Tools of the Trade and General Tinkering

I really think most of this hobby is about the toys. I mean drinking good beer is a bonus but if there were no engineering involved, I'd be getting fat in vein.

Quick jump down to : sightglass, hopfilter, counterflow chiller, polishing stainless, brew sculpture

Kettle/Tank/Tun Sight Glass

Many brewers simply look over the top of their vessels to gauge how much liquid they have inside and sometimes use a measuring stick. In some cases they may drain liquids into a measuring vessel like a graduated bucket (like I have in the past). In the case of multi-tier stands, where some vessels are well above eye level, it is much more convenient to use an external level indicator or "sight glass". I looked at a lot of the commercial solutions available at all the brew stores and they all seem to use weldless fittings (mixed stainless and brass), polycarbonate tubes.

Some people don't have any problem using brass parts and feel like the polycarbonate holds up to the heat just fine. I wanted a more elegant high-end solution. First, I wanted my bulkhead welded in, wanted to minimize the amount of non-stainless parts in contact with my wort; and most importantly avoid the plastic sight tube due to the heat that ultimately makes it past the skirt of my keg-based kettle. I set out to piece a better system together for all three of my vessels. In order to make small order minimums and justify shipping charges, I purchased enough parts to make several additional sight glasses and offer them to fellow brewers here.

(left) The glass tubing is 1/2" OD thick-wall lab quality Pyrex glass. The advantage of Pyrex glass is low expansion/contraction for reduced thermal shock. Well, you probably already know this because of your Pyrex cookware. The tubes measure 17" long.

Individual applications will dictate how the glass is connected to your vessel but all of them will start with a 1/2" compression fitting of some kind. Sticking with the high-end theme, I chose all stainless fittings. If you've got an existing 1/2" coupling bulkhead, the compression to 1/2" MPT elbow will simply thread in. You could also adapt this fitting to weldless with two locknuts and a silicone O-ring. Another use for the elbow fitting would be to fit the sight glass into a 1/2" stainless tee to integrate a thermometer AND only use a single bulkhead in your vessel (see pic #2 below).

The second fitting option is a straight male connector, also known as a compression to 3/8" MPT straight connector. This connector can be mated to an existing or new 3/8" Tee or Elbow fitting attached to the vessel. For all fittings, 3 high temp O-rings are used to create the liquid-tight seal.

In order to reduce the chance of snapping the glass tube, a stabilizing bracket is created with a 2.5" stainless steel eyebolt. It can place the centerline of the sight glass up to 2.25" away from the wall of your vessel. In a Sanke keg based vessel, a hole would be drilled in the upper skirt where the handles are. An O-ring is placed above and below the eyebolt to keep metal and glass from touching.

New page for purchasing:  Brewing Hardware Forsale

DIY Hop Filter

After I built my own counter flow chiller, I began looking for solutions for filtering the hops prior to running the wort out of the kettle bulkhead. The Hop-stopper product looked simple enough to make and I didn't feel like it was worth paying $70 for. I bought a 2 sqft sheet of 60x40 stainless mesh from Mcmaster carr and basically stitched a doubled up square of material using stainless lockwire. It gets clogged up really badly if you use too much pellet hops and especially in combination with cold break if you use an immersion chiller. I purchased some 30x30 mesh to see if it would help but I haven't built it.

The 60x40 mesh was Mcmaster part 9241T34,  Strainer-Grade Woven Wire Cloth 304 SS, 60X40 Mesh,.0060" Wire Diameter.

The 30x30 that I just bought was 85385T857 Corrosion-Resistant Type 304 SS Wire Cloth 30 X 30 Mesh, .012" Wire Diameter.

 

Counter-flow Wort Chiller

If you're using a large kettle and doing 10+ gallon batches at one time, a nice efficient way to cool is to drain through an external heat exchanger. The two typical implementations are the plate chiller and counter-flow "coil" design. In both designs, a small amount of wort is put into near-direct contact with a small amount of coolant at any given time. As always, the rate of cooling is directly affected by the desired output temp and the coolant's input temp.

Part list:

(1) 12" x 1/2" rigid copper pipe (5/8" OD)
(2) 1/2" copper TEEs
(2) 1/2" x 1/4" copper reducers
(1) 25' x 3/8" OD soft copper tubing
(1) 25' x 5/8" ID rubber garden hose (make sure it's rubber. It will be the only one that does NOT say "do not use with hot water".)
(4) hose clamps.


You'll also need some emery cloth (sandpaper), a round wire brush, flux, solder, tubing cutter, and a propane torch.

