Brew equipment upgrade (2010/2011)

Winter in Kansas City means it’s time to review the brewery equipment. No repairs are needed but a thorough cleaning is. I really want to upgrade the brew stove so that I can move away from the trailer. Setting up in the trailer allowed for gravity transfer of the wort, the chiller’s outlet has to be above the top of the fermentation pail for this to work. This is an effective way to keep costs down, since no pumps are needed, while still being able to brew and use the wort chiller. I am working on the design for a single tier, 3 burner stove with the idea that I can start with a single burner set up that will still allow gravity transfer. It will be expandable to 3 burners capable of simultaneous multiple extract batch brewing. Then, with the addition of pumps, should suitable for growing into an all grain set up.

Because I want to be able to do gravity transfers, the stand height needs to allow for the inlet on the chiller to be below the kettle outlet and the chiller outlet above the top of the fermentation pail. However, I want to keep the stand to the minimum height required so that I can tend the kettle without the need for a ladder. A 24” stand height seems ideal to meet both requirements. That’s the easy part. Next I need to decide on a burner type and whether I want a high pressure or low pressure system. Also a mounting system for the burners will have to be designed. Fortunately for me there are a lot of great systems out there documented with pictures on the interweb. I have been diligently studying them and am formulating my plan.