Wiring diagram for brew kettle and rims controller

Hi guys, I've been brewing all grain for 3+ years now using a 8 gallon brew kettle with a Blichmann burner and two 10 gallon round coolers for MLT and HLT. It's served me well for 50 or so batches but I'd like to move up to 10 gallon batches and move indoors because I'm tired of fighting the wind and weather. So I'm working on designing a system using two 15 gallon kettles for the BK and MLT with a rims tube to keep the MLT at temp and allow mash out ramping. I'm planning on using one of my 10 gallon coolers as the HLT for the time being. I've been looking over P-J's wonderful diagrams but haven't seen one similar to what I'm planning. I'm looking to have :
--One 4500 240v element in the BK
--One 1500 240v element in the Rims tube
--be able to fire both simultaneously
--Two PIDS, Auberins timer, hook up for a single pump, e stop and I'd like to use the light up switches on Auberins website so I know I'll need to use contactors to the elements. I also like the wiring setup P-J used to insure the rims element could be turned on only if the pump was on. Anyone seen a diagram like the above? Thank you so much for any advice.

Give me some time to do some digging. I'm sure that I have a diagram that is close to your plan.

However: What is your intended power feed - 30A or 50A-240V. Where from: - dryer outlet, range outlet or something else? GFCI breaker planned (Spa Panel)?

Help me help you.

P-J, Thank you very much for your reply.
Yes I intend on using a GFCI breaker in my main box and run either 10/3 to a dryer outlet for 30a or if needed go up to 40 or 50 amp with a range outlet and run 6/3. I choose 4500 +1500 watts first because I believe it keeps me with a 30a outlet (6000w/240v = 25amp with some headroom) but after some research today, I am a little concerned the wattage may be low for a 10 gallon boil. I don't want it to take 2 hours to get to boil! Any thoughts on this? Ideally I would like to have a 5500wt element in the BK and perhaps a 2000wt in the RIMS tube (7500/240 = 31.25amp so 40amp supply would work here I believe) I was trying to stay away from needing DIN mounted breakers in the box as that adds about $100 to the build (at least from the suppliers I've been able to find). I've been studying your diagrams on and off all day, it appears that all the diagrams supplied by more than 30a have breakers in the box, are fuses a poor choice for a 40amp build? I also have reconsidered the timer as I don't think I will need that built into the controller. So ideally this would be my setup:

--30/40/50amp GFCI in main breaker box
--5500/4500 wt element in BK
--1500/2000 wt element in RIMS
--ability to simultaneously fire both elements and a single pump without overload
--2 PIDs, e-Stop, single pump outlet, Auber instruments lighted switches for Main power, pump and each element (model SW1 I think)
--I can skip the timer
--RIMS wired so it cannot go live without the pump on

I really want to do this right the first time, so if 40 or 50amp is needed and the breakers are needed for this to work properly then thats what I'll do. I'd hate to build a 30a build just to discover its underpowered for 10gal batches.

Thanks again for any help you can give, I really appreciate it.

Maybe this will help a bit. This diagram of yours is for a BIAB setup but everything is exactly what I'm trying to do for my BK so I would just like to add the rims element circuitry plus the interlock between the rims and pump power. Either with 4500w BK / 1500w RIMS if that will be enough or even better 5500w BK / 2000wt RIMS

PJ,

I've been playing around with a couple of your diagrams and I think I've figured out how to wire up the panel the correct way. I resigned myself to the fact that in panel breakers are probably the best way to go for safety and protection. I took one of your diagrams for a 50a eherms build and edited it to add the interlock between one of the elements (the RIMS element) and the pump and also removed one of the pumps as I only need one in my build. I didn't want to post my edited diagram without your permission because it was based on your work, but would I would be ecstatic if you would look it over to see if I made any errors. Could I PM it to you? Or would you like me to post it here? Once again, thank you.

Go ahead and post it here. No problem.

P-J

Thanks P-J
So here it is, I've studied your many diagrams as well as reviewed the Auberins instructions for the various components so I'm a good 90-95% sure this diagram is correct but when dealing with 240v you need to be 100%! Anyway thank you so much for looking this over, I surly welcome any comments or suggestions for change.
Basically, I took one of your eHERMS build and changed out the 5500w HLT element for a 3500w RIMS element. Added your wiring for the interlock with the pump to the RIMS element, and I changed out the switches to the Auberins illuminated ones (those things are sweet!) Tell me what you guys think! (Hopefully the resolution is high enough, the forum is downsizing it when I upload)

Matt

Matt,

You did an excellent job composing the diagram. I believe you are good to go with it as shown.
Just one thought: The RIMS element (3500W if Im reading that right) might be a little over powered. But then perhaps not as it will be closely controlled by the pid.

P-J

Here should be larger now:

Thank you P-J,

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with posting the image, I cannot get it to display that bar that says "click here to see full size" Kind of off topic but how do I do that? anyway, yes that does say 3500wt on the RIMS, I haven't picked the element yet but I'm trying to ensure I can do a ramp up from about 149 to 168 for mash out with just the RIMS element. Perhaps 2500w would be enough. But regardless, I was trying to "over wire" it so I could use a higher watt element if need be and ensure the the circuity could handle it. Do you feel I have accomplished that?

Matt

Here is a link to my file on imageshack:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/705/chymerarims.jpg/

chymera said:

Thank you P-J,

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with posting the image, I cannot get it to display that bar that says "click here to see full size" Kind of off topic but how do I do that? anyway, yes that does say 3500wt on the RIMS, I haven't picked the element yet but I'm trying to ensure I can do a ramp up from about 149 to 168 for mash out with just the RIMS element. Perhaps 2500w would be enough. But regardless, I was trying to "over wire" it so I could use a higher watt element if need be and ensure the the circuity could handle it. Do you feel I have accomplished that?

Matt

Click to expand...

To show the images the way I do them (click to see), the images have to be hosted somewhere and then referenced. I host my drawing on my private web site.

I believe you are ok the way you have it set up with the 3500W element.

P-J

Here is a link for your diagram setup as I do them

Click on the image to see (and save) a full scale diagram printable on Tabloid paper (11" x 17")



It just makes stuff easier.

Another way using Image Shack is to find the image reference on that site.
http://imageshack.us/a/img705/5314/chymerarims.jpg

And then show it as the image like this:

[ IMG ]http://imageshack.us/a/img705/5314/chymerarims.jpg[ /IMG ]
(just don't place the space before and after the [ ] characters)





I hope this makes sense and helps you.

Yep, totally makes sense! Thanks for the pointers, as I plan on posting images as I put this thing together.