The VANDEEN BREWMISER BUILD

[VANDEEN]

Thanks for everyones input on this, my self imposed internet ban has improved productivity no end and now sees me with......







Built into an old alarm box.

Only the PID terminals to wire down to the XLR sockets left to do.

Taking a cue from Graham's suggestion to series the elements & reduce W per inch over on the 1 vessel thread here, viewtopic.php?f=45&t=74697#p778978

I considered adding a 4P 2NO 2NC AC1 suitably rated contactor to the circuit to give me that feature but initially went with a simpler idea, my series adapter....



Heats and boils fine with the 2 x 2.4Kw elements in series but no big mega heated bubbles like you get even using just one, cheers Graham

Pumping and filtering is now sorted



and a Y strainer at the other side of the pump to filter any bits on the return flow from the "malt pot" during pump breaks or when draining down.

Grain pot is comming along too...





In sparge position



Bottom screen support template installed, to be routed out of food grade chopping board tommorow



Wet test in the kettle



Ingredients are now sorted for the brew along so if all goes well with the top and bottom filters and support plates tomorrow & I get the PID's & Pt100's sorted out & wired I could well be doing my first ever all grain on my VANDEEN Brewmiser before the weekend is out

Oh yes decide to make a VANDEEN Hop SpRoCket too

Have a look at my thread in the equipment section here:-

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=75084#p782647

[demig]

Nice bit of work, looking forward to seeing how you get on with this. Tempted to do something like this myself

[VANDEEN]

I started this last night and fell asleep at the PC......

Today has seen quite a productive day on the "wet side" with both grain plates and filter mesh cut & drilled,



I am sick of seeing holes, every one drilled then de-burred, even with a template using the pedestal drill with the cross slide making indexing simple it was a long job, and that's just in plastic! Ultimate respect to anyone who drils and makes their own stainless steel false bottom

Installed in pot



Going with the central bars from the Ikea sparge rack for support as I haven't found a suitable piece of stainless for the cross support yet.



Oh yea and cos I needed a blanking plug to fill that hole in the upper sceen tank connector, why not drill it and tap it for a 100mm PT100 thermocouple ,
after all it is mash temperature we're concerned with & it's one less hole / sticky out thing in the kettle.

Installed in the kettle




Right off to test/set up the new PID's with the new sensor, apply thread tape on the nipples between pump / 'Y' strainers / kettle drain / then should be a full wet test / sterilisation run before lunch

BRB......

[alix101]

You've been busy ...ive got no idea what's going on but look foward to seeing it in action.

[barneey]

It will be interesting to see what brew length / grain capacity you end up with.

Are you making a sparging platform? if not a separate bucket with 2 rods 3/4 of the way up is an easy fix. Lift malt tube out place in separate bucket, start the boil in the main unit, add the drained / sparge contents later.

(Unless you can get the malt tube high enough in the main boiler , you will end up with a wet bottom to the grain.)

[VANDEEN]

It will be interesting to see what brew length / grain capacity you end up with.

Are you making a sparging platform? if not a separate bucket with 2 rods 3/4 of the way up is an easy fix. Lift malt tube out place in separate bucket, start the boil in the main unit, add the drained / sparge contents later.

(Unless you can get the malt tube high enough in the main boiler , you will end up with a wet bottom to the grain.)

As I only have a 25l kettle & 11l malt pot I was aiming for 11.5l into the FV.

Full wet test currently in progress

I'll post up my simulated sparge pictures from the PC when I get to mash out temp.

[VANDEEN]

Well testing was both good and bad, I'll start with bad

Had lots of leaks, the tollerances and machining of some of the stainless components left a lot to be desired Half a roll of PTFE tape sorted most of it out, but one connection in particular was being an absolute ####er!

No amount of re thread taping would cure it but I finally traced the problem to a badly tapped coupler



Unfortunately that coupler was the one I was using on the pump outlet (plastic) so I think it has damaged the threads slightly too as even with a new brass coupler on and lots of tape I still get a slight weep from there. It's less than 1 drip every 5-10 Mins so not the end of the world but still annoying.

Recirculating



Coming up through the mash steps took far to long as well with the elements in series & I couldn't even hit mashout number so had to put them back in parallel. I need to get the pot down in the kettle to share heat and so I can put a lid on it.

As there's only a <> 3 degree difference between kettle temperature and grain pot when flowing, even with all the spare hose in the test system, the losses are from the falling wort, grain pot walls & through not having a lid on.

Heating sparge water in kettle via PID 2.



Sparge draining down pot with elbow union backed off a little



All in all pretty good and hasn't shown up anything that I don't think I can overcome

I might be making beer this week yet.....