Show us your brewing setup

[Rothrock Brewing Company]

Just as the title states...lets see your brewing setup!

This is a second version of a rig I designed and welded together for my batches. Now understand, I own a construction company where my abilities are everything EXCEPT metal fabrication and welding, but I was still able to pull this off with a $120 MIG welder.

I needed a systen that gave me 3 burners (my primary beers are traditional German Heffeweizen's that require multiple decoctions) and was able to be packed up as small as possible.

Folded up, this unit only takes up 24" x 24" x 56" tall but in use will allow me all the way up to 20 gal kettles.

I've been told I should reproduce, box it up, and market it... but I need to be more efficient in my welding.

Gotta love the HOP GREEN!

 

[GFHomebrew]

Wholly crap that is one cool set up there mate I'm feeling a little modest now . That's pretty much it and yep yours is bigger than mine. Love how your rig packs away ya wanna swap ha ha

 

[Rothrock Brewing Company]

Sweet, I see nothing wrong with what you got going on. Do you mash in a cooler? Thats basically how I started but I got tired of Batch Sparging. I found that I get a few more efficiency points by doing a fly sparge.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

mines not worth taking photos of , just 21 L( 5.5 us G) pot with ball valve on stove BIAB .
3V systems are not common here in Australia and mostly BIAB , lot of crown urn brewers and plenty of no-chill guys
nice work getting it all nice and compact , saves room for non brewing stuff in the shed

 

[GFHomebrew]

Sweet, I see nothing wrong with what you got going on. Do you mash in a cooler? Thats basically how I started but I got tired of Batch Sparging. I found that I get a few more efficiency points by doing a fly sparge.

In tha pick I'm sparging well just Finnished im letting the wort drain into kettle whilst I ge her up to boil. I just pour pre heated water over the bag. Just a small rinse usually 2-3 lt I pretty much full volume mash

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

My brew rig, My panel has changed, Ill post it later

 

[Nosybear]

mines not worth taking photos of , just 21 L( 5.5 us G) pot with ball valve on stove BIAB .
3V systems are not common here in Australia and mostly BIAB , lot of crown urn brewers and plenty of no-chill guys
nice work getting it all nice and compact , saves room for non brewing stuff in the shed

Nor is mine, a collection of pots, buckets, carboys, a burner, a couple of old refrigerators, lots of muscle power on brew day.... I spend most of my equipment money on measuring equipment and temperature control - a fermwrap or other light-free heat source is probably my next purchase.

 

[J A]

Mine is all portable at this point but has evolved into an actual system. I should have taken a pic when I brewed last Saturday because it'll be the last time I use it in the current configuration...we're moving and the new place will have room to set it up semi-permanently.

Anyway, it consists of 210k BTU banjo burner, 30 quart pot for mashing (BIAB) and boiling, Smaller pots for heating strike/sparge water and a bottling bucket with a false bottom (conveniently sized rice steamer basket) doubles a lauter tun.

I heat the strike in the main pot and drop the bag in, get it settled, take it off the burner and wrap it in a Reflectix jacket to mash. If I'm using protein rest, I'll boil water in my 4-gallon bot for subsequent infusions and mashout.

After mashout, I transfer the bag to the bucket, settle the grain bed and transfer the wort back onto the grain, and start catching wort back into the big pot.

When all the first runnings are in the bucket, I start the sparge, pouring a couple of quarts at a time through a colander to break up the flow and not disturb the grain.

When I write it all out, it seems a little slow and stupid, but aside from the hassle of dipping and pouring the wort and sparge through the bucket, it really is a pretty clean system. It's been giving me over 80 percent efficiency very consistently and has resulted in some very good beer.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Mine is all portable at this point but has evolved into an actual system. I should have taken a pic when I brewed last Saturday because it'll be the last time I use it in the current configuration...we're moving and the new place will have room to set it up semi-permanently.

Anyway, it consists of 210k BTU banjo burner, 30 quart pot for mashing (BIAB) and boiling, Smaller pots for heating strike/sparge water and a bottling bucket with a false bottom (conveniently sized rice steamer basket) doubles a lauter tun.

I heat the strike in the main pot and drop the bag in, get it settled, take it off the burner and wrap it in a Reflectix jacket to mash. If I'm using protein rest, I'll boil water in my 4-gallon bot for subsequent infusions and mashout.

After mashout, I transfer the bag to the bucket, settle the grain bed and transfer the wort back onto the grain, and start catching wort back into the big pot.

When all the first runnings are in the bucket, I start the sparge, pouring a couple of quarts at a time through a colander to break up the flow and not disturb the grain.

When I write it all out, it seems a little slow and stupid, but aside from the hassle of dipping and pouring the wort and sparge through the bucket, it really is a pretty clean system. It's been giving me over 80 percent efficiency very consistently and has resulted in some very good beer.

