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BigJim_inFLA

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After reading a bunch of the build threads here I have decided to make the leap to electric brewing. It will be quite a change for me as I have been up to this point only brewing 5 gallon extract brews on my kitchen stove. I figured if I was going to go all grain I would also go all electric. I'm hoping the learning curve won't be too steep.

The plan is to have a single tier system with HLT, MLT, and BK. I will be using a 5500W element in both the HLT and the BK. MLT will be a cooler for now, possibly changing to another keggle in the future. I have been slowly accumulating parts from the local surplus store and ebay. Yesterday's trip to the surplus store paid off with an 11.5" x 14" control panel enclosure for $20.00!! So today I started assembling the panel.

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Another work week finished so I have the next six days off to work on some projects. This morning I used a jigsaw to cut out the square holes for a PID and timer. The PID is an Auber SYL-2352 that will be controlling the element in the HLT. The timer is a cheap ebay find.

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For the time being I will be using a dryer outlet as a power source. Unfortunately this outlet is about 50 feet from where I will be brewing. Today I wired up a spa panel to be used for GFCI protection. I can plug the panel in and then connect into my control panel. That is 60 feet of 10/4 SOOW. Quite heavy.

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The used control box was cheap, but it had a few too many holes in it. To remedy this I put masking tape across the back of the hole I want to close up and filled it in with epoxy resin. When cured and sanded you won't even know its there. I don't really care for the weathered gray color either so its getting a coat of black.

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Just some advice from an electrician.

1) your heaters alone are going to pull 46 amps, you should at the very least be using a #8awg cord. (if this were a hard wired install you would have to be 60 amp with #6awg)

2) Your control circuit will need its own fuse (10 or 15amp) protection.

3) Each heating element will need its own 30 amp fuse protection, and be wired with 10awg.

Just wanted to give some advice, looking good. Your pannel layout looks better then some i see on jobsites.
 
Just some advice from an electrician.

1) your heaters alone are going to pull 46 amps, you should at the very least be using a #8awg cord. (if this were a hard wired install you would have to be 60 amp with #6awg)

2) Your control circuit will need its own fuse (10 or 15amp) protection.

3) Each heating element will need its own 30 amp fuse protection, and be wired with 10awg.

Just wanted to give some advice, looking good. Your pannel layout looks better then some i see on jobsites.


Looking at the panel layout he only has one PID controller, so I'm guessing he's only running one element at a time and he won't be pulling over 30 amps and the 10g will be fine. But I don't know that for sure so your warning is not a bad thing to bring up just in case he wants to run them both at once.

BigJim
Cool idea on filling in holes, by the way. I picked up some enclosure hole plugs from Home Depot for mine, but your idea looks better for sure. What's your wiring diagram look like?
 
I love beer porn... My wife is going to wonder on laundry day...........



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Just some advice from an electrician.

1) your heaters alone are going to pull 46 amps, you should at the very least be using a #8awg cord. (if this were a hard wired install you would have to be 60 amp with #6awg)

2) Your control circuit will need its own fuse (10 or 15amp) protection.

3) Each heating element will need its own 30 amp fuse protection, and be wired with 10awg.

Just wanted to give some advice, looking good. Your pannel layout looks better then some i see on jobsites.


Thanks for the heads up. As has been surmised by others, I will only be running one element at a time. In fact the center switch is an ON-OFF-ON switch that will only allow one element to be on at a time.

I guess I should try to post my wiring diagram so everyone could see my thought process, but it is a bunch of scribbles on a legal pad. I haven't figured out how to make a nice one on the computer like P-J. :)
 
Thanks for the heads up. As has been surmised by others, I will only be running one element at a time. In fact the center switch is an ON-OFF-ON switch that will only allow one element to be on at a time.

I guess I should try to post my wiring diagram so everyone could see my thought process, but it is a bunch of scribbles on a legal pad. I haven't figured out how to make a nice one on the computer like P-J. :)


You can always take a pic of your wiring diagram and post that. I have mastered reading old barely legible schematics.

