Facelift for my control panel

So after using it for about 10 months I decided to add some additional functionality and looks to my low budget built control panel... I still have less than $300 in the whole control panel (and thats counting if I had to buy the three relays I already have so Just an FYI to those looking to build it can be done for less than most make it out to cost. and I is built with safely with correct gauge wires and relays to prevent too much current draw
the gray one was the original layout in case you havent guessed...

From nice, to VERY NICE

I gotta ask. Looks like you went to 3 pumps, with speed control for each? What circuitry are you using for speed control?
Gotta another one. Are you planning for a grommet or some sort of strain-relief for your main pigtail?

MrNatural said:

From nice, to VERY NICE

I gotta ask. Looks like you went to 3 pumps, with speed control for each? What circuitry are you using for speed control?
Gotta another one. Are you planning for a grommet or some sort of strain-relief for your main pigtail?

Click to expand...

Thanks,

Yes and yes... I forgot to add the grommet so I will be removing the cord to reinstall it... I use a dedicated pump for all three kettles/tun rims and have it setup so I can direct flow with a couple three way valves and dont need to move hoses around during the brewing process... the whole build is under a grand.

I went with these speed controllers available both on ebay and amazon. Now that I have everything working the way I like im streamlining and "cleaning things up" slowly as I'm getting ready for the deticated brew room when we move.

Nice job.

Did the facelift result in a tummy tuck as well? Umm....did yoj re-wire the inside?

Have you got a parts list for this build? It would be awesome if I could build such a comprehensive panel for $300. I can then upgrade to higher end stuff (PIDs and SSRs in particular) if things fail over time.

Looks really good.

I'm also interested in a parts list...electric with 3 pumps under a grand?!?! Sign me up

Call_Me_Tex said:

Have you got a parts list for this build? It would be awesome if I could build such a comprehensive panel for $300. I can then upgrade to higher end stuff (PIDs and SSRs in particular) if things fail over time.

Click to expand...

double post

Call_Me_Tex said:

Have you got a parts list for this build? It would be awesome if I could build such a comprehensive panel for $300. I can then upgrade to higher end stuff (PIDs and SSRs in particular) if things fail over time.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the comments,

I do plan on putting a list together... As far as higher end stuff theres really no need... besides the knock off ssrs which I have had no issues with the stuff is all good quality... the my pin controllers are actually very good I have bought 4 with no issues at all in 10 months of use (google them and you will see almost all the issues are from people miswiring them) The switches are cobbled together from different ebay orders but they are good quality...some of its better built than I see at work.

I use the tan food grade 12 (and soon 24v) pumps...they have worked great for me so far the last 10 months. So I added a third.
they are about $20 a piece. the pwm speed controllers are about $6-7 a piece and easy to wire up.

Not included in my estimate is my $50 rims tube made from a stainless cartridge heater in a 3/4 copper enclosure and my plumbing/pots pipes.... still all together including this stuff and the plate chiller Ive managed to keep it all under a grand. I use a 4500w ULWD element in my boil kettle ($22)) and a 4500w stainless with brass base lwd element for the HLT ($19) The rims heater is a $9 1000w stainless cartridge heater. I added rtds with quick disconnects at both ends.

I am currently debating about building a stainless mash tun and converting my rims tube housing to stainless (I'll admit mainly for cosmetic reasons) and to keep as much of it stainless as possible.
the tinkering never ends but at least I can get back to brewing now

The wiring is still an unorganized mess inside(but safe)....I did add the third pump controll and heat components for the rims heater as well as downsized my 12v/24v powersupply to a smaller 3a 12v powersupply for the pumps/fan and lights and I added a small voltage booster board to get 24v for my relay coils (if I were to have bought them I would have just got the omron 12v coil versions instead... The pumps only draw .800 amps and they will never all be on at once anyway..

when I move to the new house I intend to upgrade my budget build foam board hood that I made which I have to admit works very well with the dual window fan at the top.

