Need design advice on 5g 120v EBIAB w/RIMS

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JEnglish

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A number of years ago I built a 120v EBIAB system with two 2000w elements when I was in college. I brewed for a while then took a break from brewing for about two years. A couple days ago I decided to break out the gear and brew two 5gal batches of a Peanut Butter Chocolate Milk Stout. Needless to say the first batch seemed like a batch from hell, but the second batch turned into a perfect brew day. On the first batch the immersion chiller blew as I was cooling the beer in the kettle. Luckily my friend and I needed to refill our beers, so we noticed the water level before the kettle overflowed (5g of water got mixed in with the beer). We spent the next 5.5ish hours straining the hops out and boiling the water back down to the 5gal mark. After boiling it down we pitched some yeast and are curious to see what a 6 hour boil will do to a beer. The OG was 1.079 instead of our mark of 1.089. We're a month away from St. Patrick's Day, so worst comes to worst, we will use it for car bombs if it is semi drinkable; since were having a little marathon to celebrate.

Anyways... This got me thinking about building a new EBIAB setup that has some bling and is safer. My current setup works well, but I feel like I could do a much better job now and safety was not quite as high of a priority (still used gfci trip for e-stop, but plugs need to be changed, and cleaner wiring is needed). I have spent the better part of today pricing and designing a new system. I found that my two 2000w elements did just fine heating and boiling the 10g in my kettle from the bad brew day. I would like to stick to using two 120v circuits since I mainly do 5 gal batches, but the possibility of ten would be nice.

Here are some thoughts as to what I would like to be building.

1. Upgrade to a 15g Blichmann kettle for flexibility on batch size
2. Put two 2000w elements in kettle like my current setup
3. Attach a RIMS Tube with another 2000w element
4. Completely redo my control panel to include a second PID, timer, and two pumps.
5. One pump (currently have a chugger w/ stainless head) for the rims tube
6. One submersible pump for an immersion chiller. In my current house it is a PITA to run a hose to my I/C, so I figure an old cooler filled with recirculating ice water will suffice if I don't feel like running a hose.
7. Install ~20' of stainless tubing in the kettle above the boiling elements as a permanent I/C. Camlock fittings would be on the outside of the kettle for hooking up hoses and such

I know I cant run all three elements at once, but I have a couple thoughts on how I would wire it all to make it work. I am thinking about wiring 1 PID, the timer, one 2000w element, and the submersible pump to my first 20A Circuit. For this circuit, I could run the PID, timer, and element during the boil. The submersible pump would only run after the elements are off and the boil is complete anyways. On the second 20A 120v circuit, I will have the second 2000w boil kettle element, the PID for the RIMS Tube, the 2000w RIMS element, and the chugger pump for the RIMS Tube. While heating to mash temp, I would have anything regarding the RIMS Tube turned off and only run the 2000w element in the kettle itself. Once I hit mash temp, I could turn off both elements in the boil kettle, and run the PID, 2000w RIMS element, and the RIMS pump throughout the mash. Once the mash is complete, I would turn off the RIMS hardware and switch back to the two elements in the Boil Kettle. By running the system like this I should be fine on not flipping a breaker.

The permanent I/C addition to the kettle is where I feel like I may run into problems, since I want to do BIAB. I am not entirely sure I can do this, but if I am going to spend the time and money to rebuild my setup nicely, I will if I can. If I took ~20' of 3/8 Stainless tubing and ran it around the edges of the kettle directly above the elements (id try for an inch gap if I cant get away with less), I believe this would allow me to have enough space for either a bag or basket to fit in the middle of the kettle.

Like I said, this is still the planning aspect of the project. Any help or ideas on changing some aspect of this would be greatly appreciated. Using purely TC fittings and building a new control panel, the current price tag is about $2250 for a majority of the parts. The $2250 has all the stuff for the kettle (minus anything to do with the immersion chiller), and the control panel. I figure by the time I add in a few tools, shipping, tax, and odds/ends stuff ill be around $2800.

This is more or less how I would like to setup the kettle/RIMS Tube. I will probably remove the standard Blichmann thermometer and add a 3 way valve to the front so I can drain it easier. I cant remember where I found this picture on HBT, or id post the link.
1c115405bbf55729e353b6bd8243cafb[1].jpg

This is a (VERY) rough sketch of what a control panel layout would look like. Second picture is Kal's control box from theelectricbrewery.com for size/design reference
Photo Feb 19, 7 07 16 PM.jpg
IMG_6636[1].jpg
 
I suggest you think about using an external counterflow chiller instead of a permanently mounted IC. The IC would make the kettle difficult to clean. Also, for best mash performance with BIAB, you want the grain to have access to as much of the mash volume as possible.

Brew on :mug:
 
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