First, a little background on myself. I've been brewing since last January, so a little over a year and I think I've brewed 6 or 7 batches with another one upcoming this weekend. The beer I've been making has been getting better with each batch, so that's always good. My crowning achievement so far was the 3rd place medal we (a co-brewer and I) just collected this weekend at the Bluebonnet for our Belgian Tripel.
I've been planning to go all-grain at some point for a while now, but never really put too much thought into how or when, until now. At a recent happy hour with some coworkers I started talking about homebrewing with one of the managers in my group. I work as a mechanical engineer at a prominent test and measurement company. We started talking about how I could incorporate our products (hardware and software) into a homebrew setup and obviously I got pretty excited because I'd thought about doing this a lot. He suggested that I come up with a proposal for the project and he'd work to get me everything I needed (although I'm pretty sure he only meant our products). So here I am on HBT with a blank slate asking for ideas.
My current living situation is an apartment, and although I'll be looking for a new place in the next few months, chances are high that it will be another apartment with no outdoor brewing options. Given this constraint (a crappy one for this build, I know) I am limited to electric brewing and my stovetop. My initial thoughts are to do an electric HERMS system utilizing two 10 gallon coolers because I already have the coolers but I also realize adding ports and connectors to these coolers is not easy. So I want to open the floor to discussion on what I should build on a budget in an apartment but that I can still heavily utilize automation in. We have ranges of products for temperature measurement, any sensor measurement really, and digital control. What temperature measurements do I need, what other measurements? How many control lines do I need, etc. My kitchen is adjacent to my 220V line for for clothes dryer, so it might be possible to do 220V with an extension cord, but remember I might be moving.
I realize that might be a very vague and open ended post, but its supposed to be at this point. Let's get the ball rolling on this thing!
I've been planning to go all-grain at some point for a while now, but never really put too much thought into how or when, until now. At a recent happy hour with some coworkers I started talking about homebrewing with one of the managers in my group. I work as a mechanical engineer at a prominent test and measurement company. We started talking about how I could incorporate our products (hardware and software) into a homebrew setup and obviously I got pretty excited because I'd thought about doing this a lot. He suggested that I come up with a proposal for the project and he'd work to get me everything I needed (although I'm pretty sure he only meant our products). So here I am on HBT with a blank slate asking for ideas.
My current living situation is an apartment, and although I'll be looking for a new place in the next few months, chances are high that it will be another apartment with no outdoor brewing options. Given this constraint (a crappy one for this build, I know) I am limited to electric brewing and my stovetop. My initial thoughts are to do an electric HERMS system utilizing two 10 gallon coolers because I already have the coolers but I also realize adding ports and connectors to these coolers is not easy. So I want to open the floor to discussion on what I should build on a budget in an apartment but that I can still heavily utilize automation in. We have ranges of products for temperature measurement, any sensor measurement really, and digital control. What temperature measurements do I need, what other measurements? How many control lines do I need, etc. My kitchen is adjacent to my 220V line for for clothes dryer, so it might be possible to do 220V with an extension cord, but remember I might be moving.
I realize that might be a very vague and open ended post, but its supposed to be at this point. Let's get the ball rolling on this thing!