valve control for each vessel
Will you be able to feather the valves? Pretty sure the Dout on the BCS are just +12V/0V. IMHO being able to control flow through a HERMS is pretty important during recirculation unless you want a stuck mash. Curious how you're dealing with this. . .
Suggestion?
A mash screen like a collander, a stainless float valve, this will "disperse" the flow over the top of the grain bed. It could only flow as fast as the holes allowed across the grain.
You're doing what I'd like to be.. but.. we all travel down our own path, and I have other priorities. Maybe I can drag along behind your achiements thou?
COMPUTER data acquisition?, saving the "heat", "Time" into graphs.. results with products and "types" so you can actually make a heat curve.. I've done that for carpet mill yarn production machinery and diagnosed "what was going wrong" during the failures later in dying colors..( I got a salary position & executive parking slot there for my old oil leaker 1958 Harley, and/or truck.)
SO, regardless of "type of equipment" if you followed a "heat curve, time length, did the same ingredients" you'd have the same results.. RIGHT?? or am I a newbie lost in the darkness of brewing magic??
Very nice! Love how you got it down to 4 automated valves.
I',m in the process of figuring out my flow control. Can you explain how yours is going to work? Are you using bottom drains in all three vessels? Will the pump prime coming from the plate chiller? When the Wort is cool, will you just take that second hose off the BK and put it in the fermenter?
Will you be able to feather the valves? Pretty sure the Dout on the BCS are just +12V/0V. IMHO being able to control flow through a HERMS is pretty important during recirculation unless you want a stuck mash. Curious how you're dealing with this. . .
Currently I have a stainless hand valve to control flow for sparging. You are correct the digital outputs on the BCS are on/off and would require a float switch or flow monitor for control. Possibly in the future.
Have you thought about pump motor control, automating a PWM for the pump to control the flow instead of a manual valve?
Since you are doing something with the Arduino for flow/volume sensing I though this could be added into that module with a switch for full power or sparging rate.
That is something that is great about Arduino, PWM is something I've been thinking about utilizing for flow control. I have a ways to go to figure out how to integrate the Arduino with the BCS. The BCS allows for digital inputs but no analog inputs. I'm not sure how to make this happen.
In terms of the flow control it would be "relatively" simple if you were using the Arduino for 2 speed control - Digital output from BCS to Arduino to signal "sparge mode" - Arduino reduces the PWM to a set point (or if getting flash a set flowrate with feedback from the flowmeter).
How are you intergrating the volume measurement back into the BCS, that would be what I would struggle with.
I have a chopper Router speed controller that I bought off ebay that I want to trial PWM my pump next brewday. At the moment my pump is very oversized since the supplier messed up and to compensate for being out of stock they offered to send me the next pump up, which ended up with going from a 40W to a 80W pump! Throtling with a ball valve has my valve almost shut to get a slow flow, PWM might give me the flexibility I need as when the motor slows down the pump will slow exponetially. Hopefully going do to 80% should get me sparging well.
every dc motor "can be a servo" if you just add a digital encoder feedback to the motor shaft. I made a 1/2 hp 90 volt motor into a servo here. Several window motors from autos.. (toys). You don't need a quadrature since "direction of pump is known by polarity". It could be a magnet and a hall effect sensor.
Gecko, or "ardino cpu" (spelling) could do pulse feedback-motor rpm control.
(neat looking fermenter) Some days I can see to tig weld, other days just piss me off. I worked in my shop for 2 hours today.
Subbed, this is exactly what I'd like to build in the very near future. I especially love the weld-in tippy dump on your tun. How do you keep a small amount of grain from building up at the lip or do you just not care at that point and go in the old-fashioned way with a scoop (aka hand) and clean it out manually like all the poorsies out there?
What are those motorcycle pipes coming out the side of the control box for?
What did you do for boxes around the heating elements?
Advice from a old electrician?
Heat shrink, thou great at sealing things up sometimes.. When you place it "around" a connection that has a screw terminal, as it tightens, it can loosen the lugs. Since it is closed up? you can not retighten them, (Cutting it off to tighten and you must determ one end to slip a new piece on) over a period of time it loosens more and heats up burning the connection. (This is from experience working with 25-100hp floating aeration pumps in sewage plants) Horrible job, real Sh****, I had child support to pay.
I'd be more tempted to get a " round exterior" cast electrical box, cut a hole fitting the threads on the back side and if you have "room" on the bung tighten up against it with a lock nut. If you have the tap-equipment put threads in it.. (sell a few to pay for the tap) Turn the cable-flex junction down, water don't normally run UP. CGB, Rubber cord grip, thou not water tight, can be drip tight.. OR coated flex with water tight connectors.
OF COURSE, you could take the "encapsulating" castable polymer approach, and take a form (coke bottle) and fill it with the polymer around the element connections, as it hardens it seals up and "will never" come loose, off again.. the cable and element are considered throw aways when they fail, if they fail. If you do this? you should go on and "cast some image" there on the polymer, perhaps a art deco?? (doll head, cat-dog, toy?)
HEY. Check out the fermentation "beer bug" on the other posts.. Might fit right into your line of work and automation scheme. All that shiny stainless is just crying for a colored LED string light show too.. sparkly.. (from a large child in GA) I love sparkly.
Love it! Two questions: What thought process did you go through for the choice of controllers. (BCS vs Brewtroller) and second, where did you source the project box to contain all that ugly/beautiful electronics? Please don't tell me it was a fabrication... I want to start my build with the controller/ valves etc while I'm still working out of state and living in an apartment, so fabricating a box will be difficult but I'm having a hard time finding larger project boxes.
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