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I guess Life decided that me running the wonky RTD issue to ground was too much fun for one week, so it decided to start tossing wrenches where it felt they would do the least good. After spending five or so hours this evening fixing a flat tire and changing the alternator on my son's pickup, I decided a retreat to the drawing board was in order.

Attached is a block diagram of the end state of the fermentation/dispensation system I'm going to start building as soon as the brewstand is up and running. I'm going to use the too-small enclosure I originally ordered for the brewstand and repurpose it for this setup. It should have enough room. I'm going to use a WiFi Mega and BruControl. I don't think I need the accuracy of the PT-100 sensors. I'm using 1-wire DS18B20 sensors instead. I ordered a bunch of parts; most have arrived.

The whole concept is based on using a converted countertop soda dispenser (like you'd see in a deli or lunch counter) as a glycol chiller. It was given to me a little over a year ago, and seems to work OK. There are no dispensing valves, feet, or drip tray as shown in the screenshot, but it has been mounted on something like a furniture dolly. The ½ hp R-12 Tecumseh compressor and condenser sit on top of the hinged reservoir lid. The reservoir has a ¾" copper coil that is the evaporator for the unit. I have 11 or so gallons of a 50/50 water and glycol mix in the reservoir. I'm going to use little 120VAC submersible garden pond pumps to run chilled glycol through ⅜" tubing to the fermenters and home-built keezer.

The block diagram is for the end state. Initially, I'm going to use the keezer as a fermentation chamber for glass carboys until I can scrape the sofas for enough scratch to get a ½-bbl conical. The second will get added later, if necessary. I'll probably stick with the Ss Brewtech stuff, and get the Chronical BME. I like the Unitank, but I'd need more sofas to scrape. I'm also going to start off with just two straight CO2 taps, and expand into a nitro tap later on.

This weekend, I pick up my valves, as the slow boat from China appears to have caught a favorable wind around Cape Horn. I expect to have the usual 90/10 easy/difficult ratio for plumbing the brewstand, but it's really starting to look like I may be able to run a live brew before the end of the month.

Please take a look at the diagram, and let me know if you see any assumptions that are likely to turn into snarling money pits that never really work right. My biggest concern is the homemade heat exchanger for the keezer, documented in an earlier post. In fact, the whole keezer is suspect and may need a teardown and rebuild. For now I'm going to assume it will be serviceable. More pics of the setup after the coming weekend.

Ferm System Block Diagram.jpg IMG_1380.JPG Screen Shot 2018-04-19 at 10.39.16 PM.png
 
Plumbus interruptus: The valves arrived!!!! I dug out my bag of camlock stuff that I ordered from Brew Hardware several months ago and nosed around in the garage for a bit until I found about a roll and a half of teflon tape. I set everything up on the kitchen counter and started dry-fiitting everything to make sure I wasn't wildly intoxicated when I counted the fittings I would need. So far, so good. Up next was an announcement from my wife that rain is expected tomorrow, so yard work just got bumped to the top of the list. Crap. I managed to survive chores and dinner. I got everything taped up and assembled. Next was to figure out how to mount the valve assemblies to the skirt board. Rather than forge my way across uncharted territory, I just borrowed @BrunDog's clever hack and ran out to Home Despot for a handful of broom clips.

With shitty weather on tap for tomorrow, I'm hoping to:
  • Mount the pumps and valve assemblies
  • Fit, cut, and assemble the connecting tubing
  • Route the wiring to the J-box and neaten/secure/terminate everything
  • Run a final QC check
  • Start water testing!

IMG_1403.JPG
 
Attention owners of the RP-2 RTD Platform,

Please review an email we just sent you regarding a defect in the RP-2 RTD Platform PC board. We are committed to resolving the problem, and your options include self-repair and refund, or no-cost replacement.

If you did not receive that email, PM me here with your email and we will resend it.
 
Well, everything is now assembled, and I've gotten started testing. I found one pair of relay triggers that I had crossed. That was a pretty easy fix. One valve is being stubborn. I can see the correct voltage at the junction box where the valve leads terminate, but it won't operate. I suspect there may be a poor connection in the terminal block. If not, the valve is a DOA, and I'll be rotating manually until a replacement arrives. I also need to do some troubleshooting on the proportional valves. By the time I got everything installed and connected, it was too late in the day to take on anything requiring rational thought.

