Future New System Advice

[Toto's]

hello,
i an new in this forum and i am really learning a lot, thank you so much for your knowledge sharing!!! i use to do a few batch on a gas stove in my kitchen but i would like to change that even if my girlfriend is really understanding and supportive and never said a work lol. I have a basement where i can set up a new system. Here is my actual material:
beer me boiler 30L. a kettle with 2 holes 30L. apex controller (https://www.neptunesystems.com/products/apex-controllers/apex-controller-system/)
i was thinking to recycle my controller which is design for salt aquariums but i think i can make it do beer since i quit the salt aquarium many years ago. it can be programmed to heat/stop heating, switch box, start any electrical devise you plug in the outlet you just need to program it. has ph and temperature probe .... can even send you an email !!!! lol
would not mind to get a 15 gallons kettle to improve the beer production. I know i need pump probably the Chugger Brew Pump - Inline Stainless Steel Head because i have a budget to respect lol. I am fully equipped with tools so no problems on that matter.
so here is the first question ...
1) Did someone already use a aquarium controller to make beer?
2) RIMS or HERMS
3) will go for standardizing the connections with camlocks but should i go with the 1/2 or 5/8?

4) for the cooling I was planing to go with something like that:
I was debating between plates VS immersions but I will go for lagers and read plates not so good for those type of beers... true?
Grey Kingsnake Stainless Steel Immersion Wort Chiller - 50' x 1/2"
https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=ss-wort-chiller-50-12-gh&CartID=3
I guess I can use it as heating as well if I go for a HERMS. any comment?

5) I was looking how to install the temperature probe... should i put one just before it goes in the kettle? What is the system connection? is it a probe with NPT attachment system?

6) filtration .... i do wine too and would like to use something to filter beer and wine so will be able to stop putting yeast killer into my wine and will be 100% natural!! lol
is there something like this: Advanced beer filtering kit but can I use the Chugger Brew Pump instead of CO2? https://www.ontariobeerkegs.com/Advanced_Beer_Filtering_Kit_p/adv-beer-filtering-kit.htm
Well for now its all. I will try to take advantage of the black friday weed-end to get some equipment.

 

[IslandLizard]

There are a lot of questions here.

2) I'd look into a mini eHERMS, using a small pot (1 gallon) with an ordinary heating element and a short wort coil.

3) Camlocks all the way! For up to 10-15 gallons 1/2" Camlocks (get the high flow females!) should be fine, giving you full 1/2" bore throughout and flow.

4) Plate chillers have their charm, but you need to contain your hops somehow, as they should never enter your plate chiller.
I'm now using large nylon hop bags, and have a fairly coarse filter inside the kettle to protect the exit port from any large chunks of anything going through the pump/chiller chain.

Alternatives for hop containment and hop filtering are a hop spider, 400-500 micron hop basket(s), or a full size 300 or 400 micron mesh kettle bottom filter (I've used those, they still plugged up).

Plate chillers work well and fast, but need some regular cleaning and occasional baking to kill everything inside.
A really good alternative is a Counterflow chiller (convoluted ones being the best), since the passage is much wider than between plates, although sending a metric ton of IPA hop pulp through them may cause problems too. Immersion chiller are fairly cheap, easy to use and maintain, and work very well with constant whirlpool recirculation. There are different designs with double and triple coils.

5) Most of us do not filter beer, we cold crash for a few days to a week. If you were to filter, you need to make sure you can purge the whole filter system to become (nearly) 100% O2 free or you will oxidize your beer.

 

[Toto's]

Hello,
Thank you for the reply

Herms yes, I think I will go for that system.
I will do a lot of lagers and i learned that for lagers plates are not ideal because temperature drop too fast and create cold breaks.
http://www.love2brew.com/Articles.asp?ID=455
For this reason I think I will go with immersion.

I am looking for temperature probe. Do anyone can tell me a good one at lower prece?

 

[Toto's]

i need an advice from someone who has electronics knowledge.
To recycle my aquarium controller.... it comes with a 8 outlets 110V but my boiler is a 220V. So I would need to do something so that the controller will enable or disable a switch on the 220V line. I did studied in electronics but .... about 20 years ago and not into the field anymore so a lot of knowledge is sleeping in my brain hidden somewhere lol.

 

[4of7]

Brutus 20..2v ebiab 15gallon.Do you self a favor just get the homebrew controler.get one with pid,. just call Bobby,

 

[Toto's]

Well thank you for the advice but that is a 600$ controller already and dont want to spend another 1400$ for another one. I am trying to recycle this one. This controller can controll everything if you programme it, fermenting temperature, mashing etc...

 

[4of7]

How does 15amps work for 220v? Sorry maybe you can get it to work on 110v. My ebiab has a 30amp for 220v and 20amp for the 110v. These are GFCI outlets on a dedicated circuits .I understand wanting to repurpose what you have.. This is the art part of homebrewing I like.

 

[Toto's]

I will be more clear,
My controller is on a 110V 20 amps.
My boiler is on a 220V 20 amps.
The controller has 8 outlet. I need to figure out a circuit where when the controller need to start my boiler it will start the boiler on the 220v line. So i need to create a switch on my 220v line and the switch will be controlled from my 110V controller line.

 

[4of7]

Sorry I was going off the spec sheet

 

[augiedoggy]

How does 15amps work for 220v? Sorry maybe you can get it to work on 110v. My ebiab has a 30amp for 220v and 20amp for the 110v. These are GFCI outlets on a dedicated circuits .I understand wanting to repurpose what you have.. This is the art part of homebrewing I like.

He can use the controller he has as the controller to switch properly rated ssrs on and off and control whatever relays he wants. it will work actually but the question will be is it going to be worth it since most solid state relays switch with low dc voltage and an actual pid and ssr combo with temp probe can be bought in a package for like $40.

 

[augiedoggy]

I will be more clear,
My controller is on a 110V 20 amps.
My boiler is on a 220V 20 amps.
The controller has 8 outlet. I need to figure out a circuit where when the controller need to start my boiler it will start the boiler on the 220v line. So i need to create a switch on my 220v line and the switch will be controlled from my 110V controller line.

you need to find a properly rated solid state relay and then fugure out how to control it with your aquarium controllers control output voltage. the best way will be to disassemble the controller and see what control voltage is being used to control the smaller relays inside. you could possibly try to send the dc voltage through the built in controllers switching ssr but it likely is designed to only work with an AC voltage in a certian range unlike a mechanical relay. if you hear a clicking noise when your controller turns a device on and off it uses mechanical relays and is not really suited for the task. it wont switch the element on and off quick enough to actually maintain temps. My reef tank heaters use mechanical relays in the controller but some use the fast SSRs which are what you want. mechniacl relays will suffer contact damage if you switch them on and off rapidly.

EDIT I see the spec sheet says you have solid state relays which is good.. unfortunaly they can only handle 5 amps each and will need to be swapped with something like a 25a ssr or larger to handle the amp load of the elements... doable though.