| Author |
Message |
    
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 158
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 01:52 pm: | 
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I have been working on this for a while but finally have the time to put it together... a grist hopper and motor powered mash paddle over my mash tun. The hopper is sized to hold 110 lbs of ground grain which will be hoisted by a block and tackle system. The bottom of the hopper will have a sliding door which will regulate the speed at which the grist will mix with the water.
The motor is from a powered car seat - it has a lot of torque and turns at 7 RPM... the paddle is all SS with a 1/2 inch shaft. I am going to start some fabrication soon and will have pictures to follow.    |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 5571
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 02:29 pm: |
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I was toying with building a mashing machine using a bucket with a center hole that has strike water squirted in tangenially. The idea is to use the water power to mix the grist. |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 5572
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 02:37 pm: |
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How do you intend to power the motor? |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 160
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008 - 06:54 pm: |
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I have a 6 AMP battery charger that should do the trick... my buddy works at a seat manufacturer - says it runs on 4 amps. I was told this motor can lift 300kg vertically although it is physically tiny. I have itconnected with a toothed timing belt. The motor pulley is 3 inch diameter and the paddle pulley is 1 inch diameter. I intend to make a plastic cover for the motor, but he says they are pretty weatherproof. If this motor does not work I have others I can try... it's a bit of an experiment that might save me 15 mins with the mash paddle up a short ladder - one hand on the paddle and the other dealing out grist from a sack. |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 163
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - 12:15 am: |
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Update - got the hopper made and the stand assembled... just need to wire it up and test it with some water in my mash tun - want to paint the wood first to seal it all up. Just to give a scale to it, the legs are 48 inches long... capacity should be about 110 lbs.
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Skotrat
Advanced Member
Username: Skotrat
Post Number: 709
Registered: 07-2007
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - 01:54 pm: |
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Very nice |
David Lewinnek
Intermediate Member
Username: Davelew
Post Number: 464
Registered: 02-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, June 04, 2008 - 03:46 pm: |
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It will be interesting to see if the motor overheats. Some seat motors are designed for intermittent operation and can overheat if used continuously. |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 164
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 12:12 am: |
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Thanks.
Yeah, that heat issue had crossed my mind - I can ask my buddy who is sitting on a thousand of those motors how many minutes or hours of destructive testing they go thru - if it is like any other automotive product it will be pretty severe... my average mashing-in time is around 10-15 minutes with my old proceedure.
I really don't know if the motor can take it, but it was free and I am willing to blow it up to find out. Worse case is I use another motor.
The hardest part was making the box and sliding door.
Hopefully with more control I will prevent any balling and maybe it will cut down the time it takes to do this phase of the brewing process. |
dhacker
Senior Member
Username: Dhacker
Post Number: 1453
Registered: 11-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 02:38 am: |
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It's always nice to see someone designing and building a new brewing gadget. Looks very meticulous conceptually, functionally, and structurally. |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 165
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 11:50 am: |
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Thanks. I am a designer by trade, I have a few solid modeling programs at home I play with and I love to fabricate. Just finished a barstool racer with the guy who does all my welding.
I also have access to a wood shop with a metal lathe and Bridgeport mill - having the right tools is important. |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 5612
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, June 05, 2008 - 01:56 pm: |
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For the purpose of striking, I am considering a hopper that has a tangential outlet for the strike water. The idea is that the water would power the mixing of the grist. Flow rate control would be the key. Who knows? |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 166
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008 - 05:30 pm: |
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Do you have a sketch of what it would look like? It sounds like you want to premix with hot water at a protien rest temperature before it reaches the mash tun... Is your idea based on gravity feed or do you have an auger involved?
If you system is 2 BBL's, then your only talking about 110-250 lbs of grain, depending on your efficiency and OG requirements - that does not seem to warrant something overly complicated.
My systems cast out is based on 1.5 BBL chilled wort at 80% eff with a max 1075 OG using 10% kettle evaporation. I have done about 10 batches on this system over the last couple of years and it has been pretty consistent. |
Dan Listermann
Senior Member
Username: Listermann
Post Number: 5642
Registered: 03-2004
| | Posted on Monday, June 09, 2008 - 08:20 pm: |
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I am doing single infusions. No protien rest.
To try it out, I thought that I would just cut a 4" hole in a bucket and fit it with a tangential water nozzle so the water spins around the bucket before falling down the hole. Any grain falling into the bucket would be wetted by the large surface area. A second bucket with some sort of valve would be suspended over the lower one to hold the grist so it could fall into the swirling water. The timing would be the hard thing to get right. |
Onebarrel
Member
Username: Onebarrel
Post Number: 167
Registered: 12-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - 01:08 am: |
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Sounds like it should work OK... maybe use a motor with a pie shaped divider head to time the rate of the grist dropping into the vortex... saw something like that in BYO for doing continuious wort hopping. |
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