Gadget's, Gizmo's and Other Projects

The biggest project going on now at our place, is working on and improving the home brewery.  I need to get a stainless steel sink and some countertop installed, then we'll be working on a fermentation and supply room.  The barn is not insulated or heated, so we bring the beer down to the house to ferment.  I have a 7x8 foot framed section with a roof in the brew area that I'm going to floor, insulate, install a heater and put a door in to seal it from cold, drafts, mice and other critters that could get into things.  When complete, I'll be able to store my grain safely, have all the equipment up there, (my wife will like that) and just fill a keg to bring down to the refrigerator in the garage.  The storage & fermentation room is done!  go to the "brewery photos" page, and scroll down to find a link to see some pictures.

A couple of my latest projects have been a Hop Back and a H.E.R.M.S  (heat exchange recirculating mash system)  The hop back was made with ideas from an article by Thom Cannell in the October 2001 issue of Brew Your Own magazine.  I happened to find the same S.S. container that he used for this project.  What I did different, was to find a small stainless steel mesh colander, remove the plastic frame, and use it as a drop in screen above the bottom exit drain.  The fittings are sealed with O rings and have 3/8" barb fittings to hook into my kettle and wort chiller.

A close up of the hop back with the cover off,                                
  showing the inlet and hops.

The HERMS system that I use has been a great addition to my brewing, as I used to have to apply a low heat to the mash and stir constantly, (the part I hated the most) to raise the temperature up to 170 degrees for mash off, prior to beginning the sparge.  I do batch sparging quite often these days, as it shortens up my brew day.  The HERMS is still utilized with this mash method to re-circulate and clarify the wort however.  It is invaluable in a step mash also.  The HERMS was not difficult to make, as I bought a fifty foot coil and gently pulled it into a tighter loop, so it would drop into the hot liquor-sparge tank.  A couple of copper fittings were soldered onto the ends with 1/2" barbed fittings screwed onto those, and it was finished!  The other part of this system is the pump, of course.  It a march brew pump capable of handling liquid at 250 degrees. 

As you can see, there is not much to it.  I pump the wort into the side of the tubing that goes straight down to the bottom, then it circulates and heats from the bottom up, to the outlet.  On the right is a photo of the adaptor to a 3/8" barb fitting.  It is made with an adaptor to fit the 3/8" copper tubing and sizes up to 1/2" threaded copper pipe.  Fairly simple, if you plan on making one, just start with the tubing and start putting what will match up to your system and solder it up!  Just be sure to use a good silver solder, you cannot use one that contains LEAD! 

Another project of mine is my malt mill.  This is a Valley Mill, made in Canada.  I was looking for a quality mill that I could mount on a table and drive with a motor.  The two I considered where the Valley mill and the JSP mill.  I have seen both of these used in two of the homebrew supply shops where I buy beer supplies.  I chose the Valley mill as it is reasonably priced, has adjustable rollers and has a grain hopper that holds about 8 lbs of grain at a time.  Unfortunately the Valley Mill is no longer available and the company has gone out of business.

I used a sheet metal vent cap for roofing, and turned it upside down for an outlet funnel.  This makes it handy for setting a grocery bag or bucket underneath to collect the crushed grain.  The motor is mounted on a 2x4 cross piece and the tension for the belt was figured to be just right when the motor was screwed down tight to the cross member.  An electrical switch mounted facing the front completes the project.   

Another task in converting my 15 gallon keg brew kettles, is to cut an opening at the top.  I use abrasive cutting disks with a 4 1/2" angle grinder to do the cutting.  To have a  plasma cutter to do the job, would be even better.