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[Robmay]

Eagle,

True, true on all of that. I have never used whole hops before. Do you need to use more or does the weight work out the same like a ton of feathers vs a ton of steel? They both weigh the same just a bunch more feathers!

[EAGLE1]

Eagle,

True, true on all of that. I have never used whole hops before. Do you need to use more or does the weight work out the same like a ton of feathers vs a ton of steel? They both weigh the same just a bunch more feathers!

weights are the same but you will see a difference in amount of bittering utilization, especially in the longer boil additions, pellet will have a higher alpha utilization than the leaf but I feel that the leaf gives a better flavor and less bite. I usually use around 6 oz. of total hop additions per 10 ga. batch on an average.

[Talon]

weights are the same but you will see a difference in amount of bittering utilization, especially in the longer the boil additions, pellet will have a higher alpha utilization than the leaf but I feel that the leaf gives a better flavor and less bite. I usually use around 6 oz. of total hop additions per 10 ga. batch on an average.

I agree, the flavor is better with the whole hops, if your making a hoppy beer just add a little more. 3-3.5 oz or maybe a little more if you like it really hoppy! Plus it depends when you add.

[EAGLE1]

I agree, the flavor is better with the whole hops, if your making a hoppy beer just add a little more. 3-3.5 oz or maybe a little more if you like it really hoppy! Plus it depends when you add.

I do think pellet hops have their use though, as they are great for dry hopping right in the keg, they expand quickly and infuse a fresh nose and flavor of the hops quickly into your beer without adding an astringent aftertaste as with boiling. 

[EAGLE1]

If you were doing 5 gal that would be a lot, but for the amount your brewing agree, mostly trub, and if you get a lot of that in you fermenter it breaks down and can lead to bad taste and fusel alcohol which causes head aches! Same happens with dead yeast, that's why it's good to rerack after the vigorous fermintation has subsided for a day or two. Really like that system you build Rob. 

Craig

Rob,

way to go Bro 

looks like your bumpin up your production, building the three keg system is the easiest and cheapest way double your production and and have a lot of fun doing it, I had a friend build one a year before me, so I learned a lot of mistakes not to repeat. I also utilized state of the art 3D solid modeling software to guide me throught the design and build.

The heart of the system is my custom designed mash tun with motorized mixer, first I modeled up all the components of the system and made an assembly.

[EAGLE1]

the keg was an inverted Guinness keg

[EAGLE1]

because the bung is threaded, it was easy to make a fitting to screw into it and create a free conical drain

[EAGLE1]

here is a close up of the inverted keg assembly

[EAGLE1]

the fitting was turned out of a solid 3" stainless rod in about 15 minuites after I downloaded the data on the cnc masack.

[EAGLE1]

then I isolated the blade and the screen to get a better look at the contour I needed to follow,

[EAGLE1]

I used collision detection and tangency constraints on the parallell surfaces to follow the contour exactly and provide a specific clearance with the blade including a 20 lbs load of grain on top of them. the mixing blade was the key to the success of the system, since I recirculate the mash, it has a tendency to pack down on the screen and create a stuck flow during the sparge. the mixer keeps the grain bed suspended during the mash, throughly mixes the grain so you don't have any dough balls created in the mash, and helps stabilize the temperature of the grain bed from top to bottom,  I remove it at the end of the mash, so I can set the grain bed and get a clear flow before exiting to the boiler.

[EAGLE1]

when it was all tweaked in, I created the line drawing from the model

[EAGLE1]

and even a flat pattern drawing, which was water jet cut out of 1/8" stainless sheet and then bent to the specific angles in a brake

[EAGLE1]

and the finished product has been working like a charm for 7 years now. 

[Talon]

So are you running a RIM heating setup? I would assume so with the inverted keg. Like you mentioned the Guinness keg is only one of a few that is threaded. So if anyone looking to follow your design you need to check out the keg you want to use.

Craig