Home of the BrewNosers

Let's see your brewing rigs, whether it be as simple as a small pot on the stove for partial extract boils, or some sort of elaborate welded brew sculpture with pumps. Post a photo of your brew day so we can get a sense of ways to change or improve our own set-ups.

lol. You won't see much improvements to be seen mine set-up. It's all over the place. I'm brewing on Tuesday, I'll take some pics then.

The start of my brew build...waiting on a few kegs, then to have all fittings welded and brewstand built. Hoping to have it complete in early January!

Wow. That's a lot of SS.

Nice fittings! Looking forward to seeing that beast progress!

I am brewing next week, so I will get a photo of my ghetto set-up, but until then I'll just try to describe my first all-grain setup:

I mash in a 10 gallon converted cooler with a steel braid. (Batch sparge, 7.5 gallons pre-boil) I use my old bottling bucket as an HLT, and MacGyver a 3-tier temporary brew stand out of my refrigerator, kitchen table, and the floor. Like I said, it's ghetto. I have a 6 gallon kettle, so I split the boil volume between two pots while I wait for my big pot with thermo and ball valve. I use an ice bath to chill. I might be able to get a 7.5 gallon batch out of this equipment, in fact, I just picked up a couple of 1/4 barrel slim kegs to ferment in. I serve my beer from 5 gal cornies, and would like to set the rest aside in bottles to take to friends/etc. I do plan on moving up to 10 gal batches, so I will have to start looking for pumps/etc, but until then I will just have to be careful lifting 5 gallons of scaling water over my head from time to time.

mr x wrote:Wow. That's a lot of SS.

I am like a crow, attracted to shiny things!

I'd love to have it all complete now, but priorities just seem to always get in the way..lol

Here's my single tier stainless steel pride and joy. Built in 2008, it's a shameless ripoff of the Brutus 10 Design by Lonnie.
Powered by a central control panel, HLT and MT temperatures are semi-automated through the LOVE switches controlling the LP gas solenoids in the rear. Gas pilots on the burners ensure ignition whenever heat is demanded. Everything is moved by the two magnetic March pumps.
Once I settled on the design, it took me about 14 months to collect all the bits and pieces, put it all together. And yes, I do have a small stainless obsession.
I could go on and on about it. You can't slap the smile off my face when I brew.

One more photo.......

Ok, one more and I'll stop......

Wow. That is nice. I approve.

Is that stand made from SS?

That's awesome, pretty much what I am going for. I doubt my stand will be built out of stainless though!

Yup, everything is stainless even the quick disconnects.

I really wanted the stand to outlive me, so I opted for the brushed stainless stock for the stand.

I use 1/2" high temp silicone hoses c/w SS quick disconnects to move things around.

One more photo showing MT burner assembly.

Kindly note the fender stock pump shroud. Bling!

JohnnyMac wrote:Yup, everything is stainless even the quick disconnects.

I really wanted the stand to outlive me, so I opted for the brushed stainless stock for the stand.

What kind of money did the stainless stock run you? I priced some 1.5" a week or so ago and it was $13/ft!

That is very cool and well done. Did you order the stand, or have it made locally?

I hate to tell you but an old school friend of mine fixed me up with the 2" tube for the stand for a keg (20l) of beer. When I did price it at the time, it was $22/ft. I needed 30ft for the stand.

I had the guys at Millenium Sheet Metal in Burnside do the assembly and welding for me. They do great work but are really too busy now to weld for beer.

Crazy, I wish I had that kind of luck!

Now that is a brewery...

Could one of you grizzled vets care to explain the difference between RIMS and HERMS to a relative novice who is still using gravity and plastic?

IIRC, one system uses wort recirculated though a heater and back into the MLT to maintain mash temperature. I think the other uses a heated coil in the HLT. Something like that.

Edit:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/RIMS#RIMS

That's a sweet score on the brewstand. We must recruit a welder.

Nice setup!

mr x wrote:That's a sweet score on the brewstand. We must recruit a welder.

An electrician would be nice too - that control panel would mess me up

Got my 3 sankey kegs today , slowly but surely getting there...Sorry mr x, wasn't able to get any extras. My friend has been trying to get them since I talked to you, that's how much trouble he's been having with it!

No problem, I managed to get my situation taken care of. Glad you got your kegs - time to start cutting.

How are you guys storing bottles of homebrew? I have been trying to find some cool stackable wooden crates, some ammo crates would be perfect, but probably rare and expensive.

Strictly kegging here.

Bad timing on your part. I started homebrewing in Waterloo, Ont, when Brick was brand new, and they sold 24s in plastic crates. I gave away three cases just before Christmas!