I can't leave well enough alone.

Well Kladue has inspired me to look into automation and I have decided to do just that. The project will bring automation to my existing Natural Gas Fired E-RIMS Brewery. I have been looking at alot of the arduino hardware out there and have decided not to reinvent the wheel, so I will go with a Brewtroller (http://www.brewtroller.com). I have started collecting hardware to get this thing going and I will start with the Control Panel which will be the heart of the new automated brewery.

I have the design of the control panel pretty much set in concrete and I will post the drawings below. I will start with the control panel metal work next week. A neighbor of mine owns a machine shop and has agreed to let me use one of his Bridgeports of Saturdays for some Home Brew. I have done this in the past when building my audio equipment so it should work out fine.

The project will not happen over night. I do not want to take the brewery out of commission for the upgrade until I have everything all set to go, to minimize downtime. I will be able to build and test the control panel over the winter and plumb in the necessary sensors and valves in early spring. If I can scrounge up some extra scratch, I will re-plumb the brewery in stainless steel tube. We will see how it goes. I will update this thread from time to time as I progress. I welcome any questions or comments.


This is the brewery as it stands today utilizing simple automation via PID's





Here are the Plans and Drawings to upgrade the Brewery to near Full Automation (you will still have to add grain and hops manually when prompted by the automation for now)


Brew Stand Plumbing Schematic (.pdf file)

Brew Stand Plumbing Schematic


Gas Control Schematic (for both HLT and BK) (.pdf file)

Gas Control Schematic


E-RIMS Schematic (.pdf file)

E-RIMS Schematic


Control Panel Overall Schematic (.pdf file)

Control Panel Schematic


Relay Boards Schematic (.pdf file) *(Note: U1 has been replaced by a DIP Switch so the Brewtroller can control the relays directly)

Relay Board Schematic


USB-BUB Schematic (.pdf file)

USB-BUB Schematic


Power Sopply Data Sheet (.pdf file)

Power Supply Data Sheet


Control Panel Electronics Deck Layout (.pdf file)

Control Panel Electronics Deck Layout


Control Panel Electronics Deck Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel Electronics Deck


Control Panel Front Cover Labeling Diagram (.pdf file)

Control Panel Front Cover Labeling Diagram


Control Panel Front Cover Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel Front Cover


Control Panel Top Side Labeling Diagram (.pdf file)

Control Panel Top Side Labeling Diagram


Control Panel Top Side Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel Top Side Mechanical Drawing


Control Panel Bottom Side Mechanical Drawing(.pdf file)

Control Panel Bottom Side Mechanical Drawing


Control Panel Left Side Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel Left Side Mechanical Drawing


Control Panel Right Side Labeling Diagram (.pdf file)

Control Panel Right Side Labeling Diagram


Control Panel Right Side Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel Right Side Mechanical Drawing


Control Panel SSR Heatsink Mechanical Drawing (.pdf file)

Control Panel SSR Heatsink Mechanical Drawing

Looks like a well planned automation build, have you decided on which level sensors you are going to use for level measurement?.

Subscribed! I'm currently designing my herms and got my hands on some 3 piece ss solenoids and this just might make me automat things! I love the orginal but this is even better!

kladue said:

Looks like a well planned automation build, have you decided on which level sensors you are going to use for level measurement?.

Click to expand...

Kevin,

I will use the Motorola MPX5010. One of the local semiconductor sales guys who calls on me promised me a half a dozen samples. I chose the sensor because of the built in amplifier and temperature compensation. I will drill a hole in the keggles as low as I can and attach 1/4" weldless coupling without a dip tube. I want to minimize the amount of metal in contact with the hot liquid to prevent the air in the silicone tube from heating up too much and affecting the pressure readings. I will adapt to a 1/8" hose barb and run 1/8" silicone tubing to the sensor which will be mounted in a waterproof cast aluminum box I will mount the sensor box away from any heat source. Does this sound about right to you?

I am curious about the possibility of using silicone oil as an inert isolator material for below keggle mounting of the motorola sensors. I dont know if the sensors require isolation from water because of corrosion or if it is any liquid. I have seen some SS isoated pressure transmitters on ebay that would work, ranged at 0 - 55"Wc.

You make a great project manager.
I looked at all your PDF files, well done.

This project will be a piece of cake for you, compared to your one of a kind turntable project.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

ClaudiusB said:

You make a great project manager.
I looked at all your PDF files, well done.

This project will be a piece of cake for you, compared to your one of a kind turntable project.


Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Click to expand...

Thank you. Wow! I consider that a big compliment coming from you! I doubt I will ever top the turntable. There was a lot of physics involved in the turntable design. Writing the G-Code for CNC Machining the platter and bearing was fun having never done it before. Is was a fun project.

kladue said:

I am curious about the possibility of using silicone oil as an inert isolator material for below keggle mounting of the motorola sensors. I dont know if the sensors require isolation from water because of corrosion or if it is any liquid. I have seen some SS isoated pressure transmitters on ebay that would work, ranged at 0 - 55"Wc.

