100 litre brew setup

[Justin M]

A friend and I are looking to move from a 20 litre setup to a 100 litre setup.  I was hoping for some opinions and alternatives to the below on our proposed construction prior to spending our life savings. I've been out of the home brewing game for a couple of years now (babies...) so need a refresh. Seems there is far more gear/support than when I started 6 years ago!  

Lauter tun

Second hand 180l hot water cylinder.

Mash tun

An industrial size (135 litre) chilly bin (http://www.discountfishingsupplies.co.nz/shop/iceytek-chilly-135ltr...)

Kettle

Looking to have something fabricated for around the $1000 mark (I think there is no way of avoiding this cost - unless you boil in an old bath!).  Dimensions were: 600mm by 700mm with a 6mm bottom.

The Blichmann kettle (55gall) is a close second but will more expensive with shipping on top.

Fermenter

We are thinking of a FARRA conical (120l) for ease. Although the price hurts - this will certainly be an investment for the future.

Again, the blichmann conical (42gal) is a close second but needs shipping again...

Any thoughts on alternatives to the above would be appreciated.

[Chris P]

Just saw this on Trademe.... http://www.trademe.co.nz/home-living/food-beverage/other-beverages/...

May keep cost down a bit.

[Justin M]

Thanks, good find. However, we are looking for a finished quantity of 100l so will be needing at least a 150l pot...

[Andre Jaworski]

Good to hear your going large!

My 2 cents as follows,

Forget the lauter tun, if you must have one consider something else as you will struggle to clean out the hot water cylinder, we have one for our boil kettle and it was a pain in the ass the get all the lime scale and pitting out.

We have a 100L chilly bin for a mash which can be sourced for $150 - $200. 100l will be fine for up to about 1.065 - 1.070 OG for 100 l

Cant help with the kettle

A conical would be great but if cost savings are the priority just buy two 60l plastic fermenters from Bin Inn, only $90 each. 

[Liam Callaghan]

Personally I'd steer clear of the hot water cylinders, have a look at the second hand industrial tanks, no shortage of them around the 200 litre mark in stainless.  Loads from the dairy industry and so on which will be more than adequate and will be way less than $1k.

http://www.ibl.co.nz/

Here is a good start.

I'd pay attention to your burners if you are going with gas, 120 litres can take a long time if you are running low pressure.  Look at baffles to focus the heat.

The big cool bins should be fine, I run 65 litres out of a normal sized cooler and have a big one ready for if I want to make bigger batches.

Again have a look at the second hand tanks available for fermentors and have a think about what you want to brew and how you want to brew it.  How you are going to control the temp etc.  Open top and top cropping or closed conical tanks. Lots of options available to you.  Open topped might be good if you are mostly brewing ales.

If I remember tomorrow I'll flick you some links from my work pc.  Smaller companies than IBL and tend to have some smaller tanks.  You could always use two smaller fermentors as Andre suggests, that way you can run different yeasts.

Sounds like a neat project!

[Chad Keven]

yeah what liam said is bang on you might be able to brew but you need temp control aswell 2 x sante kegs with bungs in a deep freeze for fermenting must be the cheapest, you could do a setup like that for $300 if you look for bargains.

has anyone ever considered mashing in a defunct fridge or freezer? you may be able to score one for free! just a giant chillybin really

[vdog]

I'm curious about steering clear of the HWCs - why's that? I'm running a HWC-based system that handles up to 80L finished batch sizes, and it seems fine? The vessels needed a good scrub, and then a 2-day soak with starsan solution cleaned them right up (seems the acid took all the scale and crap off them). If there's some reason we shouldn't be using that kind of vessel I'm very interested to hear it.

In terms of issues with our system we did need to upgrade elements (added a second one in) and they get in the way of a clean whirlpool. Using whole hops gets problematic due to them getting stuck in the bottom, and you've got to be a little bit careful with the chiller to avoid damaging the elements by dropping it on them. The mash tun isn't as wide as I'd like, so the grain bed gets deep on big beers or the top-end volumes. All that said, it was cheap to set up and we've been making pretty good beer (in my opinion) from it for three years!

Justin, if you want to see ours in action just give me a call (you've got the number I think) - we are brewing Wednesday night this week.

[Liam Callaghan]

Probably a bit harsh saying 'steer clear', I think there are better options.  I have a number of friends that brew with them and no issues there.  Simple enough conversion with no more cleaning than you would expect from any second hand tank.

If he is designing a system up from scratch he might be better served with another form of tank with better access and ease of cleaning.  Heating methods and chilling etc.  Yours sounds a lot more high tech than mine which is simple 50 litre and 100 litre boil kettles (interchangeable) but the insides of the kettles is clean as a whistle so no skin lost and minutes to wash down.  

He certainly doesn't need to be spending thousands on them, although if I had the cash I would, that Farra stuff is nice!

[Liam Callaghan]

http://www.jlmercer.com

Have a look under new arrivals, a 50 gal tank there with legs which should do you for a boil kettle.  Another one lower down with 7 of them at 55 gal each with lids and ports.  Worth a phone call.  Tell them what you are doing and always ask if they drink beer and would they mind if you turn up with a keg and box of cold glasses :p

Never thought of using a freezer but have sort of designed a whole brewery out of a dishwasher.

Water flow in and out.

Temperature control and water heating.

Internal sparge.

Built in pump.

Comes with self washing control and lemon fresh diamond finish for free.

Also, and this is really neat, its easy enough my wife could use it :p

 

Sorry, hijacking your thread Justin.

 

[Steve Manning]

I would love to see a picture of your dishwasher brewery .... I hope it is not a "yeah right"

[Vesku]

Kettle: use electric heating with kegs (split the boil). You should get the cost easily under $500, if you look around and don't buy everything new.

Kippis,

Vesku