West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

Category: Brewing Stand (Page 1 of 2)

Converting a Home Brewery Banjo Burner To Natural Gas

Converting A Banjo Burner To Natural Gas

Converting A Home Brewery To Natural Gas

 

I do not know about you, but I am not the biggest fan of having to store and maintain propane tanks. They take up space, run out of gas in the middle of a boil, the pressure changes when the tank gets too low and they are expensive to refill; and all the while I have natural gas available 10 feet away from my home brewery.  So I decided that I would try converting my banjo burners from propane to natural gas. Let me start off by saying that I am not a professional plumber, a mechanical engineer, or a scientist that specialized in flammable gasses; so you should consult a professional. PLEASE CONSULT A LICENSED HEATING PROFESSIONAL FOR INFORMATION ON CONNECTING YOUR OUTDOOR BURNER TO YOUR HOUSE NATURAL GAS.

My home brewing setup uses 3 banjo burners and a 120v electric RIMS system to generate heat. So my first step was purchasing the natural gas valve to replace my existing propane valve.  Since natural gas is pushed with a lower pressure than compressed liquid propane, you can not simply use the same valve.  The good news is that the replacement valve is not that expensive.

Converting a banjo burner over to natural gas

Banjo Burner Natural Gas Valve

Williams brewing sells the valve for $9.99 and this Banjo Burner natural gas conversion valve is compatible with the  Bayou Classic KAB4, KAB6, and BG14 Banjo burner.  To use this valve, you will need a gas connection hose with a 3/8″ female flare end to attach to this valve to your natural gas source.  This valve has an orifice diameter of approximately 1/8″, and features 1/4″ male npt threads to attach to your gas burner. These home brewing burner natural gas conversion valves also fit the Blichmann Top Tier Burners and Blichmann Floor standing burners. You can see the difference in the two burner valves in the following photo.

Converting Bayou Home Brewing Burners to Natural Gas

Converting Bayou Home Brewing Burners to Natural Gas

The natural gas replacement valve is on the left.  You can see the gas outlet diameter is much larger than the propane on the right.

The process was pretty painless and I was able to replace all three burner valves and test for leaks in about 60 minutes.  I used natural gas safe teflon sealant on all of the valves. One important factor to keep in mind is that natural gas is lower pressure than propane and you are going to put out less BTUs than you would with a propane tank.  So if you were already struggling to achieve a boil with a propane tank, converting to natural gas is probably going to be a bad idea. I have yet to test how long it takes to reach a boil, but the flame tests all look great so far!

Converting A Home Brewery From Propane to Natural Gas

Converting A Home Brewery From Propane to Natural Gas

Once I have the test in, I will let you know how it work out!

Brewed up a Batch of Coffee Milk Stout over the weekend!

Home beer brewery setup

Home beer brewery setup

 

This weekend I brewed up a batch of Coffee Milk Stout.  If it turns out well, I will be sure to post the recipe for it.  It should ride that line in between stout and imperial stout.  I also chose to diminish the hop profile on it a bit so that the coffee flavors could be showcased on this batch.  I am also going to try adding a cold brewed coffee concentrate to the fermenter after about a week instead of adding coffee beans to the fermenter.  Fingers crossed that this will turn out well!

Ruby Street Homebrewing System Promo Code

Ruby Street Home Brewing Systems Coupon

Ruby Street Home Brewing Systems Promo Codes

Adventures in Homebrewing Promotion
Sale from Adventures In Homebrewing

Promotion Details: Ruby Street Brewing Systems On Sale + Free Shipping
Sale Description: Adventures in Homebrewing is currently running a sale on Ruby Street Home Brewering Systems!  If you act now you can get FREE SHIPPING on a Ruby Street Brewing System and save up to $250! Not a bad deal for a turn key home brewing system.  Ruby Street offers a wide variety of brewrig configurations and has the home brewing setup for you no matter if you are an extract home brewer, all grain brewer or want to transition over to all electric home brewing! You will be impressed with what Ruby Street has to offer as they are currently one of the most innovative homebrew system builder out there and give you probably the best bang for your home brewing buck!

 

Ruby Street Home Brewery Sale

Brewer’s Edge Homebrewing System

Brewers Edge Homebrewing System #homebrew #homebrewing #brewers #edge #brewersedge

Brewers Edge Homebrewing System #homebrew #homebrewing #brewers #edge #brewersedge

 

Brewers Edge Mash & Boil Homebrewing System


Retail Price: $299
Homebrewing Rig Style: All In One Homebrewing System
Home Brewing Rig Details: The Brewer’s Edge Mash & Boil is probably the best deal going for an all in one all grain home brewing system.  With the Brewer’s Edge, there is no need for an outdoor burner, complicated brewing system, or even a 220 volt special circuit. The Brewer’s Edge homebrew system plugs right in to any standard 110 volt GFI household outlet. The Brewer’s Edge Mash and Boil’s exclusive double wall stainless construction conserves heat to achieve a rolling boil with only 110 volts and 1600 watts, and its precise thermostat and internal sparging basket lets you mash and boil in the same vessel!

