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BigBobsBrews

BigBobsBrews

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I've been in the process of finishing up my Kal clone (well almost, its gonna run 2 burners & a heating element) & gotten a lot of help from the HBT community, so even though shes not quite done yet (check ssrs, wire pilot lights, finish the new frame, water test...) I thought I'd put up a few pics... I know how you guys like shiny things.

Prost,
Theo

2011-10-18_17-18-42_639.jpg


2011-10-18_17-00-46_830.jpg


2011-10-18_17-04-49_727.jpg
 
Sweet control box man! Where did you get the stainless steel enclosure?! BTW, I'm glad to see you're building a proper stand. That gorgeous set up deserves better than an old ping pong table:)!!
 
I got a real sweet deal on the enclosure on ebay. haha ya, I bet that old ping-pong table would collapse if i tried to fill all 3 kettles.
 
Lovin all that SS and triclover!

I see a triclover RIMS tube, and I assume the plastic bucket is your mash tun. What are you planning for your mashing technique? Will this be a hybrid type of system, capable of ERIMS and EHERMS? What's your maximum batch size?

Are those returns installed into the lids? I had lid returns and ended up uninstalling them because of the constraints they involved, so I suggest not using lid returns.
 
Well, the plan for now is to use the brute (plastic bucket) as the HLT, in combination with my brewers hardware rims tube. The MLT & BK will be direct fired, same as I have been doing for the past 2 years. I have never brewed a batch using electric before, so I imagine that that plan will change quite a bit after I brew a batch or 2.

They are 30 gal kettles, I usually brew 15 gal batches but have done 20.

What are these constraints you speak of? I have been using lid returns for a couple months with no problems
 
I mostly finished welding up the top of the new brewstand this weekend. Who says brewery equipment can't be art?

brewstandart.jpg
 
It looks like you've been brewing with propane a little too close to the garage door. lol.

What made you go with the octagonal shape for the vessel pads, for lack of a better word?
 
kevink said:
It looks like you've been brewing with propane a little too close to the garage door. lol.
Click to expand...

haha, but no I do all my brewing outdoors ever since I set the fire alarm off, what your seeing is the results of trapped German Shepard.


kevink said:
What made you go with the octagonal shape for the vessel pads, for lack of a better word?
Click to expand...

This is going to be a hybrid gas / electric & I liked the octagon around the burners... no one else has done it... and I just got a little carried away with the metal band saw
 
Three months ago I sold my old brewery. Two months ago my keggerator ran dry. Tomorrow it will all be worth it, for I shall brew and it shall be great!!

2011-10-30_14-38-08_743.jpg


2011-11-10_20-04-50_165.jpg


2011-11-10_20-05-01_445.jpg
 
nice setup!... what does the control pannel control? It looks like you have propane burners, can you run either way?
 
jtsims21 said:
nice setup!... what does the control pannel control? It looks like you have propane burners, can you run either way?
Click to expand...

Yup its a hybrid. The control panel runs both pumps, both burners & an electric element.

I eventually hope to have 3 burners & 2 elements,
 
Quick question for you. In this pic, on the left, in the middle of the wooden panel, are two metal bars with screws on top and wires going in and out. What the hell are those called? It's exactly what I want, but searching "power distribution block" "terminal block", "bus bar" etc. brings up NOTHING like that, only shielded terminal strips and expensive assed compact power blocks. I just want a simple bar of metal I can secure various gauges of wire to!

2011-10-18_17-04-49_727.jpg
 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_67717-296-P...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=

http://www.lowes.com/pd_67699-296-P...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=

or if you want a little color
http://www.lowes.com/pd_94114-82364...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=
shortyjacobs said:
Quick question for you. In this pic, on the left, in the middle of the wooden panel, are two metal bars with screws on top and wires going in and out. What the hell are those called? It's exactly what I want, but searching "power distribution block" "terminal block", "bus bar" etc. brings up NOTHING like that, only shielded terminal strips and expensive assed compact power blocks. I just want a simple bar of metal I can secure various gauges of wire to!

2011-10-18_17-04-49_727.jpg
Click to expand...
 
nice. Do they come any bigger than that? I was thinking 45 or 55 gallon size. Do 1 mash and split between two boil keggles.
 