What are you doing for heat sinks on your SSRs? Even if I buy the extruded aluminum stock and do all the drilling/tapping myself I'm looking at $65 or so. My system will have 2X 40A SSRs (running 23A) and a 15A SSR for the RIMS tube (running ~10A). Right now I'm just using a still dragon controller and swap it from BK to HLT (no rims yet). Next step is building a proper panel that can run everything and has PID control for the HLT and RIMS.

Call_Me_Tex said:

What are you doing for heat sinks on your SSRs? Even if I buy the extruded aluminum stock and do all the drilling/tapping myself I'm looking at $65 or so. My system will have 2X 40A SSRs (running 23A) and a 15A SSR for the RIMS tube (running ~10A). Right now I'm just using a still dragon controller and swap it from BK to HLT (no rims yet). Next step is building a proper panel that can run everything and has PID control for the HLT and RIMS.

Click to expand...

I use three of these... been using them for 10 months and the ssrs barely get warm.. $9 total with shipping for 3. I do use a small 12v fan to create flow through the heat sinks and control panel.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261605102615?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Cool. What size is your box? Looks like a good size for my layout as well.

I looked up the heat sinks for the ssr's, some cheap ssr's on eBay and the mypin pod controllers...

Couldn't find out exactly which cheap pumps your using, I'm still somewhat unsure what a rims tube actually does, and I must've missed where you said the amperage on the ssr's

Call_Me_Tex said:

Cool. What size is your box? Looks like a good size for my layout as well.

Click to expand...

12x12x6 heres the one I used...bought locally. lowes has them too.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-1...-Box-E989R-UPC/100404149?N=5yc1vZbohnZ1z116nv

wtaylor3 said:

I looked up the heat sinks for the ssr's, some cheap ssr's on eBay and the mypin pod controllers...

Couldn't find out exactly which cheap pumps your using, I'm still somewhat unsure what a rims tube actually does, and I must've missed where you said the amperage on the ssr's

Click to expand...

I didnt mention the ssr ratings.. I use 2 25a and one 40a just because the price was right.
my elements are only 2 4500w ones drawing about 18-18.6 amps total a piece and my supposedly 1000w 220v element only draws about 3.1 amps putting it closer to 7-800 watts but it still does the job very well. I'm not sure how well it would do to increase temps for step mashing if I didnt use a cooler though.

these are the pumps I use,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-12V-Elec...288?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3ceac48870

a rims tube is an alternative to using a herms coil inside the hlt as a heat exchanger to keep mashing temps consistent while recirculating the wort through the grainbed while mashing... its basically a tube with a heater running down the length of it and wort is pumped through it as well being heated as it travels through.
it works Great! my herms worked as well but it was not as responsive or as easy to dial in.
be sure to look at the mypin "TD4 srr" or "snr" since they both are for controlling an ssr as well as a relay/alarm. Plus they have the manual control option to manually control the boil intensity.

Thanks for the info I think I'm starting to get it

Am watching ssr's, mypin pid, 12v pumps, pwn controllers and currently searching the heat elements

Deer season is 2 weeks away though and that'll put a damper on my budget for a bit

wtaylor3 said:

Thanks for the info I think I'm starting to get it

Am watching ssr's, mypin pid, 12v pumps, pwn controllers and currently searching the heat elements

Deer season is 2 weeks away though and that'll put a damper on my budget for a bit

Click to expand...

I hear that... I'm prepping for deer camp already.

More upgrades to my ever changing setup...I added a chipper and coolzone cooling jacket for the conical and it works great... so much easier and cleaner than putting a coil in the fermenter...

Sweet setup!

Stirring the BK right? Looks like you're going bling on us...

Nice work

I've often wondered if a BBQ rotisserie motor has the torque to run a mash rake...

atoughram said:

Stirring the BK right? Looks like you're going bling on us...

Nice work

I've often wondered if a BBQ rotisserie motor has the torque to run a mash rake...

