100% Electric ...finally...

Work was slow so I cut out early to brew. I've had an electric HLT for a while but I just upgraded the power to the brewshop and had my boil control ready to go.

So I mashed in with a propane BK. During the mash, I punched a hole in the BK, soldered in a 1in half coupling, installed the element, leak tested while wiring the element and made the final connections in the controller...all in time to mash out. I still pulled off a 5 hour brewday...patting self on back.

I was 5 points high on the Mild though...not a perfect day;(

Here's some pics:

More pics!

you forgot to invite me for the inaugural brew! And I was over your way today, besides. I would have loved to have seen that awesome CP in action!

Sorry, I was too busy to take any more pics.

Yooper, it wasn't any fun. I was sweating and my beer got warm...first time for both on a brewday

lschiavo said:

Sorry, I was too busy to take any more pics.

Yooper, it wasn't any fun. I was sweating and my beer got warm...first time for both on a brewday

Click to expand...

Ewwww. If you were sweating I'm glad you didn't invite me!

Looks great, and I LOVE the control panel as you know. The little lights really are exciting and I can't wait to see it in action.

OK - Really dumb question here. What's big advantage in electric? I mean, the reason I have to brew in the garage in the dead of MN winter freezing my @ss off is because the family complains about the SMELL of me boiling in the kitchen.. Electric's not going to solve that for me right? Isn't fire cool anymore??

RumRiverBrewer said:

OK - Really dumb question here. What's big advantage in electric? I mean, the reason I have to brew in the garage in the dead of MN winter freezing my @ss off is because the family complains about the SMELL of me boiling in the kitchen.. Electric's not going to solve that for me right? Isn't fire cool anymore??

Click to expand...

Well, with electric I brew inside in my laundry room. The rest of my house isn't affected. It's cheaper than propane. I don't have to run hoses outside the freeze in the winter, or deal with water running for my chiller outside. I can run my HERMS and hold temperatures perfectly. I can ramp up the temps within one degree and never risk overshooting, because I don't have to turn a fire off and on. I think those are most of the advantages I can think of right now.

Got it -
I guess that's the far end of the spectrum from where I'm at then; I'm hands-on everything, running and double checking everything... That's part of the fun though (I think) the ability that you can screw the whole mess up! But when it comes out right It was either the dumb luck or skill that made it happen

RumRiverBrewer said:

OK - Really dumb question here. What's big advantage in electric? I mean, the reason I have to brew in the garage in the dead of MN winter freezing my @ss off is because the family complains about the SMELL of me boiling in the kitchen.. Electric's not going to solve that for me right? Isn't fire cool anymore??

Click to expand...

What Yooper said. I'm in a garage too. Opening the garage door a few feet, opening the entry door plus a few windows and propane fumes still get to me. And my feet are cold!

Electric is just steamy. Probably good for the sinuses

You'll love your new system! I've been all electric for a while now and would never go back. It's literally about 90% less for "fuel" costs per brew, you never run out, it's whisper quiet, and dialing in a set temp is easy and precise!

Is all this electric brewing stuff (HERMS and control panels) all DIY gear, or is there pre-fab stuff out there as well? I'm eventually going to head this route, but it will take me a few years to get there so I need to know what I'm up against, both time wise and financially.

pickles said:

You'll love your new system! I've been all electric for a while now and would never go back. It's literally about 90% less for "fuel" costs per brew, you never run out, it's whisper quiet, and dialing in a set temp is easy and precise!

Click to expand...

Yes. One brew and I'm not looking back.

Looks Good!

bottlebomber said:

Is all this electric brewing stuff (HERMS and control panels) all DIY gear, or is there pre-fab stuff out there as well? I'm eventually going to head this route, but it will take me a few years to get there so I need to know what I'm up against, both time wise and financially.

Click to expand...

Well, believe it or not, lschaivo (the OP) build my control panel before he built his own! I could never do it myself, but he's built a couple and I'm thrilled with mine.

bottlebomber said:

Is all this electric brewing stuff (HERMS and control panels) all DIY gear, or is there pre-fab stuff out there as well? I'm eventually going to head this route, but it will take me a few years to get there so I need to know what I'm up against, both time wise and financially.

Click to expand...

There seem to be a few sources for pre-built systems. DIY will give you exactly what you want though...unless you can have a system custom built for you.

lschiavo said:

There seem to be a few sources for pre-built systems. DIY will give you exactly what you want though...unless you can have a system custom built for you.