GrainFather Homebrewing System Promo Code

Grain Father Homebrewing System

Grain Father Homebrewing System

Homebrew Promo Code Date: 11-27-2016 to While Supplies Last
Coupon Details: Save $91 On A GrainFather Homebrewing System + FREE Shipping
Homebrewing Supply Coupon CodeGrain Father Promo Code

 

Right now you can save $91 on a GrainFather Home Brewery and get free shipping.  The Grain Father makes all grain brewing simple! The Grain Father home beer brewing system is a a high quality all-in-one brewing system making all grain brewing so easy and so simple that even beginning brewers in a tiny apartment will be able to make a quality ale in their own home. It features accurate built-in temperature control, a recirculation system, a telescopic design that allows for mashing/sparging/boiling all in one unit, a false bottom basket, a hop filter, and a quick and easy to use counter flow wort chiller where you’ll pump your chilled wort straight into your fermentor.  Every piece on the Grainfather is thoughtful and constructed with quality. The integrated temperature control module enables accurate temps to be set to within one degree set your mash and boiling temps. The Telescoping design lifts out of the Grainfather so your grain bed is just above your wort where you’ll easily sparge. Ready to boil? a couple of swithes and a quick temperature setting and you’re Grainfather is quickly increasing temperature getting you to boiling temps. Chilling is a breeze with the counter-flow chiller. The GrainFather makes an incredible Christmas Gift for any beer lover!

 

GrainFather Promo Code

 

Homebrewing Brewrig Sale at MoreBeer!

 

Save $500 on a More Beer Stainless Steel Brewing Rig

Save $500 on a More Beer Stainless Steel Brewing Rig

Coupon Code Date: 9/2/2016 to Unknown
Promotion Details: Save $500 on a More Beer Stainless Steel Home Brewing Rig
Promo Code: BREWRIG SALE
Product User Rating: 5/5
Availability: In Stock

Coupon Code Description: MoreBeer currently has a sale going on that will save you $500 on one of their famous stainless steel homebrewing sculptures. More Beer makes the very best home brewing systems available and they rarely go on sale.  So if you have been looking to purchase one, this might be the time. This is truly the easiest to use all-grain system out there. With nothing electrical to go wrong, simple valves to control flow, easy to view mashtun, and no pumps its just plain easy. The frame of this homebrew rig is made from 304 stainless steel and welded in the MoreBeer metal shop in California. The low profile  heavy duty stainless steel homebrew kettles are formed in a mold via the use a punch. This means they are made from a single piece of stainless with no welded seams. These beefy kettles then get an added aluminum layer that is capped with another layer of stainless. The added aluminum helps keep the kettle bottom from scorching and allows for easier cleaning.

  • 304-Stainless Steel Frame made in USA
  • 15 Gallon Heavy Duty Kettles
  • High-Quality Analog Thermometers on All Kettles
  • Piped Propane Gas System with single regulator to run off one propane tank
  • Perforated stainless steel screen in Mashtun
  • More Beer Stainless Steel Quick Disconnects

To take advantage of this home  beer brewing promotion, use coupon code listed above if applicable and click on the following home beer brewing promotion link:

Click Here For This More Beer Brewing System Promo Code

 

 

Brutus Stainless Steel Homebrewing Rig

Brutus Stainless Steel Home Brewing Stand

Brutus Stainless Steel Home Brewing Stand

 

Right now Adventures in Homebrewing / Homebrewing.org is offering a Brustus stainless steel homebrewing stand for $1299, with the burners included.  This is a beautiful home brewing rig done in stainless steel. It sits a bit higher than the one that I built and has a few other structural differences but pretty darn similar, best of all, you don’t need to weld it yourself!

 

This stand is a great base to build off of and the frame allow you to easily add on items like home brewing pumps, a RIMS controller and just about anything you can dream up.  One of the best things about it is that it does not come with a bunch of extras that you may not need such as kettles and wort chillers, like other home brewing stands do.  This way you can use your existing equipment to save money and only pay for what you need.

 

Click here for more information or to buy this Home Brewing System

 

 

Home Brewing System Upgrade

Home Brewing System

Home Brewing System

 

It seems like I am always trying to make small improvements to the home brewing rig to make it as functional as I can.  This weekend was no different.  I ended up changing the propane lines out for flexible versions that are easier to adjust and adding some sanitary fittings and a sight glass to the RIMS heating bar to enable me to clean it more easily and have some visibility if I run into issues during recirculation.

