Bolts Electric Brewery Build

Edits/Updates
- Linked up various posts throughout the thread on the build
- Posted the final schematic below
- Posted the Bill of Materials here and in post #60
- Added my "What I would do differently" in post #61


It's time to start the build thread. Inspired by Kal's setup and a bunch of threads here, I've embarked on my own electric brewery upgrade. I've been successfully brewing all grain with an orange cooler and a 10g blichmann over propane for a number of years. The beer has been great. However, the consistency has been sketchy to recreate batches -- mostly mash temps and boil-off rate. Moving to HERMS and electric should address the consistency -- and it's just fun to build stuff. I'm also moving up to 10 gallon capacity.

The kettles are finally here, a 20 gallon setup from Stout Tanks with additional fittings for electric elements. I think I have all the control panel parts and my electric permit is in hand to run the new circuits in the garage.

The control panel is a 'light' version of Kal's. I dropped the voltage/amperage meters, the timer and the alarm switches -- but kept all 3 PIDs. I also combined the switches and pilot lights where possible. I have some future plans to switch from the Auber PIDs to Arduino control -- slowly.

The TODO list isn't too long, but I'll keep a running log of projects here. This includes adding the new circuits (30a and others), the control panel build and the brew space. I've convinced myself I can build a concrete bench/countertop for the kettles; should be fun.

Before...


After...



Final Schematic

Available as a PDF or Visio



Bill of Materials
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w1e8w9kr0okyuwp/Parts.xlsx

Commentary in post #60


Build Updates

Installing the new 30a wiring & Drywall back on


Waterjet Cut Panel


Wiring the Panel


Panel is tested and installed


Building a Bench

My garage is 2 cars wide, with a rather deep tandem on the right side. The brew space is going in the back of the tandem which gives me easy access to water, sewer (drain), an exterior wall for ventilation and electric.

Today I started the electric work. I'm running a 30amp line for the control panel straight to the back. I'm running 2 20 amp circuits for my workbench. Finally, I'm extending an existing outlet to overhead lights (switched) and a switched receptacle for the ventilation fan. Should be pretty darn easy given it's a straight 30' shot (famous last words).

Tomorrow I'll drill the studs and run the lines (10-3 in one, x2 12-2 in another) and extend the existing circuit.

Looking towards the back with the drywall cut.


...and looking back to the front with the studs exposed.

I'm intrigued by your thoughts and would like to subscribe to your newsletter....

Man, I've been agonizing over the decision whether to set up my electric brewery in my garage or my basement... this thread could certainly push me towards the garage...

Do you have a wiring diagram for the control panel you could share?

smoothlarryhughes said:

Do you have a wiring diagram for the control panel you could share?

Click to expand...

I do -- I'll get it posted later tonight after I have a chance to do another pass on it. Heading out to the garage for some drilling and wiring...

Edit - added the diagram. I haven't done the final check yet, I'll post the final when I build the control panel.

Edit #2 -- latest diagram linked.

Edit #3 -- final diagram

Drilling holes in single 2x6's is easy. Drilling holes in a stack of 5 or 6 2x6's with a dull 16" spade bit on a 90 degree angle adapter is painful. I spent what felt like forever drilling holes today. What a PITA. My drill couldn't muster enough power to spin the auger bit, so I had to use a spade bit -- which meant a whole lot of pushing and pulling. However, it's done.

For the electricians out there -- let me know if you spot something fishy, or likely to get rejected during the electrical inspection.

The 3 new lines enter from the top left. x1 10-3 and x2 12-2. Just need to hook up the breakers.


2 new GFCI outlets for my workbench


The 3 gang on the left will contain a switch for overhead lights and 2 more outlets continued from the 2 gfci. The box on the right is an existing line terminated in a junction box. It will get extended to the ventilation fan outlet and switch and the overhead lights.



Finally, the most important outlet -- the 30a dryer receptacle. The blue tape outlines the control panel that will go right next to it.

Love it. Keep the pics coming.

Still making progress.

The wiring passed the inspections and has juice, and I can get on with my favorite activity of all time .... mudding drywall :/ Here's the important one. 30 amps of GFCI goodness and an outlet for the eventual vent fan.



The control panel enclosure is with Jim of portlandwaterjet.com waiting to get cut. He has a jig so he can cut the bottom also -- pix as soon as I get it back.

