Building an Electric Keggle Brewery

Project Conception
 
I've been brewing beer for over 20 years, and have upgraded my equipment several times over the years, moving from the kitchen to the garage (after being banished from the kitchen by my wife after one-too-many boil-overs).  I have been using a propane set-up with a Banjo Burner a 7 gallon brew kettle and a keg modified to be a mash-tun.  Functionally, the system brews great beer, but it requires a lot of lifting, and lacks precision in several areas. I have read lots of posts and spent time at several craft breweries and realize that my current set-up controls how I brew beer – I want to be able to brew with the flexibility and precision to accurately and repeatedly brew my favorite beers.
I am in the process of documenting what I built and how it works. Feel free to download this version - but I will be editing this and adding to it frequently over the next several weeks, I expect to have the first real draft out by Jan 1st 2016.
building_an_electric_keggle_brewery_-_early_draft.docx
File Size: 52576 kb
File Type: docx
Download File
Construction Pictures
​FIrst Brew Day
​First Brew Photos
I’m publishing this post because I thought it might be useful to others contemplating the same thing.  I’ve read The Complete Guide to Building Your Electric Brewery by TheElectricBrewery.com, and it is a great reference – I recommend you buy it and read it as part of your research.  I have also looked at several of the Brew Structures available, and none of them met my needs – just as the structure I describe here will need to be modified to suit your needs.  The point is, there is no “right” way to brew beer. 
 
Goals for my new brewery:
  • A system that can comfortably and consistently brew 10-12 gallon batches of beer.  I want to control the process and be able to duplicate any all-grain recipe I find.
  • I want to be able to brew in my garage during the winter (in my climate, this necessitates moving from propane to electric).
  • Ability to easily monitor liquid levels through all phases of the brewing process.
  • System designed from the start with cleaning as part of the process – This was a serious consideration for me, and caused some major changes to the design as I went along.
  • Minimize the use of flexible tubing and hose clamps - even with quick connects, they always seem to be a pain in terms of cleaning.
  • Use automation as a tool to improve accuracy, not as an end goal – the controls need to be simple and practical
  • Use as many off-the-shelf products as possible to reduce the amount of time spent building the brewery - after all the whole point of this exercise is to brew more beer consistently.  

I'm going to start with 3 basic questions that I had to answer before starting the project.  I made these choices, you might choose differently, there isn't one right answer...

​If you have any questions or comments send them to jeff@rockfishbrewing.com - I'll get back to you as soon as I can.  

All Stainless?

You can't go wrong if you go stainless – Right? That’s true as long as you have some copper somewhere in the process to counteract hydrogen sulfide during the brewing process (see John Palmer's article on metallurgy in brewing - http://byo.com/malt/item/1144-metallurgy-for-homebrewers). For my brewery the focus is on functionality and availability.  Stainless steel makes sense for the vessels since it is readily available for kegs that will live forever and are economical.  I would be hard pressed to find a 15 gallon copper brew kettle.  Stainless steel valves and fittings also make sense to me simply because they will make it much easier to disassemble and clean parts of the brewery without worrying about damaging the connections.  The place I'm looking at "compromise" is for the tubing to connect everything.  Copper tubing is readily available, easy to work with and probably less expensive, but that was not the reason for the decision.  I don't believe this will in any way compromise the brewery.  After all, the water I am using is coming in through copper pipes, many of which have stainless steel, chrome or brass fittings on them.  In this brewery, the water and wort will only be in contact with the copper during the re-circulation, transfer and cooling processes.  I'm confident that the copper last through my lifetime, but if it doesn't I certainly won't have to replace it more than once.
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Mash Temperature Controls?

