Hot Liquor Tank

Goals

When I first started my brewery system, I decided to use a 50 liter stainless container I had for holding the hot water for sparging. After doing a few batches, I noticed that the container had some short comings.

The biggest was that it was much smaller than my mash tun and boil kettle and thus the limiting factor for making larger batches. The boil kettle is a 100 liter container and the mash tun an 80 liter container. I could always buy a bigger container but I was already squeezed for space with the 50 liter.

I also found a problem in my original design by not providing heat on the Hot liquor tank directly. The water for sparge dropped significantly in temperature when you dropped the water from the boil to the liquor below.

It also lost quite a bit of heat from lack of insulation. I could always cover the vessel with fiberglass insulation but I wanted something similar to my mash tun design.

General design

In order to get a bigger container for the hot liquor, I decided on a cube like design. I would build it to fit precisely underneath the space below the boil kettle burner for efficiency. This would leave the space adjacent to it open for the pump and computer control in later development.

The Hot Liquor Tank (HLT for short to save typing) would be made with a sloped bottom to collect as much water as possible. A portion of the bottom would also be flat so I could slide the container in and out to clean the brewery or for maintenance below it.

The HLT was also designed with several fittings. A thermal well was placed low in the container to monitor the temperature. Near the thermal well is the fitting for the drain to the sparge pump. On the other end is a fitting to add a level gauge or a filler.

The container was also fitted with an inside lip at the top so that the lid could seal nicely. A gasket on the top and a few screws could seal it so that heat cant escape from the top. I decided not to seal the top permanently because it might be handy to open it for inspection or cleaning.

For heating, I decided to integrate a hot water heater element into the design. This was part of the next phase of the brewery in order to make it computer controlled and so I could use it indoors. I would also put a burner for propane below it so I could still fire it this way manually.

Insulation would be done with redwood slats. The design would not only complement the mash tun but it was also a relatively easy design to use. It also has less chance of fire. since the ends are all covered with stainless steel.

Dimensions:

15in wide, 19 inches long, and 20 inches tall to be 25 gallons total volume.(100L)

Container will be fabricated from 16 gauge 304?

Inside lip on the top to make a seal with a threaded fitting on the top.

A handle is on the end of the hot liquor tank so it can be pulled out to be stored or put into the cooler.

It has to have some way to keep it from slipping around on the rails.

 

Fittings:

Outlet : 1" threaded half couple on low point

Water level gauge: 1" male pipe 1" out attached to a 90 elbow then to a clear sight glass.

Thermal Well

Electric Burner element bracket