As you may have seen in a previous blog, I was looking for a welder that could build a stainless steel stand. Well, I found a great guy in the valley, Justin H., that helped me build this stand. He even drilled holes for the pumps and the electronic controller box. However, this setup was not cheap! Overall, I think I'm $2,500 into the build with Blichmann 17 gallon brew pots. However, it is about $1,000 cheaper than ones built for you. And, it's possible to save at least $1,000 if you make your own pots and use carbon steel vs. stainless steel.
Ok, the down and dirty about this setup: Be prepared to seek help from others and have a lot of cash. You can do this cheaper than I did. For instance the cost for carbon steel square tubing was about $150, and the stainless steel was about $600 (big difference). I chose the stainless, but realized that it was more difficult to work with and required a welder with experience in stainless. The pots can be either purchased, cheap build your own, or better yet use the ones on your existing system. The other things you should know if your a do it yourselfer, the electronics are not extremely difficulty, but it requires some electronics background. If you want to extend the temp probe wire, you have to buy special thermocouple wire, which typically only comes in bulk ($50+). In addition, the Love temperature controls the output wire to the solenoids that control the gas switch is not self powered. You have to hook up a power source within the loop (connection between the temp controller, a on/off switch, the gas solenoid valve and A/C power). I thought, not being an experienced electronics person, that you hook up the output directly to the solenoid and "boom" you got power. But no, that's not what the engineer at www.love-controls.com told me. That delayed the build one more weekend. I have enough experience to add power to the loop, but I assume not everyone knows how to add "power to the loop." So here are the steps you have to take at building the Brutus 10 stand if your not a welder, engineer and/or an experienced electronics person:
- Buy plans
- Buy raw materials, or better yet, get your builder to find the parts for you.
- Hire or find a welder that will do everything from start to finish in regards to the stand and attached parts
- Hire or find a person that knows electronics. Have them build every electronic part from start to finish
- Shell out a lot of cash or use your credit card. (I have a very good friend that lives in West Los Angeles at Wilshire and 25th. I helped him with his computer, but needed tools. I asked him if he had any tools and he whipped out his credit card, LOL! True story)
If you try to make this on your own, be prepared to spend some time on it. Take my advice and make sure you hire professionals. Overall, you could save $1,000 more than me, but be prepared to spend no less than approximately $1,500 if you do this "on the cheap."
Good Luck,
David A. Lester
Member, Maltose Falcons
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Comments
She's a beaut, but the real question... how does she handle?
I will be taking her on a trial run on President's Day. I'm in Palm Springs to play golf this next weekend. I'll let you know how she rides. Your welcome to come over anytime.
I don't know if I could wait that long. Hell, I'd probably have taken an immediate sick day. "Uh yeah, boss, I've got a flareup of the Brutus syndrome. It normally goes away in about 12 hours, so I'll see you tomorrow!"
That's really funny Drew. Unfortunately, I can't claim a sick day since I travel a lot. It would be great to do a co-brew session with one of your famous Saisons you wrote about in the AHA magazine!
By the way, I used your ideas from your magazine article for a Saison and it was perfect. I can see how holding back on the amount of extra ingredients helped. Overdoing say orange peels could overwhelm the beer. Thanks for the great article.
Cheers,
David
It is a work of art Dave. Have fun brewing on the system! Diane
Thank you Diane. But your the one with the cool Kegerator setup! I think the next party should be at your house.
David (or anybody building a system), don't forget to ask around when you run into a snag, and asking around should include the Yahoo group groups.yahoo.com/group/maltosefalcons/ because you can typically get a response faster that way. For example, thermocouple wire is available by the foot cheap (~ a buck a foot for type J, in 20 gauge) from McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com and you'd have it the next day.
Hey, that's a great suggestion. I tried McMaster, but they charged a lot in shipping fees. However, I found a company in the Valley, which wanted to sell it in bulk. But, I offered to pay twice as much per foot, which was still really cheap and they agreed. I'm pretty much done now though.
By the way, I saw your picture in the email blast about the Stone Brewing Co./AHA Rally - March 13, 2010. Your at every event aren't you? Good Job! Falcons are lucky to have you as part of the team.
Thanks for the suggestion,
David
Actually, that photo was from the 2001 Beer Oddysey event at the AHA Conference, almost 9 years ago. As to McMaster, their shipping charges are pretty normal, they just seem like a lot when you're only spending a few bucks on a part. But if you take advantage of the variety of parts they carry, you can usually find enough things to buy that the shipping wouldn't be noticeable. For example, you could have also ordered some tubing for connecting your pumps, et al, and some beer line (about 37 cents a foot, not bad!), maybe a valve or two.
Ok, your right on that observation, which I didn't clarify. I didn't buy it from www.McMaster.com because I was only spending a few dollars on wire and shipping cost as much, if not more than the wire itself. However, if the temp probe wire were to be included with a big order, the shipping fees wouldn't appear so high. The truth is that I had no clue that I needed to extend the freak'n probe wire. Dude, I site behind a desk dick'n around with reports. When you do something that is new, your guaranteed to miss something like including wire in an order. Believe me, I made one mistakes because I decided to do the electronics myself.
I finished the electronics and attached the butane tank and took the Brutus 10 for a test drive! It's awesome! My hard work has paid off. However, let me back up. I have a funny event to talk about. I shouldn't drink and work electronics, LOL! I accidently hooked a ground wire in a loop and got a small explosion within the electronic box. I hit the [ON] switch and "POW." I got an explosion!
The next day, while sober, I went through the entire hook up and found the miss-placed ground wire. In addition, I had to replace a melted wire. Although I knew this would fix the error, you should have seen me squint when I hit the [ON] switch, LOL! Well, everything worked and nothing was ruined.
I took the whole setup through a test run with water and it works! My first brew is next weekend. I'm brewing my favorite Brown Ale, which is a maltier version of Moose Drool.
I'm not sure if this will end my blog, but if anyone has questions, please don't hesitate to ask away here on the Maltose Falcons website.
Cheers to my brewing brethren
I've been using the Brutus 10 system long enough to understand the strenths and weaknesses. Using the direct heating method (direct fire under the mash tun) while circulating the liquid results in a high efficiency of 82%. For beginners, the typical homemade mash tun (container holding the grains) will result in a 65-75% efficiency with some exceptions for advanced brewers that know their system and now to make it work. The extra efficiency means I can get more beer with less grain, which makes it cheaper. In addition, high gravity beers are easier to make.
I also own a 14 gallon fermentor that fits in a freezer with a temp controller and a kegorator for serving beer. Overall, I am very happy with the setup.
In conclusion, although the Brutus 10 plans from Brew Your Own magazine needs some minor fixes in the design, I am v ery happy with it. The only upgrade I see on this system is bigger pots.
Cheers,
David