Ready or Not E-BIAB Here I Come....

[aubiecat]

Used J/B weld to glue the cover onto the back of the box and it is now ready for install.

Drilled and tapped four holes to install screws.

Screws installed.

Tested the fit of the element and gasket. I looped the teflon tape around the threads about 10-12 times to make sure no wort will trace back into the threads.

 

[aubiecat]

Using the element wrench to tighten the element. The wrench allows you to get the proper seal buy torquing the element in tight. The gasket will spread out and down into the threads helping the teflon tape do its job.

Cord grip installed and cable inserted. Don't forget to slide the threaded cap and compression fitting on before inserting cable through the cable grip opening. Notice the hole drilled in the top of the gang box. That is where the indicator lamp will be installed.

Element wired.

Wiring the lamp.

All wired up now.

Carrying the ground to the gang box.

Kettle finished and being leak tested as we speak. I will leave it there for 24 hours.

 

[DakotaRules]

So cool!

 

[copyright1997]

Yes, like the idea of the indicator lamp on the element box! Gotta add that to my list.

 

[shuckit]

Looking good. Really, really good.

 

[aubiecat]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I really appreciate it. The only large task left in the build is wiring the control panel. Doing a little fab work now and I will document it ASAP.
In the meantime !

 

[Brew52]

This is a really nice build! Please post close up pics of your wired control panel when completed. I'm rating this thread with 5 stars! Cheers!

 

[aubiecat]

This is a really nice build! Please post close up pics of your wired control panel when completed. I'm rating this thread with 5 stars! Cheers!

Thanks for the compliments and thanks very much for the 5* rating! I will do my best to post as many pictures of the control panel build as possible. I want to help guys that don't know jack about wiring, like me, to be able to wire their own rig up without much trouble.
I have been studying the box, the components and P-J's schematic for days and it's all coming very clear to me now. I have already mounted the combination SSR, heat sink and exhaust fan. Gotta figure the right way to securely mount the 12v power supply now. It's looking like I might get this control panel done in the next two days.

 

[aubiecat]

Installing the SSR, heat sink and cooling fan. Studying the placement.

Using an old fan and an awl to mark screw placement.

I drilled one hole and then moved to the outside because drilling holes so close to the inside edge would be impossible. I used one screw in the first hole to hold the fan in place while drilling the next hole and so on.

The fan makes a perfect drill guide.

Now that I have the holes drilled and installed temporary screws to hold the fan in place I used the awl to scribe the diameter of the exhaust port.

Well, it's almost 11:00 pm and I can't run to Home Depot for a 3" holesaw so I will do it the old fashion way. Drill relief holes around the interior of the radius.

After using a razor knife to remove the stock. Getting late and I got one the holes off a bit.

The old sandpaper and dowel trick works wonders on the plastic. About 10 minutes of sanding and we're done.

There we go. The assembly and the fan grill installed.

 

[aubiecat]

Now getting down to the nitty gritty. A little studying never hurt anyone. Thanks again to P-J for his awesome wiring diagrams! Very logical and easy to follow.

First I want to solder the wires to the sensor outlet. The spades on the outlet actually have a concave shape to them so that makes them easier to solder. I started by "tinning" the spades with little bits of electrical solder. (Not shown) I tinned the wires as well. Pre-tinning the all the parts is the way to go for electrical soldering.

Soldering all done.

Didn't like the exposed wires so I added a bit of heat shrink tubing to protect them. Checking to see if the piece will work.

One of the best heat shrink heaters in the world is a lighter that has the straight flame, like a micro blow torch, with a flexible shaft. You can get into the tightest places to shrink the tubing.

I think that will work.

 

[aubiecat]

Time to install the transformer and connect the fan.
I epoxied the transformer to the side of the junction box.

I scuffed up the back of the transformer and the gluing spot to aid the glue bond.

After thinking about that for a while I am going to add a small aluminum bracket later. I'm thinking the transformer will get very warm later and may soften the epoxy a bit so a small bracket will help support it. The contractor doubled as a temporary gluing weight.

Before wiring I removed the SSR and applied some Arctic Silver 5 heat sink paste.

Reinstalling the SSR and cleaned up the ooz from too much thermal paste. I used small butt splices and 1/4" heat shrink tubing to make the connection between the fan and transformer.

Used a mounting base and zip tie to secure folded wire.

 

[aubiecat]

Making preparations to install the contactor and terminal block. Marking drill points with the awl.

Both secured and ready for wiring.

Applied colored tape to mark the parts of the terminal block where that color wire will be attached. You can see the main power will conveniently come into the box right below the terminal block.

 

[aubiecat]

I made a run to HD and bought a 3" hole saw. Now I can cut the air intake for the cooling fan. I decided, since I have a bunch of fan grills, to use the same style hole as I did for the exhaust vent. Cut the hole and clean up with dowel and sandpaper.