Click to expand...

Yeah I know its dumb but I have a touch of the bling bug going around here.....(I'm still frugal about it though ) The stir bar is a $18 build...I use it in my HLT and then boil kettle.
I used an old 24v xerox cutter motor on a $3 pwm speed controller and a cheap piece of aluminum L channel I bought at value and cutup for the support... the actual stir bar is an $8 ebay find and would actually make a good carboy stirbar to add oxygen but I have noticed no real difference between the wort that I have oxygenated and not bothered with...
The conical was actually a christmas present from my girlfriend who encourages my hobby thankfully.

Girlfriend ? Sounds like wife material. I have been wondering about the BBQ motor as well as I have one just sitting here. I did once plug it in and out some resistance on it and I would bog down and then reverse direction. I don't think it had enough torque to str a mash but it was hard to get a good gauge on it based on the amt of pressure I applied vs. what stirring the mash would be.

augiedoggy said:

More upgrades to my ever changing setup...I added a chipper and coolzone cooling jacket for the conical and it works great... so much easier and cleaner than putting a coil in the fermenter...

Click to expand...

Looks great, at some point you've gotta stop adding and let the rest of us catch up so we can add right along with you lol.

I'm at that place where I'm choosing between grain to brew or equipment to brew. I keep running out of homebrew so perhaps I'm making the wrong choices lol

I figured a DC motor was safer than having more ac powered stuff right in the path of the steam... plus I have lots of them laying around... I used an old xerox engineering copier drive motor for my grain mill since the gear reduction box was ideal. since I now run all my pumps on 24v dc this was also ideal... I mounted the speed controller in the box mounted at the base of my HLT, there is also a float sensor in the kettle that wired up there to prevent my element from dry firing during sparging...

The issue I do have is my stirbar is wobbly and doesn't spin true ad straight at all rpms.

augiedoggy said:

More upgrades to my ever changing setup...I added a chipper and coolzone cooling jacket for the conical and it works great... so much easier and cleaner than putting a coil in the fermenter...

Click to expand...

Is that a 5gal tabletop conical? Pretty sleek.

12 5gallons actually... its 47" tall...

Nice upgrades sir! What's a chipper? I'm assuming not a wood chipper. Ha!

Did you repurpose the mash tun cooler from the older setup as your cooling tank reservoir? I've been looking into the cool jacket setup and I like what I see. Are you using one jacket for your conical or two? I was leaning towards the 15 gal induction tanks but that desktop ornament really adds to the brewery bling!

watermelon83 said:

Nice upgrades sir! What's a chipper? I'm assuming not a wood chipper. Ha!

Click to expand...

Thanks!
Chiller... batteries are weak in my wireless keyboard and the signal was weak... it really garbles up what I'm typing sometimes..

thomasjr16 said:

Did you repurpose the mash tun cooler from the older setup as your cooling tank reservoir? I've been looking into the cool jacket setup and I like what I see. Are you using one jacket for your conical or two? I was leaning towards the 15 gal induction tanks but that desktop ornament really adds to the brewery bling!

Click to expand...

just one jacket... It actually works VERY well to cool the conical I picked up a chiller free from work that we use on our equipment..it will actually work to cool a few fermentors when I move and switch to electric ball valves to control flow.. the fan was sticking and the tech that was servicing was going to toss it but knew I wanted one so he saved it for me.. a little oil in the fan motor and shes good to go...using water now but plan to add glycol.
I made a thermocouple out of some 5/16 stainless tubing I bought to make diptubes for some 10gallon cornies I found for $20 a piece on Craigslist that were missing them.

I mounted the stc1000 clone temp probe inside of the stainless tube and capped it with jb weld, drilled out a couple holes in a stopper for an airlock and probe but I am actually changing my setup as soon as the hardware arrives from ebay. I have some old heating strips that were used as media heaters in some of the hp and xerox stuff I service I wrapped one at the base of the conical and that also work well...

augiedoggy said:

12 5gallons actually... its 47" tall...

