HERMs Brew House

1/3/2011
PLUDE
BREWING
HERMS BREW HOUSE
10 Gallon Brew House Plans | Plude Brewing
Contents
Preface .......................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Brew House at a Glance ......................................................................................................................... 4
The Frame ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
The Tuns ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
The Control Panel.......................................................................................................................................... 9
Sparge Arm.................................................................................................................................................. 10
Parts List & Details ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 12
A1 - Frame Angle Right (3D Drawing) ..................................................................................................... 12
A2 – Frame Angle Left (3D Drawing) ....................................................................................................... 13
A3 – Frame Underside (3D Drawing) ...................................................................................................... 14
A4 – Frame (Measurements) .................................................................................................................. 15
A5 - Tun Lift Tray (Measurements) ......................................................................................................... 16
A5 – Stand Lift Handle (Measurements) ................................................................................................. 17
A6 – Burner Box (Measurements)........................................................................................................... 18
A7 – Control Panel Arm (Measurements) ............................................................................................... 19
A8 Electrical Schematic ........................................................................................................................... 20
Links to Full Plan Downloads................................................................................................................... 21
Preface
This project began, as many home brewing projects do, as a discussion over a few beers, debating the
possibilities, costs and rewards of building a small scale brewery as a family. A father - the engineer, and
two sons, the oldest of which is project driven OCD, the other the fun loving jokester who would rather
brew and drink then design and build. Well, combine the three of us, a passion to brew more, consistent
and higher quality brews and we're bound to spend some money and time and build something.
With over six months in planning, designing, building and testing comes, the Shuksan / Plude Brewing
Brewhouse.
We have assembled this project plan to pass on some of what we have learned and encourage others
within the home brewing community to continue improving home brewing technologies and
equipment.
Cheers!
The Brew House at a Glance
With inspiration coming from the designs and ideas of several brewers throughout the world, we've
taken our favorite aspects of what we've seen, tweaked and added a few of our own touches.
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Single tier, wheelbarrow style for mobility
Low profile design
Tilting mounts for kettles for easy cleaning
HERMS design w/ability for direct fire on all kettles
3 Keggle brew kettle system
2 March pumps for wort / liquid transfer
Propane fuel for mobility
The Frame
In designing our frame we had a few guiding elements in mind. We wanted to make sure we had the
ability to easily see and reach into each of our vessels. Although something of this size is by no means
easily maneuverable we wanted to design something that would easily roll over uneven ground, over
the garage threshold without trouble and if necessary that we could load into a truck to take to a
remote brewing location (club brew days, another family members house, etc).
Due to the price and easy of design we opted to go with a mild steel construction. With the assistance of
a local welder/friend we had our frame and frame components welded.
As you’ll see in our drawings and models of the frame we constructed three burner boxes which served
as heat/wind shields and adjustable burner mounts. Each of our burner boxes is independently
adjustable via 4 bolts. This allows us to adjust the burners to obtain the most ideal flame.
We utilized two heavy duty rubber wheels on one end of the frame and feet with a lift bar which folds
out of the way on the opposite; essentially creating a wheelbarrow style design which could be moved
by one person.
On the end opposite our lift bar (closest to our HLT) we installed a pivoting control panel arm which.
Because the brewery will live in the garage and space is limited we designed everything to be as
compact as possible.
Each of our vessels is mounted to the frame via a tip tray. The vessels are bolted to the trays which
allows us to tip them for easy cleaning and burner/pilot lighting.
The Tuns
We opted to go the route of converting kegs rather than purchasing stainless kettles. Kegs are typically
more affordable than going the route of stainless kettles which can run several hundred each. We
lucked out and connected with a brewery here in the Pacific Northwest who sold us dead kegs for a
reasonable price; plus it made for a good excuse for a road trip to visit a few breweries.
There are plenty of instructions all over the web for how to convert kegs into ‘keggles’ and although
there are numerous methods for doing so – the common steps include removing the top, drilling holes
for fittings and finally installing those fittings.
Steps to remove the Sanke Dip Tube:
1. Ensure the keg is fully purged of all pressure by using a screw driver to depress the relief on the
top fitting. Be sure to be careful when doing this, a beer bath of nasty stale beer can result.
2. Using a screwdriver pry out the snap ring holding the keg dip tube in place.
3. Twist the dip tube fitting (this may require a screwdriver) to align the notches so the dip tube
can be removed.
4. Carefully pry the dip tube out of the keg and discard any remaining beer from the keg.
Steps for cutting off the top:
We made up a jig that was easily adjustable (diagrams and measurements in the Appendix). It might be
overkill for most but it worked for us.
1. Grab some string and create a loop – place a sharpie at the end of the loop and measure to
adjust so you have a 12” diameter circle.
2. Mark the circle around the keg top so you know where to cut so you have a uniform circle.
3. Using a 4 ½” Angle Grinder with cutting wheel and a jig of your choice, begin cutting the keg.
NOTE: Remember to wear eye and ear protection!!!