 

I think my favorite of the additions was the site glass.  In the photo above you can see it in the center of the RIMS heating element bar.  I like that it allow me to inspect the condition of the heating bar so that I can tell if it needs to be scrubbed and also allows me to check on the fluid volume level of the bar to make sure I am not running dry.

 

I picked the site glass up here at MoreBeer: RIMS Sight Glass

 

New Ruby Street Digital Brewing Rig

digital home brewing system

digital home brewing system

 
Sale On Ruby Street Home Brewing Rigs and Home Beer Brewing Setups Ruby Street Homebrewing Rigs and Homebrew Systems

Description: Adventures in Homebrewing currently has a sale on many of their Ruby Street homebrew rigs, Home brewing Racks, Brew rigs and Home brewing stands. In addition to that, RubyStreet recently released a new digital home brewing system that you can check out. These home brewing rigs run from about $1200 to over $5000 for a fully loaded digital system.

 

ruby street homebrewing rig

ruby street homebrewing rig

Here are some of the details on these Ruby Street Home Brewing Stands:

 

The RubySteet Fusion home brewing system is designed as their most compact and portable model ever. This homebrewing rig is loaded with professional features, the Fusion 15™ is the newest addition to our lineup of professional grade brewing rigs. This brew rig is called the Fusion because it is a culmination of profession beer brewery design features, conveniences, and fabrication technology that they have drawn from our other designs as well as countless custom builds. 15.5 Gallon Kettles will brew a 10 gallon batch. The small frame allows this system to easily transport in most SUV’s. Simple natural gas conversion option makes this system the perfect for commercial pilot use and home-brewers that simply want the best.

 

 

This All Grain Homebrewing Stand System Includes:

 

All welded steel tube frame construction with industrial powder coated finish on frame
Burner grates finished in black with a 2000 degree industrial coating
(3) 15 Gallon 304 Stainless Steel Kettles w/ Lids
Propane regulator including 4′ stainless braided hose included
Magnetic drive pumps included with stainless steel drip shields and stainless outflow control valves
Remote control key fob on / off switches for both pumps included
All sanitary tri-clamp fittings on HLT, mash tun, boil kettle, and pumps
Silicone hoses with fittings included
Mash Tun and boil kettle include perforated stainless wall to wall false bottoms
Ruby Street now has designed their own Digital controller for the RIMS and HERMS System. Made from the highest quality components available right here in the USA!

 

 

Digital Controller Package Option will include:

 

Digital Control Panel and Bracket (1)
Sensor Cables (2)
Ignition Coil Box (1)
Solenoid Valves (3)
Temperature Sensors (3)
Burner Electrodes (3)
With the digital control package we recommend adding the HERMS option to fully utilize the mash temperature control feature.

Click Here for this Homebrewing.org Homebrewing Rig Setup Promotion Details

New Digital Touch Screen Homebrewing System from More Beer!

Digital Homebrewing System and Brew Rig

Digital Homebrewing System and Brew Rig

 

Great news homebrewers, MoreBeer just released a follow up to their popular line of Homebrewing Brew Sculptures and HomeBrew Rigs! They are bringing homebrewing into the future and to a whole new level with a digital touch screen interface for they Low Rider homebrewing stand that lets you control almost every aspect of your brew session.

 

They are calling this new digital, stainless steel homebrewing system the Low Rider! The Low Rider is their new top of the line Single Tier Brew Sculpture. Since this brew system is low to the ground with all of the brew kettles at the same height, it allows you to access each kettle without the need for a step stool.  That is one of the reasons why these stainless steel homebrewing systems are popular pilot systems for  breweries like Russian River and Sierra Nevada.

 

So what makes this new homebrewing rig better than the other brew rigs out there? Quite simply, they are loaded with features and are super reliable!  Also, these home brew systems are built in the USA by MoreBeer and include free shipping.  Free shipping is a big deal when it comes to a homebrewing setup like this because it can cost several hundred dollars in freight charges to ship a setup like this! Following is a list of features included with this new MoreBeer.com homebrewing rig:

 

  • 304 Food Grade Stainless Steel Stand
  • 304 stainless steel brew kettles with welded fittings, notched lids included
  • High temp march pumps, heat resistant food grade silicone tubing and specially designed stainless steel quick disconnects all come standard
  • Includes a More Beer Ultimate Sparge Arm, which is one of the best sparge systems available in home brewing.  The mash tun has a perforated stainless mash screen that is reinforced for use with pump recirculation. Internally etched volume markers on the kettles makes for simple mash water additions.
  • Top of the line homebrew burners that are fast, efficient, reliable and have precision flame control.
  • The included boil kettle features an innovative whirlpool maker! This allows the home brewer to leave the hops and trub behind when transferring your wort to your fermentor!  The bottom of the boil kettle is tri-clad with a 4mm aluminum core sandwiched between two layers of 304 stainless which helps to eliminate scorching!
  • Free Shipping!

