Home brewery herms build parts cheaper way?

[Newtons Shed]

Hi look atfinishing converting some kegs into a 9g home brew system. I'm on a budget and just about got there with the parts required, do these seem reasonable in both cost and application or is there cheaper better alternitives. I orginally though using brass fittings but ideally want ss.

Bits I currently have
3X kegs
1X solar project pump (front port damaged, needs replacing)
1X ATC 800+
2X Propane gas rings
1X small propane bottle

Bits needed
brewery build parts
5m 1/2" Silicone tubing from this forum £25
6X 2 piece SS ball valves at £30, £4.99 each from local plumbers merchant
10m of 10mm mirco bore copper tubing £18 (to make the heat exchanger to sit in a domestic kettle, near enough same price as a 4m lenght from ebay) From local plumbers merchant.
2x 15mm - 10mm reducers to go onto heat exchanger/silicone tube.
1 T £1(for cold water in going to HLT + mains cold tap in shed and to go into cold inflow of plate chiller)
Project box £5 maplins for the ATC800+
Replacement front part of solar pump (after dog chewed it) £10
foil bubble wrap (provided it won't melt) £15 from B&Q to insulate kegs, save on gas
5m of propane hose £15 to connect the gas rings to the propane bottle at £3 per metre
Silicone baking Tray £3 Amazon (to make washers)
8X ss lock nuts at £1.66 each (to sit inside of kegs to screw threads of ball valve £13.28 (can't find flanged ss back nouts yet)
8X brass flanged backnuts at £0.54 for 2 - £2.16 to go on outside of keg to screw ball valve threads up to keg wall.
2X ss elbows at £3.50 each (sight tube) £7
2x john guest push fit polycarb adapter at £3 each(sight tube) £6
7x Part A cam locks £4 each = £28
2X Part C cam locks at £5.94 each = £11.88
Need x2 false bottom home made or pre brought at £80 (40 each
Total £175.32 + FB = £255 Anything I've missed?

 

[Fil]

its only a suggestion and if you have specific herms plans it may not be a good one, but if the budget is tight, perhaps forget the herms part of the build and invest some of the savings in lots of insulation for the tun keg, if your not relying on active pumping and heating to maintain the mash temp and can rely on insulation your build becomes simpler you can start brewing quicker, and you can take your time engineering the herms element with the insight that only using your kit can provide.

fyi I put a herms coil together and used it once, and as i didnt do any complex step mashing it was a lot of set up and hassle for nowt, fun to do once, i balked at the prospect on subsequent brewdays ,, i still do plan to use it on beers i attempt to brew that require complex step mashing, but not found one i wanna do yet

 

[Newtons Shed]

Cheers Fil,
How come you find the herms a pain?
Main reason for me is to 1) To get a better efficiency and clarity by recirculating. In the old setup after the 90 mins and doing strach test, there were always plenty sugar left in the grain, so I'd end up doing a 2 hour mash. The temp, if the thermomitor was accurate, used to hold up on the uninsulated kegs in the garage but again I like the idea of being able to hold a set temp and not worry if I not keeping an eye on it that the temp hasn't dropped. As we have a 5 year old and a dog my brew time is limited and often I get called away mid brew.
As the kegs are all level I need and already have the pump and at moment have the temp controller as well (atc 800+ that to start with will be shared bewteen fv and brew day duties before eventually getting a PID)
So the only extra bit really is the mirco bore tubing for the heat exchanger.
I guess the main saving is whether to forfit the ss fittings and just use brass.
Likewise the camlocks are about £60 which is like 40% of the previous build cost or 30% in the total build cost so far. But most other fittings (apart from a home made compression with copper tube slid over the silcone tube one end and a nut and olive at the other) like sockets and male hosetails work out about £30 and run the risk of cross threading the threads so for the difference in costs the functionality of the camlocks has got be worth it. Less fittings ect.

I guess as well, since I've been waiting so long to get back up and running and never had luxuary of electrics I want a half decent brewery that I don't mess around each brew day trying to bodge stuff up together to get it to work and the saving I've made by having such a long break that I can spend a bit more on the inital setup especailly as will no doubt last longer and save money in long run by not replacing bits and not buying beer from shops at like £4 for 4 cans of ale like hobgoblin :lol: Just need to justify it to other half

 

[Springer]

Fil is spot on to my mind. I did a thread recently "is HERMs worth the effort" do a search if you haven't seen it.

