Project Overview

Problem Statement:

In 2017, there were 1.1 million people in the US who brewed their own beer. Malted barley is the primary grain that affects the color and taste of a beer. With the creation of a table-top kilning system, homebrewers can use malted barley to make their own unique malts in small amounts by kilning in any way they please. Kilned malts stand out from each other based on the temperature and time that they are heated after germination. This product will make a difference in the malt quality.

Solution:

Originally, the system's design consisted of including the steeping, germination, and kilning steps in order to produce malt. Upon extensive research, it became clear that purchasing malted barley is more cost effective than malting barley at home with the system. It was decided that the focus of the system would be on the kilning part, as this step is essential for creating malt for different types of beer. Time, temperature, and mositure content as well as additives are what differentiates the type of malt produced. To use this kilning system, the malted barley must first be re-steeped to get the moisture content back up to around 45-48%. To re-steep, ¾ of a gallon of water should be added per pound of barley that is being steeped. The steeping box can hold up to 10 pounds of barley plus the water needed.

After steeping, the barley, without the water, will be transferred into the kilning system. The kilning system can hold up to 10 pounds of wet barley. In order to determine what temperature the barley will be kilned at along with the time it will take, heat transfer calculations were performed to justify the decision made. The calculations take in to account the dry air circulating, the dimensions and weight of the barley, and the temperature within the system. With the use of a hot plate, the barley will heat evenly because it will be rotated constantly by five arms within the cylindrical system. The arm was decided to have 5 aluminum rods with a width of 1 inch and a height of 4.25 inches. This was to ensure that the arm will be able to move properly in the system and to prevent the barley on the bottom from burning. The arm will be rotated by a gear motor, which was chosen after calcuating the weight of the arm as the arm is attached to the motor. The torque of the barley and the arms was also taken into consideration when choosing a motor. With the use of a lid, the system remains a closed system in order to minimize heat loss. The lid will have the motor and arm attached to it, so a handle and lid support were added to the design to allow for the brewer to add the malted barley to the system with ease. After the malted barley is kilned at a specific temperature and reaches the preferred mositure content, the malted barley will be ready to use to brew beer.