  • Mash Temperature Controls - Will a Recirculating Infusion Mash System improve the quality and consistency of my brewing?  If you build a system and have temperature controls built in for the HLT and Boil Kettle, why not set-up a RIMS system?  The mash process is crucial to brewing good beer, and temperature control is a key factor in conversion.  I have read several articles including the one referenced here that talks about these systems (http://beersmith.com/blog/2011/08/11/rims-and-herms-recirculating-infusion-mash-systems-for-beer/).  Despite all the hype about RIMS, I am choosing to rely on basic science for my mashing process for the following reasons:
    • Thermodynamics is an exact science.  Once I understand the characteristics of my brewery, I will be able to quickly calculate the volume and strike water temperature required to hit my mash temperature(s).  I use the calculators at www.brewersfriend.com, and find them to be very easy to use.
    • With today's malts, conversion takes place very quickly, and considering the size of the batch the cooling that will take place during the mash will be minimal and to the extent it needs to be adjusted, a small amount of extra water from the HLT will do the trick.
    • Most craft breweries I have been to don’t rely on a RIMS system.  Admittedly, the size of their batches helps to stabilize the process, but a 10 gallon batch in stainless steel isn’t going to cool much during the critical phase of the mash.
For me the most compelling reason not to install a RIMS system is to simplify the cleaning process.  In this system there are only 3 tri-clover valves that need to be loosened to remove the Mash-Tun for cleaning.  I decided against a RIMS system primarily for this reason.​

Brewing Vessels

If I'm honest with myself, my choice here may not be logical.  I just look at the beautiful Blichmann Kettles and think of them as delicate works of art.  They are beautiful, expensive, and seem like they are almost fragile.  I know they are specifically designed for brewing.  I have purchased and read The Complete Guide to Building Your Electric Brewery, and agree with the logic of why he chose to use those for his brewery.  Having said that, I don't want to worry when I dent my brew kettle, and if I want to connect something to the keggle, it is certainly less worrisome to weld or drill into the flange on the keggle than it is to mess with the artwork that is a Blichmann…  I'm going keggle.  I have a plasma cutter, MIG and TIG welders, and want the flexibility to modify the vessels that hold my beer.  I chose to modify kegs simply because I liked the idea, and because of the hardware available for them - more on that later.
 
