Cloning kal

here is the very beginning of my brew rig! Planning on this taking awhile but I'd thought I'd start a thread while I was in the process

Beginning of my panel it's a 16x20x8 stainless Wiegmann enclosure why so crazy well cause it was free and fit for the job! I think the control panel is my focus rite now so here's some rough pics.
















Hoping to order all the goodies in a couple weeks and then I'll cut up the cover till then she will sit for a bit

I'm gonna use keggles instead of the Blichmann's since I can get them pretty cheap so far only picked up one future HLT








Still got a lot of work there lol like I said just beginning but I'll b sure to keep this updated and def open to suggestions / thoughts on anything! Enjoy!!

Looks like a great foundation!

Where are you getting the kegs? I am in the market myself...

If you can, look in to a water jet cutting facility for cutting your control panel. Unless you have all the tools and want to cut it your self.

Have fun.

Bsquared said:

If you can, look in to a water jet cutting facility for cutting your control panel. Unless you have all the tools and want to cut it your self.

Have fun.

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Nice thought I can look into it have some friends that may have access

BiggieB400 said:

Looks like a great foundation!

Where are you getting the kegs? I am in the market myself...

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My buddy has em just gotta pick them up and pay him his deposit he put on them

sils13 said:

My buddy has em just gotta pick them up and pay him his deposit he put on them

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so you are aware, the brewery still ownes the kegs and it is theft to not return them. people do it but that dosent make it less stealing. The best place to get them legally is from a local distribuitor or brewery that is selling damaged ones for scrap or from a scrap yard that buys them from a distribuitor or brewery.

Call around you would be supprised how available they are, and slightly less than the deposit around here!

So I picked up theese 2 heat sinks from work and was wondering if anyone had any thoughts I don't c why they wouldn't work but I could b wrong

If they fit on the top of the enclosure and don't get in the way of the handles (assuming you're going to use handles on the top - they're handy for carrying!) then they're certainly big enough. You may want to silicone up the bolt holes however.

Kal

kal said:

If they fit on the top of the enclosure and don't get in the way of the handles (assuming you're going to use handles on the top - they're handy for carrying!) then they're certainly big enough. You may want to silicone up the bolt holes however.

Kal

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Woot woot I was thinking they were. so ya I def got a Lil bit of cleaning up to do on them but free is worth it!

So got a Lil bit done today drilled all my 22mm holes ordered all the rest of my switches, lights, pid's, timer, and relays! Hopefully cut my squares when my pid's come and cut squares on top for ssr which I got mounted to my heat-sink! Be nice to get relays here so I can get my backplate laid out and figure out the rest of my din rail just got a few terminal blocks and circuit breakers one for elements and one for controls! I think that's all for today got a bunch of other loose ends to finish on this project probably gonna be awhile here's some pix enjoy

lookin good.

Biohazard said:

lookin good.

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Thanks


A few pics hope to get a lot accomplished this weekend!



















Sorry the pics r bad from my iPhone

Got some good time this weekend to do some work got ahead of myself still got some holes to cut but I'll just have to remove the back plate do far happy with everything!

how did you get the enclosure for free? work?

thats awesome. id rather not spend $100 on a metal freaking box if i don't have to

bagpiperjosh said:

how did you get the enclosure for free? work?

thats awesome. id rather not spend $100 on a metal freaking box if i don't have to

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Ya pretty much...! I only got like $450 in it so far
Thanks!!

Nice work! I bet the DIN rails and wire channels were also free right...? (Some people have the best jobs)

bagpiperjosh: Keep an eye out on ebay - sometimes used enclosures come up for pretty cheap. The problem is that often they already have holes punched however (which never end up working out where you want them of course).

Kal

Thanks! Ya it's nice workin round this stuff!

All done with panel post pics tonite when I fire it up make sure no smoke comes out

Getting ready to order some stuff for Keggles for nor cal brewing wanted to get some input from people about bottoms hers what I'm thinking

HLT
Just dip tube

MLT
15" hinged false bottom with level 3 stand and dip tube

Boil
10" hop blocker and dip tube don't know what stand to use

Appreciate any thoughts and suggestions thank you!

