NattyBrew's Electric Brewery Build

[BrewBeemer]

If you are having a problem finding a heatsink, I just bought one of these
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120670121120

Fairly cheap and made specifically for SSRs. I too am building a control panel a lot like Kals. Freaking awesome.

Barrett; I was looking at those heat sinks myself 6 hours ago thinking of purchasing two until I came up with these; http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...si=%2FJFzJDilu7QqIMbEcq79gWKzWFo%3D&viewitem=
Four Gordos (USA) 45 amp SSR's mounted on heat sink $34.99 each, purchased two of them.
Two of the above bare heat sinks plus shipping would of cost me $33, adding eight 45 amp SSR's at $9.00 each the assemblies became way cheaper. $86.49 vs $123.17 a $36.68 savings.

 

[bbognerks]

Ah well, I already had the SSRs. You save money and you lose money the first time around. Thanks though, hopefully I can save some brewclub friends some cash if they decide to go electric.

 

[wegz15]

Does anyone know if these would work with the PIDs?

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DWYER-Temperature-Sensor-6CTY0?Pid=search

 

[wegz15]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DWYER-Temperature-Sensor-6CTY4?Pid=search

Meant that one

 

[bbognerks]

Yes that should work. Wish you had found these about 2 weeks ago. Would have saved me $45. Not sure if it's liquid tight though, like the ones I got from Auber. You may have to do some modifications to it to make it liquid tight. I think Bobby has a post about how to do it.

 

[wegz15]

I'm doing a lot of research first. Trying to find better prices. Found stainless ball valves 9 total for $50 shipped.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Carla with the heat sinks stated he had many more, they are offered at a great price.
I was in a world of hurt needing six 40 amp or higher SSR's plus a couple for pumps and stir motor as I gave back a bunch of SSR's a friend had given me for his second build. They came from Hong Kong plus I felt better using higher amp Gordos.
Gordos with the heat sink a packaged unit I had to grab them with needing two units.
The ebay seller I mentioned above has many more units plus different amp SSR's.

 

[wegz15]

Doing more research on the probes. I found these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RTD-PT100-Tempe...652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a55d99b84

http://www.lightobject.com/10ft-3M-K-type-Thermocouple-with-8cm-pole-thread-P488.aspx

They are slightly different. One has 3 spade connectors and the other has 2 spades. Does anyone know what the difference is? I would most likely go with the lightobect.com porbes and they are 20mm (.78 inches) shorter and are the same price.

 

[ddknight]

Hey hatfieldenator,

Looks like Cincy is a Kal Model replication center! It's nice to see a few Cincy people on here. Hopefully your build progresses nicely. I am smack in the middle of my build and didn't change a whole lot of the stuff around from what Kal did and it's going smoothly. Just trying to figure out the placement of everything on the two bus bars now and we'll see what we have.

I'm assuming your located downtown. I'm actually up a little north just off of Fields Ertel road not far from Kings Island. Keep us posted on you build. I'm hoping to start a thread here soon when I organize some pictures!

 

[wegz15]

By wifes sister lives in cincinnati. Actually, about 10 minutes from kings island. Small world

 

[ddknight]

Small world indeed! You'll have to come visit someday and have few beers.

 

[bbognerks]

Doing more research on the probes. I found these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RTD-PT100-Tempe...652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a55d99b84

http://www.lightobject.com/10ft-3M-K-type-Thermocouple-with-8cm-pole-thread-P488.aspx

They are slightly different. One has 3 spade connectors and the other has 2 spades. Does anyone know what the difference is? I would most likely go with the lightobect.com porbes and they are 20mm (.78 inches) shorter and are the same price.

RTD sensors are different than K Type Thermocouples. The inputs into the PID are different. RTD/PT100 sensors require 3 wires while K type thermocouples only require 2. Also something to note is that RTD sensors are more accurate.

Edit: You also need to set the PID to the type of sensor being used. It won't work with a RTD sensor if it is set to K type and vice versa.

One last thing, that K-type you listed is definitely not liquid tight. The probe should not have a gap or seam next to the threads. It should look like 1 piece.

 

[NattyBrew]

Holy Crap! Cincinnati must be a hot spot for building Kal's brewery!

