It's Alive!

Thanks for the quick get back pilzner. I guess I better finish that mash tun and find another pump so I can ditch the cooler. Cheers!

wow

What's the status on the video? I'd really like to see a brew and the cleanup afterwards. I am adding pumps to my system thanks to the swmbo's Christmas gifts of Northern Brewer Gift Cards.

pilzner said:

Earthbound,

Each wiring diagram is pretty specific to the system you end up making. The wiring diagram I have was made by P-J.....he's on my profile as friend.
Best thing to do is to PM him and see if he can't help you out in customizing your system.

Click to expand...

I have almost all the diagrams he's posted on here, and I do not need any help from anyone with customizing my system. Thank you, though!

I just noticed that your system is quite unique, particularly the electrical side of it, so I'd like to view a schematic to better understand the details of your electrical system. If you don't wanna post it, just say so.

BTW, I like that the liquid manifold disconnect-able using camlocks. It's a good idea, and I have not seen anyone do that sort of thing until now.

Earthbound,

Relax, have a homebrew Here is my schematic.


I added a wireless feature so that I didn't have to connect any wires to my computer and it also allows me to view from all computers in the house including iPhone.

Camlocks are the best......the breakdown is incredibly easy now. with all the cam locks, I can remove and fix just about anything without having to breakdown the whole system......and also do it in the middle of a brew session without skipping a beat.

kickrjason said:

What's the status on the video? I'd really like to see a brew and the cleanup afterwards. I am adding pumps to my system thanks to the swmbo's Christmas gifts of Northern Brewer Gift Cards.

Click to expand...

Sorry about that.....you're right, I have to get to it. Hopefully this coming weekend.

Right on thanks in advance. Also any chance if a higher res pic of the schematic? It's all fuzzy on the download.

pilzner said:

Earthbound,

Relax, have a homebrew Here is my schematic.

I added a wireless feature so that I didn't have to connect any wires to my computer and it also allows me to view from all computers in the house including iPhone.

Camlocks are the best......the breakdown is incredibly easy now. with all the cam locks, I can remove and fix just about anything without having to breakdown the whole system......and also do it in the middle of a brew session without skipping a beat.

Click to expand...

If only I could stop drooling long enough to drink!

What's the model # of those Honeywell valves? I haven't seen those yet, but I'd like to look into them a bit more...

kickrjason said:

Right on thanks in advance. Also any chance if a higher res pic of the schematic? It's all fuzzy on the download.

Click to expand...

There are 2 different versions of the drawing. The first provides no system control on the auxiliary outlet. The second provides a way for controlling it.

As always - click on the image to see the full scale diagram - printable on Tabloid paper (11" x 17")

P-J said:

There are 2 different versions of the drawing. The first provides no system control on the auxiliary outlet. The second provides a way for controlling it.

As always - click on the image to see the full scale diagram - printable on Tabloid paper (11" x 17")

Click to expand...

Thank you!

EarthBound said:

If only I could stop drooling long enough to drink!

What's the model # of those Honeywell valves? I haven't seen those yet, but I'd like to look into them a bit more...

Click to expand...

Honeywell VR8300A3500
They're nice because you can convert to propane or natural gas with kit that comes with them. I got them from Hotwaterdeals.com for about $60 each.
FYI: you'll also need pilot burner Q314A4586 and thermocouple Q390A1061

Hey pilzner,

I was wondering how you made your bcs wireless? Normal household wireless router? How does it work, does embedded control concepts assign a webpage to you and your bcs that can be accessed from any internet connection? I am by no means a computer savvy person.

I am thinking of buying one for my build but am not quite sold yet.

I had my home internet disconnected after I got a smart phone ( spend enough time on a computer at work). If I go with the bcs, and I run it from my android phone I would like to tether my phone to my tv via hdmi cable. That would be really cool.

I guess what I'm asking is what you think of the bcs? Is it user friendly? I have done searches but can find very little. I have also visited the embeded

Sorry. Hit send accidentally

I have been on ecc's forum and it mostly sounds like greek to me. Thanks...wnc

wncbrewer said:

Hey pilzner,

I was wondering how you made your bcs wireless? Normal household wireless router? How does it work, does embedded control concepts assign a webpage to you and your bcs that can be accessed from any internet connection? I am by no means a computer savvy person.

I am thinking of buying one for my build but am not quite sold yet.

