Recent content by rpierce

The Maxitrol modulating gas valve sounds like exactly what I need, but I'd really not like to spend that much per valve! At this point, I plan to try the Parker instrumentation valve I mentioned and mate a stepper to it. I've already purchased the valves. I seem to recall that they have either 4...

I'm definitely planning on averaging readings. The level sensing isn't the same as a sight glass. It is measuring the pressure in a tube of air that is displacing wort. So it is a function of the mass of the fluid, which I don't think is going to change during a rolling boil. That said, I...

Regarding using smaller pipes: what pressure are you using? I need to 0.4 PSI / 11" W.C. I thought that for low pressure, to get the same BTU flow, you need bigger pipes than higher pressure propane. I'm using jet burners designed for this pressure, and they are equipped with 1/2" NPT, so I...

I'm using a Honeywell VR8200A2132 controller for each burner. This provides an on/off valve for the burner that responds to a 24VAC call for heat, but it also provides gas for a pilot light and has a thermocouple. So if the pilot goes out, it will turn off the gas to the pilot and ignore calls...

I'm not sure I'm following the math here. I see that 1 cubic foot per hour is 2500 BTU, so I follow that I'd need 40 cubic feet per hour to run the burner at full throttle. That's 2/3 cubic feet per minute, which is almost 6 gallons per minute. Looking on eBay, I see a Parker 8F-V12LR-SS needle...

Yes, I start with X gallons wort, I want to end with Y gallons of wort, and do so in Z minutes of boil. So I am guessing that I can change the power output to change the boiloff rate. There's going to be an upper limit where the kettle would boil over, and a lower limit where it stops boiling...

Thanks. But that needle valve was 1/4" NPT and the largest they listed for that valve style is 3/8". All the parts in the system are 1/2" NPT which I thought was necessary due to the high flow rate required to get 100k BTU.

My plan is to measure liquid volume and compare it against a projected ramp of where the volume should be at X minutes into the boil so that I end up with Y gallons of wort. I'm going to use a dip tube with an acquarium pump and a pressure transducer as a level sensor, which I hope will give...

I'm building a custom designed HERMS system from scratch. I am using low pressure (11" W.C.) propane, Honeywell valves with standing pilot lights, 1/2" NPT pipe, and 90-100k BTU jet burners. I'd like to make the boil more repeatable by using a level sensor in the boil kettle and controlling...

I built a kegerator system for a hackerspace as part of a collaborative project, but I'm running into some trouble. I started with a side by side fridge. From what I can gather, it's a GE energy efficient model, and it seems the coils are just in the freezer, and air is circulated from the...

I set up a 2 tap draft system at a hackerspace that has its own homebrew club. We have a full size fridge, and an air cooled insulated supply and return line to the bar's draft tower. There's enough room to expand to 4 taps. Unfortunately, we're victims of our own success. Anything we brew and...

Some friends and I have done something very similar at a local hackerspace (Pumping Station: One) in Chicago. First suggestion: Ditch the Arduino, use a Raspberry Pi. I've worked with both, and while I love the Arduino, getting it on the Internet is a pain. By comparison, a Raspberry Pi is a...