I picked up a sink today. It has a huge 24" x 24" bowl w/ a right drainboard. Should make cleanup tolerable. I also got a rinse arm and a "pot filler" that will be used for filling and chilling with hose on the end.



Finally, some real brew bling -- I did a dry run of the fittings minus hoses. I'm still a few clamps short, but otherwise it's coming together. This are stout tank 20g kettles and a bunch of stainless from brewershardware.com

Nice, looking forward to seeing this build thru

I see its already run, did you consider a larger GA wire (6 AWG perhaps?) while its open in case you want to run something larger in the future ... TIG welder?

When I ran my outlet, i just ran 10AWG UF wire and pretty much as soon as I filled in the hole I realized I didnt want to dig it up again at a later date, and should have installed wire larger than was necessary...

Looking good. Im impressed you pulled the proper permits. Great work there. I love the triclamp fittings.

wubears71 said:

Looking good. Im impressed you pulled the proper permits.

Click to expand...

+1 !

Looks good so far!

Kal

HHP said:

I see its already run, did you consider a larger GA wire (6 AWG perhaps?) while its open in case you want to run something larger in the future ... TIG welder?

When I ran my outlet, i just ran 10AWG UF wire and pretty much as soon as I filled in the hole I realized I didnt want to dig it up again at a later date, and should have installed wire larger than was necessary...

Click to expand...

I thought about it quite a bit and decided to stick w/ 30 amp. The cost increase was substantial (granted, in the grand scheme of this build...) and I didn't have a desire to wrestle 6 gauge through the wall. I decided it wasn't necessary for the batch sizes I'll be running and all my other tools and such are woodworking related with don't need the power.

wubears71 said:

Looking good. Im impressed you pulled the proper permits. Great work there. I love the triclamp fittings.

Click to expand...

The permits were cheap and get rid of any problems down the road with insurance (knock on wood) or resale.

So far I'm liking the tri-clamp. Certainly takes a ton of clamps to do anything, but easy to reconfigure with elbows and such.

Alright, another step forward in progress. First, the boring stuff, then the waterjet cut panel. Picked up paint today and should have all the wall looking like new again soon.

The panel is back, and it's fantastic. I had it cut by Jim out at portlandwaterjet.com. Great guy -- and ex-Widmer brewer. He also built a jig so he could immerse the panel in the tank and cut the bottom.

The cuts are very accurate. I made the drawing for the cutter using 22mm holes and 45x45mm for the PIDs. The magic marker is my own doing as reference for him. They are dead on and fit perfectly.

First up the front panel -- just like I planned


Detail of the square cutout.



A quick dry-fit of the bottom components to mark for drilling the screw mounting holes.



Drilled the holes and then cleaned them up with a dremel



I'll be putting new leads on the RTD connectors...



In-between coats of paint -- black hammered finish. Lightly sanded, washed with soap and water and cleaned with alcohol. Here's hoping they really mean it when they say no primer...

Subscribed! Exactly the build I am shooting for! Where'd you get the control box enclosure? Whats a ballpark estimate on the control panel total if you don't mind me asking?

Love the stout tanks.....they are the next big ticket item on my list.......

I've arrived at the fun part! Here are a few pics from wiring the panel. It went pretty smoothly and probably took about 10 hours over a few nights. I mocked up the back panel in a 1:1 scale on paper with the actual parts, including where I was going to run the wires. This made it pretty darn easy when I actually started wiring the panel.

I'll get everything zip tied and held down once I confirm it's actually right.


I marked, punched and drilled the panel. Then I mounted the relays, fuse holders and bus bars. Top left is the BK relay, middle is the HLT relay and right is the main power relay that's controlled by the startup interlock. The buses are ground, hot (red), hot (blue) and neutral from left to right.



And here we are ready to begin. The wire is from West Marine - I'm a big fan of this stuff after using it. It is stranded, tinned copper with a high quality, flexible sheath that comes in a wide array of colors. I used a selection of 10 gauge for anything directly connected to the main power and 16 gauge for everything else (behind fuses with one exception for the element lights). I used ring terminals when I could, which turned out to be everything except the switch blocks and lights.



This covers most of the main connections on the back panel. The relay provides power to the buses which are distributed to the fuses and the element relays.



The back of the panel with the PIDs, switches, lights and alarm installed.