Wow, seriously talk about a small world! Sorry I have been a bit absent this week, work's been killing me so far in the new year. I am making some progress on the wiring this week, now if my heat sink would show up as planned tomorrow I can finish the wiring completely! I will be sure to update you all with some wiring pics as soon as it is all tidy and doesn't look like a plate of spaghetti.

-=Matt=-

 

[hatfieldenator]

Small world indeed! You'll have to come visit someday and have few beers.

Sounds good to me! I'll be sure to post pics as I make progresss. It's gonna be a few weeks until I get all my parts in the mail.

 

[NattyBrew]

So I finally got the rest of my wiring for the control panel finished yesterday, so as of 1/13/11 stage one of my electric brewery build is complete!

These pictures are after everything inside the box had been tidied up, because just a few moments before both my work table and control panel looked like the following:

Anyway, after about four solid evening of stripping, crimping, and wiring I got everything completed and tidied up. Following Kal's wiring diagrams were pretty much painless, nearly everything was pretty straightforward. For anyone who is tackling this project or just has questions about what was done please feel free to ask and I will be happy to help. Now the long and painful process of saving up for the next step, the three Bilchman kettles!

 

[NattyBrew]

And a few more pics of the wiring for the folks!

 

[ddknight]

Looks Awesome! The wiring is much nicer than what I have going on right now! Hopefully over the wknd I'll get a chance to clean things up a bit. Nice first step for sure!

 

[bbognerks]

Talk about an exact clone of TEB. That's a job well done. Looks like Kal did it himself, lol.

 

[wilceaser]

Sweet mamma lucia! Nice job!!!

 

[NattyBrew]

Sweet mamma lucia! Nice job!!!

Just had to quote this one, hands down the best response I've gotten!

Thanks all for the comments, I only can hope to nail this build in the same way Kal did. I guess my whole approach with this replica build is "Why change something that works in every way you want/need it to?". As you all can tell I am just a little bit of a perfectionist so I took plenty of time to try and make sure things were done right.

Now the excruciating wait while I save up for the Bilchmanns... Especially difficult to do when you are in the middle of buying your first home as well! In the down time between step number two anyone who has any questions at all, big or small, I'd be glad to help answer them. Thanks guys.

-=Matt=-

 

[ScubaSteve]

What is it about the Blichmanns? Have you considered the Megapots? You get a better quality pot for the money, but I DO like the sight gauges on the Blichmanns.....

 

[adivito]

Has anyone thought about doing this but welded? Is there a reason other than preference for all the weldless fittings?

 

[NattyBrew]

What is it about the Blichmanns? Have you considered the Megapots? You get a better quality pot for the money, but I DO like the sight gauges on the Blichmanns.....

I still am considering the Mega Pots as well but the one fear for me is the flexibility to brew a 5 gallon batch of beer for new recipes and the like. The 20 gallon mega pot is only 17" tall versus 22" for the bilchmann. Obviously the same volume is attained by the mega pot because it is wider than the Bilchmann and through good old geometry means that the mega pot is 18.6 inches wide versus 16.2 with the bilchmanns.

And because I am an engineer at heart in general terms that means 5 gallons in the megapot would fill up to 4.25 inches high versus 5.6 inches in the Bilchmanns. While not a huge difference that inch and a half more water height gives me some more room to have both elements installed without having the boxes on the outside right at the bottom of the kettle.

Of course I could just order one of each and test fit the dang things with five gallons of water in each but that would destroy the analyzing, posturing, and fun now wouldn't it?

But on a serious note I still haven't officially settled on the bilchmanns yet, but by setting a savings goal which is high enough for both I have my bases all covered when it comes to step two of my build.

-=Matt=-

 

[bbognerks]

Wow, way to overanalyze the situation, LOL.

 

[NattyBrew]

Haha, appreciate the humor. And seriously I let myself go sometimes and it turns into spurts of writing/talking like seen above. Gotta make sure to reel myself in every once in a while!

Anyway in my rush to over-analyze my pot choice I forgot to mention... Thanks for bringing up the alternate pot choice ScubaSteve it most definitely is cheaper option for this set up.

-=Matt=-

 

[ScubaSteve]

Sometimes...you just want what you WANT. Blichmann's are pretty slick....but there's pro's and con's to all. If it were me, I'd go with instawares pots (unmodified megapots) or the penrose kettles (when they come back in stock) and solder in fittings exactly where I wanted them. I did it on my build, and I've got a completely custom setup that does what I want it to. Weldless is cool, but soldering really is easy and the results are excellent.

