Equipment for All Grain Brewing
Since I had a gift card for Dick’s sitting around I decided to take a look and see what they had in stock for coolers. I found a nice 5 Gallon Igloo cooler and it should work great as a mash tun for my RIMS system. This also frees up some money so I can get another fermenter that I would like.
When I do the conversion I will post pictures and a quick tutorial on this blog. I have decided that I will also document my RIMS system as I develop it. I am still debating how the RIMS system should be controlled. I would like to be able to get accurate temperature readings throughout the mash. The other thing I would like is to find out if my heater design will work properly. I am thinking that it may “scorch” the wort as it cycles through. My other concern is oxygenating the wort too much as it cycles through.
My heater design so far is a fairly small diameter tube using a 1000W cartridge immersion heater with a temp probe in the heater “tank” and a optical liquid level switch so we only activate the heater when there is liquid in the system. I am also planning on using a Click PLC from automation direct to control the system. This will allow me plenty of room to expand the system with more sensors and to eventually convert the valves in the system to solenoid valves. I come from a strong automation background and I don’t see why I can’t apply the same principles to my brewing setup. Of course due to cost I will need to implement it very slowly.
I also picked up my dad’s autoclave so that I can start culturing yeast. I plan to have a nice little yeast ranch and if I can find a small fridge somewhere I will definitely have a pretty decent setup there. My sister mentioned that she had to culture yeast for school so she will be glad to help me out on how to do it with the beer yeast. I will hopefully have more info to share on that front as I proceed with that project.