@BrunDog pointed out that Chugger pump documentation says that orienting the pump vertically is OK, as long as the motor isn't at the top like mine is. My intention is to fabricate a drip shield to keep stray liquid from landing on the motor's windings. Does anybody know if there is another reason besides drip protection that makes a motor-up installation a bad thing?

IMG_1408.JPG
 
GParkins said:
@BrunDog pointed out that Chugger pump documentation says that orienting the pump vertically is OK, as long as the motor isn't at the top like mine is. My intention is to fabricate a drip shield to keep stray liquid from landing on the motor's windings. Does anybody know if there is another reason besides drip protection that makes a motor-up installation a bad thing?
Click to expand...

This thread provides some details on proper mounting of March pumps, which are pretty similar in design to the Chuggers. From what I understand, vertical is OK as long as the head is on the top, to prevent air bubbles from collecting inside the pump head.

Your system looks pretty sweet! How do you drain all those lines out at the end of a brew session?
 
GParkins said:
Does anybody know if there is another reason besides drip protection that makes a motor-up installation a bad thing?

View attachment 567200
Click to expand...

Spitballing here.

Are there forces on the shaft and impeller in the motor up orientation that should be avoided?

Could the orientation result in decoupling of the magnets from the shaft/impeller? The weight of the impeller, albeit small, will be pulling against the forces of the magnets on the shaft, which should be focused on turning the impeller, not holding it up against the forces of gravity.

What does the inside of the impeller casing look like? I would guess you'll trap a vapor pocket where the shaft goes toward the motor. Could this cause a cavitation issue?

Just some thoughts as to potential why's.
 
March's guide says that motor top mounting can "create an air pocket within the pump chamber and may cause problems"

http://www.marchpump.com/site/files...FjADegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw10HUDU6L1pBtvb50SzTqRY

With that said, one of my pumps is mounted in one of the incorrect ways listed for horizontal. It's been like that for 3 years and has never given me a problem. In fact, it seems to do better than the pump mounted correctly...
 
Wizard_of_Frobozz said:
How do you drain all those lines out at the end of a brew session?
Click to expand...

All the hoses are camlock at both ends. Should be pretty easy to drain when necessary. I'm also going to run a CIP cycle after each brew.

Re: pump orientation...I guess I'll try it the way it is and see if it cavitates. If it does, I'll reorient it.
 
was going to say the same thing about the pump motor orientation... you create a isolated area where the motor and impeller couple that will not properly be displaced by liquid which is used to lubricate (and sometimes cool) it.
 
It will offend the crap out of my OCD, but do you think a 15 deg. tilt towards the inlet side would eliminate the bubble?
 
It is hard to tell from your pictures, but if you have not already, you might want to put some trivets or some other non-conductive / heat resistant spacer between your element'd kettles and your metal brew stand.
 
GrassBrewer said:
It is hard to tell from your pictures, but if you have not already, you might want to put some trivets or some other non-conductive / heat resistant spacer between your element'd kettles and your metal brew stand.
Click to expand...

Hadn't considered that...why a trivet?
 
I mean, it can be a piece of wood or something. Trivets were just the best thing I could think of to describe it. You just want some insulation between your metals. For both electrical (shorts, leakage current) and thermal reasons (heat loss, burn...from the table).
 
Electrically, it is preferable to have the grounding all tied.

Thermally, you don't have much heatsink in the shelving... mostly air like the sides. Certainly would not hurt to insulate it. Need something that can handle the stress though... you have 30 gallons on top of steel wires. Most squishy parts like silicone or cork will deform.
 
BrunDog said:
Electrically, it is preferable to have the grounding all tied.

Thermally, you don't have much heatsink in the shelving... mostly air like the sides. Certainly would not hurt to insulate it. Need something that can handle the stress though... you have 30 gallons on top of steel wires. Most squishy parts like silicone or cork will deform.
Click to expand...
I have seen two posts from 2 different people that where having trouble with long heating times (one claimed he couldn't even reach a decent boil at all) until they uninsulated the kettle from the stainless table so I think it can make a difference though how much would vary on many factors.
 
From Volume I of the Book of Unintended Consequences: As soon as you bring a 30-gallon kettle half-full of barley syrup to a boil, every dog and toddler in the neighborhood will flock to your brewery to start playing "catch the doggy by the tail" right next to said kettle.

I think I'll find a way to insulate the kettles.
 
