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Okay, this is for all of you EE's out there. I posted a couple of days ago about a wiring variation I'm considering for my panel based on Kal's design. To summarize, instead of powering the element indicator lights off of Hot A&B (downstream of a contactor between the power source and the...

I'm working on the 2.0 version of my control panel, which is generally based on Kal's design. I've made a few minor tweaks, one of which is using the 110V versions of the boil element on indicator lights instead of the 220V's he uses (for one thing, that's what I ordered; for the other, this...

I seem to be destined to screw up my cider this year. First, I bought 5 gal from a local orchard, only to later read the label and find out it had been treated with K-sorbate. Well, I pitched it anyway, and it's bubbling sloooooowly... So, I decided to start a new, non-sorbate batch as a...

I just got a few hundred pounds of fresh wine grapes up from Chile (booya!), and I'm thinking repurposing my SS beer keggles for the primary fermentation. Some of the plumbing in the Keggles (it's a HERMS system) is made of copper and brass (e.g., dip tubes, ball valves). Also, one of the...

I've been running into a problem hitting mash temps with my new HERMS (electric, three-keggle, single tier). It goes like this: 1) I heat H2O in the HLT to the right strike temp (let's say, 163). 2) I pump enough hot H20 from the HLT into the MLT for the dough in. 3) I add grist to the...

I'm thinking it would be useful to have a little red float ball in my sight glass to amke it easier to see the water level (like the one I have in my coffee maker). Anyone have any good ideas as to what to use for said ball? (not involving sacrifice of my coffee maker, that is).

So, what's the trick? I have a three-keggle HERMS with a single March pump. The plumbing is 1/2 inch plastic tubing running from through-mounted ball valves. On the inside, the valves go to 3/8 OD pick up tubes. There is also a 3/8 OD HEX in the HLT, which feeds the MLT. The pump is mounted...

I've installed pickup tubes in my HLT and MLT (with a false bottom) and now am considering one in the BK as well to reduce the amount of wort lost to "dead space" when I drain it. At the same time, I'd like to minimize the amount of sludge I suck up off the bottom. Is it best to locate the end...

Okay, I'm just about ready to do my first 10 gal. batch in my new HERMS system. By my calculations, to get 10 gal of wort at the end of the brew, I will need about 18 gal of hot H2O for strike and sparge (using batch sparge technique. My keggles hold 15.5 gal., so this is a problem. How do...

Okay, so I finally finished wiring my CP, fired it up and ... no explosions! But I'm getting an error from my RTD sensor (Auber PT100). Since I added a panel mount connection, I suspected an issue with my connections. Then I noticed that the two red wires at the sensor end are soldered to the...

I've read some threads where a DPST switch is used after the SSR to kill both hot legs to an element. I'm thinking of doing something different: two hot wires coming into my CP go to a 30A DPST, then to my distribution block. The neutral comes into the CP and goes straight to the distribution...

I'm doing the copper coil thing for my HEX, but since I have a RIPP element sticking out from the wall of my keggle a few inches off the bottom, my question is: should the HEX sit above/on top of the RIPP, or is it okay to have the RIPP sticking through the coils of the HEX? Any reason the RIPP...

... three-prong dryer plug (haha, made you look! ;)). Rather than put two three-prong recepticals in my CP for the dryer cords from the HWT and BK to plug into, I'd like to run a few feet of 3/10 out from the CP ending with female plugs. Having a hard time finding something like this. Anyone...

For a single-tier, three kettle electric HERMS system, how many temperature sensors are you using and where are they placed? Clearly, I need one for the HTL so the PID can hit the mash in and sparge temps. Should there be another one after the HEX controlling the pump that is circulating the...

My HLT and BK each have standard 240v 4500w elements attached to 3 wire dryer cord (two hots to the element, ground to the keggle). I had an electrician over to add a 240v outlet near my brewstand, and asked him to put in a 30A GFCI breaker in the panel, upstream. He said, yeah sure, but...