The front of the panel. From left to right. Across the top we have the BK element light, 3 position lighted element selector (BK-OFF-HLT) and HLT element light. The PIDs are BK, Mash and HLT. On the bottom row we have lighted switches for pump #1, pump #2, an alarm and finally the main panel power.





... apparently I went into a trance and stopped taking pictures for a while. Not too exciting anyway



This is looking at the finished door (minus RTD probes and Alarm). Nothing too tricky for the wiring. I used ring terminals on the PID (little buggers) and spade terminals everywhere else. All the wiring is 16 gauge. The yellow path is the interlock circuit, blue are hot, white neutral, red/orange are the positive/negative SSR lines and blue/red on the top are the 240v element lights. Wiring the lights was a little bit tricky because I had to take the contact blocks off -- easier to do first next time. Zip ties pending testing...



This is looking in the finished case (except RTD probes). You'll note that I didn't need to do anything with the existing hole on top. I got a heatsink that was big enough to cover the entire hole perfectly. Grounds are installed to the door/case and have continuity to the back panel also. No fuses are installed yet -- I'll add those one at a time as I power it up (unplugged of course). I was pretty careful with wire lengths to make sure that I can get nice clean routing of bundles once I start putting everything in zip ties.



Looking at the whole panel, it looks like quite the mess. I swear it's actually pretty darn organized.



Looking at the bottom of the panel we have the two element plugs -- BK & HLT, Pump #1 and Pump #2 and finally the input power which I hardwired with a dryer cord and a 'skintop' fitting. Not yet connected are the RTD probe disconnects -- I need to solder on longer leads.



My favorite shot of the panel -- looks like an octopus...



The final schematic. Take particular note of the cube relay if you use this -- the connections vary with the part you get. My relays, switches and lights were from AutomationDirect.


Next up .. power on

Cacaman said:

Subscribed! Exactly the build I am shooting for! Where'd you get the control box enclosure? Whats a ballpark estimate on the control panel total if you don't mind me asking?

Click to expand...

The enclosure is a 16x16x12 from Pioneer Breaker. I got it from the website, but they also sell them on ebay.

Not sure about the panel cost yet -- just finished putting it together after a few too many trips to the hardware store for fiddly things. At some point I'll add an itemized list of the parts I used and don't mind sharing the cost.

Do you have a link for the buses on the right. Been looking for some some

Also what do you use to make your schematic

Adeering said:

Do you have a link for the buses on the right. Been looking for some some

Also what do you use to make your schematic

Click to expand...

The buses are from West Marine. They are made by Blue Sea and sold as a DualBus 100 amp. Not cheap, but one of the cleanest things I found for the purpose.

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=17402&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=50523&subdeptNum=50549&classNum=50554#.UAufAdx5mSM

The schematic was made in Visio.

Which template do you use for visio, Im trying to make a similar type diagram for my setup, I like the non electrical symbols but cant seem to find anything like that. Any chance you could help me out some pointing me in the right direction

bolts said:

The wire is from West Marine - I'm a big fan of this stuff after using it.

Click to expand...

Is it rated for 120V - 240V? Marine wire may not be since most marine applications are low voltage. Same with the busses. Make sure they're rated to carry the voltage that you're doing. Higher voltage requires different types of plastic.

FWIW marine stuff is often more expensive since it has to be corrosion resistant. (Not something we need for our use). If it's rated correctly then no issues using it of course, just added expense.

Kal

From the description sheet:

Contains negative and positive circuits on one block. Two tin-plated copper bus bars with #8-32 terminal screws.

Terminal Material and Size: Stainless Steel, #8-32
DC Rating: 100A@48V
AC Rating: 100A@300V
Base Material: ABS

Click to expand...

Josh,

No worries on the terminal blocks.

BTW your build is really neat.

P-J

If you don't mind me asking......what did it cost you ballpark for the water jetting?

kal said:

Is it rated for 120V - 240V? Marine wire may not be since most marine applications are low voltage. Same with the busses. Make sure they're rated to carry the voltage that you're doing. Higher voltage requires different types of plastic.

FWIW marine stuff is often more expensive since it has to be corrosion resistant. (Not something we need for our use). If it's rated correctly then no issues using it of course, just added expense.

Kal

Click to expand...

Good question -- that's a good thing to be concerned about. The wire is rated to 600V (and I double checked it was stamped on the wire before I bought it). It was more expensive, but not substantially so compared to my other local sources -- and they had much better color selection.

fpweeks said:

If you don't mind me asking......what did it cost you ballpark for the water jetting?

