I started brewing not so long ago after perusing this fine forum. I began with a simple Coopers Bitter kit which has now conditioned and goes down rather unexpectedly well. Before I had even sampled that first brew I set my sights on brewing AG just to be able to do it from what are effectivel raw materials and to have more control over the style of my brew. So I have knocked up my own little 5G plastic brewery over the last few weeks and its nearly ready for its inaugural brew which I'm planning for a week on saturday, which I plan to be a simple hoppy Styrian Stunner. The plan was to keep costs low but to build a decent quality homebrewing setup and I thought it worth putting up a few pics of what I have knocked together.
Shopping List
3 x 33ltr bucket (£24 - LHBS)
1 x 25ltr bucket (£6 - LHBS)
4 x Wilkinsons Value Kettle (£32.00 - Wilkinsons)
20m Gaffer Tape (£2.29 - Wilkinsons)
3 x 15mm Peglers Ball Valve (£8.07 - Screwfix)
3 x 15mm Brass Tank Connectors (£3.27 - Screwfix)
1 x 15mm x 1/2" 90 Degree Male Brass Elbow (£1.69 - Screwfix)
3m of 15mm Copper Pipe (£5.41 - B&Q)
Pack of 90 Degree Copper Elbows (£3.99 - B&Q)
2 x 2mm Drill Bits (£1.99 - B&Q)
4 x 40mm Pipe Connector (£3.52 - B&Q)
4 x 40mm Pipe Terminator (£3.96 - B&Q)
10m of 10mm Soft Copper Pipe (£20 - B&Q)
1 x 8 1/2" Melamine Plastic Plate (£0.99 - Camping Shop)
3 x Camping Mats (£12 - Camping Shop)
Set of Hole Saws (£6.99 - Machine Mart)
Total - £136.67 (Give or take ~ Probably closer to £150 with all the odd little bits!)
So not the cheapest build by any means but i think the resulting kit should do a job!
HLT
Pic of the finished HLT, tap a la. Daab.
Inside showing the twin elements and use of 90 degree elbows to reduce the deadspace to one litre.
Shroud for elements made from 40mm PVC Pipe Connector and Termination.
Pipe connector needed filing out to fit over the element body and then the termination i glued ino the tube to proide a watertight seal. The cable gland is used to pass the cable into the pipe connector shroud thingy! Makes a neat little job i think!
Filled her up the other day and had a trial run and it doesn't leak! Phew!:D
Mash Tun
Pic of finished Mash Tun, isulated with three layers of camping mat and a load of gaffer tape.
Inside showing false bottom made from Melamine plate. Deadspace measured at one litre also.
Boiler
Pic of the boiler, which is exactly the same as the HLT except it has a copper manifold. Was a pain in the rear drilling all those holes. Tested for deadspace and found to be one litre also....so three litres deadspace in the whole setup which i dont think is too bad???
And finally my nearly finished IC. Wrapped around a fire extinguisher and awaiting pipe connections.
Left to do...
Still need to sort out a water connection for the IC. Have an unused washing machine connector in my flat's kitchen so i might utilise that....
Then just need to order my ingredients and it will be all stations go for brewday number one!!
Possibly in the future?
Dial Thermometers for Mash Tun and HLT.
Once i have a few brews under my belt and bottled i might look into a cornie or two....
Worth the effort?
Looking at the Hop and Grape website it seems you can get a ten gallon brewing for as little as £135 if you can forego an HLT, so what I have knocked up here is a little expensive but it was nice to knock up my own gear as well as hopefully my own beer! Plus given that I live in a flat the size of a rabbit hutch it's size is more appropriate than the Hop and Grape setup. What do all you think?
Will post next week some pics of my first AG brewday....wish me luck!
