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ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 01:41 AM

So there I was, driving into work today, and there's a semi-industrial area I'm always scanning for good finds. I drive past a few huge dumpsters full of scrap, and my eye catches the gleam of stainless steel (yeah, you know what i'm sayin'

)

I find this huge institutional sized coffee maker, and it's not too messed up:

And then I realize I've seen threads about this before:http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/coffee-urn-hlt-89901/

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 01:45 AM

I opened it up after work, and it's burly. Here's a few more pics of the exterior before we get to the good stuff:

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 01:50 AM

On to the good stuff. It's got 10 AWG wire, designed to run off 220v, and has a relatively massive heating element inside the tank. In the center picture, from left to right, you're looking at:

-The top of the tank
-Its thermostat
-Above that is a breaker or relay
-To the right of that is a brew timer
-On the bottom right is a blue high temp solenoid valve that lets the hot water into the sprinkler for sparging the coffee.

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 01:54 AM

Here's a few closeups, of the sprinkler and its solenoid valve. Can ya see where I'm going with this? I think you do

:

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 01:57 AM

On to the nitty gritty. The tank was NASTY. The element is burly, on the side it says it's 6000w. I wonder what I'll net if i use it with 115v? I think though, in the interest of a clean build, I may very well replace it with a smaller, nicer 2000w one.

Sean · 07-10-2010, 02:00 AM

Hmm, auto sparge?

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 02:01 AM

So then I moved on down to the midsection, in here there is a terminal block along with another solenoid valve that percolates the water. Wouldn't ya know it, as soon as I took off the panel, a schematic fell out! I doubt I'll use it, because I have no interest in resurrecting the controllers. A PID will work much better.

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 02:03 AM

Then I moved onto the bottom section. There's more wiring, silicon tubing, and interestingly, the warmer is simply a ceramic heater in a loop under the surface of the chassis. I really had to shake my head when I saw how similar these things are to our brewing systems. The silicon tubing is identical to what B3 sells

JOHN51277 · 07-10-2010, 02:05 AM

Thats pretty BADA$$ right there! Nice sprinkler too!

ScubaSteve · 07-10-2010, 02:07 AM

SO I got the tank out (reference the soda can for size comparison) and I think it's somewhere around 3+ gallons. I kept most of the fasteners, etc. in a ziplock bag.