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marcb

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Inspired by the fantastically overblown Bluto555, PsychoBrew 4 Kettle systems, and a 2BBL Stout electric system I was lucky enough to brew on. I had several design goals for this including small footprint (relatively speaking), portable (sort of), Hybrid heating capability, capability of outputting anything from 20G - 80+gallons per brew day. I have a fantastic wife who is a saint and with all of our activities with our 4 kids I am lucky to have one brew day per month. I want to MAXIMIZE that brew day. I love automation and will automate wherever I can in this build! The foundation for this is two 200L Glacier tanks kettles that I purchased used and had new false bottoms fabricated for to leverage as Mash Tuns. A Fellow homebrewtalk member: Hampdenbrewing is providing the two 200L Boil/Whirlpool Kettles. A Tankless water heater will provide strike/sparge water. Each kettle will sit on a mobile 2'x2' stainless stand. I also ordered 2 Glacier Tanks 60G unitank fermenters that can be both ferms and brights that should be delivered in another month. I will document my build on this thread.
 
Here are two of the stands, already coming together nicely!

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Rolling with a 4 element, 100 amp kit from ebrewsupply. I already had a BCS462 kicking around.....
 
So is this going to be hacked together like that keg washer contraption you had from a few weeks ago?

You're cutting into my brewing time as I'm spending most waking moments living vicariously through your stainless dream world...

Keep up the good work you hack, you! :rockin:
 
WPStrassburg said:
So is this going to be hacked together like that keg washer contraption you had from a few weeks ago?

You're cutting into my brewing time as I'm spending most waking moments living vicariously through your stainless dream world...

Keep up the good work you hack, you! :rockin:
Click to expand...

Indeed ; )
 
daksin said:
Are you doing all the welding on this build? Looks nice!
Click to expand...

I can weld but am not set up for stainless.....
: ( I've got a good local welder who does a fantastic job and reads my crappy drawings very well!

image-2214368968.jpg
 
Monster Mash said:
When is the walk in cooler going to be installed?
Click to expand...

Cleaning out the rest of the garage to make room for the walk in as I type : )

J/K but it is definitely in the works.... I told SWMBO that I could build a big cold room in the garage for all her organic veggies....
 
With that large of a system you will need a walk in. I brew 25 gallons once a month and storing 5 kegs per batch is tough enough.
 
Monster Mash said:
With that large of a system you will need a walk in. I brew 25 gallons once a month and storing 5 kegs per batch is tough enough.
Click to expand...

I probably brew about 30 gallons per month now but we go through it pretty quick so no issues there. When there are 16+ kegs it will be a different story so I agree. Moving to combo ferms/brites will help as well as I can crash and carb at the same time then push into kegs and it will be ready to drink. Having a cold room will make it easier and as long as it has its own entrance and is locked it will also help me with ttb requirements.....
 
So I'm reconsidering the propane part, and will most likely go all electric. Fastev had a great idea for leveraging cfc's as heat exchangers off of a recirc loop on the tankless water heater for step mashes. I like this idea over a rims tube for gentle heating of the mash with simpler clean up.
 
Started laying out the control panel components, it's gonna be pretty well packed.

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CoalCracker said:
Sub'd

Love theses <1bbl builds.
Click to expand...

Um I think you mean >1BBL builds ; ) I've seen some of your stuff in the forums, you do nice work! I was impressed with your 120v rig, lots of nice features clearly designed by a brew-gadgeteer!
 
Sock said:
I hope you're not going to put the SSR's on din rail? That would be bad.
Click to expand...

Just the pump ones per the ebrewsupply design, the element ones are on a monster heatsink on the lid.... Why is that a concern?
 
Sock said:
I hope you're not going to put the SSR's on din rail? That would be bad.
Click to expand...

Can you explain further with your comment? Placing the ssr on a din mounted heatsink should be no problem as long as you panel isn't jam packed with other stuff.
 
marcb said:
Um I think you mean >1BBL builds ; ) I've seen some of your stuff in the forums, you do nice work! I was impressed with your 120v rig, lots of nice features clearly designed by a brew-gadgeteer!
Click to expand...


Good Catch! Never been good at math lol! Thanks for the kind words. My latest build is in my sig. Also have more builds on my blog. The 120v system is long gone.
 
CoalCracker said:
Good Catch! Never been good at math lol! Thanks for the kind words. My latest build is in my sig. Also have more builds on my blog. The 120v system is long gone.
Click to expand...

Hey, just checked out your new rig, sweet! How did you mount the SSR's to the heatsink? Did you cut a big rectangle out of the lid or just drill the holes and mount the ssr's through the lid metal? I have that same monster heatsink but wasn't sure if the ssr's needed direct contact or if indirect through the top of the enclosure is ok...
 