 

Digital Brew Rig

Digital Brew Rig

 

This new digital homebrewing system comes in two different versions.  The “low rider” format featured at the top of the article and this tippy dump version that is shown above. The two formats are priced similarly, so depending on which design works best for you, that can drive your choice.

 

What makes this new MoreBeer homebrewing system so incredible is the innovative new digital touch screen brewing control system.  This new digital brew rig control system is built around a 7 inch touch screen that lets you control everything from times and temperature to setting reminders for additions throughout the entire home brewing process. They have really brought home brewing into the future with this new digital brewing system.  The touch screen control panel allows the home brewer to  choose from 3 preset mash schedules and even design their own schedule with up to 5 steps.  Best of all, the digital control module maintains the hot liquor tank temperature for you by automatically turning the burner off and on and monitoring the temp with a digital probe.  If you are old school or afraid of Sky Net taking over, there is also a manual mode that allows you to over ride the system.

 

Click Here for all of the details and pricing on these new MoreBeer Digital Homebrewing Systems!

 

Morebeer also sells a variety of other homebrewing rigs, brew stands, brew rigs, homebrew rack, brew sculptures and homebrewing stands from other vendors such as Blichmann and Pico Brew.

Brew Stands and Home Brewing Racks

Brew Stands and Homebrewing Racks

Brew Stands and Homebrewing Racks

I recently added a new page to the West Coast Brewer main site for brew stands, homebrewing racks, home breweries, beer brewing stands and home brew racks!  Whatever name you want to call them by, they can be found here:

Home Brewing Stands

 

My goal is to list all of the turnkey \ pre-built homebrew racks that I can find available for sale online there, so if you know of any that I have not listed, please feel free to shoot me an email about it so that I can get them added.

 

The page features the whole range of home brewing stands from entry level to digital stainless steel brew racks and photos of each stand.  There are several single tier models as well as multi tier homebrew stands to chose from.  The prices range from about $500 for a bare homebrew stand to over $6000 for a complete home brewing rack with kettles, pumps and digital temperature controllers.

 

All Grain Home Brewing

All Grain Home Brewing

All Grain Home Brewing and Beer Making

 

I figured that I would give a simple break down on all grain home brewing for those of you who have been doing extract brewing for a while and are considering making the change but want some basic information on what you are in for before you do.

 

So what is the difference between extract brewing and all grain brewing?   With extract brewing, the home brewer bypasses the mashing process and instead uses either concentrated dried malt extract (DME) or liquid malt extract (LME) to brew his or her beer. This greatly lowers the complexity of the home brewing process since the brewer does not need to worry about water pH levels, mash conversion temperatures, water profile composition, sparging, lautering or things like tannin extraction problems.  Also, the extract home brewing takes far less time and equipment than all grain home brewing.  With all grain brewing, you do not utilize any forms of malt extracts and instead convert all of the sugars yourself from grain starches and adjuncts.  With all grain home brewing it is important to check your gravity readings throughout the brewing process to make sure that you are not extracting too much or two little sugar.  You are also in charge of the type of sugars that are created during the mashing process.  If your mash temperature is a few degrees to high your beer may come out very sweet, if it is a few degrees to low you may end up with a very dry beer.  Mastering all grain brewing is all about understanding the process, tailoring the process to the style of beer you are brewing and being as exact as possible.

 

So what equipment will you need to do all grain home brewing that you do not need for extract brewing?  Unless you are going to go the brew in a bag route, you are probably going to want 3 kettles and or combinations of 3 kettles \ coolers.  One will be your Hot Liquor Tank (HLT) which will allow you to quickly modify the temperature of your mash during the different steps of the starch conversion process.  The second is your Mash Tun which is where you will place your grains and convert the starches to sugars.  A mash tun typically uses a false bottom which allows the wort to pass through it during the lautering and mash out process but restricts the grain husks from being transferred to the boil kettle.  If you will be conducting a fly sparging process, which many home brewers do in order to boost your efficiency of extracting the sugars from your grains, you will also need to purchase a sparge arm.  Lastly you will need a boil kettle that has a sufficient volume for the quantity of wort that you will be boiling.  Aside from that, the equipment is very similar to what you would use during the extract home brewing process.

 

If you are looking for a ready-made all grain home brewing stand, brewing sculpture or home brewery; there are several options available here that range from cooler based setups to stainless steel home brewing racks!

Home Brewing Stands, Brewing Racks, Brew Sculptures and All Grain Starter Kits

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