BrewTroller Control Panel Build

Yeah i'm pretty sure they are diaphragm, well as far as cleaning goes I plan to fill one vessel with hot PBW and then just circulate it to the various vessels. Since the manifolds are so small I could just slip a silicone tube off and backflow it if I had any clogging issues.

So I ran the system up to 180F last night and did some water tests with water recirculation, everything ran perfectly and the valves are working very very well.

Now I just need to finish testing the volume measurement and I might be able to brew this weekend.

I had to swap out my water heater element because it was rusting like there is no tomorrow.

Awesome! I can't wait to see the full run of a solenoid controlled fully automated, pressure sensor brewtroller! Puts my manual QD switcheroo and manual valve open/close to shame I'll tell you, I've already, more than once, accidentally leaked a bit of hot HLT water or MLT wort out forgetting to close valves

What was your source on the valves? How much do they cost? IM having my stand welded up now so IM in the planning process of where I want the valves and pumps. I would like to get this all mounted and holes drilled into the stand then take it apart and send it off to powder coat.

Let me see if I can find the source, it was from a company called Kaling in china. After shipping they came to about $39 a piece.

did some testing of the pressure sensors yesterday, just have to calibrate them again. But otherwise came out great.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VaRCh_TuFM]YouTube - BrewTroller First Volume Measurement Test[/ame]

Nice, looks like the pressure sensor resolution is about 22 counts to the gallon?. I am waiting to hear the results from a test run with mash and pump running to see if there will be any pressure influence from false bottom suction.

Looking great mate,
One thing I have had a lot of trouble with is these types of pressure sensors used as level indicators. During testing with water they were fine until you heat it up, it played havoc with my readings. With the change in temp the air in the tubing to the sensors would expand then as it cooled retract sucking in liquid up the tubes, this would sometimes not clear once empty due to the surface tension of the liquid up the tube making them very unreliable. I have seen setups with a constant air supply or "bubble" to combat this situation. I ended up giving it away and sticking with resistive static level probes.
Cheers
Jonathon.

Yeah I noticed the volume does rise a bit with the heat, also rises if you your lids on too tight. My main concern is with the initial fill volumes and the sparge amounts. If I can get those accurately I don't really care what it reads during the brew.

We shall see once it brews a batch

Just in case this might solve the problem. you are in fact using pressure sensors? that can be why the heat especially when a lid is on changes what it does, water expands with heat and pressure defiantly builds very little, but if the numbers are small then i would hack it up to something along those lines



By the way i joined and an building a similar set up and am very inspired by what you've done. Especially the float sensor! Was something I just didn't see!

Stachelrodt said:

Just in case this might solve the problem. you are in fact using pressure sensors? that can be why the heat especially when a lid is on changes what it does, water expands with heat and pressure defiantly builds very little, but if the numbers are small then i would hack it up to something along those lines



By the way i joined and an building a similar set up and am very inspired by what you've done. Especially the float sensor! Was something I just didn't see!

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The sensors work extremely well when using a bubbler. The inaccuracies stem from the fact that the air expands and some of the air in forced out of the measurement column in the form of a bubble. The bubbler replaces that lost air. Go to the brewtroller site for some examples.

Stachelrodt said:

Just in case this might solve the problem. you are in fact using pressure sensors? that can be why the heat especially when a lid is on changes what it does, water expands with heat and pressure defiantly builds very little, but if the numbers are small then i would hack it up to something along those lines



By the way i joined and an building a similar set up and am very inspired by what you've done. Especially the float sensor! Was something I just didn't see!

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great to hear, yeah a lot has changed on my system since these posts. So far everything has been working great.

How do you control heat? valves? or electric heat element?

Would love to see updates on your build ....I am currently in the process of *attempting* to build something very similiar with the use of solenoids, floats, pressure sensors, and full automation.

Stachelrodt said:

How do you control heat? valves? or electric heat element?

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My rig is all electric, specs are in my sig

TriangleIL said:

Would love to see updates on your build ....I am currently in the process of *attempting* to build something very similiar with the use of solenoids, floats, pressure sensors, and full automation.

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You should stop by the brewtroller forum sometime, there are alot of us going for fully automated systems. I'm one of them. I'm currently rebuilding my system and adding a grain hopper and automatic hop dropper for full automation.

what electric elements do you use? sorry for all the questions this is in fact my biggest hurdle

Use Camco elements, they can be had on Amazon for cheap. Typically the 5500W or 4500W elements are used. You will want the LWD or ULWD elements to avoid scorching.

