Home made HLT

[gibbiem]

I bought acrylic pipe form this seller and made 2 sight glasses. One for my HLT and one for my boiler. I ordered 15mm with 3mm wall.

What pumps are they mate? Are they easy to setup?

[Supercooper]

When I built my first HLT, I bought all the tubes and fittings to make a sight glass. I ended up not bothering to fit one. I made a dipstick with every litre marked. Simply dip to the bottom of the tank and read off the value.
It needs calibrating to start with, by adding a litre at a time and marking off etc, but once done it's so simple to use and clean.

[gibbiem]

When I built my first HLT, I bought all the tubes and fittings to make a sight glass. I ended up not bothering to fit one. I made a dipstick with every litre marked. Simply dip to the bottom of the tank and read off the value.
It needs calibrating to start with, by adding a litre at a time and marking off etc, but once done it's so simple to use and clean.

That's a good idea, although I like the idea of having it all wrapped up to keep heat in

[floydmeddler]

Totton 20/12 and Totton 28/11

Nothing to set up really. Just attach hose/pipe and away you go.

[Brighteyebeer]

This makes sense actually. So your sparge water stays at the correct temp for the whole of the mash? And when you say PP bin is it the bin in my initial link?

I heat the HLT to 79/80c for strike liquor, and sparge at 75. During the 80 or so mins of the mash, the HLT loses those 4 or 5 degrees, and hits the right temp just as I'm ready to sparge. I might put the element back on for a minute or 2 at the start of sparging, bump the initial temp to 76, then sparge the full volume (45 litres), knowing it will stay within the right temp range throughout. (That lets me unplug the HLT element, so the boiler element can have the socket )

Not sure if it's the same bin, 'cos I bought it somewhere else. Same material, though. PP = Polypropylene - often used as boilers. This is mine as sourced:
http://copperkettlehomebrewing.co.uk/bo ... pp-buckets

And here 'in the flesh' (or plastic...)


Cheers,
Chris

[gibbiem]

This makes sense actually. So your sparge water stays at the correct temp for the whole of the mash? And when you say PP bin is it the bin in my initial link?

I heat the HLT to 79/80c for strike liquor, and sparge at 75. During the 80 or so mins of the mash, the HLT loses those 4 or 5 degrees, and hits the right temp just as I'm ready to sparge. I might put the element back on for a minute or 2 at the start of sparging, bump the initial temp to 76, then sparge the full volume (45 litres), knowing it will stay within the right temp range throughout. (That lets me unplug the HLT element, so the boiler element can have the socket )

Not sure if it's the same bin, 'cos I bought it somewhere else. Same material, though. PP = Polypropylene - often used as boilers. This is mine as sourced:
http://copperkettlehomebrewing.co.uk/bo ... pp-buckets

And here 'in the flesh' (or plastic...)


Cheers,
Chris

Nice one, just spoke to a couple of Indian takeaways tonight who are gonna keep me a blue mango tub so will see what happens

[Brighteyebeer]

Good result! Should do the job a treat

Cheers,
Chris

[sbond10]

Can you use them elements shown as a means of heating up a boiler the wort not affect um ?

[Fil]

mango barrels have been on ebay recently for £11 delivered if the freebe falls thru, if using hdpe (blue barrels), and intend to fit a sight glass dont calibrate it until you have boiled in the barrel and let it relax on a flat even surface, as the hdpe will soften at boil temps and the resulting minor change in shape due to a boil could throw out any carefully calibrated sightglass markings.

when using a mango barrel boiler i used the lid with its centre cut out to maintain a circular mouth as the unlidded boiler had a tendency to oval the opening when soft.



They also make excellent rodent proof storage bins as a 25kg sack of milled grain will fit inside with a lil compacting 1/2 way thru, and a good impromptu stool when needed - with an intact lid

de whiffing can be a chore, but a sealed soak just over half full with warm oxy inverting every ten mins or so after pulling any lid seal and cleaning behind it sorts most out but if a smell lingers a week or 2 aired in a breezy spot should seal the deal.

[Brighteyebeer]

I use a blue ex-chutney barrel for a FV. I find a hot soak in good ol' fashioned washing soda crystals pretty good for deodorising plastic - works for PBs that are overdue for cleaning too! The FV then gets a hot oxy soak after every use, which keeps it pretty fresh.

Cheers,
Chris

[DaddyLouLou]

My £11 ebay special has arrived, and I'm currently trying to de-smellify it.

I'm the mean time, I'm making a list of bits I need to turn it into a HLT (and boiler, for initial BIAB efforts).

Current on the list are Tesco value kettle elements, and a ball valve. But... I can't think of what I need to attach the ball valve to. So, if I got a 10397 1/2" BSP from BES, what do I need to fix it to the barrel?

More worryingly, why can't I work it out myself. I just can't picture the back end.

Thanks

[Fil]

what i did was use a 15mm compression tank connector, drilling out the pipe stop ridge so a length of 15mm tube could be pushed all the way thru.

inside a 90 degree bend, short length of 15mm tube and t piececan be soldered to the tube sticking in to create the internal side of the syphon effect you can employ for a maximum drain.

i used a braid hop filter jubilee clipped to short lengths of copper tube at each end to stick into each side of the bottom T piece.. (end feed not solder ring)

externally fit an olive and compression nut to seal the tube in place, and then add a compression fitting valve to the protruding tube.

this will create a long sticky outy valve , especially if u do as i did and fit a further bit of tube 90 degree bent and a reducer to 10mm for an easy stretch fit of 3/8" pvc tube see my pic above..



not a great pic but u can just about see the inside dip tube and bottom T into which the copper ends of the mesh tube are fitted for a hop filter..



a better pic of the long sticky out tap made with cheap compression fittings n valves.. when hot the hdpe softens and if not balanced with a hop filter inside can droop, and will need holding in place when u opperate the valve, otherwise u will just bend the whole assembly in the soft wall

hope thats useful

[Brighteyebeer]

I use same system as Fil - drilled-out tank connector, short copper pipe pushed through, tank connector compression fitting seals it water tight, and the ball valve fits to the end of the pipe.

Inside, also similar, but I cheated! (Not having Fil's dexterity with soldering ). I use street elbows and a T fitting. The lower end of the T fitting gets a kiss with a hammer. This distorts it enough so that 15mm pipe pushes securely in, so it push-fits onto the exit pipe to the ball valve. The elbows each have a short stub of pipe to join them to the top of the T. The stubs get the kiss treatment, so the whole assembly push-fits. The mesh is pushed over the elbows, and held with s/s hose clips

T - ¬

Closest diag I could do with a keyboard! The elbows point straight down at the floor of the boiler. This leaves 2 to 3mm clearance, giving minimal deadspace. It's also very easy to dismantle for cleaning. Typical of my brew kit - simple to the point of crudity, but effective to the point I can't be a*sed replacing it with a more elegant solution!

Cheers,
Chris

[timbo41]

Been watching this thread, as been thinking if getting a spate Blythe/ boiler in case! Never gone immersion element before always thought I'd need a 40amp feed. I'm surprised that 3 kW can run on 13 amp. Can anyone confirm? Ex swmbo gets edgy when I fcuk with extension leads and such in the cave...

[timbo41]

bloody phone! Excuse typos please its early!