designing equipment

[Beer_Punk]

I work for a metal fab shop. I want to built my brewery equipment, but need some design help.
What height to diameter ratio would work best for a boil kettle?
Would copper clad bottom or aluminum heat distribution plate work better for even heating?
What kind of ratio would work for a conical fermentor? I've heard that the weight of liquid sitting on a focal (not fecal) point could damage or at least hinder the yeast, so would it be better to have a greater diameter and less height? What about ratio between the cone at the bottom and the cylindrical walls? How about headspace for say 15 gal? What about 30?
Does anyone know where I can find info about thermal dynamics of steam for say a boiler powered HLT or boil kettle?
What kind of btu's would be best for firing this baby? I've seen the sale of 55k all the way up to 225k BTU burners.
Are there any improvements that can be suggested for a single tier sculpture?
Anything I may be forgetting can be added here as well. Thanks!

[Mylo]

You never mentioned what size batches you are interested in doing. Height/width ratios aren't that critical on the homebrew scale. For a boil kettle, you want as small a diameter as possible that your burner will comfortably boil. Large surface areas on top will mean a huge boil off rate. If you are going to make them, I would just model them off of what you can buy. An aluminum plate sandwiched in the stainless steel is best to spread out the heat and avoid hot spots for carmelization. Copper has the cool factor - but is really expensive.

Again, as far as a the height/width ratio on the conical is concerned - I doubt that you could approach a problem on the homebrew scale. I'm in the process of designing my single tier sculpture. I have found that it can be a very individual thing. Most of the cool ideas or improvements are already out there. You just have to pick and choose what is important to you. For example - I sometimes brew off-site, so my system has to be propane. I also don't want to rearrange hoses during the brewsession - so everything has dedicated hoses and valves. I want most of my system to be hardpiped, so I can kick back, push buttons and flip valves like the big guys. Designing what is important to you is half the fun. We can give you our opinions on specific design elements - but you should rough some stuff out first.


Mylo

[Beer_Punk]

Ultimately I would like to build a 1bbl system. Nothing too big you know. In designing a conical, I have a few different ideas, but I'd rather not have to use a blow-off. I'd like to be able to ferment 30-31 gal of wort and have enough headspace for the krausen without it foaming out of my airlock.
What would the benefit, if any, of using 1.5 in s/s valves over 1in? Besides increased transfer rate, that is?
I would also like to hard pipe my system to avoid having to use tubing or hoses, whatever. No need for automated valves or anything, but I would like to take out as many variables as I can. I'm still brewing in the kitchen right now, but I've spent the past year or so researching methods and various different areas of brewing techniques and setups, because I've known what I wanted to end up with, so I just started saving and planning. Now that I work for a company that will allow me to get metal at cost, I can just order it through them, piggybacked on their order and do all the labor myself.

[WingStall]

As far as fermenters go, a 60-degree cone is generally accepted as ideal. Head space ranges from 25%-33% over batch size.

If you're serious about steam firing a 1-bbl system, I'm totally interested in following your progress. FWIW, a commercial 15-bbl low-pressure steam fired system would get a steam boiler in the 450k-550k BTU range. The kettles generally have 2-zones: 1 horizontal zone across the bottom, and a 2nd zone surrounding the kettle.

[bashcraft]

I've heard that the weight of liquid sitting on a focal (not fecal) point could damage or at least hinder the yeast, so would it be better to have a greater diameter and less height?

The shape of the vessel will have no effect on pressure at its bottom. The pressure at the bottom of a conical fermenter will be the same as the pressure at the bottom of an equal depth flat bottom fermenter.

[Beer_Punk]

As far as fermenters go, a 60-degree cone is generally accepted as ideal. Head space ranges from 25%-33% over batch size.

If you're serious about steam firing a 1-bbl system, I'm totally interested in following your progress. FWIW, a commercial 15-bbl low-pressure steam fired system would get a steam boiler in the 450k-550k BTU range. The kettles generally have 2-zones: 1 horizontal zone across the bottom, and a 2nd zone surrounding the kettle.

Right now, I'm just brainstorming. I am also thinking about using the aluminum sandwich idea and making a sort of shroud around the bottome half or so of my kettle and then looking into splicing into or adding another propane line to add heat, in theory, twice as fast to double the area and perhaps reduce the time to reach a full boil.
I don't know how efficient a steam boiler would be, but I do know that they work. I'm also considering a solar powered water preheater for either strike water or to a boiler for the kettle. Energy and time efficency have a trade off point but I'm not sure what point that is yet. This project may take a year or more to come to be, but I think if I can get the facts strait and do some (or lots of) experimentation to find which method, or combination thereof saves the most energy by utilizing preheaters and heat exchangers but also doesn't take forever to get the desired results I will be in good shape.
And, of course, I will definately share any results I happen to come across.
Any feedback, ideas, experiences or whatever would also be much appreciated. Learn from the mistakes (or progress) of others and all that.

[Beer_Punk]

I can get some s/s tubing for scrap cost if we have it in stock. For building a sculpture (i.e. B3 1550, Brutus etc.) are there any structural benefits for using square tubing over round tubing?
Does anyone know of any benefits of using 304L instead of say 316L or some other grade of s/s?

[Mylo]

Square vs. round? I think technically the round would spread the load more evenly - the top face of the square tubing would just act as a hinge. But I think it is probably negligible. I know it's hard to pass up the freebie - but I think it might be more trouble than you think. The round will be more of a pain in the ass to fabricate - because you will have to cut a round mating surface at each joint.


Mylo