4. After making several passes the keg top should easily come loose. You may wish to leave a few
small tabs so you can smack the top with a mallet and clean up later with a dremel or file.
Drilling the fitting holes:
1. Drill a pilot hole in the appropriate locations for each of your fittings.
2. Using a step bit and plenty of cutting oil (and a high torque drill – preferably one that can run at
low speeds) drill out each of the holes for your fittings.
NOTE: Be sure to decide which style fitting you are going to go with first as this will dictate the
appropriate size hole. You may also want to discuss this with your welder if you choose to go
with welded fittings as they may have a preference to drill the holes for you or give you specific
instructions.
Keg Fittings:
We found a local welder who had experience welding keg fittings. Be sure to do your homework on
welders and make sure they have experience with back gas so you don’t get crystallization on the inside
of the kettles.
We found that ‘Buy Fittings Online’ had a decent price on the appropriate stainless couplings that we
needed. One lesson we learned with this that we want to be sure to pass on – if you are going to be
threading equipment into both sides of the coupling go with what is referred to as a ‘full’ coupling but if
you’re only threading something into one side (say for a sight gauge) you may want to go with a half
coupling as they are shorter and would keep fittings, etc close to the kettle. Either will work though.
Hot Liquor Tun (HLT):
Our HLT houses our HERMs coil which we constructed from approximately 25 feet of ½” OD copper
refrigerator tubing. We formed our coil by wrapping the tubing tightly around a 5 gallon Cornelius keg.
This was a two person task but worked out well. We soldered 90 degree angles to each end and
attached the coil to the fittings we had welded to our keg via Swage-Lok fittings.
Our HLT also contains a dip tube, thermometer and sight gauge.
Mash Tun:
This is probably the simplest of the three and simply contains a dip tube and stainless false bottom. For
an inlet we built a lid with a sparge arm which we’ll outline later.
Boil Kettle:
Our Boil Kettle is fairly basic as well – it contains a stainless false bottom, a dip tube, thermometer and
sight gauge.
The Control Panel
Our control panel swings out when in use and folds up when the brewery is not operational. We opted
for a 12”x12”x4”metal electrical enclosure. The enclosure is just deep enough to accommodate all of our
electrical wiring and hardware. The 12” size also allowed for a future addition of controls or visual
indicators we might want to add.
The enclosure houses both Love Controllers (the brains of the system), a transformer to convert 120 to
24v for the furnace valve, a panel mount multi-function timer and all of our switches for pumps and
burners.
We opted to make our wiring a little more complex than most so we have the ability to manually
override our gas valve/Love Controllers. We’ve done this by adding a switch which toggles between
“Auto” (Love Controlled) or “Manual.” A second switch allows us to open and close the furnace valve if
in “Manual” mode.
Wiring was a bit more complex than we had originally thought (actually had to make some adjustments
a few times) but eventually got it all figured out. A terminal block helps with wiring up several
components.
See A8 Electrical Schematic in Appendix.
Sparge Arm
Our sparge arm design actually worked out better than we had expected. A clear acrylic ¼” thick lid
drilled out for our sparge arm to pass through made an ideal lid for viewing our mash when needed
(although it does fog up). We utilized a few PVC pipe fittings to assemble a tubing holder which allows us
to adjust our copper sparge arm to accommodate a variety of grain bills. The sparge arm is simply a
copper arm with a circle drilled out to allow water to slowly trickle out across the top of the grain bed
without creating hot spots.
Parts List & Details
We’ve tried to provide a full list of the major components (and even some minor pieces) we used to
build the brewery in the appendix. We spent quite a bit of time searching for discounts, waited for sales,
etc. which helped keep the price manageable. However, we’ll caution that like any project you are likely
to have cost over runs like we did.
Our total cost was around $3,000. Of course, we’ve spent more since then in additions to our brewery
(stainless conical fermenters, grain mills, etc.) Any homebrewer taking on a project like this obviously
isn’t doing so in an effort to break even or ever pay for the brewery – it’s purely a passion for the hobby
of home brewing.
Full Parts List available on our webpage – see link in the Appendix.
If you have any questions about where we found the parts or details please feel free to reach out to us.
We’ll do our best to answer questions or point you to where we were able to purchase the parts.
Appendix
A1 - Frame Angle Right (3D Drawing)
A2 – Frame Angle Left (3D Drawing)
A3 – Frame Underside (3D Drawing)
A4 – Frame (Measurements)
A5 - Tun Lift Tray (Measurements)
A5 – Stand Lift Handle (Measurements)
A6 – Burner Box (Measurements)
A7 – Control Panel Arm (Measurements)
A8 Electrical Schematic
Links to Full Plan Downloads
Parts List:
http://www.pludebrewing.com/downloads/BreweryParts.zip
PDF Plans & Details:
http://www.pludebrewing.com/downloads/BreweryPlans.pdf