Brew Tree Valve Setup

Finally got a mixture of single and three way valves ordered and enough triclamps and fittings to start working on fitting routing for my two pumps to perma-mount all the brew valves to allow me to not have to swap hoses during brew, and cross pump everywhere I want. This includes incorporation of a RIMS assist heating element for HLT and strike water temp boost heating and ability to heat strike water in boil kettle while bringing the HLT up to temp as well then cross transfer into mashtun. Finally, ability to pump boil through counter flow chiller and back into boil kettle to get temp to a hop stand for aroma hop additions, followed by diverting to fermenter.

1 BBL MashTun

Got a BrewBuilt 31 gallon stainless steel kettle for use as my MashTun. With the upgrade to the 1 BBL BK, I wasn't going to be able to mash enough grains to fill it and MoreBeer had a sale of 10% off earlier this month, so I jumped in and got the 1 BBL kettle with TC and false bottom. It is almost identical to the SS Brewtech I got, except it is a LOT shinier and has much better/larger volume etchings (and no valves or whirlpool fittings). This came with two TC fittings (similar to SS) and was identical in dimensions.

Keg Washer and CIP stand

Working on building a cheap self contained CIP pump / heater / storage cart (as well as functioning keg washer). It should be under $350 all total, as opposed to $6,000 like the one at the left, since it it mostly made out of PVC and plastic buckets. The most expensive part on here is the 1.6 hp lawn pump and the 240v RIMs heater and SS triclamp parts.  Much thanks to the posts and DIY projects at HomebrewTalk Forums.

New 1 BBL Unitank

Finally got the Black Friday 1 BBL unitank on 15% off I got from SS Brewtech after they shipped it from my local city (it was "on a truck out for delivery") to Rhode Island (and then back). This thing is so damn pretty. Shiny curved surfaces and with 6" heavy duty casters, it rolls around pretty well for a top heavy fermenter. I was prepared for it to be big, so it is not too surprising there (I think I was prepped for it to be even bigger.

Building a Brew Valve Tree

This thread on homebrewtalk.com about valve tree setups and automation is amazing! In all my years brewing on my frame, as complex and automated as I've gotten it, I've always thought making a hard plumbed setup like the pro brew systems would be cool. Well, some of the hardware is getting cheap enough these days and I thought I would have a go at how I would layout my setup with 3-way valves in T port form...

Boil Kettle & Hot Liquor Tank Upgrades

I have been lusting after the idea of putting in some 1.5" ferrules in my HLT and BK to host some 5500W electric ripple heaters (240v of course). Just something I could quick plug in and with a big knife switch breaker box, quickly boost my gas heat options. Nothing fancy...just some raw V*A pure energy for the colder months and big temp steps...

Mash Tun Bottom Drain Upgrade

While recently riding shotgun on a brew day for a friend, Chris Stephani, I was intrigued to see that his mash tun utilized a normal half barrel keg, and had a bottom drain, based on the normal tap port of the keg used upside down. He has a flat silicon custom for that connection to a normal 1.5" TC. It drips just a very small amount, and I think he really wants to redo it, but it works. And best of all, it uses a very efficient bottom drain that leaves no lost head space or dip tube through false bottom. I was enamored...

New SS Brewtech Half BBL BME Fermenter

Today, I finally got a respectable half barrel conical fermenter. I went with the SS Brewtech Brew Master Edition. This represents a huge investment (nearly half of what my full setup cost), but I think it is going to be worth it.