New RIMS brewer looking for parts help

[modernlifeisANDY]

Hey all. I've been brewing all grain for around five years now, and am tired of my current propane-fired system. I love boiling on propane, because my burner has been very efficient and is high powered enough to work well. However, I've been having temperature issues between my HLT and my MT and have been considering the jump to electric. At first, I thought of going full HERMS, but that just isn't in the budget. Instead, I decided on building a RIMS system, as I can use it to grow with me - my hybrid system will be fine for now, and a full jump to electric in the future remains possible.

That said, I need help figuring out the parts needed to wire up a simple control panel. I work with a good friend who is an electrician - because of this, I can save a lot of money supplementing my build with parts that he has already. For this reason, a DIY kit from somewhere like eBrewSupply doesn't really make sense, as it contains things I won't need. I'd love to get advice from some of the more electrically-minded brewers here on a parts list to build my system. I'll run down what I'd LIKE to do, and any help is appreciated. I can source parts myself once I have a good master list.

• Control panel will be mounted in a small enclosure or toolbox
• 1 PID (Auber)
• Illuminated toggle switch and indicator light for the RIMS element
• Illuminated toggle switch for my March pump
• ON switch for the whole control panel

I just need to know what sort of internal components I would need to purchase - SSRs, etc. I plan on using a 2000w element at 240v in the tube, but am open to alternatives or better options. I have a keggle for the boil and a smaller 7.5g pot for heating strike/sparge water. I will likely be batch sparging.

Thanks for any help!

 

[jhalloran]

P-J is the man and this is probably what you are looking for:

 

[jhalloran]

Oh, didn't see you wanted 240v. My bad.

 

[modernlifeisANDY]

Oh, didn't see you wanted 240v. My bad.

Well, I'm open to whatever to be honest. If the consensus is that 120v will get the job done efficiently, then I'm fine with that.

 

[jhalloran]

I believe a 120v 2000w element would be sufficient for a 10 gallon batch. I'm going to be building a RIMs system soon and using a diagram very similar to the one I posted.

 

[Bobby_M]

Well, it doesn't matter what voltage you use if both elements are 2000w. They both make 2000 watts. It really depends on what circuits are available to you. 2000w on 120v will be pulling 17 amps. You'll need a dedicated 20a circuit on either a GFCI breaker or outlet. 240v GFCI is expensive so that's one reason to stick with 120.

As much as I like the look of industrial style selector switches, at 20 amps, you can get a lot of bang for your buck just using toggle switches which are easily found capable of 20 amps. In fact, if you use a DPDT with center off, you could have up be "pump only", down be "pump and RIMS Heat" and center being everything off. That's a really cheap way to get heat/pump interlock.

The panel power on/off switch would realistically only be a PID on/off switch at that point.