The first step is to create the end assemblies:
Completely clean the 1/2" copper pipe by sanding it with emery cloth, then cut it into six 2-inch pieces with the tubing cutter. Clean the insides of the Tees and reducers with the round wire brush. Apply a liberal amount of flux paste and assemble to look like this:

Apply the propane flame and keep it moving but focus mostly on the Tee. Keep testing the temp by removing the flame and touching solder to the joint. If it doesn't flow, apply a little more heat. Don't overheat. You should see the solder being sucked into the joint. A solder joint does not seal due to an apparent bead on the outside of the fitting so don't build it up too much. Once it starts dripping out and falling on the floor, you have more than enough in the joint.

The next thing you do is cut the last 10" off of each end of the garden hose. Unroll the soft copper tubing carefully into a straight line. Make up a very soapy solution of dish soap and water and pour it into the hose with a funnel. You can also lubricate with something like KY as long as it's water soluble. Don't try working the copper inside the hose without a lube, you'll only get it about 1/3rd of the way before you start cursing. You'll want to center the hose on the copper so that about 10" of copper sticks out on each end.

On one end, clean the lubricant off the copper and use the emery cloth to thoroughly clean the copper in prep for soldering. Apply flux to the copper and inside of the reducer on one of the end assemblies and slide it on. For this soldering job, you can slide the rubber hose out of the way, but take note of where the assembly has to sit first. Once you solder the reducer to the inner tubing, you can slide the rubber hose over the end assembly and clamp the hose on tightly.

You not have to select a cylindrical object to coil the hose around and I'd suggest going at least 12" in diameter. Start coiling from the end that you've just soldered. Coil it nice and tight as uniformly as possible. A lot of people use large tie wraps or electrical tape to hold the coil in position. I had some strips of galvanized metal on hand so I made rigid straps. Take your pick, but you'll want to secure the coil in some way to keep it from unraveling and looking like spaghetti.

You'll finish the project by cleaning the copper on the other end and soldering it on in the same way. Clamp the hose on first but in this case, you need to be careful not to burn the hose. Get a rag soaked in cold water and lay it over the hose to keep it cool.

Clamp the leftover hose ends to the Tees. The coolant water goes in on the end that you want to be the wort outflow (hence "counter flow").


Before you use it, boil a few gallons of water with about a quart of white vinegar and drain it all through the inside a few times, then run clean water through. Of course, you'll also need to sanitize just prior to use by running starsan through or recirculating hot wort through it if you have a pump (without the coolant water running obviously).

When you're working with cold tap water or pumping ice water, it's pretty important to be aware of the output temperature of the CFC because you can vary the flow rate of either the wort or coolant to dial in your pitch temp. There are some off-the-shelf solutions but why not build it. First you put a compression fitting on to the output tube of the CFC, then thread on a NPT "tee". One end of the tee gets a hose barb to connect the hose that goes to your fermenter and the other port gets a thermometer. I used a threaded dial thermometer but you can also thread in a compression fitting meant for 1/4" tubing if you want to use a digital probe thermometer. You'll use about 5 tiny orings under the compression nut as a wort-tight seal.

Stainless Polishing

I really don't have this kind of time on my hands, but I've seen some incredibly shiny kegs atop brew stands around the internet. I just wanted to see what it took in both time and money investment. 3 hours + $20 was the answer. This assumes you already have a 4.5" angle grinder that won't burn out after 10 minutes of constant running.

First, you'll want to evaluate how badly scratched and pitted your stainless vessel is. If it's in really bad shape, you may want to back out to a coarser grit than I used to normalize the whole surface.

The pads I used on the grinder are from "gatorgrit" and are found at Lowes. They require a backup pad kit, but you can use it many times more than the individual abrasive pads. I started with the fine pads labeled "surface blending and finishing" but they have a coarser grit if you find it necessary. After taking out any scratches with these pads (it took two pads on one keg), I swapped to the buffing pads and used a #2 polishing compound. You hold this stick against the spinning pad to apply it, then go to town on the stainless. I then switched to a fresh pad and used the #6 fine compound.

My advice on using any of these grinder based pads is to try to avoid using just the edge of the pad. It will wear down really quickly and start depositing burnt rubber on the stainless. Use the flat of the pad where you can and only angle in to tight places when necessary.

Single-Tier Brew Sculpture

Ok, so maybe it's more of a brewing "rack" more than a sculpture. I needed a way to hold my various brewing vessels over the burners and have it be somewhat portable so I could tuck it away in the corner of the garage or wheel it out back onto the deck when I decide to brew out there. My requirements also included a mount for at least one March pump and external heat exchanger for chilling. I needed the materials to be inexpensive, because I'm cheap and would rather spend the money on ingredients.