I am really supprised that your uninsulated tun holds its temperature, you must be lucky. :)
As for leaving it unattended, I could never do this, but I do with my no HERMs approach, nothing to leak or run dry etc.
Don't make excusses N, you are in the "want it camp", thats fine. :lol:
S

 

[Fil]

Well compared to closing the lid on the mash tun and leaving for 90 mins :)
I did enjoy my herms experiment brewday, but dont have a target that its gonna help me hit right now.. if i desire to brew something with a complicate mash schedule then its ready to go with a little setting up..

im not too bothered about efficiency at the moment, i always am within a reasonable margin of my target gravities.. generally a little over as i compensate for batch sparging with an extra handful of grain on a 23-25l batch..

have you considered to get brewing asap just using 15mm copper pipes to terminate and a handfull of jubilee clips, that will enable you to slip silicone tube on and secure cheaply and pretty easily especially if you get the clips with butterfly handles to tighten/loosen..
ok you may chew the end of a hose up, but if you allow a foot or 2 a long hose should serve many brewdays before its relegated to the short hose duties

if you want to use 3/8" pvc syphon hose 10mm microbore and 15-10mm reducers are both a snug fit when warm tube is streched over.. its what i use to create the outside syphon when draining my boiler into fv's

im only suggesting the above as you seem bogged down with expense of expensive options and while SS camlocks would be easier would they be THAT MUCH easier ?? and using a system is the best wayb to learn how it could be improved...

Im part way thru my own mid life crisis SS build which i am being a total shiny head about, but i dont expect the shiny to brew any better beer cos its made of stainless, hopefully it will brew more beer of an equal standard i get from my 'ghetto' kit.

 

[Springer]

Well compared to closing the lid on the mash tun and leaving for 90 mins :)

have you considered to get brewing asap just using 15mm copper pipes to terminate and a handfull of jubilee clips, that will enable you to slip silicone tube on and secure cheaply and pretty easily especially if you get the clips with butterfly handles to tighten/loosen..ok you may chew the end of a hose up, but if you allow a foot or 2 a long hose should serve many brewdays before its relegated to the short hose duties

im only suggesting the above as you seem bogged down with expense of expensive options and while SS camlocks would be easier would they be THAT MUCH easier ?? and using a system is the best wayb to learn how it could be improved...

Im part way thru my own mid life crisis SS build which i am being a total shiny head about, but i dont expect the shiny to brew any better beer cos its made of stainless, hopefully it will brew more beer of an equal standard i get from my 'ghetto' kit.

Why can't I hit the nail on the head like that. :? :lol:
And N, the above suggestions would save you a lot of money by actually producing beer instead of planning to, assuming you are buying it at the moment. :lol:
S
You could save lots of money by giving up drinking. :hmm:

Stop press. I am referbing my HERMs kit ...............................................can't do without it ..................its overkill, but brillient for heating water for my bottle washing, never go above recommended temperature for Oxy when I use it :lol:

 

[Newtons Shed]

Cheers guys. Not brought anything yet just planning and finding full costings of options. I'm in the the middle of studying for my next insurance diploma exam part of work but study in own time, so at the min not got as much free time exam in April so plan to start to build then. I've sorted part of the shed out in that got a brewing bench made from off cuts that I have. I also want fix the roof hopefully be done in Feb and get the Electrics in. I guess I should stop moaning about the costs and just committee to get stuff, its just I don't want get a wrong bit, as not planned it or know if spending £230 on all parts and fittings is a good deal. Looking at where the costs are coming from its the ball valves tubing camlocks and a few other bits. I thinkill start with the essential stuff and build it up from there I'm still a bit 50/50 on cam locks main reason is ease of use I'm more bothered about cross threading the ball valves then fraying the other end of hose. I might have get the plastic 5l set up and d a brew anyway back to study.

 

[Newtons Shed]

Thanks again all.
More thinking and your right!
After the exam, when better weather lighter evenings start the build and to start with will just get setup very basic system, something is better then nothing! So will build in stages in order of priority, which may change/adapt.

For the first stage I'll just need the following;
6X Ball valves £30
3X flanged back nuts £2.22
12X washers (homemade) £4
5M silicone hose £25
Propane hose £15
re fill gas bottle £20
Fix the solar project pump - new front port £10
2X Compression fittings and bit of copper tube to go from silicone hose - ball valves.
Sort the false bottoms/hop strainers out if copper manifolds don't work
Thats all the basic stuff I need to set up my system to do single infused mashes. £107

Stage 2
Sort the false bottoms/hop strainers out if copper manifolds don't work & pump/plate chiller blocks.
Insulate kegs £15 foil bubble wrap b&Q

Stage 3
Sight tube £15 made from ss elbows + JG push fit adaptor, neater and less chance of leaks make

Stage 4 Herms
heat exhanger £20
Set up temp controller £5
Enable me to set up herms

Stage 5
Replace compression fittings with cam locks or CPC or other quick disconnect£65

Total £227