Dave,

Could you please specify the particular DIN system you are using. I understand how the system of DIN components works conceptually, but there seems to be hundreds of different "makes" of these components, and I'm wondering if you have to pick a particular "system" and stick with it.



I just purchased a 12x12x6 PVC enclosure from Home Depot. I like the sense of "organization" that the DIN components provide.

McMaster-Carr has 2 catalog pages of DIN components, but their cost is much higher than Mouser. Mouser has around 4,000 DIN components. To someone who's never had his hands on these pieces, the choices are overwhelming.

It would be sooooo helpful if you could specify which particular components you used.

Thanks,
Keith

Sorry for the late response I never got a notice of a post ummm I guess I don't know to much about specifics of DIN rail the stuff i got was just laying around the job box at work the stuff I have is 1" 3/8 i would think that "DIN" should b pretty universal more of the depth of the rail that changes..... I hope that helps a little bit ill take a peak at McMaster and c what's up.
Also with your wire mold I used 1" 1/8 and that was pushing it once I got some number 10's in there

The DIN rail I have must b din 1 if I'm reading that rite

Just some updates nothing crazy but I've kinda tried to work it into my brewing slowly also mainly I just want to use




















It'd b awesome


This too lol

So I'm at the point where I am gonna starting building my keggles and I'm looking for some input. I'm bouncing between soldering, weldless, or welded my buddy and I messed around with welded but we were never able to get clean welds. We r no experts by any means and we didn't use solar flux or any type of gas purge but it seemed to be time consuming with disappointing results we welded the inside and out, outside was nice and clean but the inside got messy
I like the idea of soldering nice and clean but i haven't been able to source a dimple tool so that's my only downside really on that. I have also thought about dimpling to the inside of the keg and welding the outside which would allow my friend to get much cleaner welds mainly due to ease of access
And last the weldless have just recently popped into my head just because of the simpleness, but at the same time my goal is a life long system here. I've never had a problem with weldless they were great but I don't wanna worry about orings

I've done a ton of reading on here so ice defiantly done my research just looking for some suggestions thanks a bunch!!

I've used weldless without problems for years. Can't beat the simplicity.

Edit- typo

I am also starting to plan my Kal clone build and have been looking Ito DIN rails for organizing the box. Did you have to use any different parts than Kal's list in order to use DIN rails? Thanks.

Jester said:

I am also starting to plan my Kal clone build and have been looking Ito DIN rails for organizing the box. Did you have to use any different parts than Kal's list in order to use DIN rails? Thanks.

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Yes. None of the parts I use come with DIN rail mounts.

DIN rails are great when fast serviceability is required. You often see them a lot in plant floor environment where downtime needs to be minimized. You turn the power off, snap out the old defective part, and snap in the new one. Takes less than a minute.

For a home brewery it's of questionable value. By all means use DIN rails and DIN rail mounted products, but make sure you realize why you want to and what your reasoning is.

Kal

I used a lot of the information from Kal's site for my build, but didn't quite clone it. That being said, purely by chance, all of my components are DIN mount. I ordered two 30a and one 50a contactor, and the relay base for the Safe Start Interlock - they happened to be DIN. So I also got DIN mountable breakers and terminal blocks. I didn't get DIN mount fuses so I think that's about it.

I'm in the process of laying out my panel and the DIN rails will give me the flexibility to dry-fit things in various layouts until I'm happy. Once finalized though, I'm not going to be swapping them out or working in the panel. Like Kal says - once built, the DIN mounted equipment will sit there the same as a bolted down component.

Thanks for the reply! I was just looking at DIN rails since it seems to be all the hype lately. Sicne I was planning on ordering the parts kit from Kal, I won't be looking into that path then. Thanks again Kal and BadNewsBrewery.

