The South Plains Project

It's been a long process since one year ago I decided to launch this microbrewery myself. I have changed ideas, purpose and the scope of this project countless times. After one year of saving & saving (thank you Icopal) I am finally as of this week purchasing my brewery equipment. I spent about 75,000 crowns ( $11,000) on five pieces of equipment. Most are 20-30 years old, I found them used in southern Germany. First my brew kettle:

It's a 1200 liter (317 gallons), steam jacketed stainless steel kettle with a hydraulic pump that can tilt it, mainly for cleaning, it has a conical bottom with a valve. Next my mash tun:

I bought a used 1150 liter agitator vessel that I will modify to use as my mash tun. I'll put in 125 kg of grains and 600 liters of water at the right temperature to get a perfect conversion of malt starch to malt sugar. The agitator propeller helps to keep the grains turning for a better conversion. The fermenting vessels:

I bought three of these to start with. I can use them for primary & secondary fermentation. They hold 900 liters and up to 3 bar pressure but I will fit it with a pressure relief valve I can control at say, ½ bar and keep my beer naturally carbonated. They have a really cool hatch in the top so I can dry hop.  And lastly, the Hot Liquor Tank. Funny name, it's actually a hot water tank but that's what it's called in brewery terminology.

It holds 650 liters and has multiple inlets and outlets and is heated by a steam generator via a inner coil. I'll use it for multiple purposes but mainly to heat the water to sparge (rinse) my mash, Right as I was ready to purchase, the Euro dropped and so the conversion was a great rate for me, saving me alot of money. The equipment is going on a truck this week and on it's way to Sweden