Seeing as how this was my first brew using electric or tri-clover fittings. I thought everything went pretty smoothly, with a few lessons learned...

1) You can never have enough tri-clover clamps, gaskets or hose barbs.

2) Making sure the element couldn't fire unless the pump feeding it is on is probably the best decision I made when wiring my control panel.

3) Do not try and go above 200F with the RIMS tube. Nothing good can happen.

4) Derrins 3-way valves ROCK!!

5) Putting these mesh gasket all over may seem like a good idea... it isn't, only use them where required, aka right before the chiller.

2011-11-11_17-14-59_218.jpg


6) 1/2" kettle returns no longer cut it. I'm gonna have to TIG in some ferrules & pray that i don't **** up my kettles.

6) Fill your HLT with the hot water coming out of the chiller and use it to clean up.

7) If you put silicone tubing between your water input & a ball valve, then close said ball valve the tubing will blow up like a balloon. Same thing with compressed air.

8) Inline aeration is great

2011-11-11_15-07-08_345.jpg


9) I should really build a mount for my control panel.
 
Sweet pics. Those 3 way valves are impressive!

Love your control panel "mount".

But methinks you cheated :p, I only see two big cords attached to that control panel, the RIMS power cord and the main power supply cord. Someone used gas ;)
 
mikeysab said:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_67717-296-P...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=

http://www.lowes.com/pd_67699-296-P...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=

or if you want a little color
http://www.lowes.com/pd_94114-82364...urrentURL=/pl__0__s?Ntt=ground+bar&facetInfo=
Click to expand...

I was going to go to radio shack for something like that tomorrow. What you posted are ground terminals. What I'd like is something insulated on the bottom so I can use it to distribute my hot line around the box.

Granted, I am using a heavy duty plastic toolbox for my control panel so I guess it wouldn't conduct like a metal box would but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Alternatively, I could twist all the wires up together and solder the whole lot of them. But the fancy terminal block looks so much nicer and I'm sure it's safer or better somehow anyway.
 
I know what they are, that's why I answered the question "what the hell are those?". Just helping him find what he's looking for. I was actually going to suggest the insulated strips, but he wasn't asking for those. I've done a lot of service work in the last 5 years, and I like to keep things as insulated as possible. The ground bars aren't really good to use for a power strip, because they're all metal, and unless you're fastening them to a nonconductive surface, they're useless. The op looks to have some kind of isolating barrier between the guts and those bars. I don't see any screws holding them in place, so they seem to be isolated from the metal box. Personally, when it comes to electricity, I wouldn't trust anything that isn't screwed or bolted in place.

True, the terminal blocks look nice, and are neat, but I"d rather splice everything together. If you know how to splice (seems simple, but I've seen some really bad splices over the years) then that splice will never come apart. A terminal block, in my mind at least, has multiple points of failure. Say you forget to really tighten down your hot wire screw, and over the years it loosens up and comes free. With a box that's jam packed, there's so much stuff that wire could come in contact with, cause an arc and set the whole thing on fire. Sure, it's probably far fetched, but electricity can kill you, quick. There's a lot of things that could go wrong. But like everything, we each have our own way of doing things, and mine is no more right than some others. If you put it together safely, then it should be fine.
 
mikeysab said:
I know what they are, that's why I answered the question "what the hell are those?". Just helping him find what he's looking for. I was actually going to suggest the insulated strips, but he wasn't asking for those. I've done a lot of service work in the last 5 years, and I like to keep things as insulated as possible. The ground bars aren't really good to use for a power strip, because they're all metal, and unless you're fastening them to a nonconductive surface, they're useless. The op looks to have some kind of isolating barrier between the guts and those bars. I don't see any screws holding them in place, so they seem to be isolated from the metal box. Personally, when it comes to electricity, I wouldn't trust anything that isn't screwed or bolted in place.