 

[adivito]

Blichmanns are definitely slick pots, but I think when I put mine together I really want welded bulkheads. I can buy the pots then screw in all the fittings and hopefully save some costs and gives some flexibility.

 

[adivito]

scubasteve I just looked up the penrose kettles, have you seen on in person? Im thinking with the help of a friend who is a talented welder I could make something like that up to whatever size I desired.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Nope...but they're definitely made with quality materials. No one else is using that thick of steel, nor are they giving you that level of customization. I like Stout kettles too....I'd go that route too....and it would solve the height vs width issue...plus you can go triclover....mmmmmm....triclovers.....

Okay....quietly tiptoeing out of someone else's thread.....

 

[NattyBrew]

No worries ScubaSteve, no need to tiptoe out of the thread. These are meant for discussion after all!

And advito, welded fittings would be super nice but I've had absolutely zero problems with my weldless setups on my current keggle so I don't really have a bias at all against them. I do know plenty of people who have had issues and it tends to turn them off from the weldless design pretty quickly; most the time its simply a error in the install process but I totally get how some get upset when they just won't stop leaking!

Never heard of the penrose kettles, I will definitely have to take a look at those as well...

-=Matt=-

 

[BrewBeemer]

Never heard of the penrose kettles, I will definitely have to take a look at those as well... -=Matt=-

Try this then click on the Penrose kettle photo;
http://brewhemoth.com/

 

[adivito]

Im looking at making up kettles similar to penroses but with welded in bulkheads for an electric brewery setup.

 

[Yooper]

Oh. Just "Oh". I'm speechless. That is the coolest thing ever.

I have electric envy. Real bad.

 

[NattyBrew]

Oh. Just "Oh". I'm speechless. That is the coolest thing ever.

I have electric envy. Real bad.

Thanks Yooper. Now you now EXACTLY how I felt the first time I stumbled upon TheElectricBrewery.com. This stuff makes you just drool and dream of electric doesn't it? Clearly I didn't have the willpower to stick with my perfectly fine propane/keggle/cooler AG setup, I folded like a house of cards!

Now all I have to do is keep my eyes on the prize and keep saving towards step #2! Piece by piece my dream system is coming together.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks Yooper. Now you now EXACTLY how I felt the first time I stumbled upon TheElectricBrewery.com. This stuff makes you just drool and dream of electric doesn't it? Clearly I didn't have the willpower to stick with my perfectly fine propane/keggle/cooler AG setup, I folded like a house of cards!

Now all I have to do is keep my eyes on the prize and keep saving towards step #2! Piece by piece my dream system is coming together.

I've been all-electric for over a year, but mine isn't pretty! I'm having a friend help me with some changes right now, but it still isn't going to be very pretty. Functional yes. Pretty, no.

 

[NattyBrew]

Oh sorry Yooper, its me then that is joining your club! What kind of electric system do you call your own, is it a HERMS or RIMS system? And it doesn't have to be pretty Yooper, just functional.

However thanks to Kal, all of us now have to aspire to create something that is darn near perfect! Damn you Kal, damn you...

 

[Feurhund]

Have any of you thought about using the BCS 460 controller for the build. The wireless interface with my IPAD possibility has me pretty excited. I have all the kettles pumps etc. Ready to start building, but just want to see everyones thoughts on using the BCS. Thanks.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Yup, sold it still NIB.
Future plans owning a 462 I needed more functions that the 460 could not handle not wanting to pile of BCS expansion cards with power packs. Adding these additional items it would be cleaner with a 462.
Still waiting for added features like pressure sensor reading for volumes plus a flow meter reading features to come out hence i'm waiting not buying.

 

[NattyBrew]

Have any of you thought about using the BCS 460 controller for the build. The wireless interface with my IPAD possibility has me pretty excited. I have all the kettles pumps etc. Ready to start building, but just want to see everyones thoughts on using the BCS. Thanks.

Wow, a wireless interface with an iPad??? That would be a gadget freak's dream!! You'd be showing up some of the control systems most craft breweries have! I definitely to read more about this.

 

[Feurhund]

Yeah the app is called brew buddy and is currently on the iPhone. If I go that route I will be able to adjust temps, turn on pumps etc. From the IPAD. You can also hook up a fermentation chamber and ramp temps. I have started dreaming about it.