I started by collecting as many old trashed bed frames as I could find. Some came from the side of the road and others came from the metal  bin at the local town recycling center. This isn't the highest quality angle iron available, but it's plenty strong for what we have in mind. After getting a few frames accumulated, I had started jotting down some measurements and began designing in the free Google Sketchup. The pic on the left is what I came up with. Notice that I don't need a ladder to dough in or stir my mash.

Digression: If you have very little experience with 3-vessel brewing, it's important to note that moving liquid between any of these vessels is going to require a pump. If you're not OK with that, you'd probably want to build in some height for gravity transfers.

Once I was happy with the overall dimensions, I cut all the pieces needed on a compound miter saw with a thin abrasive disk installed. I'm pretty sure I killed the saw by doing this because although it still runs, it groans awfully. The next step was a crash course in stick welding over at my parent's house. I got the 15 minute lecture from my dad and just started fusing metal willy nilly. It was plenty ugly but nothing a few days of grinding couldn't fix. The pic on the right shows the completed frame with 4" castors, scrap metal bottom shelf, and fully painted frame. The paint, FYI, was purchased at an auto parts store and is supposedly sound up to 500 degrees F (engine enamel). We'll see about that.

I'm running natural gas burners that can be found at various online kitchen supply shops. These particular 23-tip multi-jets are made for wok ranges so that's probably a good searcwhh criteria for you. I found these at a local Asian supermarket. Running the gas pipe for the stand using stock fittings and nipples was no easy task, especially if you want them to all line up perfectly. Yes, I'm actually using gate valves instead of typical ball valves. These are full flow and don't use any rubber gaskets. I just liked the more incremental adjustment in flame that these can provide.

After a big final push prior to my second homebrewtalk.com all grain seminar, I got the stand ready for a maiden voyage. The finished product is actually the large picture at the top of this section, but here are some shots I took after getting the final coats of engine paint on it and during the initial burner test:

Based on the demo video above, I received quite a few questions asking why I chose this particular system over other varieties and where I got some of the hardware on the kegs. I guess it's best to add all that info here and point to it in the future.

• Why single tier instead of 2 or 3? The simple answer is that I didn't want to use a step ladder at all and I feel like any hot liquids held up high are inherently in more danger of scalding someone. Keeping a lower center of gravity meant the stand's base could be smaller in footprint. In retrospect, the HLT could have been functional on a higher tier because you typically do not need to see inside, stir, or clean it. It would also allow for fly sparging with one pump. I may augment the stand in the future to raise the center platform about 14" for the HLT.

• Where I got the Thermometers and quick disconnects? The thermometers were scored on Ebay for about $22 each. If you pay more than that, you might as well start looking at digital remote probes. The quick disconnects are from McMaster Carr. Search for items 6739K59 and 6739K68.

Kegerator

It didn't take long to realize filling bottles was infinitely less enjoyable than emptying bottles. There are a lot of intermediate options available to the homebrewer but by far the most practical is using defunct soda kegs. There are plenty of them out there which makes it relatively cheap to get into kegging. There are a few equipment requirements and most of it can be bought online.

1. Cooling - A fridge that can hold one or more kegs.

2. Gas - CO2 tank with regulator.

3. Container - Kegs (about twice as many as you plan to serve at a time)

4. Connections - Gas-in and Beverage-out quick disconnects (one set per serving keg) and PVC tubing.

5. Dispensing - Faucet Set (either mounted or picnic style).

Here's what I ultimately bought and built:

Cooling

Whirlpool 8.9 cubic foot chest freezer from Lowes $268. I actually bought a slightly dented unit on clearance for $200 even. I chose this exact unit because it fits 5 kegs like a glove with no wasted space. You can see the tight packing in the picture. It's important to note that using a freezer of any type will require an external temperature controller that will override the stock thermostat. You want to set it to about 40 degrees F which a typical freezer will not do on its own. The controller is an added cost (I got mine on Ebay for about $40 shipped. In addition, when using a chest freezer you will probably want to build a collar between the chest body and the lid to give you a place to mount the faucets. It might be more complicated than you feel comfortable with but I like it.

Gas

It's perfectly fine to start with a smaller tank (something like a 5 pound) but I found a deal on a 20 pound tank. Expect to pay about $80-100 for the tank if you buy new. Deals can be found on Ebay and Craigslist but keep in mind these tanks need to be tested and certified every 5 years. Ask the seller what the most current date stamp is before deciding to buy. Recertification costs about $15 at any welding or fire extinguisher shop.