Marking and drilling with the same method as before.

I plan on affixing some screen a bit later but it's not a high priority right now.

 

[aubiecat]

BTW this is your best friend for wiring.

Wiring the contactor. The easiest way to get the proper wire lengths is to attach one end then pull the length to the end point. Take into consideration bends and extra wire for easier wiring.

Connection between the SSR and contactor.

And straight on into the outlet.

I added jumpers to the terminal block to spread the connections out. These were made with 10 gauge wire.

240v outlet wired.

Due to the placement of the plugs, wiring the 120v plug was impossible inside the box so I removed it and attached the needed wires with sufficient lengths.

Here is the plug reinstalled with the ground (green) and neutral (white) going back to the terminal block. The hot (black) wire is left loose until I get ready to wire the switch. Note: If you noticed the screws and bolts that I used to attach the outlets to the box have lock nuts. It isn't necessary but I like to use lock nuts every where I can so I never have to worry about them again.

Note: I used 10 gauge wire in all 220 volt connections and 14 gauge wire in all 110 volt connections.

 

[Brew52]

Thanks for the pics. You are doing an awsome job of documenting your build. Yours is the first control panel posted that I know of that makes me feel like I can wire my own box myself because of the great close-up shots. Thanks again. You will help alot of newbies with this post. Keep the pics coming.

 

[aubiecat]

Thanks for the pics. You are doing an awesome job of documenting your build. Yours is the first control panel posted that I know of that makes me feel like I can wire my own box myself because of the great close-up shots. Thanks again. You will help a lot of newbies with this post. Keep the pics coming.

No, thank you. I hope this will help you and other guys that want to build a similar type rig but might be intimated by the prospect of wiring a control panel. When I first started this I was sort of dreading wiring the control panel because I haven't done one of these before. I am really enjoying this little project so far. I want make as clean a wiring jobs as I can because I want it to look good, function well, be easy to repair and mostly to be safe.

 

[aubiecat]

I am wiring these switches to light up when actuated.
I see P-J has 24 spliced into X2 so I decided to make a jumper that goes from X2 to 24 and then I will run the hot from either X2 or 24 to the outlet. This
is typical of all three lighted switches I am using. The extra attachment points 13 and 14 are used if you are running 240v through the switch. For my purpose all there switches are wired for 120v only.

I cut all three wires exactly the same so it would be uniform.

Here are all three switches wired with their jumpers.

 

[kgalle]

Beautiful.

 

[aubiecat]

Thanks very much. I have since finished wiring and I am working out any bugs that might appear. I will post the rest of the photos when I get the system up and running and I know it's wired correctly.

 

[aubiecat]

Well after going through 4 GFCI breakers I finally got one that wasn't defective. I ended up with a 60amp breaker because I used all the 50 amp ones that had trying to get a good one. Success finally, well sort of. Everything works like it's supposed to except I found out the RTD senor is defective.
I called Auber and they sent me a new one pronto.
Now everything works perfectly.
Now I will tidy things up inside the control panel and make some final photos.


Everything is running.

Hot water!

 

[EFaden]

Awesome job...

 

[aubiecat]

Good shot of the neutral buss being fed from the main buss.

Wiring the SSR signal wires to and from the PID.

PID now connected to SSR, neutral buss and switch.

PID finished wiring.

 

[aubiecat]

Ready to wire the E-Stop

Resistors twisted together.

Now Soldered.

Tinning the end of the wire.

Resistors soldered to the wire.

And the other end, you'll notice I slid on and extra long piece of heat shrink tubing.

Finished.

 

[aubiecat]

Great thing about these switches is you can pop them off any time if the wiring is getting to tight or crowded.

Wire to feed the cooling fan transformer is connected to the PID switch so it will always be on when the PID is on.

Getting hard to tell what is what. Wiring to the pump switch done.

The PID wired up like I want. The alarm has a hot jumper going from #10 to #13. A jumper from #14 to #1 will make sure I can use the one alarm on the high and low perimeters.

Inside the case done.

Case cleaned up and zip tied.

 

[aubiecat]

Going to open up the holes in the steamer basket so I get good flow when recirculating.
Marked the holes I intend to enlarge.

Used the step drill to make the holes large enough for the punch bolt.
Whew, that calls for a home brew.

OK, I broke down and got a Greenlee punch for this. Guilty as charged.

Smoothing up the rough edge with a die grinder and a carbide bit.

Removing the burs with a cartridge role.

Once more with the Roloc disks.

One final search for burs with a Scotch Brite pad inside and out.

All ready for the first BIAB run.

 

[aubiecat]

I set out to make a custom BIAB bag for my kettle so gathered up the material and got at it. I did this so there would only be a seam on one side. Using this tutorial site as a guide it was pretty easy. I used a straight stitch then back over that with a zig zag stitch.
Small town, no fabric store not even at Walmart so this sheer will do.

A few preparatory measurements on circumference and height.