Click to expand...

I just looked through your builds... you're a pretty sharp fellow. I have developed a lot of mechanical skill through my career as a machinist, but I know next to nothing about electricity. I do some basic repair on our CNC machines but don't mess with the wires. Its all 3-phase stuff that will shock your balls off. We do have a good program out here at our junior college that I could take, and I probably will. I would love to make something like this.

Mine was a DIY build, but also a way for me to have everything I wanted on a budget. The few options out there are pricey!!

beautiful. I only hope to be doing that by winters end.

bottlebomber said:

I just looked through your builds... you're a pretty sharp fellow. I have developed a lot of mechanical skill through my career as a machinist, but I know next to nothing about electricity. I do some basic repair on our CNC machines but don't mess with the wires. Its all 3-phase stuff that will shock your balls off. We do have a good program out here at our junior college that I could take, and I probably will. I would love to make something like this.

Click to expand...

Thank you. You know most of the work putting together an electric system is mechanical. Drilling holes, mounting components, etc. The actual wiring is pretty quick and not difficult. I am sure you could handle it with your hands-on skills. Plus there are a lot of diagrams and part lists here to help out.

runningweird said:

beautiful. I only hope to be doing that by winters end.

Click to expand...

Thanks. I have been meaning to do this for over a year. It didn't take long once I was done procrastinating. Its a great cold weather project!

Congrats, your setup is looking better and better. That's an impressive wall of control! I'm still working on mine - just finishing my ducting. I have yet to hang the control panel and install the elements. Your moving much quicker than me!

sredz said:

Congrats, your setup is looking better and better. That's an impressive wall of control! I'm still working on mine - just finishing my ducting. I have yet to hang the control panel and install the elements. Your moving much quicker than me!

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm having fun with it. I'm brewing again today. I was wondering how yours was coming along. Glad you're making progress. It must be tough with a new baby in the house.

You know what? After Thanksgiving, we should have a brewday at your house. I know you hate sharing beer D) so I would either bring most of the ingredients, or not take any beer home. Well, ok, I'll bring most of the ingredients. And a growler or two for drinking during the brewing.

Anyway, put something on your calendar for after November 30, and let's brew so I can see it in action!

The system looks fantastic Ischiavo!.......Your's as well Yooper!

I'm receiving parts daily and have just begun my keg conversions for an all electric system. I'm basically doing a Kal clone of the Electric Brewery, but with keggles instead of fancy new Blichmann's. I'm fine with all of the mechanical and building aspects of building the brewery (framing/drywall/ tiling/basic plumbing/basic electrical), drilling/converting the kegs, as well as the drilling/cutting, etc. for mounting items in the control panel. It's the actual wiring of the control panel that scares the crap out of me! Kal has tried to make the process as "idiot proof" as possible with both schematics and actual picture diagrams, but it's still a bit overwhelming! I plan on ordering all of the components directly from Kal, so that there is absolute consistency between his instructions and what I am working with. Luckily, I have a neighbor that is an electrical engineer who loves my beer, so I have enlisted his help with the actual wiring if needed.

I'm hoping to work on my space throughout the winter and be fully functional by spring. Brewing outside during the winter in Michigan SUCKS!!! Worse for you guys up in the UP I suppose. Hopefully this is my last winter of brewing out on my patio or in my garage when it's bitter cold! Wish me luck.

I think it would be cool if the two of you get together for a brew day on each of your systems, videotape the sessions, and post them on HBT for all to enjoy. I love seeing how all of these e-systems function and it would be a great learning experience for those who are thinking about electric systems. One more piece of advice.....this is for you Yooper: Over the next couple of years you are going to need to change your avatar from Clay Matthews to Ndomukong Suh.......go Lions!

Hoppo

Hoppopotomus said:

The system looks fantastic Ischiavo!.......Your's as well Yooper!



I think it would be cool if the two of you get together for a brew day on each of your systems, videotape the sessions, and post them on HBT for all to enjoy. I love seeing how all of these e-systems function and it would be a great learning experience for those who are thinking about electric systems. One more piece of advice.....this is for you Yooper: Over the next couple of years you are going to need to change your avatar from Clay Matthews to Ndomukong Suh.......go Lions!

Hoppo

Click to expand...

Well, our brewdays usually involve me drinking and swearing and lschiavo listening to me. He's a good guy, as he mostly just smiles and nods.

