Beer Forum

http://happyvalleybrewingcompany.com/1214081937.jpg

almost done!

Lookin' good!

You should be crankin' out some brew in no time.

Very nice. I like the flat top

it's got a welded angle iron frame under that sheet of aluminum. I just got lucky with some scrap aluminum that I cut (then spent hours grinding the paint and primer off). I was able to cut holes that fit the kettles a bit inside their outer edges, and I dropped in some 22gauge sheet steel bands as heat shields/reflectors around the burners (their spring holds them in place on the burner brackets). This makes a spot that seems to hold the heat very efficiently. I currently wrap the heck out of my turkey fryer stand and kettle when brewing to up the propane efficiency. It's amazing, you can get twice as much or more out of each tank. Hopefully this is as efficient.

I have more sheet aluminum that I may make a front panel with that has holes to light and see the burner flames through, but otherwise keeps heat off the front. My first big mod, once I am sure of the height I want, will be tube steel legs with heavier duty wheels on them. Then maybe all the aluminum cladding for the top to keep the efficiency high and heat away from pumps and electrics.

I have a gallery on hbt with tons of photos, they just won't let me link over (found out the hard way, douches).

It's herms, with a coil in the hlt. I've made a whirlpool device that will hang-on-tank on the boil kettle. I also have a cfc (brother made it in trade for beer) that I hung on a stand with coiled hose for waste water, qd's... the whole setup is all qd's... working on sparge returns and an hlt return to circulate it to keep even temps....

ahhhhhh it's fun. I'm spending money way too quickly, but this close to the end it's too hard to stop (plus I live alone and have nothing better to do than brewing).

I am planning a new years day brew to break it in.

my pumps haven't arrived yet, but I'm using the stand today. My hlt is nice, mixing a whole batch worth of water at once (distilled and well water) was great. boiling in the keg without worries of boilover is nice too.
With no pumps I'm heaving the kegs up higher onto my upturned blichman for height. I fill my cfc and lines with sanitizer in reverse pumping from my starsan keg, and let it sit until time to rip. Then it siphons fairly nicely and my cfc my brother made for me got me to 61F with everything running full-bore. With pump control I'll be able to control the flow for lager temps more easily.

if you don't have one, find a friend with a wire-feed welder (by the time I was done I found 3) and get to work. It seems overwhelming in the begining, so just take it one step at a time and you'll be cooking!

btw, my aluminum top buckles in the heat. I will cut slots for the hold-down bolts to lessen it a bit, but it can lift a full keg and tilt it about a half inch. freaky. but it doesn't effect performance.

two 5.5 gallon batches today, two more tomorrow, then the pumps should arrive and I switch to 10g herms.