When it comes to obtaining kegs, I chose to purchase new kegs from Kegco.  I couldn't be sure that any kegs I purchased through Craigslist or EBay were actually obtained legally, and rather than perpetuate a market for contraband kegs I felt better this way.  I realize we aren't talking conflict diamonds here, but wouldn't want to take a chance by harming a fellow brewer. A side benefit is that everything is exactly the same, which made the fabrication process a little more consistent.
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Project Description:
  • Configuration of the brewery
    • Components
      • Hot Liquor Tank - I want an HLT that has controlled temperature so I don't have to sit around and watch the analog thermometer reach a specific temp.  That works, but it is really a distraction to my brewing process.  I should be planning the steps, not squinting at a thermometer.  The HLT will have a sight gauge for water level, an element for heating and an RTD for measuring temperature.  I plan to use gravity to feed the water into the Mash-Tun or boil kettle (in the event I need to add water, I want to know exactly what I add).
      • Mash-Tun - I have used a few different configurations ranging from plastic buckets to a modified barrel keg with a lot of success.  But here I really wanted to focus on efficiency and using the best configuration.  I learned for the Electric Brewery text that a rotating sparge arm really isn't required, and saw the same thing in action when attending a wort share day at Center of the Universe Brewery.  It is important to be able to re-circulate the wort through the grains until the filter bed is working properly, so I added a circuit with a sight glass that can re-circulate the wort until it is clear and ready to go into the boil kettle.
      • Boil Kettle - This is a pretty simple vessel.  I have an input from the HLT, and the Mash-Tun, and an input from the plate chiller so I can re-circulate the wort until it is the proper temperature for putting in the fermenter.  I debated long and hard about putting temperature controls on the boil kettle.  At first it seemed a little excessive to me, after all - the only real temperature I'm trying to his is boiling, and the wort controls that by itself.  But after reading others talk about how nice it was to set the temperature to 208 F to prevent boil overs, I decided that was worth it to me.  I hate cleaning up that sticky mess on the floor, and don't want to get thrown out of the garage (having already been pushed out of the kitchen).  So I decided to add the controls.
      • Plate Chiller - From everything I've read, a copper counter-flow chiller is probably better than a plate chiller.  But both perform exactly the same function, and the plate chiller takes up less space, and as long as there is a re-circulation loop and temperature monitor it should be more than adequate.
      • Conical Fermenter (not attached) - I got this for my birthday, and have to say that everything written about them and how cool they are is true.  If you can afford one, I would go here long before worrying about brew keggles.  The problem is, once you start down this road it is a slippery slope before you upgrade your whole brewery set-up.  At least, that's what happened to me.
  • Plumbing the system
    • Goals and explanation - The focus here is simplicity.  I don't want to be changing hoses and re-using vessels, I want to brew and transfer liquids with minimal loss of product:
      • I'm choosing to use fixed tubing rather than flexible tubing to eliminate waste and simplify cleaning.  I never seem to be able to get all the water out of tubing, and as a result am never comfortable that it is completely clean, so I clean it after I brew and then again before I brew. 
      • Copper rather than Stainless - it is far easier to obtain and fabricate than stainless
      • Less opportunities for air bubbles in the lines that can cause cavitation at the pumps
      • I can easily include valves for flow control and can use 3-way valves to recirculate/re-direct wort to where it needs to go.
  • HLT
    • Input - Cold water from house via sanitary hose
    • Outputs
      • Mash-Tun
      • Boil Kettle (in case I need to add water to hit certain specific gravities during the boil, and for cleaning – I have found that warm water greatly helps rinse out the sugary residue in the brew kettle).
  • Mash-Tun
    • Inputs
      • Water from HLT
      • Re-circulated Mash water to get the  grain filter bed right and test flow rate prior to sparging
    • Output
      • Boil Kettle
      • Temperature in recirculation line - I have read that there can be temperature gradients in the Mash-Tun, and felt that this would be one way to make sure that the temp is accurate through-out.  Clearly there is the opportunity to lose heat during this process, but I plan to experiment with it and decide how much additional water from the HLT is required top up the temp halfway through the mash process to compensate.
  • Boil Kettle
    • Inputs
      • Wort from Mash-Tun
      • Water from HLT
      • Wort Re-circulate from plate chiller
    • Output
      • To Plate Chiller
  • Plate Chiller - I have used what I would call a reverse immersion chiller for years.  I rigged up a 25' copper coil running through a bucket of icewater and had the how wort run through this chiller mechanism via gravity.  It works pretty consistently for 5 gallon batches, and I've never had trouble with pitching the yeast 20 to 30 minutes after I get the wort into the fermenter.  However, for my new brewery, I wanted to be sure that I can actually cool down a larger batch of beer and put it directly into the fermenter.  So I have a 3-way valve that re-circulates the wort with an in-line analog thermostat.  My plan is to re-circulate the wort through the chiller and boil kettle until it reaches a fermentable temp (depending on the type of yeast) and then channel it into the fermenter.  The side benefit of this system is that I can re-use the cooling water from the chiller to clean my system.  The output from the chiller is a section of tubing long enough to reach both the HLT and the Mash-Tun.  I can fill them with water (by this time the Mash-Tun should be finished with stage 1 cleaning - i.e. I will have taken all the grist out of it and given it a good rinsing), and I can add PBW and pump it through the system a time or 2.  Truthfully, at this point in time, I don't know how much water the cooling process will generate - it will depend on the time of year/ambient temp, and fresh water temperature, but I should be able to fill up the HLT and Mash-Tun with ~30 gallons total before having to divert it to the garden.
  • Measurement and Control – The goal here was to be able to measure and control everything that I think is crucial to my brewing process.  It isn’t fully automated, many of the steps will still be manual, but where manual controls happen there will be measurements to make sure the results are there.