I know exactly what you mean. When I was building my e-herms I remember I couldn't wait for that first brew session on the new rig. That was a little over 2 years ago and I still get excited brewing once a month on it! Lots of luck!

John
 
Once a month is exactly the target I'm looking for. I figure I can keep two taps going in a steady rotation (maybe three?), so there is always something different to change things up. I figure I'll have some months where I work to give away growler fills, and some months where I have to boot people out of the yard. In the long run, it should work out.
 
I started water testing tonight. There is a little bug to work out with the proportional control valves, but a fix is on the way. It's not straightforward to control a valve that is looking for a 0-5v analog control signal with a digital PWM output from an Arduino Mega.

I ran a watertight integrity test a couple of months ago, but there have been a bunch of bumps and knocks since then. I put a little over 15 gallons into the HLT, and a couple of the kettle penetrations leaked. A quick touch-up re-sealed the O-rings, and the HLT is drip-free again.

The real success story of the night is that I was able to operate all of the equipment from the BruControl console just fine. Pump switching, valve opening and closing, element settings, etc. It only took about eight minutes to raise the 15 gallons from ~74F to ~112F. I'm going to need to adjust some temp sensor calibrations, but everything seems to work as I expected it to.

After six months of designing, refining, specifying, assembling, and integrating, it was really cool to stick my hand into a tank of nice, warm water. Tomorrow will see the water testing carry forward into the MLT and boil kettle.

It might be a good thing that my local supply store just got in a fresh batch of Wyeast smack packs. I'm gonna need a few here pretty soon.
 
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Congrats! The feelings of accomplishment related to builds are always the best. Your system is something to be proud of as well.

You are brave as well to use that much wood. I am normally see a lot more splashing and dripping during my brews, but I am still on a 100% manual system and I am outside, so spilling isn't really on my mind. I would be very worried about warping or water damage. You could probably throw a few coats of clear lacquer on the wood to protect it from moisture. If you plan on a CIP system though, you shouldn't need to break it down all that often. Which means, everything stays dry.
 
GrassBrewer said:
I would be very worried about warping or water damage.
Click to expand...

It's Home Depot plywood. When I ran a screw into it to mount a pump, I found a huge void. Version 2 might be a ¼" aluminum plate. It might also wind up being a custom stainless steel stand without a skirt board, instead of a wire rack. I had 30 gallons on it today with no complaint, but I wasn't rolling it around the garage, either. For now, the plywood will work just fine as I get all of the kinks worked out and get a few brews under my belt.
 
Plate would be expensive.

I'm cheap but I like durability, so I'd use some punched angle or flat stock in a grid or where I needed fastening. You can get zinc plated or aluminum and with the right hardware, that stuff will last many brew days.
 
That's another alternative that I'll think about. I still want to get a few brews done to see if something would be better if moved elsewhere. If I lucked into a workable layout, it won't be hard to do something more permanent. I do like the rigidity the plywood offers to the structure. It helps prevent the kettle shelf from deforming, and it helps prevent the overall structure from parallelogramming (at least in one axis).
 
I use a chunk of oak painted black with my rims mounted to it in place of your plywood and its holding up fina after almost 5 years and many many brews.. my brew table top is an untreated piece of floor underlayment for insulation and so the kettles dont stick. also works very well.. I try not to make a mess though.. and having everything plumbed so I dont have to move hoses around or pumps makes a huge difference.
 
augiedoggy said:
having everything plumbed so I dont have to move hoses around or pumps makes a huge difference.
Click to expand...

That's what I'm shooting for. I'm really fussy about leaks, so I'm hoping that between having fixed (but easily removed) plumbing and a solid CIP regimen means I don't make a mess right out of the box.
 
GParkins said:
That's what I'm shooting for. I'm really fussy about leaks, so I'm hoping that between having fixed (but easily removed) plumbing and a solid CIP regimen means I don't make a mess right out of the box.
Click to expand...
Well keep this in mind.. I brew in an extra second floor bedroom... No mess allowed. It works well but I cant say I still havent had my spills. Once I started filling my BK for a cleaning recirc cycle not realizing I had previously removed the element to clean it and hadnt reinstalled it... I was glad I keep a stack of towels onhand.
 
yeah I dont know if I would be as confident with automated valves unless they were plumbed to drain into some other vessel if they opened.. I still use manual 3 way valves and have no intention of automating any further on the hot side.
 

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