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I have always loved good beer, especially fresh craft beer. But many will understand me if I say that it has become very difficult to buy this now. Many manufacturers write this on the labels – “Beer drink”.
It’s not beer, it’s just water with some kind of powder added to it. The taste of such a cocktail leaves much to be desired, and the harm done to the body is quite significant. Just someday pay attention to the composition of beer drinks and you will be very surprised.
But I can’t refuse beer either, so it was decided to try to brew it myself. I wanted to buy a professional brewery, but the price bites, so I decided to make the equipment myself.
The story was shared by blog subscriber Denis.
The saucepan is an excellent brewer
The wort brewer is a container from 20 to 30 liters, which has a drain pipe and a chiller located inside. If you think about it, the design is primitive, but in specialized stores for such a product they ask from 10 rubles.
The first thing I did was to find a 30-liter non-enamelled pot in the garage. It had very thick walls, which is good, because the thicker the metal, the more evenly the warming of the wort will be. Having washed the pan well, I bought everything necessary for its further conversion into a mini-brewery:
- TEN tubular 1,5 kW.
- A set of wires.
- Heat shrink.
- Copper tubes (D=10 mm).
- Gaskets.
- Crane.
Next, I just drilled two holes in the pan. The main thing is to do it closer to the bottom, but not at the very bottom, so that the heating element does not come into contact with the pellet.
Having passed the exit of the heating element through the holes, he sealed the exit point with a fum-tape and ordinary plumbing gaskets. On the reverse side I used a special washer for fastening.
The coil is the most time-consuming process
The most difficult thing was to make the cooling system, since the copper pipes that I bought could not be bent just like that.
I used locksmith’s bars for this, slowly and smoothly wrapping the tube like a spiral. The main thing is to leave the beginning and end at the same level, so these will be the exit and entrance of a homemade chiller.
It was not possible to put the tubes into the pan the first time, so the system itself was reworked several times: it was bent, trimmed and shortened. But as a result, it turned out to put more than 2 meters of tube into a home-made wort brewer, and this should guarantee rapid cooling.
Copper handles cooling much better than aluminum
In the lid of the pan, I drilled two holes for the inlet and outlet of the chiller. Naturally, it was not possible to drill evenly, so I had to bend the tubes again.
The main thing is to seal all the holes as much as possible so that everything is airtight when the lid is closed. For this, I also used fum-tape and spacers.
Connecting a heating element and installing a drain valve
Connecting the heating element was the easiest. To be honest, I did it not quite right, neglecting grounding.
Wires were soldered to the ends of the heating element and insulated with heat shrink, then the plug was connected. The power supply of the heating element will pass through the temperature controller to automate the heating process.
Tapping the faucet was no problem. You need an American fitting and a special crown for metal. At the very bottom of the pan I made a 2/3 inch hole, installed the fitting, again using shims to make the connection as tight as possible.
From the outside, with the help of a fum-tape, I installed a drain tap along the thread.
The crane must be installed as low as possible
I didn’t make my own filter. Its cost in a specialized store does not exceed 1 rubles, and it is almost impossible to achieve such a level of filtration on your own. Therefore, it is better to buy than to try to reinvent the wheel.
The cost of a home brewery
Calculating how much my equipment cost me, I must clarify that I already had a saucepan, a fermentation tank and water seals, so I managed to save money here. The heating element – cost 800 rubles, all gaskets and seals – 200 rubles, a fitting and a tap – 600 rubles, copper pipes – 1 rubles.
Also, in a moonshine shop, I had to buy a filter for 1 rubles, an aerometer for 000 rubles, and a bottle capper for 250 rubles. In total, it took me 650 rubles. This is at least half as much as they ask for similar equipment in the cheapest stores.
My first brewed beer was poured down the toilet, as the process was more complicated than I thought. But over time, I learned how to brew a good drink, and I still use the equipment today.
During the three years of operation, not a single leak was found. Therefore, it is not always worth buying everything in a hurry, if it is possible to do it yourself and not overpay. Do you have experience with homemade alcohol?