What sorta temp drop do you get in the mash there Ja. I get a consistent 2c over 1 hour period I wrap a blanket round mine to try keep heat in. Or just hit the burner for 5 but the delay in temp rise can be tricky

 

[J A]

What sorta temp drop do you get in the mash there Ja. I get a consistent 2c over 1 hour period I wrap a blanket round mine to try keep heat in. Or just hit the burner for 5 but the delay in temp rise can be tricky

I started using a digital probe so I could see what was happening without moving anything. Over an hour, the temp at the probe stays dead on. As soon as I rock the kettle and get things moving, the reading will drop a couple degrees F. It drops a little faster in the last half hour of a 90 minute mash.
I've got a heat blanket and controller so I'm planning to set up a small recirc pump that will move the wort inside the kettle and then use the heat blanket outside the kettle and inside the insulation and controlled by the probe to keep it at temp. I'm pretty sure that's going to make it want to rise a little over the setting, but I might be able to keep it within degree plus or minus. I'd take that.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yep I was thinking along the same lines of getting,a march pump I think their called or a little 12v pump just to stir the mash constantly that way I'm sure will lift efficiency numbers and like you said keep the grain bed temps consistent but I'm keeping it simple ATM until I get a better grasp on the brewing consistency is what I'm aiming for

 

[GFHomebrew]

If I can hit 75 brew house constant I'm happy with that I think that is par for the course a 78 would be a few birdies and anywhere round 80 yep I've won the tournament

 

[Thormonsta]

If I had a st up I would post a pic. Mine is just a bunch extra stuff, camp stove, big pots, and old cooler and used carboys. But in the end, it still good beer!!

 

[BrewerRick]

You guys have some creative set ups and thats all part of the fun. Here is my set up and brewhouse. The smaller is 200L and the larger set up is 2000L ish.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Yep it doesn't matter in my opinion what your brew rig looks like it's the product that comes out of it and how That looks and tastes that matter.





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[BrewerRick]

Just as the title states...lets see your brewing setup!

This is a second version of a rig I designed and welded together for my batches. Now understand, I own a construction company where my abilities are everything EXCEPT metal fabrication and welding, but I was still able to pull this off with a $120 MIG welder.

I needed a systen that gave me 3 burners (my primary beers are traditional German Heffeweizen's that require multiple decoctions) and was able to be packed up as small as possible.

Folded up, this unit only takes up 24" x 24" x 56" tall but in use will allow me all the way up to 20 gal kettles.

I've been told I should reproduce, box it up, and market it... but I need to be more efficient in my welding.

Gotta love the HOP GREEN!View attachment 906 View attachment 907

i like the idea of wheels, my brewhouse is flat, just sent the pic over to my welder to change it up a bit cheers for the idea

 

[BrewerRick]

Yep it doesn't matter in my opinion what your brew rig looks like it's the product that comes out of it and how That looks and tastes that matters .​

of for sure, ive tasted some totally rad beers here that are made with stone pots for the boil and some other weird brews. turned out pretty neat or different for that matter with a great end result non the less.

 

[GFHomebrew]

You guys have some creative set ups and thats all part of the fun. Here is my set up and brewhouse. The smaller is 200L and the larger set up is 2000L ish.

What sort of beer to ya mainly churn out at your brewery there rick? I think Mexican beer and straight away think of Corona/corona extra (don't know what the extras for) extra malt. Any ways brewing them light get Mexican lagers you would have to be on your A game every brew nothing to hide behind in that light clean beer.​

 

[BrewerRick]

What sort of beer to ya mainly churn out at your brewery there rick? I think Mexican beer and straight away think of Corona/corona extra (don't know what the extras for) extra malt. Any ways brewing them lol get Mexican lagers you would have to be on your A game every brew nothing to hide behind in that light clean beer.​

well, oddly Mexico only makes vienna lagers or the large percentage of the beers are lagers and the ones that do sell dark beer or (obscura as they call it) are the same thing just with malts with a high levabond to color the beer but all in all its the same crap all over the place.

Sadly many many of the microbreweries in mexico are not the best tasting beers but some are amazing! like Minerva, great flavour sorta like a sierra nevada clone per say. This is to my taste of beer. (dont want to ofend anyone)

Here at the brewery inYucatan we do a few lagers but mostly ales, IPA, helles, one stout and a neat vanilla porter. im also experimenting with hibiscus to make a neat ale using, 2 row, wheat, wheat yeast and hibiscus with awesome hops. lets see how it turns out.

 

[GFHomebrew]

I'm brewing a cream ale this weekend that has vanilla in it. 3 vanilla beans soaked in cup of vodka 2 days then into secondary. It also has vanilla extract in primary.,what's your methods mate.,how do you go about adding vanilla to your brews my batch is 21lt too BTW not 200