Click to expand...

Kevin,

I would love to mount below the kettle but I am using Gas. I saw some guys over on the Brewtroller site who use bottom mounts in their electric brewery's. Unfortunately the Motorola sensors can't get wet as they utilize a strain gage and I can't beat the price being free.

That was why I was curious if you could use a high viscosity silicone oil in the tubing that connects to the sensor to isolate it from the water.

kladue said:

That was why I was curious if you could use a high viscosity silicone oil in the tubing that connects to the sensor to isolate it from the water.

Click to expand...

I see your point. I am only using 3 sensors and am getting 6 of them. It is worth a try with one of them. What type of oil do you suggest?

Hi guys,
Can you explain a bit more on how an arrangement using silicon oil would be contructed.
For example, how do you keep it mixing with the wort, and are you suggesting it could be in contact with the sensor?
Cheers.

The sensor would be on the short leg of a piece of tubing bent in a "J" shape, the silicone oil would be in the short leg and water in the long leg. Water in the tubing would keep the silicone oil up against the sensor and hopefully isolated the water from the sensor as the silicone oil is insoluble in water. I have found the silicone oil in small containers on "Amazons" website listed as silicone oil http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Silicone-Diff-Oil-1000/dp/B000BLJKRW/ref=sr_1_27?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1259507688&sr=8-27, no details on purity but used in small quantity and being trapped in the tubing it should not pose a threat to the brewing process. If there are concerns about the trapping of the silicone oil then a horizontal "S" shape tube layout would have two traps for oil control.

Well, I got to spend some time in the machine shop this past weekend and made the plate which will mount the electronics for my E-RIMS Brewery Upgrade. The plate was machined on a Haas CNC Mill with some quickly written G-Code. It was longer to write the G-Code than the 5 minutes to mill the aluminum plate. Thank goodness for neighbors who own machine shops! I will also be adding the electronics for a USB interface for connection to an external PC. RS-232 is ok but quite antiquated and I am not sure my laptop even has a RS-232 connection. The cool thing about these Sanguino/Anduino Micro-Computers is there is alot of I/O hardware out there on the cheap. The transformer is to control the two Honeywell Y8610U Intermittent Pilot Valve kits which requires 24 volts AC. The Brewtroller Board will control up to 11 valves or pumps and has PID control capability for three vessels. I will start the wiring immediately, debug the electronics, then machine the enclosure. Here is a picture of the plate with the electronics mounted.

Wow, looks great. That will be one hell of a project. Good luck!

looking great!!

When you are done can you whittle this down to a "for dummies thread", because I have no idea what you are talking about.

I consider myself reasonably intelligent but this makes want to run my head through a grain mill.

Just a progress report on my brewery automation project. Here are some pictures of the Control Panel wiring.

Wow, I like the clean looking wiring job.



Cheers,
ClaudiusB

Looking very nice, looking forward to more pictures.

I see your using 2 pumps in your current setup. Why add the third for the new setup? Just curious.

pickles said:

I see your using 2 pumps in your current setup. Why add the third for the new setup? Just curious.

Click to expand...

It's a long story. It basically comes down to this: I was gifted 3 pumps. While I didn't really need all three, I had them and decided to use all 3 as to not hurt some people's feelings. If I had to buy myself, I would have only bought two.

You could always keep the extra as a spare and tell the person who bought it for you that it's the "most important and most appreciated" pump of the three ;>)

ThePig said:

You could always keep the extra as a spare and tell the person who bought it for you that it's the "most important and most appreciated" pump of the three ;>)

Click to expand...

I probably could have but when they saw it being used they smiled.

Nice job!

That relay board is a 12VDC model. Brewtroller is only capable of providing a +5V digital "HIGH" signal, isn't it? How are you directly manipulating the relays?

EDIT: This wasn't meant as criticism so much as I'm curious and hoping I missed something. The relay board is pretty cheap and looks like it has some great potential!

So with this rig you will be able to add water, grain, and just walk away until you have to add hops? I might have some questions for you about how you hook it up to your computer, when you get done, we have a controller thing that converts 482 to RS 283, but i dont know how to hook it up yet.

Jmurm said:

So with this rig you will be able to add water, grain, and just walk away until you have to add hops? I might have some questions for you about how you hook it up to your computer, when you get done, we have a controller thing that converts 482 to RS 283, but i dont know how to hook it up yet.

Click to expand...

he's using Brewtroller so it'll can be connected to a computer via USB.

Yuri_Rage said:

Nice job!

That relay board is a 12VDC model. Brewtroller is only capable of providing a +5V digital "HIGH" signal, isn't it? How are you directly manipulating the relays?

EDIT: This wasn't meant as criticism so much as I'm curious and hoping I missed something. The relay board is pretty cheap and looks like it has some great potential!

Click to expand...

Yuri,

The ULN2803 driver chips sink current or provide a ground so you can use the relay at any voltage the ULN2803 will just provide a return.