Click to expand...

I paid $70. I didn't have nearly the right hole saws and such nor a need for them in the future. The quality and accuracy is amazing. I spec'd exactly 22mm and 45mmx45mm for the door -- and they are spot on. I did the drawings in AutoCAD and the software he has did the conversion for his equipment.

That's totally worth it, IMHO. Have to look them up when I get that far

That's a really nice setup. I'll be keeping an eye our for updates on this.

I'm anxious to hear your feedback on those Stout Tanks. I've had my eye on those for a while now (no rig is ever complete).

Nice work so far!

TB

Adeering said:

Which template do you use for visio, Im trying to make a similar type diagram for my setup, I like the non electrical symbols but cant seem to find anything like that. Any chance you could help me out some pointing me in the right direction

Click to expand...

I thinkmits just a basic template. I'll send the diagram as a starter.

Power up success with two errors. The first error was trivial, I swapped the pump outlets/switches left/right orientation. That was easily remedied by switching the leads to the pump outlets.

The second error was a big oops. In the wiring diagram you'll notice I have a light on the element select switch that lights up if an element relay is energized. This light is independent of the element light that shows when an element SSR is firing. In hindsight -- oops, let's say it's not a great idea to short the two relays together. Also a trivial fix, but I need to order two more contacts blocks to stack on the element selector switch to energize the led.

Also, for anyone testing a build like this -- the element lights will light up w/o a load on the element outlet due to SSR leakage. As soon as an element is attached it behaves as expected.

It made hot water

pics tonight...

You did very well in your testing. I went back over your diagram to see the issue with the element switch. I missed that as well when I reviewed your plan before. Great catch.

P-J

P-J said:

You did very well in your testing. I went back over your diagram to see the issue with the element switch. I missed that as well when I reviewed your plan before. Great catch.

P-J

Click to expand...

Not your fault P-J. I added the lights after you reviewed it Thanks again for your work here on the forum, certainly made wiring this easier.

I've made a bit of progress between some vacation and weekends camping. As far as I know, the panel is done Fixed one last error where I had the power switch led always on instead of only turning on when the relay engaged. I added a third set of contact blocks on the element switch so I could power up the element selector light. I also finally got the panel wiring organized.

The final panel powered up and works like a charm -- or at least it makes hot water. The only tag that wouldn't fit was for power -- I may yet do some mods to the lock. Had I known, I would have moved the power switch to the top right. Everything else went together great minus a few incorrect parts along the way.

I'm also a fan of the heatsink I used. It was wide enough that I didn't need to do anything with the existing hole in the panel. I just put it on the top and left it as-is.


Looking at the back of the door. The 12" deep box has plenty of clearance -- and since it's so deep, it stands off the wall nicely making it easy to reach.


Looking inside the panel. I had to solder new longer leads on the probes (thanks to a friend who solders better than I do).


A shot of the bottom -- pretty straight forward.

Hanging on the brackets I made and plugged into the wall.



I also put the two element adapters together

No brewery would be complete without a bench to put the kettles on. I'm building it out of SVG Fir (Straight Vertical Grain Douglas Fir) with a plywood top (for now). Once I figure out how this size works, I'm still considering making a concrete top. The plan is to get brewing on this for a while and see what I like/dislike. I keep debating adding a drip edge to contains spills -- but i'm not sure where i'm going to actually need it...

The goal... 60"x22" top (baltic birch plywood) with an 60"x8" lower shelf for the pumps. I'll probably add storage cabinets below once I use it for a while. It's currently 33 1/2" high -- I might end up making it shorter -- pending use.



I went with mortise and tenons for the bench. I cut the shoulders on the table saw and the tenons on the bandsaw. I drilled most of the mortise out, then finished the rest by hand with a chisel. They all fit nice and tight, although not perfectly aligned.



One of the ends


The ends clamped up


It looks way more complicated than it is. The worse part is working against the glue. The tenons swell a bit when they get wet and I had use a bit of persuasion to get them all seated fully. It was a hair off square, hence the corner-to-corner clamp to square it up. (and yes, that was an element in a bucket of water in the background)



The finish is a clear gloss water based outdoor spar varnish (urethane).

IT'S SO FLUFFY!

SweetSounds said:

IT'S SO FLUFFY!

Click to expand...

eh?

Just means I want one Very well done sir :rockin: