My new E-HERMS / Brutus / Frankenstein build

Hi folks! I am building an almost fully automated electric HERMS and I've pretty much gotten past the buy stuff, buy stuff, buy more stuff stage so I thought I'd start posting about it!

Here's the specs as they stand right now. They change hourly

* All electric HERMs brewing system. 240v, 50A input.
* 3 20 gallon Boilermaker kettles.
* 240v 4500 watt HLT and 5500 watt BK.
*Control provided by a BrewTroller v3.3 w/ 16 relay output board and BrewTroller software 1.2.
*3 Custom PID temperature displays.
*2 March 809-HS pumps for fluid movement.
*11 stainless steel 12v solenoid valves for fluid routing.
*Plate style stainless steel wort chiller with 20 plates.
*Silicone tubing plumbing to start, stainless hard plumbing eventually.
*Custom stainless brewing stand. I’ll be welding this once my TIG skills are a little better.
*Custom control panel with On/Auto/Off controls for pumps, heaters and all valves. Also includes 3 of my BrewTroller PID Displays, the BrewTroller LCD and rotary encoder for input.
*All stainless pipe fittings.
*Inline oxygen injection during pump to fermenters.
*Constant recirculation of MLT and HLT to avoid temperature stratification.

I've been making posts to my blog about this for a few days, so if you are interested in reading the in depth stuff feel free to check that out: http://www.vonnieda.org/archives/category/brewery-build

Be warned, I write those posts for more the average reader, not brewers, so there's probably gonna be some stuff you already know

I've also got some design docs and info about the project at the brewery landing page: http://www.vonnieda.org/brewery

I'll post info to this thread as it goes along, and some pictures too!

So far, the only real work I've done aside from swiping my debit card has been to build my HERMS coil and to drill some holes in my HLT for mounting it. The HERMS coil is 50' (minus a few small mistakes) of 1/2" stainless from McMaster that I re-coiled down to a 12" diameter. I can't believe how much work that was. It sucked.

Next up is to cut the heater element hole in the HLT and the holes for the temperature probe and liquid return. Gonna try to get that done tonight. My current goal is to get the HLT up and running so I can test out the pumps, electronics and heaters before I continue one with the other kettles.

Why only a 4500 w in the HLT? I use a 5500 w in my set-up, 15/15/20, and couldn't imagine using less power in a larger HLT...

kronik said:

Why only a 4500 w in the HLT? I use a 5500 w in my set-up, 15/15/20, and couldn't imagine using less power in a larger HLT...

Click to expand...

Typo... I decided I'd switch the BK and HLT elements the other day but forgot to update my specs list. I did a bunch of math (none of which may be right) regarding heating elements and decided it made more sense to put the 5500 in the HLT.

In a 15 gal kettle i had a 5500w 240 element and the boil was so strong it was boiling over non stop for 60 minutes. I bumped it down to 4500w and it was perfect. That is for a 12 gal boil. If you have a PID then you can control your percentage. I didn't use a PID.

tannnick said:

In a 15 gal kettle i had a 5500w 240 element and the boil was so strong it was boiling over non stop for 60 minutes. I bumped it down to 4500w and it was perfect. That is for a 12 gal boil. If you have a PID then you can control your percentage. I didn't use a PID.

Click to expand...

Yep, the system will be controlled by a BrewTroller, so I'll have PID support on each element. Looking forward to trying it out!

In build news...

Finishing drilling and punching holes for the HLT. I now have my 2 HERMS coil holes, a liquid return hole and the heater element hole. Didn't have time to start installing bulkheads so that's for tomorrow.

I also finally took some pictures. Here is the kettle with the 2 HERMS coil holes, the liquid return hole and the heater element hole and a picture of what I refer to as “The Loot Table”. This is all the stuff I’ve currently collected for the brewery.



Full blog post: http://www.vonnieda.org/archives/1515

Looks like fun. You will love the electric control

Any activity on the system? I'm starting to put together the pieces and of course I'm trolling for ideas to steal! Hope you're making more progress than I am!!

Hi EuBrew, I've been posting all my updates to my blog at http://www.vonnieda.org/archives/category/brewery-build

Hop Stopper just showed up in the mail 20 minutes ago, so looking forward to trying it out this weekend

wait a gosh darn minute. you used to live in KC, eh? we crossed paths a while back when i worked with spunone. awesome build man!

What distance from the bottom did you drill your holes for the element?
I'm gonna be drillin and punchin mine this week.