Intermediate steps to the E Brewery

jphussey · Joined: 17 Oct 2012 Posts: 171

Hey all,

I'm curious if anyone has ever gone to a full on Kal clone in incremental steps? What might this look like?

I currently have one G1 20G Blichmann kettle. I do BIAB on a propane burner in the garage. I move like every 2 years so I haven't really had the time/motivation to go head first into the Kal clone as I'd likely have to change the setup very frequently. Many times my moves are overseas, too.

I was thinking I could get a start on my electric brewery acquisition by perhaps getting the control panel and one heating element hooked up to my BIAB setup. I have a hopstopper currently installed in the kettle...so I'm thinking I would really just need a heating element.

Potential problems I see are that mashing in a BIAB setup with the heating element in the kettle might be tough...though I don't really do much stirring after dough-in. I'm not sure the weight of the grains would really affect the heating element...though would it have cooled off enough after getting the water up to strike temp to not singe/destroy the bag?

Anyways, just some initial thoughts...curious if anyone has done something similar or what others see as potential pitfalls to this idea.

Cheers,
Jason

jphussey · Joined: 17 Oct 2012 Posts: 171

Any thoughts on this?

rcrabb22 · Joined: 23 Dec 2010 Posts: 462 Location: Illinois

I can only speak for myself as I went for the full system when I decided to go electric.

My most important suggestion is to not implement any portion of the system that will need to be thrown out or re-worked. That sort of plan will be way more expensive and take longer to build.

It would be difficult to build the control panel incrementally. It will be very important to plan that very carefully so components can be added as needed without rewiring existing components to tie them in.

If you are going to start BIAB I would invest in a 2 kettle system, building the HLT and associated control panel interface and transfer heated water to another kettle to do the mash in the bag and also boil in.

Good luck!

wscottcross · Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 7:47 pm Post subject:

I started out building a smaller single PID control panel. I initially bought one, but it was junk and I got a refund. I built one almost identical to the first one I bought. When I finished the Kal clone panel, I sold the smaller one to my neighbor with the 15 gallon kettle I was using. Worked out for both of us.

If you do decide to build a smaller panel, you could reuse most of the parts except the enclosure for a larger enclosure. If you buy one of Kal's panels, you could certainly use it with a smaller BIAB setup until you upgrade to a 2/3 kettle system.

**kal** · Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 8:04 pm Post subject:

Hi Jason,

This question's come up a bunch of times in the past. I searched and came up with the following discussions:

"building slowly..." http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26719
"Staged Electric Build -- Thoughts" http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25904
"MILESTONES - Building a incremental yet functional brewery" http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26884
"Any ideas?" http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=26854

I chimed in on most of them as did others so give them a read for some thoughts/ideas.

chastuck · Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 11:33 pm Post subject:

I built my Kal brewery over about 3 years. Rather, I accumulated all the parts over about 3 years and then started my build once I had everything. Meanwhile, I kept on brewing with my pot on the stove philosophy. Each to his own I guess, but I was determined to have everything setup and working perfectly before I finally gave up the stove and moved to The Electric Brewery. I have nothing but praise for Kal, his team, and his designs. By taking my time and building slowly everything worked perfectly and worked first time.

hbohnet · Joined: 22 Sep 2013 Posts: 33 Location: Canmore, AB

Jason,
I started out with an electric keggle and single temp controller in a small control panel and did BIAB. Then got a cheap 12v pump, modified the control panel and tried recirculating the mash in the keggle. Then went to a cooler mash tun and did no sparge mash re-circulation. All in all these systems worked ok but had problems with consistency and found it cumbersome on brew day. Worse part was I was constantly buying components to make it better. Then I came across Kal's website, bought his book and was hooked on building a full 3 vessel electric brewery. Took the better part of a year to build and all I can say is brewing on this system is awesome. I did sell my original setup but never even came close in recouping what I put into it.
So if I was doing this again I would build a full Kal type control panel and do BIAB in a single vessel. Then save enough to go right to a full 3 vessel brewery. When doing BIAB I put a stainless perforated plate just above the element to protect it. It was held at the right height by 4 stainless redi rod legs and worked well for me. Here is a pic of it.
Hope this helps, Harry

jphussey · Joined: 17 Oct 2012 Posts: 171

Thanks for the replies!

Kal, thank you for the search...I should've done that! I will cruise those threads and see what I come up with.

Harry, I like your idea of the BIAB with 1 kettle but still using the control panel. I definitely want to only buy once, so I'd go directly to a Kal control panel. I should start talks with my landlord about that 240V outlet...