The hardware build is the easy part.

thats where your'e wrong I'm certified in basic C++ and many other languages, thats the easy part, configuring the CORRECT parts is hard, anyone can do it half assed, but i dont want to waste my money

Stachelrodt said:

thats where your'e wrong I'm certified in basic C++ and many other languages, thats the easy part, configuring the CORRECT parts is hard, anyone can do it half assed, but i dont want to waste my money

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I love the attitude! If you are gonna do it, do it right. But my friend, be prepared to depart with mucho dinaro. The parts ain't cheap. DAMHIKT

I think I might be able to discuss the complexity of building a totaly automated brewing and fermentation temperature control system, and writing the integrated recipe and control application that manages the roughly 60 hardware I/O points it takes to make it all run. It is written in Java and incorporates about 27 SQL tables for storage of all the static information needed for calibration, PID loops, recipe generation, and process control, and utilizes around 3,250 classes while running.

very good to know, i plan on starting one of the many purchases that will lead to this very soon. I'll create a post at a correct time, thanks a lot for the support and input

kladue said:

I think I might be able to discuss the complexity of building a totaly automated brewing and fermentation temperature control system, and writing the integrated recipe and control application that manages the roughly 60 hardware I/O points it takes to make it all run. It is written in Java and incorporates about 27 SQL tables for storage of all the static information needed for calibration, PID loops, recipe generation, and process control, and utilizes around 3,250 classes while running.

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Listen to Kevin! He is the man when it comes to process automation.

After last weekends test run I am revising the design of the system to eliminate the water storage tank and feed pump and just feed filtered water through boiler for strike, steam, and sparge. Should have the code revised and simulation runs done by end of the month so all I need to do is change some tubing on the rig and tune water flow pids. I suppose with a little effort I could change the programming to operate a 2 vessel electric RIMS system with once through water heating, and wort heating for step mashing.

can I bother you for a completed picture of your box?

Here is a poor shot of the first panel with Opto 22 hardware http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/CoolingSystem#5248653726957372914, analog I/O board on left, Temperature sensor board in middle, digital board on right side. Here is a shot of part of the controls on the panels (top part)http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Phase2ProgressPictures#5217507731685388290, ignition and gas flow controls,(bottom part)http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Phase2ProgressPictures#5217507773381521138, water and wort flow and pumping. Here is a shot of the other panel with touch screen and balance of Opto boards insidehttp://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Panels#5339967114746958306.

....wow. I am still in planning stages, I will be back within in the next two weeks with much needed support thank you all for being much more brilliant then I

kladue said:

Here is a poor shot of the first panel with Opto 22 hardware http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/CoolingSystem#5248653726957372914, analog I/O board on left, Temperature sensor board in middle, digital board on right side. Here is a shot of part of the controls on the panels (top part)http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Phase2ProgressPictures#5217507731685388290, ignition and gas flow controls,(bottom part)http://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Phase2ProgressPictures#5217507773381521138, water and wort flow and pumping. Here is a shot of the other panel with touch screen and balance of Opto boards insidehttp://picasaweb.google.com/kevin.ladue/Panels#5339967114746958306.

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WOW!!!!!, that is all I can say. I think everyone should see your setup, that is amazing. Do you have to do anything at all?

Oh sure Kevin just come in my thread and show off your fantastic system.

I'll just go work on my simpleton system some more.... hehehe

liljimmynorton said:

WOW!!!!!, that is all I can say. I think everyone should see your setup, that is amazing. Do you have to do anything at all?

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After reading the stuff Kevin posts, probably not.

jcdillin said:

Oh sure Kevin just come in my thread and show off your fantastic system.

I'll just go work on my simpleton system some more.... hehehe

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Id still love to see your box, as that is something i am more able to reach, soon enough never thought about touch screen integration and all of that, my pc has three monitors and a watercooling system, over clocked and .....blah de blah, defiantly something i can pull off eventually but i like simplicity at first, understanding of a system is key

For sure, soon as I finish tidying up the latest wiring i'll post up a build thread.

do you have all of that running threw one PSU? If so what unit are you using. If not are you running your heat and stir arms on a secondary power supply?

There is a big advantage to a simpler system, it seems that I spend more time coaxing the software and various components into cooperating than anything else. Over 2 years into this project and it still is not done, I would like to return to a simple design that works reliably, with a minimum of software and hardware.

Where can I find a Brewtroller?

Did you find the name of your supplier of valves?

Stachelrodt said:

do you have all of that running threw one PSU? If so what unit are you using. If not are you running your heat and stir arms on a secondary power supply?

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Hey sorry I didn't see this post.

Yeah I run the control panel off of a standard 120v outlet, I run the heating elements off of a 220v power outlet like you use on a dryer.

Still needs a coat of paint and the wires tidied up, but its ready to test out this weekend.