I had my home internet disconnected after I got a smart phone ( spend enough time on a computer at work). If I go with the bcs, and I run it from my android phone I would like to tether my phone to my tv via hdmi cable. That would be really cool.

I guess what I'm asking is what you think of the bcs? Is it user friendly? I have done searches but can find very little. I have also visited the embeded

Click to expand...

I love my BCS, but I accept that it may be a bit tough for some people that don't have a bit of computer know-how under their belt.

Not that it's impossible to use, but you do need to program the logic steps and that can get a bit confusing if you are not used to that type of thing. Some of the steps are also more complicated then they need to be.....but again, for me I think it's great. Hopefully the BCS community will figure out a better interface.

As far as the wireless part is concerned, I used a NETGEAR WNCE2001 Universal WiFi Internet Adapter and plugged it right into the back of the BCS. The BCS is controlled via a web interface, so you can pull it up anywhere on your home network....even your iPhone.

Thanks, I am ok with basic stuff like office, but for a 26 year old college grad...I suck out loud with computers. It sounds like there is some pretty complicated set-up involved. Internet connection is also sketchy and slow up here on the mtns. For these reasons I may just go with a pid panel. The bcs is very cool though. Thanks again for the response

wncbrewer said:

Internet connection is also sketchy and slow up here on the mtns. For these reasons I may just go with a pid panel. The bcs is very cool though.

Click to expand...

Just to re-iterate, the BCS does NOT require an internet connection. It does require networking either by being plugged directly into your PC or by being on a wireless router. The interface is web browser based, but can be on your local network only if you wish.

I did NOT realize that thanks, I was hoping that you might weigh in here also. Are you happy with the BCS? I am intimidated by setup and worried about the user friendliness of it. Sorry to distract from your awesome rig pilzner.

If I did it all over again - I'd choose the BCS again. What pilzner said above though is right - it takes some setup and can be a bit confusing. The ECC forum is a good place though to get support from others (I check in there several times a day) and if you're willing to do some learning, you can get it done.

Thanks, I think I will go for it. Yours and pilzners rig have both inspired me, and I'll be borrowing ideas from the both of you...cheers

Wncbrewer,

Go to this page on Brewer's Hardware Brewing Automation It's a great review regarding the BCS, brew troller etc. and will give you some good insight as to what Jon and I are talking about.

+1 to Jon's point regarding the forums on embedded Control's sight. The Wiki instructions are good too.

Hell, if you get it in the end, and don't like it.....you'll be able to unload it pretty quickly on the classified section of this site.

Good Luck and thanks for putting me in the same category as JonW ....his rig was a big part of the reason that my rig's design is what it is.

Thanks for the link,

I also checked out the wiki page at ecc, which answered a lot of my questions.

Took a while, but here is a quick video of yesterday's brew day

Looks great! Any hiccups while brewing?

Hey Jon,

I've had a few in the past.....like not watching the kettle when it's at 211 degrees, or overfilling the HLT Overall they were my fault.

The recirculation stopped once after I stirred the mash...but I opened the valve a bit and it blasted out the little grain bit that got stuck in the auto sparge....just need to watch out for that at the beginning.

Other then that , no issues.....it really works nicely.

One wish is a float switch in the boil kettle for the sparge to let me know when it's close to being done.
Another would be nice for the HLT with a solenoid switch on the water pipe to auto fill it.
...though it's not to high on priority.

BCS has been a little bit of a pain regarding connection....but it's on a wireless system, so I think something is causing interference .... Just have to figure out what (may be a pump).

How has your BCS been treating you?

I have no connectivity issues with my BCS, but I have it hardwired to my router. I also never have issues with the functionality of the BCS, it works just fine.

I too would like to implement either a volume sensing system or float switches. I've overfilled my HLT, I've over sparged my MLT and I've over sparged into my BK (requiring a 2.5 hour boil). Yeah, all my issues for not paying attention.

On the mash, I stir at mash in, 15, 30 & 45 minutes. I let it run undisturbed for the last 15 minutes before I start sparging. I run pretty high flow rates during the mash recirculation and have NEVER had a stuck sparge. I'm usually hitting 80% efficiency.

Pilzner and JonW you guys systems rock! I'm basing my build off of yours for sure.

Thanks. Good luck.

was going to build something like this and couldn't ever explain to people, but this is great

Here is the first episode of the Ale and Metal TV brew stand.

why would you need 3 pumps?