  • HLT – Pretty simple functions here, I want to control the water temperature and how much I add to the Mash-Tun or Boil Kettle.
  • Site Gauge to measure water level
  • Heating Element to heat the water
  • RTD temperature probe for measuring HLT water temp
  • Mash-Tun – Obviously this is a very critical portion of the brewing process.  Striving for complete conversion is a key, and also making sure that I get the most out of the wort and use the filter bed of grains is also important.
  • Site Gauge for liquid level – I really only use this during the sparging process to match flow rates and keep the wort level a bit above the grain bed.
  • Site Glass to view wort clarity during re-circulation and transfer – I typically use as thin a mash as the volume of my mash-tun allows.  Often times up to 2 Qt/lbs of grain.  I think in this configuration you get a lot of particulate matter in the beer that can easily be filtered out simply by recirculating the wort through the mash-tun until it is clear, then transferring it directly to the boil kettle.
  • Temperature in Mash-Tun (Analog) – I went with an analog thermometer here to simplify the cleaning process.  I trust the analog thermometer, and I don’t have to worry about wiring.  Without a RIMS system the only way to control the mash temperature is manually, so there was no need for digital controls.
  • Temperature in recirculation line - I have read that there can be temperature gradients in the Mash-Tun, and felt that this would be one way to make sure that the temp is accurate through-out.  Clearly there is the opportunity to lose heat during this process, but I plan to experiment with it and decide how much additional water from the HLT is required top up the temp halfway through the mash process to compensate.
  • Boil Kettle
    • Measurement & Control
      • Site Gauge for liquid level – in order to hit the specific gravity required by the recipes in question, I really want to be able to monitor the amount of wort in the brew keggle throughout the process.
      • Heating Element
      • RTD Temperature probe
      • Hop Filter – I decided to try something different here.  There are some pretty cool products out on the market Hop Blocker and Hop Stopper and hundreds of other approaches.  My brew keggle is a slightly different configuration since I used a 2” tri-clover adapter from BrewHardware.com to turn the Sanke keg upside down and drain everything out the bottom.  The conventional solutions were going to be a little complex, and I was concerned that these types of solutions would complicate the cleaning process…so I chose to try something I read about on several homebrewer blogs – using a 5 gallon paint strainer around a frame so that the hops can circulate freely in the boiling wort.  At this point, you have to consider this experimental…but I plan to post the results of my first brew with this configuration right away.  Is it revolutionary?  No, but if it works, it will make clean-up a breeze.  I am debating if I should run the wort back through this filter after cycling through the chiller plate to remove some portion of the cold break, but may save that for a subsequent brewing session.
  • Plate Chiller - I have used what I would call a reverse immersion chiller for years.  I rigged up a 25' copper coil running through a bucket of icewater and had the how wort run through this chiller mechanism via gravity.  It works pretty consistently for 5 gallon batches, and I've never had trouble with pitching the yeast 20 to 30 minutes after I get the wort into the fermenter.  However, for my new brewery, I wanted to be sure that I can actually cool down a larger batch of beer and put it directly into the fermenter.  So I have a 3-way valve that re-circulates the wort with an in-line analog thermostat.  My plan is to re-circulate the wort through the chiller and boil kettle until it reaches a fermentable temp (depending on the type of yeast) and then channel it into the fermenter.  The side benefit of this system is that I can re-use the cooling water from the chiller to clean my system.  The output from the chiller is a section of tubing long enough to reach both the HLT and the Mash-Tun.  I can fill them with water (by this time the Mash-Tun should be finished with stage 1 cleaning - i.e. I will have taken all the grist out of it and given it a good rinsing), and I can add PBW and pump it through the system a time or 2.  Truthfully, at this point in time, I don't know how much water the cooling process will generate - it will depend on the time of year/ambient temp, and fresh water temperature, but I should be able to fill up the HLT and Mash-Tun with ~30 gallons total before having to divert it to the garden.
  • Control System
    • The focus for the control system was practicality and safety.  I chose to implement less of the controls than The Complete Electric Brewery, but I did read the entire text before deciding what I needed to keep for functionality and safety, and which parts were unnecessary for my brewery.  For example, the first thing I took out was the volt and amp meters - information that while interesting, wouldn't help me brew.  I went through the rest of the system and here is what I felt I wanted to control:
      • PID controller on the HLT.  I didn't have to think too long about the HLT.  It has always been a challenge for me to get the HLT temp just right with my banjo burner.  I have to sit there and watch, and am never sure how much it will over-shoot after I turn it off.  The idea that I could just set and forget was too tempting to ignore.  Also, I felt that the PID controls on this would actually get and hold the water at one temp to be sure all of the water was truly at the same temperature.
      • PID Control on the Boil Kettle - Admittedly I didn't think I needed to do this at first, and truthfully probably didn’t.  After reading about it and some hard thinking about the number of boil-overs I have had over the years, I decided that it was worth it to me to set it for a temp just below boiling so that I don't have to stand around to watch the wort start to boil.  This will feel like a luxury, but worth it.
      • Timer - I probably didn't need this, after all, who doesn't have a smart phone or an extra iPod/iPad lying around that could be used on brew day.  The clincher for me was the enclosure on the brew-hardware website with the rectangular hole punched in the front panel.  There were 3 holes in the panel and I only needed 2 PID controllers.  I could have measured the temperature in the Mash-Tun digitally, but that just added wires and wiring that didn't really add any value, so I chose the timer to fill a hole in the enclosure door.  But I think I might actually get used to it.
 