It depends on the level of automation and complexity of the home brewery to gauge the true value if DIN rails. With a Kal style panel, automation is next to nil, but with a Brewtroller or other advanced system DIN rail mounted and wired equipment is golden. If a valve fails half-way through your high gravity IPA, the ease of replacement really comes in handy.

Just some updates

he sink installed



receptacles installed just need some silicone



power distribution
2 pull breaker for my elements and everything else is on the single pull



SSR's



back panel



door guts



front on panel all done hope to order tags on friday



kegs all ready to go
ordered all my fittings friday from stainless brewing and temp probes should arrive monday from spike
possible my hop stopper as well
false bottom from jaybird probably gonna order friday as well and then thats it i should have everything



receptacles outside



kegs



homemade CFC



CFC



elements cords should have them made up by the end of the day

Made up my temp probes today now just waiting on fittings
Hopstopper came today as well it's pretty awesome

if you haven't cut your kegs yet, might i suggest doing the bottom drain thing instead of a dip tube for the HLT and MLT. it means you always get every last drop out, never have to worry about a dip tube clogging or loosing siphon. it's less pieces inside the keggle to deal with, and makes getting the false bottom in/out easier.

Bobby_M makes bottom drain kits that fasten to the neck of the existing keg, and you cut the bottom out instead of the top. you'd need to cut a hole in your table/stand to accommodate the output, and they only work for electric rigs (can't gas fire the adaptors) but since you're electric it seems to be all win for me

ps: bitchin build.

slakwhere said:

if you haven't cut your kegs yet, might i suggest doing the bottom drain thing instead of a dip tube for the HLT and MLT. it means you always get every last drop out, never have to worry about a dip tube clogging or loosing siphon. it's less pieces inside the keggle to deal with, and makes getting the false bottom in/out easier.

ps: bitchin build.

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have seriously thought about it I know I head read some issues on stuck sparge I think because of no swirling under the false bottom and up into the dip tube but idk for sure

I haven't cut my kegs yet so I'm gonna do some more research thanx for the thoughts
Thank u sir
I can't wait till its ready to go

http://www.brewhardware.com/valves/137-tcsanke

Hmm I have seen that and I do like it a lot I suppose I can always sell the stuff I already ordered ..........

Decisions decisions

Hey Sils, like you I am starting to pull the trigger on an Electric build. I bought Kals book for ref.
Have you been keeping a XLS spreadsheet or something of that nature that shows where you purchased your pieces from?
Great build so far. Keep it up.

Hogcrewer said:

Hey Sils, like you I am starting to pull the trigger on an Electric build. I bought Kals book for ref.
Have you been keeping a XLS spreadsheet or something of that nature that shows where you purchased your pieces from?
Great build so far. Keep it up.

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Awesome congrats on beginning
I haven't kept very good track I bought my pids through auber and my switches, lights, and some electrical components through automation direct lot of it was freebie stuff from work temp probes were from kal and heating elements I pieced together from amazon for the elements and electrical stuff from Home Depot I bought my recepticles for the box from McMaster and the cord ends from Home Depot and they r pricey
One thing I wish I woulda done was gone with te 50a control panel but it was just becoming topic when I finished my build :-/ so I mite build a mini add on box mainly just an extra circuit so I can power 2 elements I think it would just b nice to boil water in hlt while doing my wort boil and use that boiling water for cleaning and or a second mash if I choose to do back to back beers
Hope this helps and thanx for the compliments I'm happy with my build so far just waiting on fitting for kegs now any other questions feel free to hit me up

I'm welding all my fittings and got them at stainless brewing I also got my germs cool there a couple things from brew hardware as well hop stopper was ordered through kal it's really nice false bottom for mlt getting at NorCal brewing
I think that about wraps it up I got my pumps from a lhbs

Got some goodies this week

Fittings and false bottom

I don't see a false bottom in your picture so I hope you don't mean to use the Hop Stopper (stainless mesh filter in the lower left corner) as a mash tun false bottom.... it's for the boil kettle only. The weight of the grain would crush it.

Kal