Axel Eifert

The Perfect Brew Tower

(An all grain brewing setup for tight places)

By

Axel Eifert

It all started in September 2001 when I started brewing. I made my first beer with malt extract. By April 2002 I had progressed, and decided to produce my first all-grain beer. After tasting it, all I wanted to do was brew all grain beers, so I sold all my remaining extract to a friend and decided to develop a stainless steel brewing machine that would suit my needs. I also wanted to sell this machine to people so they too could benefit from brewing all grain beers.

In designing my brewing setup I wanted the following:

- Electrically heated. (For indoor use and easier temperature control.)
- As small as possible.
- As cheap as possible.
- Output above 50 litres.
- Automatically controlled.
- Use of lauter tun for main fermentation. (For ales only.)

I have called my design "AXEL'S BRAU-TOWER"

General Background

The BRAU-TOWER is designed for INFUSION MASHING. It was completely built by myself, including all welding. All the metal parts are made of corrosion resistant steel, except the wort chiller which is copper. I get 53 liters (1.056) from 10kg of grain. That is a mash efficiency well into 90%, which should please any brewer. The whole process takes approximately 7 hours.

I also tried 16kg of grain. This would be the maximum comfortable limit of the system. The extra grain load added an extra 2 hours to my brew day. The complete process took nearly 9 hours. Still, the system should easily meet the needs of any craftbrewer, and especially brewers wanting to make 50 litres with limited space in which to operate.

Technical Data

Mash Tun/Boiling Kettle: Made from two 50 litre beer kegs with a volume of approximately 80 litres. The insulation is about 25 mm thick.

Heating Element : (CRES) 2 x 1500watt/220Volt Temperature Rise During Mashing (one circuit OFF!): for 40L - 1°C every 75 seconds.

Stir Motor: 12 volt VW Golf 2 windshield wiper. 8 paddles attached.

Stir Motor Speed: High (for mashing in and for the "whirl-pool-effect" after boiling). Low speed (remaining processes including boiling).

Power Supply: Car battery 12V(88Ah) and battery charger. Other : The tun is plugged into Mains supply.

Lauter Tun: Made from two 50 litre beer kegs with a volume of 95 litres.

Adjustable Lauter Bottom: CRES 1.4301. Hole diameter 1mm. Spacing 2mm. Supported by a reversed keg top.

Heating Element: (CRES) 2x1500watt/220Volt. The heater is used to keep the temperature of the wort at 70-75°C until pumping up for boiling. Reason: possible better conversion of sugar (at 72°) and reducing the boil time. The heater is also used to sanitize the pump and plumbing with 80°C water before wort cooling.

Pump: IDRA Pump (Graham´s best pump!!!) 220V. The pump is also used to recirculate cloudy wort onto the grainbed.

Cooler: 12 metre long counterflow wort chiller. Cools down to 0.4°C above cooling water temperature! The hot wort is pumped through the chiller into the fermenter. The cooling water is collected in the lauter tun. After a brewing session is completed, I pump the water up through a filter into the mash/boiling kettle. After 30 min of boiling and cooling down to room temp, the water can be used for "Pilsner style" beers as it is very soft.

Mobility: The tun is movable on wheels.

Control Unit 1: Programmable microprocessor (www.c-control.de). Automatic temperature and time control of the 2 heating circuits during mashing. (Example: 50°C for 20 min, 62°C for 30 min etc.) Flushing the grain with clear 78°C water during lautering.

Boiling: Indicated by a beeper. Up to 3 times for the addition of hops. (Example:10 min after boiling, 30 min after boiling, etc.)
Inputs can be made before or during operations. Software based on my instructions.

Control Unit 2: Manual controller for the lauter tun heaters and pump. It has a temperature control for both heaters, but each heating circuit can be switched off. (The red illuminated switches.) The green switch is for pump ON/OFF.

 

The Equipment
Click for larger view. 150 KG of grain. (My grain store)
Click for larger view. Valley Mill powered by a 700 watt drill.
Click for larger view. Top of the mash/boiling kettle with a 12 volt windshield wiper motor from a VW Golf 2. The axle has been replaced by the stirrer axle.
Click for larger view. Control processor, temperature control and indicator. For mashing you can insert 5 different temperatures and how long those temperatures are to be maintained. The 6th temperature setting is used for sparging and boiling. Up to 3 temperatures and or times can be set. A buzzer sounds when hop additions need to be made.
Click for larger view. Inside the Mash Tun. (Mash Mode)
Click for larger view. Mash Tun without insulation and temperature controller installed.
Click for larger view. On the left is the stirrer. On the lower end of the axle is a teflon bush, the counterpart is installed into the heating element. This ensures that the gap between the lower 4 paddles and the heating element is as close as possible. On the right is the false bottom of the lauter tun. It is supported by the upper top part of a keg. The tube in middle is the vent.
Click for larger view. The design of the tubes allows the water to be delivered without disturbing the grainbed. During the whole process the wort will be kept at a constant temperature of 70°-75°C. After lautering is complete the wort is pumped up into the boiling kettle.
Click for larger view. After mashing is complete, water starts flowing through the tubes. When it is 10cm deep, I close the outlet valve from the mash tun and wait approx. 5 min. until the grainbed has settled. During this time, I pump back the wort onto the top of the mash tun. When the 5 min are over I open the valve to empty the mash tun. Now I pump the wort back onto the grainbed until it is clear. When the fluid level has reached the top of the grainbed, I start sparging with 78°C water. During the whole process the wort will be kept at a constant temperature of 70°-75°C.
Click for larger view. Inside the Lauter Tun with false bottom removed.
Click for larger view. The Pump.
Click for larger view. After lautering is complete the wort is pumped up into the boiling kettle.
Click for larger view. Inside the Mash Tun (boiling mode with installed hopback). After boiling is complete the stirrer is driven for a few seconds in high speed mode to produce the "whirl-pool-effect". After wort temperature has reached 85°C (30-60 min), the wort is ready for the counterflow chiller.
Click for larger view. After boiling is finished, the wort flows thru the counterflow chiller. The outside tube is 18mm diameter, the inside tube is 10mm diameter and 12 metres long. The outlet temperature is about 0.4°C above water inlet temp. The wort is now flowing to the inlet of the pump and finally into the fermenter. Cooling time is about 25 min for 60 liters. The cooling water is collected in the lauter tun. This water will be pumped through a filter into the boiling kettle. After boiling this water for 30 min and cooling it down to room temperature, you have very good water for a "Pilsner", or whatever your next beer is.
Click for larger view. Several yeast types stored in 0.9% salt/water mix.
Click for larger view. Fermenters, formerly used to make applewine. Volume about 70 litres. For "Weissbier" I built an extension for the top, due to the fact that during fermentation the volume of foam is almost the same as the volume of beer. Click for larger view.
Click for larger view. Bottling : In the lower end of the device is a check valve, which is very helpful. Click for larger view.
Click for larger view. My 5 and 10 litre kegs.
Click for larger view. After fermentation is nearly finished, I transfer the young beer into a secondary fermenting keg. This keg I fitted with a pressure gauge and relief valve so the amount of CO2 can be adjusted easily. When no further pressure increase is noticed, the secondary fermentation is finished. I then transfer the beer into the storage kegs. This method will give you a clear beer without the use of a filter.
Click for larger view. Transferring beer from the storage keg to the "ready to drink" keg.
Click for larger view. Homemade "Pilsner" ready to drink!
Click for larger view. Filtering of cooling water.
Click for larger view. Mash Tun from below. Visible are the 2 power supply wires and the temperature probe.
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