BrewTroller Control Panel Build

So i've been wanting to tie up my control panel so that I can maybe sneak a batch in this weekend.

I ended up ditching the other control panel I was going to use because of lack of space so I went to lowes and picked up this 12x12 box from the electrical section.

This is a shot from my layout software when I was drawing up the control panel.



I cut the holes out with my cnc machine for the LCD and the switches and the bi-color power LED. Today I plan to finish the job by cutting the holes for the valve LEDs and engraving the piece of plexi I plan to use as a system diagram.

Here is the system in the off mode. I still need to add labels for everything but at least the first part is done!



Here is the sytem powered up.



Here is a shot of the inside of the control panel.



Here is a closer shot of the inside. You can see the BrewTroller up top and the relay board to the left side. The large circuit board in the middle and to the right is the the main power supply. It provides 12v to the BrewTroller and the relays. The 2nd board in the top right corner is the aux power supply, it provides power to switch the main relay off and on. The main relay is just a cheap SSR since the loads on it are very light it doesn't need a heatsink.




That's all for today, hopefully I will have some more progress later.

Looking awesome!

Would you mind doing a webcast of a brewday when you get this all setup? I would really like to see a brewtroller in action. The setup, and operation. That would be great.

No problem, I hope the memory card is big enough on my camera

You can ask Flyangler how he does it. It is a pretty cool system where you can chat with people watching and everything. I watched one of his brewdays a little while ago and it was really cool. I think I am going to do that for my next brewday.

looks good, I am also working on my control panel for my brewtroller...

it looks like a robot

What switches are those and can they handle 120 or 240V.

I'm still having trouble finding good switches for my control panel.

Boerderij_Kabouter said:

You can ask Flyangler how he does it. It is a pretty cool system where you can chat with people watching and everything. I watched one of his brewdays a little while ago and it was really cool. I think I am going to do that for my next brewday.

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Intersting, i'll probably just record it with my camera, edit it and upload it to youtube.

jordanpace said:

looks good, I am also working on my control panel for my brewtroller...

it looks like a robot

Click to expand...

Looks awesome!

slimer said:

What switches are those and can they handle 120 or 240V.

I'm still having trouble finding good switches for my control panel.

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They are just standard automation switches from ebay, I always keep an eye on the auctions, I think I paid $15 for the whole lot of switches. I'm not sure on the amperage I will have to check.

Jordan, looks awesome! BTW when jeremiah is referring to a brewtroller, that's the actual name of the hardware/software from BrewTroller | BrewTroller. just so you understand that part, I see you're using a couple love controllers instead, which work wonders I hear

Actually I see an LCD at the top of his control panel so I think he may already have one

the love controllers were part of my old brutus type setup.

here is a better picture

OH Awesome! I didn't even see that, very well done! So where's the encoder?

I just lost some cool point

I love how you can move it back and forth.

jordanpace said:

the love controllers were part of my old brutus type setup.

here is a better picture

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You want to sell the Love's? I'm acquiring for my Brutus.

the encoder is right below in the bigger box. (torso part of the robot)
the head, yes i can move it back and forth, which is pretty cool

however i havent decided how exactly i am going to wire it up yet. so if you want to post any more pictures on your wiring setup, please do! hehe

It will be controlling four SSRs in total that goes to four 5,500 heating elements. (2 in HLT and 2 in BK)

I will see in the coming week (when my parts come in) how it is going to work out.

Yeah when I get it a bit more wired I will do that.

My wiring is pretty ugly and I think soethigns wrong, I still get a system reset when I use my manual pump switch, I've not yet figured out why... need to get my brothers tester over...

So I had some time and I finished my pressure sensors for detecting the liquid volume in my tuns. Going to do some testing today, maybe even sneak in a batch.

From Lowes I purchased a 1/4" barb to 1/4" NPT Female and a 1/8" Barb to 1/4 NPT Male then I drilled 3 holes through the side of the box and threaded the 1/8" barb from the inside out. Then I just screwed the 1/4" barb onto the threads on the outside of the box. Now I can just run 1/4" tubing directly to my stainless pressure tubes.





I soldered my sensors onto some pref board I had hanging around, I didn't feel like etching a little board just for this.



Here it is all wired up, now I just have to find a 5 pin M/F plug so I can make it disconnect from the control panel when i'm not using it. I am going to add an LED into the case so I can see when the sensor array is powered up.

I.... am... so.... jealous.

I wish I had the funds to be working on my rig.

Let us know how the level sensors work. I really like the idea but would be concerned about cleaning.

