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Hi kal I'm curious about you what you mean. I thought it would be safer to put the contactor as close to the power as possible (furthest away from point of use). That way, you deenergize more of the circuit when you disconnect. Am I not thinking about this the right way? Thanks. Sent from...

That's awesome! I hadn't seen the Brewpi project before. I'm totally inspired to work on my controller again. Thanks and best of luck with your project.

Great setup. I built a similar setup but used a rotary encoder for input. Are there any improvements you would like to incorporate or things you want to fix? My next improvement will be to set up a temperature ramp. First at a preprogrammed time then maybe set it up to detect the fermentation...

I run 2 1500 watt elements and brew 10 gallon batches. Works just fine. Good boil. Never got dms in any judging, even for my Czech pils. Takes a little longer to get up to a boil than propane but my brewday is still only 7 hrs including setup and cleanup.

I clean after every brew. I soldered 1" nuts onto my keggle so it's easy to unscrew every time. My old elements were cleaned too vigorously with a green scrubby and the nickel plating was removed (I use 2x 120v 2kW HWD elements ). This made cleaning extremely difficult. I replaced the...

Depending on what solder you use, it should be totally safe. Get lead free plumbing safe solder. No flux or acid core, no lead (Pb) or antimony (Sb), nothing for electronics. If you're super concerned, look at the alloy. Some combination of silver (Ag), tin (Sn), bismuth (Bi), copper (Cu), or...

I neutralize the flux with a baking soda & water solution (I keep a squeeze bottle filled with a baking soda solution whenever I work with this flux just to be safe.) Then just scrub with a brass or stainless steel brush. If there's still discoloration, then I turn to barkeeper's friend or...

No stress test per se but I'm confident that it's stronger any damage you can do with basic hand tools. Honestly, your kettle walls are likely weaker than a properly soldered joint.

That's going to be tough with a mega. You have to etch a pcb to accept a surface mount atmega2560 chip. Those are only available in surface mount. Can you use a UNO instead? That's much simpler to make stand alone since there's a DIP form factor for atmega328. I proto'd a kegerator...

Is the flow sensor food safe? Couldn't find info on the website.

I brew 10 gal batches on 110V. Total brew day is ~6-7 hrs. Faster if I had a better immersion chiller. It's all about time management. I crush while heating for sparge, clean the mill / organize hops during the mash, then clean the mash during the boil. Beers come out nice with no DMS or...

I too have the 1/2" heavy duty low speed drill on a monster mill 2 roller mill from northern brewer. Works great. Plenty of torque so hold on. Make sure the chuck is on tight. Yes there is a trigger lock.

When I got started and learned a lot from this guy. I also used this site a lot http://www.adafruit.com/tutorials These were great intros to basic electronics if you need it. http://www.afrotechmods.com/tutorials/ Good luck. It's a ton of fun!

You could probably automate it with a digital pressure sensor and a stepper motor controlled by an Arduino. The stepper motor can turn the knob to adjust the pressure. Sounds like a fun project.

I think its more for convenience. With an uno, you don't have to; do much soldering, work on a stripboad, build a power supply, and have a separate ftdi programmer. An atmega328 stand alone is much cheaper and more compact. That's the way I like to go.

Zinc is also an important yeast nutrient. Many yeast nutrient additives like servomyces include it so I'd say use the zinc one, your fermentation could get better.

I just bought a diaphragm pump similar to: http://morebeer.com/view_product/17305//Self-Priming_Diaphragm_Pump_for_Beer_Transfers I want to pump finished beer from my fermentor in my fridge directly into a keg. What are some best practices? How do I sanitize? Should I use no-foam sanitizer...

Just wanted to add my 2 cents: I live in a condo and don't have access to 220. I brew all electric 10 gal all-grain batches on 110v on my porch. I use 2 x 1500W elements since I only have access to 15A circuits. I've made everything from a russian imperial stout to a czech pilsner (~20...

I use 2 1500 watt high density elements and make 10 gal batches (13 gal preboil volume). I get a decent rolling boil. I've made blondes and Czech pilsners without a hint of DMS (or the notorious scorching). Takes a while to get up to a boil but I've got plenty to keep me busy during my brewday...

I love my caps. I can put a 1/2 gallon or starsan into my carboys, cap and shake it to sanitize and just leave it there until I need to use it. Seals great and I don't have to deal with annoying stoppers. I got mine from home brew mart in San Diego about 5 years ago. They don't list it on...