The control panel had a plate that i removed. I then epoxied and screwed the heatsink to the panel. Then attached the SSRs to the heatsink. Running a full boil, it barely get's warm. Does a great job dissipating heat.
 
CoalCracker said:
The control panel had a plate that i removed. I then epoxied and screwed the heatsink to the panel. Then attached the SSRs to the heatsink. Running a full boil, it barely get's warm. Does a great job dissipating heat.
Click to expand...

I've got 4 5500 elements that I'm going to be running in the boil.... I'll probably go with cutting out the larger rectangle and connecting directly

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I think I calculated mine out to a little over 4 bucks a brew. I'm going off the cuff as I don't remember 100%.
 
CoalCracker said:
I think I calculated mine out to a little over 4 bucks a brew. I'm going off the cuff as I don't remember 100%.
Click to expand...

So at 5x that I'm even with a 20lb propane tank fill.... Given that I'll be using a NG tankless I'm guessing it will be even less as I won't be heating strike/sparge water
 
The brew kettles arrived today from Mass less than a week after being sent! Thanks again Doug. These will work perfectly! They need to go off to the sanitary welder to get two ferrules each for elements, one each for thermowells and outlet valve and a tangential inlet for whirlpooling! More pics later today when I pick up the remaining two tables from the welding shop.

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mattd2 said:
Can you explain further with your comment? Placing the ssr on a din mounted heatsink should be no problem as long as you panel isn't jam packed with other stuff.
Click to expand...

The life span of a SSR is directly related to how hot it gets. If its handling a large amount of current, its needs a proper heat sink and thermal paste.


Stolen from a SSRs manufator

Heatsinks are used to create a method of removing heat away from the relay, thus allowing higher current operation. Adequate heat sinks, including consideration of air temperature and air flow, are essential to the proper operation of a solid state relay (SSR, SCR, thyristor or IGBT package). It is necessary that the user provide an effective means of removing heat from the package. The importance of using a proper heat sink cannot be overstressed, since it directly affects the maximum usable load current and/or maximum allowable ambient temperature. Lack of attention to this detail can result in improper switching (lockup) or even total destruction of the solid state relay. Up to 90% of the problems with solid state relays are directly related to heat. POWER-IO has created several customer-specific heatsink designs where overall size, fin geometry, fin angle / spacing, and draw-down geometry were optimized.


Sorry for the slow reply.
 
Sock said:
The life span of a SSR is directly related to how hot it gets. If its handling a large amount of current, its needs a proper heat sink and thermal paste.


Stolen from a SSRs manufator

Heatsinks are used to create a method of removing heat away from the relay, thus allowing higher current operation. Adequate heat sinks, including consideration of air temperature and air flow, are essential to the proper operation of a solid state relay (SSR, SCR, thyristor or IGBT package). It is necessary that the user provide an effective means of removing heat from the package. The importance of using a proper heat sink cannot be overstressed, since it directly affects the maximum usable load current and/or maximum allowable ambient temperature. Lack of attention to this detail can result in improper switching (lockup) or even total destruction of the solid state relay. Up to 90% of the problems with solid state relays are directly related to heat. POWER-IO has created several customer-specific heatsink designs where overall size, fin geometry, fin angle / spacing, and draw-down geometry were optimized.


Sorry for the slow reply.
Click to expand...

Would one not expect that the supplied DIN mounted heat sink for the SSR should be designed to allow correct operation of the SSR. A big factor would also to not max out your SSR, go for a 40A for a 20A load. I have one 40A SSR mounted on a DIN heatsink inside my box, under load the back of the box is barely warm to the touch.
 
Sock said:
The life span of a SSR is directly related to how hot it gets. If its handling a large amount of current, its needs a proper heat sink and thermal paste.

Stolen from a SSRs manufator

Heatsinks are used to create a method of removing heat away from the relay, thus allowing higher current operation. Adequate heat sinks, including consideration of air temperature and air flow, are essential to the proper operation of a solid state relay (SSR, SCR, thyristor or IGBT package). It is necessary that the user provide an effective means of removing heat from the package. The importance of using a proper heat sink cannot be overstressed, since it directly affects the maximum usable load current and/or maximum allowable ambient temperature. Lack of attention to this detail can result in improper switching (lockup) or even total destruction of the solid state relay. Up to 90% of the problems with solid state relays are directly related to heat. POWER-IO has created several customer-specific heatsink designs where overall size, fin geometry, fin angle / spacing, and draw-down geometry were optimized.

Sorry for the slow reply.
Click to expand...

So, I assume this is pertinent to the elements that are pulling mad crazy amperage but a pump should be aok, right? I'll post a pic of my heatsink but I do believe that the ebrewsupply design is sound!
 

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