  • Control Panel and Electrical Schematic – I obviously went with a  pretty simple control system – but I would emphasize a few things that I believe are critical to safe and successful controls:
    • GFCI for the electric circuits – This was expensive for me because I have a 240 VAC 30A circuit in my garage that I use for welding.  I don’t really want a GFCI device on that circuit, because it would likely be a nuisance for welding.  However, I did purchase an IN-Line GFCI device from North Shore Safety that works like a charm.  Yeah, this cost $150, but I wouldn’t consider brewing without it.
    • Proper Grounding – This should be a no-brainer, but take the time to ground every device.  You can see what I grounded in my schematic, but I used ring connectors on every wire and made very sure the connectors were tight.  Don’t take any chances here.
    • Relay control to select the heating element.  I got this straight from TheElectricBrewery.com.  The circuit can only support one element at a time, so I put a switch in there, and also put in 2 relays between the switch and the SSRs.  They didn’t cost much, and I am very comfortable with the operation.
Construction – Even the most carefully thought out plans don’t always work out exactly the way you thought they would, but this project went pretty well.  I do have a list of things I would do differently if I had to do it over again – that list is included at the end of this section, and may grow after I brew a few batches. 
 
Modifying the Kegs – I chose to have all three of my kegs upside down using the Sanke Bottom Drain Kit, 3 Piece Kit from BrewHardware.com.  This kit uses a standard 2” tri-clover clamp with a special tri-clover gasket that is flat on one side to seal on the tap neck of the Sanke fitting.  Worked great for me!  Here is what the process looked like as I worked through it.
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​Who hasn’t seen the top of a keg before? But this fitting was a primary design consideration for my project.  I will be able to get all the liquid out of each vessel to maximize efficiency/output, and be able to easily clean each vessel.
​I used a step drill bit to make the holes for the weldless fittings.  I thought about using a Greenlee punch, but couldn’t find one at Home Depot and decided to try it with the step drill bit.  I was impressed at how clean the holes were and how easy it was to drill most of these.  I will admit that drilling the holes for the heating elements was quite a bit harder though.  Getting to that diameter was quite a workout for me and my hand drill – but eventually it worked out.
What would I do differently next time?
  • Plan my cable routing before drilling any holes.  Truthfully, my cable runs look like afterthoughts because they were.  I planned each keg independently, without knowing how it would all go together and it shows.  I should have had my heating elements come in from the back, and would have put my RTDs in from the side through a separate hole rather than through the site gauge strictly from a cable management perspective.
  • Used at least 1 more 3-way valve under the HLT.  This easily could have been one valve connected directly to fitting on the HLT instead of the 3 separate valves I used.  Now that I know how well they work I would use them more.
  • Planned to put more unions in the copper tubing so that it could be easily disassembled.  As it is, if I need to remove or repair certain sections of the tubing I will have to cut it and put a union in then.  Not a huge deal, but something to think about.

Credit where credit is due - Thankfully the brewing community is very good about sharing great ideas, and it is my goal to do the same.  I learned an incredible amount from a variety of forums.  The choices I made for my brewery are undoubtedly different than you will make for yours, but if you actually read through this whole narrative I hope you walk away with something you can use.  There are lots of great references out there on the Internet, and I know that I won't be able to list all the sources that I used to come up with my design, but I want to attempt to list my key sources that I went to over and over again.