So you will not need to up size the wire, but you still have a problem with the #10 from the 50amp GFCI. #10 needs to have a 30amp breaker. It can be fixed a few ways. The easiest is if you connect the GFCI unit to a 30amp circuit from your house panel, then it will be protected.
 
You can always take a pic of your wiring diagram and post that. I have mastered reading old barely legible schematics.

So you will not need to up size the wire, but you still have a problem with the #10 from the 50amp GFCI. #10 needs to have a 30amp breaker. It can be fixed a few ways. The easiest is if you connect the GFCI unit to a 30amp circuit from your house panel, then it will be protected.

This will be plugged in to the dryer outlet in my laundry room that is fed by a 30A breaker from the main panel.
 
Not only did the used panel have too many holes, but the holes it did have were not the correct size. Too make using my hole saw easier I clamped some scrap on the backside. It gives something for the pilot bit to drill into. All the power outlets fit nicely!

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Control panel front cover in black with all the good stuff installed. Even the wife thinks it looks cool! Now the fun stuff begins, wiring.

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I hope everyone can make this out. This is the wiring diagram for the 120V control portion of the circuit. Basically everything that is installed and wired in the cover of the control box is on this sheet. I started the wiring, and I would have been done by now, but I ran out of black wire.

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Wiring is just about finished. I found some red THHN in the garage that will work since I ran out of black. And here is the first test! Everything lights up and beeps like its supposed to, and none of the magic smoke leaked out!

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Not much progress this week as I am working, but I did manage to cap the ends of my heating elements. Sealed with hot melt glue, watertight and firmly mounted.

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let me know how that hot glue holds up... I love the concept! especially since you don't have to wait for the JB to cure!
 
let me know how that hot glue holds up... I love the concept! especially since you don't have to wait for the JB to cure!

Will do. Before anyone else runs out and tries this I should point out that this is only an experiment at this time. It could fail miserably. Also you must use high temp sticks preferably polyamide sticks. Regular glue sticks soften below 200 degrees so I don't think they would be a good choice.
 
I am assuming that the green wire is your ground, but what is it attached to inside the white compartment you have made?

Edit: I went back and looked at the second picture again and noticed the shadow of the ground wire ends...So...I figure the ground wire is cut off and will be mounted directly to your pot??
 
I am assuming that the green wire is your ground, but what is it attached to inside the white compartment you have made?

Edit: I went back and looked at the second picture again and noticed the shadow of the ground wire ends...So...I figure the ground wire is cut off and will be mounted directly to your pot??

Yes. I have a ground lug soldered to the kettle.
 
Some progress has been made. The heat sink is certainly large enough to keep two SSRs cool.

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I cut the hole in the top of the control panel. The heat sink will be mounted over it.

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The holes are drilled and tapped to hold the SSRs. Heat sink is attached to the control panel with epoxy, but will also be screwed.

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Holes drilled for the temp probe connectors. I will have to file out some key ways for them to sit flush.

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Ok five months is a long time, but I finally have some progress to report! It has been so long because I moved, so some of my original plans have changed. First off, since I bought my own home I decided to install a dedicated 30 amp 240v circuit in the garage for brewing. I also mounted my spa panel to the wall next to the outlet. I no longer need the 60' 10/4 extension cord, but for now I will keep it coiled up just in case.

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I completed the wiring in the control box and wanted to test my progress. After connecting everything, testing the emergency stop, and making sure all the controls and lights worked, I tried a simple boil of 5.5 gallons of water.

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Good news is everything works! Bad news is I have a very small leak where I soldered the nut for the heating element. Also using hot melt glue to pot the element didn't work as well as I had hoped. When hot it started to pull away so I will be redoing that with JB weld. This heats up fast! From 80 to 120 in just about 7 minutes!

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