In addition to the tank itself, you'll need a regulator to turn the 800psi into a usable 10-20psi. Regulators that are suitable for beer dispensing need to have at least a single pressure gauge in the range of 0-30. Gauges that go up to 60 or 120psi do not provide the fine adjustment we need. A single regulator body is capable of only one output pressure. If you don't mind multiple kegs having the same carbonation level, you may split the output of the regulator using hose barb TEEs or through a manifold body to distribute to multiple kegs. You can buy multi-body or daisy chained regulators to obtain distinct pressures but of course it's an additional cost. Expect to pay about $50-60 for a new single body regulator and maybe half that in the used market.

Container (Kegs)

There are basically two styles of homebrew kegs; ball lock and pin lock. Ball locks use connectors that grip the keg disconnect posts with a series of ball bearings in a recessed ring. They are released by pulling up on a collar that relaxes the grip. The pin lock has pins sticking out of the post that a collar on the connector will engage after turning it (basically a turn and pull release). There are pros and cons to each system but they are both completely usable for our purposes. Ball lock kegs are by a large margin more readily available so I would only recommend pin lock if you find an inexpensive source and you are willing to buy more than you think you currently need. It is a royal pain to support both connection types because the connectors are obviously different.

95% of the kegs you'll find in either style will be 5 gallons which measure about 8.5-9 inches in diameter and about 23" tall. Pin locks (see pic on right) are slightly shorter and fatter than ball lock. You will find some 1, 2.5, 3, 10, and 15 gallon versions but again, they all share about 5% of the kegs out there. If you want these sizes, expect to pay about 300-500% more than the typical 5 gallon variety. A 3 gallon is not all that much more portable than 5 is it?

Connections (and tubing)

Regardless of the keg type you get, there are distinct connectors for the CO2 in and the beverage out connections. The Gas usually has a Grey color or at least a grey top. The Beverage or Beer out is coded Black. In addition to the in/out distinction, there are also two varieties of tubing connection. The connectors shown on the right are for pin lock kegs, but also note the integrated hose barbs. These are not removable and the tubing must be cut off once it's attached. The other variety available (no pic) is flare connection. The connector will have a male flare and you attach a separate hose barb/compression nut onto each. This allows for continued removal from the tubing but it also adds additional cost and potential leak points.

The tubing you use for gas connections is quite insignificant. Any food safe tubing like clear PVC is fine. The inside diameter and length also does not matter. 1/4" ID is the most common and will fit onto a 1/4", 5/16" or even a 3/8" hose barb if you warm the tubing up first.

HOWEVER, the inside diameter of the beverage tubing DOES matter quite a bit. In MOST installations, you'll want to use 3/16" ID thick wall beverage tubing (clear PVC). The thin diameter core provides enough resistance so that the beer does not gush out of the faucet creating tons of foam. There are all kinds of calculators available to help determine the ideal length of tubing to create a nice pour, but I've found the safest bet is to start with 9-10 FEET of tubing between the keg and faucet. You can always cut back later if the pour is too slow, but you can't ADD without replacing the whole piece. If you need more anecdotal support, I had to replace five lengths of 5' tubing with 10' sections so I obviously wasted 25'. If you have a situation that requires a 12-15' tubing run to the faucet, you might want to move up to 1/4" but this is highly unlikely. 3/16" tubing will fit on 3/16" and 1/4" hose barbs.

Dispensing

It's perfectly fine to use the $2 black plastic picnic faucets that you find attached to kegs at , well um keggers. They're cheap, convenient, portable, and CHEAP! (I know I said it twice but you'll understand why when you look at the "better" option). Given the length of tubing we're talking about, you can imagine making a spaghetti mess with a bunch of picnic faucets.

When you become frustrated with those faucets, you might decide to step up to metal faucets similar to what you see in pubs. The highest end products are Ventamatic (Shirron) and Perlick stainless steel forward sealing faucets like the one in the pic. They will last forever and don't get stuck after a few days between pouring. They are steep at $35ish each and that doesn't even include the shank or handle. If you think you'll be kegging for a few years to come, don't waste your money on the cheaper faucets because you WILL buy these eventually.

Total Cost

A lot of folks have admired my kegerator and asked exactly what it cost me, including everything. As I've mentioned, it's hard to know what it would cost you since I bought a few things used but I'll put together a list assuming everything is purchased new and you only want to start with 4 kegs (all tapped at the same time).

You can see that putting the fancy faucets on adds like 30% on to the project cost. Also, don't forget that you'll want a few extra kegs for those beers you want waiting ready to go. That's how I ended up with 12.

Don't forget, I documented the kegerator project in a 3-part video which you can find on youtube or on my video page.