On hold

As may have been gathered by lack of posting the V1 Brewery project is 'on hold' at the moment and may be for some time. Hopefully at some point in the future I may be able to restart the project.

3 weeks :-0

3 weeks since my last post, where does the time go ! Well, the last conical has been calibrated using the usual food dye treated water method, a torch, and a dark room (see pic) and the polycarbonate lid has been drilled and fitted. I've not had chance to wet test the cooling circuits but that should be done some time this week. I also measured the displacement volume of my smaller 2 circuit IC for more accurate volumes in my equipment on Beersmith by using the highly technical 'how much water will spill from a full bucket' technique...lol. I've ordered some 'punches' so I can custom make silicone seals for the conical nut/bolt combo and also for the chiller and port options on the lid...wish they were here so I can crack on!

Conical cooling circuits done

Today I've installed the recirc lines and pumps (pumps from Mark @ Home Brew Builder) for the coolant chilling loops for the conicals. I gave them a quick dry test and all's good though I need to tidy up the electrical feeds and do a wet test next. The new polycarbonate lid arrived for the 60ltr conical earlier so once I've drilled the holes for the retaining bolts and chiller feeds I can do a 'wet test' on both conical coolant circuits. I also tested the 3 pids in the brewery for accuracy by comparing them to one which had been calibrated in an ice bath and was pleased to see all 3 read 9.5 deg c, air temp. I also tested the STC1000's in the fermenting cupboards and ones out by a few degrees, I'll adjust that tomorrow. I suspect condensation on the pump heads and exposed elbows might be an issue in summer but a rag or 2 around the base should mop up any drips, though it would be ideal for it all to be insulated from the environment.

New circuits fitted to Maxi chiller

Due to a issue with the cooling side of my fermenting control I've decided to make a change. This involves modifying my Maxi chiller so it has an additional 2 separate circuits being used just like the python pump line, ie water being pumped from the water bath through the conicals chiller, then back to the water bath. I had to cut 4 new holes in the lid of the water bath for the new pipework which is all 3/8th beer line and John Guest fittings for ease of use. Picture 3 shows the returns in the water bath, the elbows are pointed toward the ice bank for maximum cooling effect on the returns. The outlet elbows face the opposite direction and are on the opposite side of the water bath, nearest the original outlet ports of the maxi chiller. Previously I had tried to use the beer cooling coils in the water bath to circulate coolant in a similar way, using an external coolant reservoir with submersible pumps, but I found that the temperature of those cooling lines was increased (by a small amount) due to non agitation of the water bath when in use. A way round this would have been to mount a separate agitator pump in the water bath which would turn on when either of the coolant circuits fired up, however for ease of use I opted for the method above as electronics is not a strong point of mine...ha ha. For the moment the python line will remain unused but should I ever decide to use 3 fv's again in the future I could always bring it back into use. Just need to find some time this week to get the pumps into position and test the cooing circuit :-)

Breath of new life for the V1 Brewery

Over the last 2 weeks I've been stealing some time to get the V1 Brewery ready to brew again. From previous posts I had an issue with the cooling side of my conical fermenters. I've now modified my maxi beer cooler with 2 separate cooling circuits with independent pumps I bought from Home Brew Builder (thanks Mark ;-)) which I'll post about later. Tonight I've replaced a faulty PID unit in the control box with a replacement SYL-1512A unit from Auberins, though I still have to change the settings and calibrate it before 1st use. I've got 2 new liquid yeasts in the fridge waiting to be set free on some sweet wort. I've re-installed Beersmith after losing it, along with all my previous recipes, when the last pc went down, it's now populated with an inventory and a few recipes to be made :-) I've sold 2 of my conicals and now have 2 x 60ltr c's, one of which is ready to go, the other I've modified this week but I still have to calibrate it volume wise. That's enough for now, will post up on the maxi mod tomorrow.

A friend comes to the rescue

Well, it's been a while. Further to my post regards a leak in one of my conical chilling loops as detailed below I decided to test the system. I used a John Guest 3/8th bulkhead through the polycarbonate lid of my conical and on the inside was pushed my 1/2" chiller feeds and on the outside the cooling lines. As there was no visible leak I assumed the liquid had run into the fv, mainly because the volume had increased in the conical and I'd lost coolant. I decided the remove the chillers from the lid complete with bulk head, but replacing the coolant lines with lines to a air compressor. I then sat the chillers in a bucket of water and tested them under pressure and hey presto, one leaked! I'm not prepared to take the risk of that happening again, especially with 6 hours per brew so something had to be done. I've decided to ask a friend to silver solder each of the chiller legs into a stainless steel bulkhead so this scenario can never happen again, and they're now ready for use...yay. just a case of finding some time to brew now!

We have a winner

Brew day 1/2013 was a chocolate porter and was entered into The Spring thing home brew competition, winning a 3rd place in the speciality class...yay. The class was heavily populated and only 3 points separated 1, 2nd and third. Unfortunately brew 2/2013 suffered a coolant leak into the beer during fermentation and was lost as a result....a real shame.