Got a 10m coil of 8mm copper microbore for £8 from a local plumbers merchants

 

[Wez]

Lookin good Aleman :party:

 

[BrewStew]

:thumb:

 

[Bru4u]

Excellent work Ale Man, it strikes me you need a shed :thumb:

 

[Bionicmunky]

Nice work aleman.

Quick question..... How did you get your element to seal in the underback, I have 5 litre pan I'm trying to use as a HE and cut the hole for the element on the side, needless to say it leaks. I was going to give JB weld a go but any other tips would be great.

Thanks,

John

 

[Rabmaxwell]

Excellent work Ale Man, it strikes me you need a shed :thumb:

That's what i was thinking especially with the rain we get mostly shiny though. :thumb: :clap:

 

[Aleman]

it strikes me you need a shed :thumb:

That's what i was thinking especially with the rain we get mostly shiny though. :thumb: :clap:

Tell me about it guys . . . She won't hear about it though . I actually do have a really nice brick built shed that it all gets stored in, and I reckon I can get 2.5BBL brewery in it . . . unfortunately its full of bikes . . . tools . . . . Kegereezer. Plans are afoot however for a new shed at the bottom of the garden for all the gardening stuff, Tools etc . . . . which should give me enough space for the brewery . . . or I can at least get it under the covered part . . .(After I move the 16" Precision Site Saw Bench ))

Quick question..... How did you get your element to seal in the underback, I have 5 litre pan I'm trying to use as a HE and cut the hole for the element on the side, needless to say it leaks. I was going to give JB weld a go but any other tips would be great.

Tesco Value kettle element, I bought an O Ring of a suitable size from BnQ which sits inside the grove in the red kettle O Ring which beefs it up enough to seal. . .. I'll add a pic when I get home this afternoon.

 

[Oblivious]

Thats some very nice work there :) :clap:

 

[Aleman]

A Little bit more work done tonight.

My very old immersion chiller was made from around 18m of 8mm copper pipe, which was fine in the original 60L electric boiler . . . but I was lead down the dark side and made a CFC . . . and then plate chillers, well this year saw me return to the immersion chiller, and as I now had two kettles, I cut the chiller in half one for each kettle . . . . Unfortunately they were not equal halves, and I ended up with one that is closer to 12m and the other 6m . . . . Have had an idea for some time about trying a dual concentric design, and indeed have the 20m coil of 10mm copper for it ... but I thought I would bodge something together first just to see if it is worth it.

So I took the smaller coil and wound it around a 2.5L paint can as a former . . . the original chiller having been formed around a corny, this actually gave me two coils of more or less the same height :party:

And one coil fits neatly inside the other, with what will be about an inch gap, by some fluke of design, the coils 'coil' in opposite directions . . . not sure if that is going to be beneficial or not, but if it turns out useful remember that I have it patented :lol:

The coils are joined using a dual 8mm to 22mm manifold connector from BnQ along with a 22mm to 15mm reducer . . . cold coolant feed down to the bottom, up the coil, and out from the top. . . .

I'll add a Washing Machine tap on the inlet so that I can control the flow of coolant . . . I'll probably set the return from the pump to go between the coils, which should create movement, and stop any thermal stratification from taking place and slowing the cooling action.

 

[Wez]

Very nice and very tidy work :thumb:

 

[EskiBrew]

That's looking very good :thumb:

 

[Bru4u]

That will make a big diference for you, I must reverse the flow of mine, I have the cold inlet at the bottoms but I found there is about 15 deg between the top and bottom of the wort and hotter at the top, might do another brew tomorrow just to see, and..... I'm going to fire up the camcorder and make a little vid so you can all take the **** out of me brewing har har. :grin:

 

[Aleman]

I'm running out of things to change . . . I don't want to break my tradition of the last couple of years of never brewing on the same kit twice :lol: . . . The weather is looking good for the weekend . . . so Sunday might very well see the brewery in action . . . Effin Adnams Southwold bitter

For 80L @1.037 (75% eff) 33.6IBU (Tinseth) 17.5EBC

10700g Pale Malt
  160g Light Crystal Malt (Possibly Caramalt)
  100g Light Chocolate Malt
   80g Roast Barley
   40g Black Malt

920g Cane Sugar - Halfway through the boil

 31g Boadicea (5.6%aa 90 Minutes)
 35g Fuggles (5.0%aa 90 Minutes)
 39g Challenger (7.5%aa 90 Minutes)
 35g Goldings ( 4.9%aa 90 Minutes)
 39g Goldings ( 4.9%aa 15 Minutes) 
 16g Goldings ( 4.9%aa 70ºC Steep)

Probably the best session ale in the world

 

[Wez]

Hope it goes well :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

Latest Upgrade to the Pico Brewery Plant.

While Having 2 seperate kettles to make 18 Gallons of beer is nice (I can split a wort and use different hopping and different gravities from one mash), it can be a real pain splitting hops, and balancing flow between the coppers to get similar strength wort in both . . . plus draining and cooling is a similar problem.

I've been looking at solutions including cutting the top of one keg and welding it to the bottom of another. . . still means 18 gallons would be close to the top. . . .

I have now got the solution.

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Warning Tissues and sunglasses at the ready
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I give you the new (to me) 150L Pico Copper, complete with 400mm (and 200mm) 11KW Gas Burner from Hamilton Gas Products

I have fired it all up (And the burner although rated to only 50mBar with propane is quite happy running at 150mBar), and I am going to have to take the centre pot 'stand' out of the burner middle to raise it up past the 75mm outlet drain plug in the middle. . . . I've already set fire to the nylon nut on one side . . . . I also need a heat shroud to help retain heat . . . Next purchase and then the new picoCopper will be ready to see some action

 

[unclepumble]

Now that really makes me want to get home to my 3 Tony.

I am itching to get some work done, just a bit of plumbing to do and its rock and roll.

I am looking forward to seeing it on a brewday.


UP

 

[Vossy1]

Very nice T

 

[ano]

Apollo lander much?