True, the terminal blocks look nice, and are neat, but I"d rather splice everything together. If you know how to splice (seems simple, but I've seen some really bad splices over the years) then that splice will never come apart. A terminal block, in my mind at least, has multiple points of failure. Say you forget to really tighten down your hot wire screw, and over the years it loosens up and comes free. With a box that's jam packed, there's so much stuff that wire could come in contact with, cause an arc and set the whole thing on fire. Sure, it's probably far fetched, but electricity can kill you, quick. There's a lot of things that could go wrong. But like everything, we each have our own way of doing things, and mine is no more right than some others. If you put it together safely, then it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Sorry, didn't mean that to sound like you didn't know what the grounding bar is. I intended it more as "that's x, I need y, would you know where to find that or what it is called?"

It also sounds like you think it would be better to solder it all together than use a terminal block type thing. Say I have 3 wires that all need to connected to the incoming hot line. Should I solder the three together onto a single line and then solder that line to the incoming hot line? The hot line coming into the box is a 6 or 8 gauge line (I don't recall, it's whatever is rated for 50amps). The wiring I'm using in the box for everything except the elements is 14 gauge.

Sorry to thread jack.

edit: great avatar BTW
 
Lost said:
Sorry, didn't mean that to sound like you didn't know what the grounding bar is. I intended it more as "that's x, I need y, would you know where to find that or what it is called?"

It also sounds like you think it would be better to solder it all together than use a terminal block type thing. Say I have 3 wires that all need to connected to the incoming hot line. Should I solder the three together onto a single line and then solder that line to the incoming hot line? The hot line coming into the box is a 6 or 8 gauge line (I don't recall, it's whatever is rated for 50amps). The wiring I'm using in the box for everything except the elements is 14 gauge.

Sorry to thread jack.

edit: great avatar BTW
Click to expand...
:off: Same boat for me.

10 awg coming in, splitting off to some 10 awg and some 14 awg. What's best and cheapest? I loved the ground bus bar, and figured I could use it since I was planning on making a wooden Control Panel, (I know, shuddup!), but then realized that with hot screwed into wood, and ground somewhere else on the wood, I COULD get a bit of leakage current and trip my GFCI.

So, I'm with him, if no ground bus bar, what's best? (best = cheapest, but still safe and neat).
 
Lost said:
It also sounds like you think it would be better to solder it all together than use a terminal block type thing. Say I have 3 wires that all need to connected to the incoming hot line. Should I solder the three together onto a single line and then solder that line to the incoming hot line? The hot line coming into the box is a 6 or 8 gauge line (I don't recall, it's whatever is rated for 50amps). The wiring I'm using in the box for everything except the elements is 14 gauge.
Click to expand...

I would prefer to just splice them together and stick a wire nut on there. For people that aren't used to splicing, I'd say get one of those insulated terminal blocks. Just be sure to tighten everything sufficiently.

shortyjacobs said:
:off: Same boat for me.

10 awg coming in, splitting off to some 10 awg and some 14 awg. What's best and cheapest? I loved the ground bus bar, and figured I could use it since I was planning on making a wooden Control Panel, (I know, shuddup!), but then realized that with hot screwed into wood, and ground somewhere else on the wood, I COULD get a bit of leakage current and trip my GFCI.

So, I'm with him, if no ground bus bar, what's best? (best = cheapest, but still safe and neat).
Click to expand...

I"d splice everything and put a wire nut on it. Just be sure that you make a decent splice. The instructions on wire nuts tell you to just put everything together and twist the wire nut on. That's not a proper splice. A proper splice is when you twist the wires together so they're interlocked. That'll never come apart after you cap it with a wire nut.

GFCI's could be sensitive when it comes to liquid. Sometimes it just takes a bit of moisture to trip a GFI. Normally wood wouldn't be a good conductor of electricity, but if you get it wet, and the wood gets saturated, it could be enough to trip a GFI. Then again, tripping the GFI would probably be the least of your problems at that point. But, we're talking about working around liquids, so tripping a GFI is always a possibility if we're not careful.
 
You think I can use stripboard/veroboard for 110VAC if I lay down some thick solder for the connections?
 
BigBobsBrews said:
Seeing as how this was my first brew using electric or tri-clover fittings. I thought everything went pretty smoothly, with a few lessons learned...

1) You can never have enough tri-clover clamps, gaskets or hose barbs.

2) Making sure the element couldn't fire unless the pump feeding it is on is probably the best decision I made when wiring my control panel.

3) Do not try and go above 200F with the RIMS tube. Nothing good can happen.