But we really should brewcast because our systems are very different, but both very cool and all-electric. We could do one at his shop, and one at my house.

Yooper said:

...
But we really should brewcast because our systems are very different, but both very cool and all-electric. We could do one at his shop, and one at my house.

Click to expand...

Please do that. I'd love to see the systems in action.

P-J

Yooper said:

You know what? After Thanksgiving, we should have a brewday at your house. I know you hate sharing beer D) so I would either bring most of the ingredients, or not take any beer home. Well, ok, I'll bring most of the ingredients. And a growler or two for drinking during the brewing.

Anyway, put something on your calendar for after November 30, and let's brew so I can see it in action!

Click to expand...

This sounds like a great idea. You realize you haven't actually spent a full brewday here. You always seem to cut out when the **** hits the fan

A brewcast would be fun. Of course you would have to supply the technology.

The brew went well today. I tried no-sparge for the first time. If the beer turns out well, this may be my new method. I could see cutting some serious time off the brewday with this. It dropped my efficiency by about 15 points which is what i was hoping for.

I even smoked a chicken during the brew! What a productive day. Time to go eat.

And thanks all for the compliments!

I finally got around to my HLT upgrade. 4500W to 10kW! The first test took 30 minutes to get about 14.5 gallons from 40 to 170. I'm mostly looking for quicker ramp times with the HERMS. We'll see with the next brew...

Here are some blurry pics:

Nice! I'll have to think about installing a nice big element in my HLT as well. I hate waiting for the water to heat. It feels like wasted time.

And I've been meaning to ask where you got your float switches. I will definitely want to install them on my system as well.

Homercidal said:

Nice! I'll have to think about installing a nice big element in my HLT as well. I hate waiting for the water to heat. It feels like wasted time.

And I've been meaning to ask where you got your float switches. I will definitely want to install them on my system as well.

Click to expand...

I sometimes end up waiting around for the HLT to finish heating. I usually crush grains and get everything else set up during that time but sometimes I wait a while to mash in. I am sure that will not be a problem now.

I am planning a lager soon that will require a few temperature ramps so I hope this will speed up that process.

Here are the floats I used: http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MADISON-Liquid-Level-Switch-5DYC2?Pid=search

They have worked great for a few years now. The upper float has needed a cleaning now and again but that has been it.

I saw these and decided to pick one up. It's stainless, so it's got that going for it. But I didn't notice it was a vertical switch until after I ordered it. I might have to get creative to mount it properly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-S...&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6810826247302585368

After I bought it I thought it out and I think it's probably not what I really ought to use. We'll see.

Bob just said something like, 'What's he going to DO with a set up like that?'. I just laughed and said, "BREW!"

Homercidal said:

I saw these and decided to pick one up. It's stainless, so it's got that going for it. But I didn't notice it was a vertical switch until after I ordered it. I might have to get creative to mount it properly.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Stainless-S...&otn=2&po=LVI&ps=63&clkid=6810826247302585368

After I bought it I thought it out and I think it's probably not what I really ought to use. We'll see.

Click to expand...

I have a similar one that has a 90 degree bend which works very well. You might want to go that route. Brewtroller store sells them.

Yooper said:

Bob just said something like, 'What's he going to DO with a set up like that?'. I just laughed and said, "BREW!"

Click to expand...

That's right! Nothing important at work now so I think I will go brew and work on the MLT's a bit.

pickles said:

I have a similar one that has a 90 degree bend which works very well. You might want to go that route. Brewtroller store sells them.

Click to expand...

I would like to upgrade the floats to stainless. The right angle style would work better for my setup. I could not seem to find the Brewtroller ones. Do you have a link or part number.

I think this is the one pickles was referring to:
http://www.oscsys.com/Stainless-Float-Switch.html

BTW, very nice build. I like the HLT with the float switches. And 10K watts! That's awesome.

Ajgeo said:

BTW, very nice build. I like the HLT with the float switches. And 10K watts! That's awesome.

Click to expand...

Thanks and thanks for the link. Just because we were discussing floats, my upper is sticking. I have a spare but I may just get a few stainless ones since that price is not so bad.

Gotta ask. Are your float switches for notification, or do you use them to control the heating elements and valves?

l3asturd said:

Gotta ask. Are your float switches for notification, or do you use them to control the heating elements and valves?

Click to expand...

I have water plumbed in with a solenoid valve for pushbutton fill. So the upper float prevents overfill. The lower cuts out the elements.