Click to expand...

Where do I buy one? This is perfect!

NewBrewB said:

Where do I buy one? This is perfect!

Click to expand...

The conical is from stout.... We got ours through thier ebay store and saved $75 or so... it was under $400 with shipping...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-5-Gal-Co...073?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item339baa0949

the cooling jacket was from coolzone
I still have it bookmarked since I plan I buying a couple more once I recover from the holiday spending . I didnt buy the insulated jacket...I haven't needed it but in the summer a good it or a good insulated box or at least comforter will come in handy.

http://www.gotta-brew.com/products/cool-zone-cooling-jacket.html

Good lord that is amazing. Nice work!

Those are Stout Tanks conical fermenters. I just ordered my kettles from them, I'm waiting to get conicals. But I will probably go through them as well.

https://conical-fermenter.com/Conical-Fermenters/

EODtony said:

Those are Stout Tanks conical fermenters. I just ordered my kettles from them, I'm waiting to get conicals. But I will probably go through them as well.

https://conical-fermenter.com/Conical-Fermenters/

Click to expand...

Yup... just as I mentioned above.... they also sell them on ebay one or two at a time for a discounted price... I kind of wish I got the model with the thermocouple though...

Yeah, I was typing my response up and trying to send it but you beat me to it. Where I'm at the internet is worse than dial up sometimes. I have to open up a bunch of topics on here that I want to read and walk away for about 15 minutes then I can come back and read them. Prictures is a whole nother story...LOL

EODtony said:

Yeah, I was typing my response up and trying to send it but you beat me to it. Where I'm at the internet is worse than dial up sometimes. I have to open up a bunch of topics on here that I want to read and walk away for about 15 minutes then I can come back and read them. Prictures is a whole nother story...LOL

Click to expand...

LOL I've been there!

Augie,

A couple questions about your pumps. I'm looking at the 24v model and curious how you clean them? Not looking to start a flame war - just curious what method you use. Also, I believe the inlet and outlet are 1/2" BSP threads? If so, would this fitting work(a bit pricey, but curious if it's an option)? Last, do you get enough flow from the 24v models to get a decent whirlpool?

I like that these are small and inexpensive. I plan to try to keep my system modular and these are cheap enough to keep a couple spares rigged with fittings. If I have trouble with one, just close the valve and swap it out.

Thanks! Great looking system you have there.

PapaFoxtrot said:

Augie,

A couple questions about your pumps. I'm looking at the 24v model and curious how you clean them? Not looking to start a flame war - just curious what method you use. Also, I believe the inlet and outlet are 1/2" BSP threads? If so, would this fitting work(a bit pricey, but curious if it's an option)? Last, do you get enough flow from the 24v models to get a decent whirlpool?

I like that these are small and inexpensive. I plan to try to keep my system modular and these are cheap enough to keep a couple spares rigged with fittings. If I have trouble with one, just close the valve and swap it out.

Thanks! Great looking system you have there.

Click to expand...

No problem... for cleaning I just run a pwb solution through my rims and hoses for about 20-30 minutes and then hot water...I pulled one pump apart once a couple moths ago after a years use it still looks pretty clean with noticeable contamination or buildup. I only pump the water and pre chilled wort through it so being totally sanitized is not a concern,
and yes they are BSP fitting according to the specs but any 1/2" but standard thread fitting NPT and NPS thread on fine so I'm not sure how much difference there is when it comes to plastic and give. I do use teflon tape... I currently use stainless camlock fitting permanently attached this way for easy removal if needed.
as far as whirlpooling, it does work with my 24v version but Its not very vigorous I will admit . you need to have the correct elbow configuration to increase the flow pressure but yes it does work. I honestly dont do it anymore because I made a variable speed stirrer/ mixer that I use and even that I dont need with my braided screen on the diptube and hop spider...