Albert Einstein famously said, “Anyone who has never made a mistake, has never tried anything new.” Here at Koops' Malt Haus, we are trying new things all the time, so it stands to reason that we have had our share of follies.
In the past year, Chip and Chris Koop have immersed themselves in the sacred art of self-education, devouring information about micro controllers, relays, programming, air volume mechanics, thermal dynamics, plumbing…scavenging. We just like to call it “engineering.”
We started the first prototype of our malting machine in August, 2014. That first build was made out of stackable wooden crates and boards, supporting a five-gallon rotating grain drum; all of the duct work was made from PVC tubing. There was little temperature control- readings had to be taken manually and adjustments made from there. The only automated aspect of the system was a micro controller for the timed rotation of the grain drum. Crude, we know, but the object was to find out what would work on a larger scale, and what would not. We learned a lot.
The lid on the rotating drum worked it’s way off while Chip and Chris were at their day jobs, dumping the grain and spoiling the first batch. Lesson learned. The brother’s devised a new latching system for the lid and hatches, and also addressed the temperature control issues. The next incarnation of the machine included a heating system that was fabricated from a heated bathroom fan assembly. We noticed that the grains were drying out to quickly, so a spritzing system was added to the array. All of the new bells and whistles were automated through micro controllers.
One can never be too safe, so a smoke detecting sprinkler system was rigged above the prototype. The sprinkler system promptly failed and flooded all of the micro controllers. Every electronic element had to be packed in rice and dried out.
Once the components were dry, everything was reinstalled and the heat was ramped up to try to save the batch. Operating now without a sprinkler system, Murphy’s Law took effect and, two hours later, the machine caught fire. Not so much a blazing inferno as a slow, smoldering frustration.
It was time to take a step back and evaluate the situation. Failure not being an option, it was decided that the structure of the machine needed to be considered as much as the function.
This brings us to our current system- Rig 2.0, shall we say.
Today’s prototype is, for all intents and purposes, fireproof. The all-steel construction sports an external drive rotating motor; in fact, all of the electrical and heating components are installed outside of the system’s enclosure, the only thing within is the rotating barrel itself.
With computer based micro controllers we can change the internal environment of the enclosure on the fly. We have complete control over airflow, temperature and ventilation; everything is sealed tightly.
The drum itself turns on a hollow tube bearing system, which allows us to run forced air or water through the malting environment without the use of rotary seal components or unreliable lines.
So you can see, we have had some headaches along the way, but the misadventures were a great way to fine tune our method. Our current prototype is safely and consistently producing a quality malt, and is the blueprint on which our full-scale system is being built.
Consistency and quality, innovation and determination: these are the keystones of Koops' Malt Haus.
As for Einstein, we don’t know if old Albert was much of a beer drinker, but we like to think that he would admire our spirit!
In the past year, Chip and Chris Koop have immersed themselves in the sacred art of self-education, devouring information about micro controllers, relays, programming, air volume mechanics, thermal dynamics, plumbing…scavenging. We just like to call it “engineering.”
We started the first prototype of our malting machine in August, 2014. That first build was made out of stackable wooden crates and boards, supporting a five-gallon rotating grain drum; all of the duct work was made from PVC tubing. There was little temperature control- readings had to be taken manually and adjustments made from there. The only automated aspect of the system was a micro controller for the timed rotation of the grain drum. Crude, we know, but the object was to find out what would work on a larger scale, and what would not. We learned a lot.
The lid on the rotating drum worked it’s way off while Chip and Chris were at their day jobs, dumping the grain and spoiling the first batch. Lesson learned. The brother’s devised a new latching system for the lid and hatches, and also addressed the temperature control issues. The next incarnation of the machine included a heating system that was fabricated from a heated bathroom fan assembly. We noticed that the grains were drying out to quickly, so a spritzing system was added to the array. All of the new bells and whistles were automated through micro controllers.
One can never be too safe, so a smoke detecting sprinkler system was rigged above the prototype. The sprinkler system promptly failed and flooded all of the micro controllers. Every electronic element had to be packed in rice and dried out.
Once the components were dry, everything was reinstalled and the heat was ramped up to try to save the batch. Operating now without a sprinkler system, Murphy’s Law took effect and, two hours later, the machine caught fire. Not so much a blazing inferno as a slow, smoldering frustration.
It was time to take a step back and evaluate the situation. Failure not being an option, it was decided that the structure of the machine needed to be considered as much as the function.
This brings us to our current system- Rig 2.0, shall we say.
Today’s prototype is, for all intents and purposes, fireproof. The all-steel construction sports an external drive rotating motor; in fact, all of the electrical and heating components are installed outside of the system’s enclosure, the only thing within is the rotating barrel itself.
With computer based micro controllers we can change the internal environment of the enclosure on the fly. We have complete control over airflow, temperature and ventilation; everything is sealed tightly.
The drum itself turns on a hollow tube bearing system, which allows us to run forced air or water through the malting environment without the use of rotary seal components or unreliable lines.
So you can see, we have had some headaches along the way, but the misadventures were a great way to fine tune our method. Our current prototype is safely and consistently producing a quality malt, and is the blueprint on which our full-scale system is being built.
Consistency and quality, innovation and determination: these are the keystones of Koops' Malt Haus.
As for Einstein, we don’t know if old Albert was much of a beer drinker, but we like to think that he would admire our spirit!
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