Recent content by Vesku

With a counterflow HERMS there's no need for a PID. The control is done by monitoring wort temperature at the exit of the heat exchanger, no over or undershoot since the thermal mass is only the amount of the liquid in the heat exchanger. In the latest version I used PWM and dc-motor to control...

People have been asking about this, I hope this video helps, it was the only thing I could find... https://youtu.be/ZJDsdVZN4X4

My wooden capper gave up, I made a new version from steel + plexiglass: I need to redo the cap magazine from plexiglass too as soon as I can get some...

A really easy way to make an Arduino PC-interface is MegunoLinkpro. It works really well with a touchscreen and it's so much easier to put all the "buttons" on the screen than use real switches. And there's no need for programming on the Meguno side.

+ there's that small "bathroom fan" in the ventilation channel. I did some modifications to the sucking end, it totally sucks now: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YPG5hDDeoRU/Uu4lUMXXIdI/AAAAAAAAO3Y/oZmiBoL2Iw4/s512/IMG_20140202_7462.JPG

I did a longer test, I'm building scales under my fermenters for monitoring the fermentation in real time, and the drift is actually non existing. I had the scale on for 3 days under a 15kg load and the drift was under a 1g. I guess I had some liquids on the scale that evaporated the last time...

Here's quick video, if you want to have a look. I didn't have the time to edit it, but it's still easier to see how it goes than explain it. Works quite well even without the lid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO8IlvWlKIY

An angle grinder and a couple of standard discs + some work to get the polyurethane insulation off from it was all that was needed. On the mash tun it's great to have the bottom access i.e. the former in- and outlets, there's no need to make any holes in the lid. There's also the hole for the...

It's stainless, most of them are around here. My HLT, on the wall in the previous pictures, is also an old water heater, but that one is made from "normal steel" with an epoxy inner coating (at least that's what I believe they use here). I paid $14US for that high pressure stainless tank with a...

The vent system is just a 12V computer fan and some semi rigid ventilation duct. The duct's upper end has the fan and it's next to a ventilation duct that has a small bathroom duct fan on it. There's a small gap between the lid and the duct to prevent "a vacuum" forming in to the kettle. The 12V...

You can blame the Hamilton guys (MegunoLinkPro) for that, they made the PC-interface with the Arduino + touchscreen so easy to do that the rest of it sort of followed it... Sure would be nice to be there now, it's -30 degC here at the moment :ban:

The local wild hops work too, I got these from a neighbors yard: They are great for bittering and taste, but the aroma is pretty weak. There was some studies done by "a farming school" and they found out that the imported hops don't work well here in Finland, because the Autumn days are...

In fact I'm using the flow sensor now just to detect flow in my CF-HERMS's "heating pump" :mug: Yep, still brewing (with nz-hops) although had a wee pause because the move. I was planning to go low tech with the new setup, but it all got out of my hands again...

I've a flow meter in my setup (an Arduino), but the problem is that the flow sensor gives different readings depending how fast or slow the flow is. I replaced it with a scale and that's been working very well. So, my vote goes to a scale, if you can fit it in your system. There's a ready made...

Here's an easy way to improve the crush quality: http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Malt_Conditioning