Laird's Homebrew Gadgets

  Two nights of cutting, welding, and head-scratching yields the following beer tree.  I don't have the burners installed yet.  It will be plumbed for a heat exchanger on the top keg, an electric pump that will be installed below mash tun and a water filter too.  Inspired by Joe's contraption at a recent brew day and Bo's ideas on streamlining my all-grain efforts.  I have added a drawing that was sent to me by a fellow on the Northern Brewer forum.  Click here for drawing.

I am nearing completion on this now.  Note the March pump located near bottom to insure good priming.  HLT is plumbed with coil for HERMS system type operation.  Water filter mounted on this to minimize moving parts.    Updated 12/28/03: I have just completed another all-grain batch.  The pump location ended up being perfect.  the low positioning of it self primes the thing.  Between every stage of wort transfer or mash juice recirculation, I attach the hose from the HLT and run hot water through it to keep it clean.  Another subtle modification was adding a piece of soft copper from the filter to the HLT tank.  I have a valve on top to regulate water flow.

Back side of same brew tree.

Mash Tun Plumbing

Looking down from the top,  I have attached brass nipples to both the manifold and the 3/8" nipple that passes through the cooler was.  The nipple on the cooler wall keeps a slightly bent stainless steel washer against the wall on the inside.  See the spiggot picture on bottom for the outside plumbing.  Flexible hose connects manifold to spiggot.

Closer picture of hose and brass fittings used to connect manifold to outside spiggot.

The 3/8" nipple comes through the cooler wall and screws into a fitting that is 3/8" female and 1/2" male that the spiggot attaches to on the outside.  I wrapped the nipple with some teflon tape to insure a water-tight fit which I accomplished on this installation.  Four stainless steel washers are between the "transition" fitting and the cooler wall for a snug fit require for proper sealing.  You are essentially using the 3/8" nipple to torque the washers on inside and outside for proper snugness.  This was the part that I thought about the most but became real easy once my hands got busy.  Make sure you use the rubber grommet that sealed your original spiggot when you bought your cooler new.

Side profile of the manifold outside of the mash tun.  I soldered about 1/2 of the fittings to insure an easy assembly of the manifold between cleanings.  If you have an excellent memory, you would not need to solder anything.

Shot of the underneath of my manifold.  I used 2 different sizes of drill bits all on the underside of the tubing.  1/4" and 1/8" drill bits if I remember correctly.  I had many people tell me not to sweat this but to use my head. If I don't get proper flow I can add more and bigger holes.  A "dry" run with water only makes me think this will be adequate.