So I'm mulling over this design (something to do when I wake up too early and want to think through something relaxing rather than start charging through the day's work). It's designed to be an all-electric urban brewstand that can be used indoors; minimizes lifting, hoisting, or back strain; and is sensitive to water use.
One two-shelf rolling stainless-steel cart, ca. 48" w, 18" deep
Two 8-gallon stainless steel brew kettles, drilled for ball valves and heat elements; one is a dual HLT/chiller, one is a brew kettle
Two 1500w heating elements
One 9-gallon rectangular cooler MLT
One March pump
One... hmm... plate chiller? Plus a submersible pump? Immersion chiller?
Hoses, clamps, quick connects, GFIs, rocker switches, and other kibbles and bits
The two kettles are side-by-side on the top level. The left kettle is the HLT and chiller. The right is the brew kettle. The mash tun is on the lower level.
Cooler is filled with grain and slid onto the lower shelf;
HLT fills the cooler (water pumped under the grain);
Mash tun is pump-drained up into the brew kettle;
Post-boil (chilling) is where I get stuck; I can't visualize what needs to happen. Something with pumps and cold water.
Then again, this whole design may be off... this kind of thing isn't my strong suit.
Once the wort is chilled, it drains into a fermenter sitting in a manually-operated fermenter-mover (aka Radio Flyer). After yeast is pitched and aerated, the fermenter is then rolled to the front door and lugged downstairs. This last part (the lugging) will change when I get a small fridge and modify it into a fermenter... then there will be a minimum of lifting in this whole process.
My thought is to manually manage temps and so forth at the beginning, and only introduce fancier controls downstream if need/interest warranted.
Thoughts? Logic missing here somewhere?
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