The Rig
The
rig is designed with several key features that combined
together make it a system.
This equipment is an electric
portable unit, meaning that it can be plugged in as any
portable appliance. Therefore it is essential, for safety
reasons, to only connect to a GFCI protected 2-pole 240
volt outlet.
This
is my brewing rig version 1. It is all electric, with two
4500 watt hot water heater elements, one in the HLT, and
one in the kettle.
Two
pumps are used, one for recirculating the mash liquor,
the other pump is used to pump sparge water. Because
pumps are used and no bottom heat is applied by fire, it
is possible to put all three vessels at the same level on
a standard wire shelf cart, thus no ladders are used in
this brewery.
Also,
notice that no insulation is used on the HLT, or the
plumbing. The reason is that heat loss is not a problem
as on some RIMS. This system is a HERMS, and the
immersion coil heat exchanger works so well that heating
the wort is easy with plenty of heat in reserve with no
chance of scorching.
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The Filter
You can see
the water filter mounted on the left end of the cart. It was
purchased from Sears for around $15, which seemed like a good
price, no shipping charges, since it was local (a mounting
bracket is also available for it at Sears). It has an activated
charcoal filter cartridge inside. I can taste chlorine before,
but not after I run the water through it. I run it slow to give
the filter a chance to work. I installed a ball valve and a
standard garden hose input fitting, so I just connect my hose to
it and partially open the valve. I made a hook out of copper
tubing, which hooks over the top of the HLT, and connects through
vinyl tubing to the filter output. Simple things like this can
make brewing easier.
The Kettle
It is made of HDPE
plastic, it is a recycled container that once held liquid malt
extract. It is food grade, and 15 gallon in size. It took me a
while to realize that plastic does not melt at boiling
temperatures. I have used it many times, and eventually, it will
probably need replacing, but the price is hard to beat $7.00. I
have noticed a build up of hop stain, and some browning, probably
beerstone, but it has not been a problem. I will replace it with
a stainless steel kettle one day. Of course, the only reason I
can use it is that electric heating is employed and not a raging
fire on the bottom.
The Cart
I was able to
order a standard chrome wire shelf cart, 18 x 48 inches, from an
industrial catalog. It arrived at my door, and after assembling
it, I then had my brewing stand without any further action. I
like it because water just rolls off the wire shelves, very
little cleaning is needed. You can get stainless steel, but it is
far more expensive, so I settled for the chrome plated one. To
mount stuff, I find that I can just place a bolt through the wire
and have not needed to do any drilling or cutting to the cart,
everything just seems to fit well. It cost me about $140, and I
think if you build one from scratch it will cost about this much
anyhow and not look nearly so good.
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