4) Derrins 3-way valves ROCK!!

5) Putting these mesh gasket all over may seem like a good idea... it isn't, only use them where required, aka right before the chiller.

2011-11-11_17-14-59_218.jpg


6) 1/2" kettle returns no longer cut it. I'm gonna have to TIG in some ferrules & pray that i don't **** up my kettles.

6) Fill your HLT with the hot water coming out of the chiller and use it to clean up.

7) If you put silicone tubing between your water input & a ball valve, then close said ball valve the tubing will blow up like a balloon. Same thing with compressed air.

8) Inline aeration is great

2011-11-11_15-07-08_345.jpg


9) I should really build a mount for my control panel.
Click to expand...



Big Bob you're setup is very inspirational and you live right down the street. As soon as my kids are old enough to not want me around, we have to talk.
 
mikeysab said:
The op looks to have some kind of isolating barrier between the guts and those bars.
Click to expand...

Correct, the bus bars are bolted to the wooden backing panel. I ground down the bolts & then covered them with epoxy & then duct tape just to be safe.

mikeysab said:
A terminal block, in my mind at least, has multiple points of failure. Say you forget to really tighten down your hot wire screw, and over the years it loosens up and comes free.
Click to expand...

Trust me, those wires aren't going anywhere. I wouldn't be comfortable spicing multiple #6 wires together with a wire nut, but like you said to each his own.

2011-11-16_00-16-20_522.jpg
 
scoundrel said:
Big Bob you're setup is very inspirational and you live right down the street. As soon as my kids are old enough to not want me around, we have to talk.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the praise, but I'm going to be moving out to Indianapolis after new years. If you wanted to come over for a brewday sometime before then I'm sure we could figure something out.
 
I spent the last 2 evenings rewiring my control panel for 50 Amp service. I plan to replace my 5500W with 2x 4500W elements that I can fire simultaneously.

I added a new 60 Amp allen bradley contactor for the power input & am using the old 30 Amp contactor to control one of the elements. I also finished the wiring for the PID overrides. All that's left to do is install the new 25 ft 6/4 power cable & order new elements.

Base plate with new 60 Amp contactor installed:

2011-11-16_00-19-03_616.jpg


Everything installed & wired up in the enclosure:

2011-11-17_23-49-22_204.jpg



I removed the timer I had in there previously (I always used the alarm on my phone anyways) & then installed a 4th PID in its place (2 propane burners, 2 electric elements).

2011-11-17_23-48-50_637.jpg
 
I just found out about Kal's design recently and bought his book... been reading it whenever I can get some free time from my Chief-of-Staff (wife).

Basically, I plan on doing this gradually, over the next few years. I'd love to go out and just buy everything on their shopping list, but that would cost at least 3K... Instead, I'm going to have to piece it together bit-by-bit. I do love the bucket for an HLT, though--about $500 less than a 3rd blichman kettle.

From what I can tell, those hole-cutters they reference are also crazy-expensive. Is that something that an automotive/electric shop would have and I can just ask nicely to use them for a day?

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback from your first brew. I don't understand all of it yet but appreciate the "learn from my mistakes if you try to do this at home" effort.

Great build and a BEAUTIFUL rack (except the wood--but I'm sure you have a plan for that--nicer wood...eventually mounting everything on the rolling platform...etc)
 
NewBrewB said:
I do love the bucket for an HLT, though--about $500 less than a 3rd blichman kettle.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell you could sub a Rubbermaid Brute for the Mash Tun as well if you could come up with a false bottom. I think someone here might actually custom make them (Jaybird??). Not yet sure about their long term durability but they would get you brewing.


NewBrewB said:
From what I can tell, those hole-cutters they reference are also crazy-expensive. Is that something that an automotive/electric shop would have and I can just ask nicely to use them for a day?
Click to expand...

I don't know, but its worth a shot.


NewBrewB said:
Great build and a BEAUTIFUL rack (except the wood--but I'm sure you have a plan for that--nicer wood...eventually mounting everything on the rolling platform...etc)
Click to expand...

Thanks. Still working on optimizing the layout, plumbing, ect... Once I have everything just the way I want it ill work on making her a bit prettier.
 

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