Electrical Primer for Brewers - Page 15

beerFacedotkom · 09-07-2011, 02:13 AM

Very informative, thank you for the post. I'm new here, but have been brewing for about 18 years. I just rebuilt my basement and have a dedicated little room with a floor drain, stainless sink with sprayer, insulated fermentation box, 220V and gas line (as yet unused). I am very interested in building an automated system. I have the converted kegs and use those as mash tun, boil kettle/HLT with my turkey burners, just don't have to do it out in the garage any more. Just brewed an Oktoberfest ale and an American Amber with a twist - used San Francisco steamer yeast and fermenting at 70F instead of its usual lagering temp, ~45...but I digress.

I have an electrical engineering background and love to tinker (though not very mechanically inclined), so can't wait to tap the huge talent pool here and do some serious-ass brewing. If I can share some of my knowledge too, that'd be fun.

Jeff, SLC, UT

beerFacedotkom · 09-07-2011, 02:16 AM

Sorry for double posting my last post, I don't know why there's a "Quick Reply" button and a "Post Reply" button...

I'd love to see some designs for the frame and plumbing works. I'll get into the control electronics later. Code RAge: do you know how to automate? RIMS, etc?

Thanks

**dcarroll86** · 01-25-2012, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CodeRage

Scut Monkey:
Ground and Neutral should never be tied together. A while ago it was kind of an accepted practice to use Ground as a neutral, now it is a major violation. If you have neutral bonded to ground any where they need to be separated. The bottom line is the ground conductor should only ever carry current in case of an emergency. Here is something to consider. Say you do have neutral and ground bonded at the device and for some reason the neutral gets disconnected some where else in the system. It should kill power to everything on that circuit. Well the device that has neutral and ground bonded will use the ground instead of the neutral and stay powered up. You know have steady current flowing on the ground through the circuit. Say there is a toaster on that same circuit and it's chassis is attached to ground, will that chassis now has current/potential flowing through it. If something should touch it with less resistance to ground (you are standing on a wet floor in the kitchen barefoot) it becomes the new path to ground and starts to carry all the current. I hope that illustrates the importance of it.

samc,
I added a device protection section, I'll revise it for SSRs here in a second.

dont know if this was already corrected, (didnt feel like reading 15 pgs) at your first point of service, ie comes from meter to either main panal or switch, your neutral and ground are connected. and this is the only point, at subpanals yes they are isolated. until they end back at the main. then they are bonded. just wanted to clear up if it already hasnt been done.
thanks

dukes · 03-08-2012, 02:32 PM

I feel like this primer is missing a very key component: What the heck is electric brewing?

mattd2 · 03-08-2012, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukes

I feel like this primer is missing a very key component: What the heck is electric brewing?

Um, I thought it was obvious

brewing with electricity.
but to be clearer brewing with electrical hot water elements is the most common method.

dukes · 03-08-2012, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattd2

Um, I thought it was obvious

brewing with electricity.

LOL that was my initial thought. But then I read this primer and thought "I brew on an electric stove, why would anyone need all this information to do that?"

mattd2 · 03-08-2012, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dukes

LOL that was my initial thought. But then I read this primer and thought "I brew on an electric stove, why would anyone need all this information to do that?"

Haha, that would have messed you up with so much talk about if you don't do it correctly you can kill yourself

Yeah the primer is more like a how to become a electrician for brewing applications.

Stankonia · 04-25-2012, 11:02 PM

I'll be moving into a much smaller space and am looking into an indoor all grain set up.

So far I'm planning to use a kettle on the stove top with a ~1500w 120v element to assist the stove.

From what I've read, I have to make sure the element is running on it's own 20amp circuit right?? How would I know if the outlets in the kitchen are on their own circuit?

**Torg** · 04-26-2012, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stankonia

I'll be moving into a much smaller space and am looking into an indoor all grain set up.

So far I'm planning to use a kettle on the stove top with a ~1500w 120v element to assist the stove.

From what I've read, I have to make sure the element is running on it's own 20amp circuit right?? How would I know if the outlets in the kitchen are on their own circuit?

Pretty much the only way you can tell is to plug something in (like a lamp). Then go hit the circuit breaker and see what it turns off.

Unfortunately, depending on how old the building is, you may find the entire kitchen on one circuit. Alternately you may find multiple circuits. It really depends on local code and how cheap the builder was when they ran the extra wire needed for the extra circuits.