Hello from the Valley

Post by **HPhunter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:19 pm

I have been lurking on here for years, but never got around to posting anything. I have been brewing beer in various ways for 10 years. My friend and I recently built an all electric 250L brewery with 500L fermenting capacity. Were are still in the process of perfecting our beers. I enjoy the discussions on here and the knowledge. I'm no brew wizard, but have lots of experience with process control/electrical systems and I'm willing to help other brewers if I can.
Thanks
Jeff
P.S. Anybody who has been to the house of the Schoolhouse Brewery in Falmouth lately would have seen a control panel I built.

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:23 pm

Sounds like one badass home brewery you guys have there.

Graham.C · Post by **Graham.C** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:48 pm

Post by **chalmers** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 4:54 pm

Welcome Jeff! You might have officially surpassed the 3 Brew Amigos as the largest homebrew setup on here. Congrats!
I'd love to see your all electric setup, as my plan is to build a single-batch setup at some point in the spring/summer.

Post by **HPhunter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:05 pm

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, I'll try to post a picture.

Post by **HPhunter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:12 pm

IMG_0143.JPG

Here is a pic.

Post by **mr x** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:22 pm

Very nice. You didn't spare much expense there. You don't happen to weld SS?:)

Where are you getting your grain and hops? We do direct buys with NCM that may be of interest on a big system like that.

Post by **HPhunter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:44 pm

I am interested in the group buys, we were going to get our own account but probably not this year.
I can weld stainless but I don't have a TIG welder anymore and doing it with the MIG is not as sanitary.
I'll write the story of how our system evolved after supper.

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 5:47 pm

HPhunter wrote:Here is a pic.

Very, very nice. That's similar to what I'm ultimately hoping to build in my basement at some point (likely less capacity though).

Post by **HPhunter** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:23 pm

Our brewery started out after being introduced to a guy who made craft beer at home. Wow his beer was great, we helped him out on a project and sampled some more of his beer, we were hooked.
So the quest for making our own brewery started. We looked at a tiered keggle system, then realized it was to small. After checking around we acquired a large 600L food grade stainless tank for free. We based our system around this. We bought the 55gal mash tun from Noble Grape. The Kettle and HLT are wine tanks from Ontario. The sizes are 300L and 500L variable capacity with gasket sealing floating lids. The tanks were shipped 1 inside the other to save shipping costs. The hardware came from Bargain Fittings mostly and McMaster-Carr. Some we purchased or made ourselves. Everything is food grade, with 2 march pumps. We threw it together last fall to brew enough to get us through winter, and now are moving it to my location and upgrading the electrical side. We will be using 3 4500W elements on a 60amp GFCI with PID control. We use a convoluted conterflow chiller as a heat exchanger making it a RIMS set-up. We have plate chillers for cooling. This will keep evolving as we brew. So far the cost has been somewhat high but we are extremely resourceful. BUT we are drinkers, and it has payed for itself already.
We definitely welcome people to come brew with us when we are ready, we have lots to learn. As I stated before, I have a lot of useful skills for making things and am willing to help others. My background is Mechanical and Electrical along with having experience in welding and I spent 3 years working as a machinist.
I may be a little excited about beer!
Jeff

Tony L · Post by **Tony L** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:09 pm

Sweet setup you have there.

Welcome.

Post by **mr x** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:17 pm

Very good to have you de-lurked. There's not much to setting up the NCM account, with one exception. They won't deliver to a residence. The only other issue (other than their perpetual fuck ups) will be making sure you have a rodent free space for obvious reasons. We'll have to get together for beers and such other things that go well with beers. So what have you been brewing?

sleepyjamie · Post by **sleepyjamie** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:57 pm

the more important question is. what the heck do you do with all that beer?

akr71 · Post by **akr71** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:01 pm

& wow!

LiverDance · Post by **LiverDance** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:20 pm

Holy shit that's awesome! Oh and

Post by **HPhunter** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:06 am

We have made
Stout
Red Ale
Blonde Ale
Wheat
Cream ale

The Red is our Favorite and the Blonde was a huge hit with our non-craft beer friends. We definitely could use some help with recipe design, but were learning as we go. We don't always brew 250L. We shut down for winter and are now getting excited to start it back up soon. We keg all our beer and stored our winter supply in kegs.

homebrewcrew · Post by **homebrewcrew** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 9:10 am

Very nice setup. Welcome

Post by **mr x** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:17 am

There's definitely room to branch out there on recipe design. If you come into the city much, keep an eye on the events section for our little gatherings. Lots of great beer to be sampled.

Post by **HPhunter** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:28 am

Thanks for the formal invite. I'll see if I can make it up for the next meeting.

Post by **mr x** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:33 am

We are getting together tomorrow at the rockbottom brewery at noon. It's a bit more informal than our tuesday sessions, but there is a great selection of beer on tap there, and also by bottle. You are more than welcome to come down. There will be hops...

NASH · Post by **NASH** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:31 pm

Hey thanks for coming in today, great to meet you and your wife! Hope to see you again soon

Post by **mr x** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:40 pm

Or, you can just head down on your own without us...

Post by **HPhunter** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:14 pm

LOL I hardly ever go to the city, let alone eat there. But I heard so much stuff on here about RockBottom that I talked the missus in to stopping by. Mr Nash was present and was extremely generous with his time. Much appreciated. I will be making another trip in again in the future.

NASH · Post by **NASH** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:15 pm

mr x wrote:Or, you can just head down on your own without us...

I think he was bringing the wife up to the hospital for an appt and decided to drop by

NASH · Post by **NASH** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:20 pm

HPhunter wrote:LOL I hardly ever go to the city, let alone eat there. But I heard so much stuff on here about RockBottom that I talked the missus in to stopping by. Mr Nash was present and was extremely generous with his time. Much appreciated. I will be making another trip in again in the future.

No sweat, after all it was Friday afternoon!

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