On my setup my pressure sensing tubes are just 1/4" stainless tubes that are ran down the inside of my kegs, so if I needed to clean them I could just slide the tubing off and give them a soak in PBW. I didn't want to add yet another weldless hole to each of my vessels.

slimer said:

What switches are those and can they handle 120 or 240V.

I'm still having trouble finding good switches for my control panel.

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According to jcdillian I have the same switches. They are rated for 3A at 240 VAC. Here is a link. (10) 3 POSITION SELECTOR SWITCH NP2-BJ33 NEW - eBay (item 150339554207 end time May-16-09 16:58:34 PDT)

Tell him beerthirty sent you(I need a couple more)

If you need heavier switches try this link. these are rated for 6A at 400volt
10pcs NEW Selector Switch 3 Position Maintained - eBay (item 130295105951 end time May-19-09 14:20:05 PDT)

Do the sensing tubes reach below the straight sides into the curved bottom? will be interesting to see how the dip tube method works. I went the wet sensor route on the phase 2 system but have to do calcs for the volume in the curved bottom area to get correct volume.

Hey kladue,

Yeah they go down a bit into the curved bottom, not all the way though.

By wet sensor meaning you have the sensor mounted at the bottom of the vessel?

We are using a calibration routine that you fill to predetermined amounts and then enter that amount into the controller. Wouldn't that compensate for differences in vessel diameter?

So this weekend I was able to get the control panel mounted to my stand. Eventually I will be changing over to metal but for now this will work great.





I also finished my system diagram and printed it out on clear label sticker paper. I plan to drill small holes next to each valve in the system to install bi-color LEDs. By doing that at a glance I can see the status of all the valves in the system.

Great work. The pressure sensors look sick!

Nice looking setup, the sensor for the water tank is connected to the bottom of the keg 45 Degrees away from water outlet, the boil and mash tuns are tubed to pressure transmitters on wort control panel. Mash and boil kettle pressure transmitter tubing is connected to drain piping for flushing after CIP process is finished for system plumbing. The water tank level calculator uses a couple if statements to apply correction factor for first 1 1/2" of water level to compensate for dished bottom.

Thanks!

Amazing stuff, I can only hope one day my setup looks at least as half as cool as yours

That looks incredible. Do you have a line on what type of valves you are going to use?

Thanks!

Well I found a source for stainless solenoid valves but they are saying it's going to be 10 to 12 weeks until they know if they can get them and for how much. I really wanted the system to be automated much sooner.

Sooo I think I may be trying to cook up some homebrew valves

So on Friday I received my batch of valves. So of course most of this weekend has been spent building manifolds and running electrical. So far i've used over 90ft of 16/3 cable.

On to the photos

Here is the 3/4" main input valve for the fill control



Here you can see the main output manifold, which is the outputs for mash recirc, mash heat, kettle fill and chiller out.



Another shot showing the mounting point for the terminator



Here is the view from the front of the system, here you see the 3 valves that collect the water/wort from the different vessels, then it goes into the float sensor which is the wires coming out on the left hand side. This will prevent the pump from running without any liquid in the system.

Close up of my ghetto mounting job until I build a proper mount




So far its working good, I have to order more silicone tubing in order to complete it all, but i've been able to run mash recirculation tests and it works like a champ. Tomorrow i'm going to heat it up to full temp and see how it runs.

That looks amazing! Continued success to you!

jcdillin said:

Thanks!

Well I found a source for stainless solenoid valves but they are saying it's going to be 10 to 12 weeks until they know if they can get them and for how much. I really wanted the system to be automated much sooner.

Sooo I think I may be trying to cook up some homebrew valves

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Can you tell us where you are getting them?

Thanks!

It was some company that was listed in one of those global trade sites. I will see if I can find the contact info.

That is awesome.

where are you getting your silicone tubing?

Also is there some kind of fail proofing to stop 2 valves from being opened at the same time or is it just up to the user to no what they are doing?

I was just thinking if you forgot to close one valve when opening another you may mix wort and HL water in the pump head.

Only reason I ask is because I could see myself doing that leaving one valve opened on the input manifold and forgetting to close it and opening another one on the same manifold

I ordered all my silicone from morebeer

Yeah the fail proofing is the BrewTroller, besides the HLT and the Chiller H20 valve, the BrewTroller has complete control over the valves at that point and unless I have something set wrong in the config it will not open more than one valve at a time.

My main concern was letting the computer transfer liquids automatically and running my pump dry, so thats why I incorporated the float switch into the pump input.

Are those valves diaphragm valves? Are you concerned about cleaning them out? What is your cleaning plan?

Just a good soak in hot PBW???

Your build is incredible. Thanks for sharing!!!