Cutting a bit long to allow extra for the seams.

Sewing the draw string openings.

Went ahead and hemmed the pocket for the draw string.

I put the little gusset in there to give it some strength around the draw string openings.

After looking at it I decided I didn't like the straight corners. I used the steamer basket to mark a nice radius.

That worked well.

Then just trimmed it off.

Found some Colman cord out in the shop so that is what I used, it is 100% polypropylene too. These cord stops from Walmart are great for holding the bag on the kettle.

Looks good.

The good thing about the Bayou Classic steamer pot is they all have a rim to hold the steamer basket off the bottom of the pot. That makes a nice indention on the outside and works great for a draw string.

 

[aubiecat]

The temperature sensor was dead on when I tested it in a cup of ice water. Auto tune done. Running a test brew, water, right now. Hit 153° in 20 minutes and a rolling boil in another 20 minutes. Once I got it to a boil I dialed it back to 80% then 75% and finally 60%. Looks like I will lose about 1.25 gallons an hour.

Just need to mount the control panel and put together a whirlpool fixture.
Gonna brew this weekend!

 

[brewhokie]

Awesome post, I'm in the process of building up a very similar e-BIAB system. Quick question for you regarding the harbor freight conduit punches. Which punch did you use for the weldless fittings, and which punch did you use for the element? Do you think you could use a weldless setup for the element using that same punch, or is the hole too large?

Regarding the basket did you try the harbor freight punches and they just didn't have the muscle? Finally is there any reason you punched the sides of the basket and not the bottom?

 

[aubiecat]

Awesome post, I'm in the process of building up a very similar e-BIAB system. Quick question for you regarding the harbor freight conduit punches. Which punch did you use for the weldless fittings, and which punch did you use for the element? Do you think you could use a weldless setup for the element using that same punch, or is the hole too large?

Regarding the basket did you try the harbor freight punches and they just didn't have the muscle? Finally is there any reason you punched the sides of the basket and not the bottom?

I used two different size punches for the weldless fittings and the element. I used the smallest one, 13/16", for the weldless fittings and I used the 1 1/8" for the element. I'd have to check the sizes of them again when I get home to remember the precise sizes. You can't use the same size punch for the element and 1/2" fittings. Using one size would create either holes too large for one or holes too small for the other.

The Harbor Freight punches are great for the few holes you will punch in the kettle. They are just made with inferior materials and manufacturing processes. The small punch especially won't hold up to much repeated use.

I knew the steamer basket would give the HF punches more than they could handle. The Greenlee punch laughed at the basket and asked for more. The only real draw back was the thin metal of the basket itself. Most of the holes popped through very clean but if I didn't get the punch exactly in the center of the pre-drilled hole it would leave a little tag on one side. If the basket was a bit thicker I am sure all the holes would have been perfectly clean with very little finish work needed.

As for the bottom, there are so many holes in it and they are close together I decided to go with what I have done so far. The Greenlee punch I have is 1 1/8" and is too big to use on the bottom anyway. I may purchase a 13/16" Greenlee if I need to open some holes on the bottom. There is still room on the sides to put more holes if I don't get good enough flow.

At the time I was putting everything together$80.00-$100.00 for two punches was more than I wanted to spend but in retrospect it is what I should have done. Now that I am on the other side of the build buying the Greenlee punches one at a time doesn't give me indigestion.

 

[brewhokie]

I used two different size punches for the weldless fittings and the element. I used the smallest one, 13/16", for the weldless fittings and I used the 1 1/8" for the element. I'd have to check the sizes of them again when I get home to remember the precise sizes. You can't use the same size punch for the element and 1/2" fittings. Using one size would create either holes too large for one or holes too small for the other.

The Harbor Freight punches are great for the few holes you will punch in the kettle. They are just made with inferior materials and manufacturing processes. The small punch especially won't hold up to much repeated use.

I knew the steamer basket would give the HF punches more than they could handle. The Greenlee punch laughed at the basket and asked for more. The only real draw back was the thin metal of the basket itself. Most of the holes popped through very clean but if I didn't get the punch exactly in the center of the pre-drilled hole it would leave a little tag on one side. If the basket was a bit thicker I am sure all the holes would have been perfectly clean with very little finish work needed.

As for the bottom, there are so many holes in it and they are close together I decided to go with what I have done so far. The Greenlee punch I have is 1 1/8" and is too big to use on the bottom anyway. I may purchase a 13/16" Greenlee if I need to open some holes on the bottom. There is still room on the sides to put more holes if I don't get good enough flow.

At the time I was putting everything together$80.00-$100.00 for two punches was more than I wanted to spend but in retrospect it is what I should have done. Now that I am on the other side of the build buying the Greenlee punches one at a time doesn't give me indigestion.

Thanks for the info. My question about the punches was more regarding the fact that the harbor freight punches are conduit punches not chassis or radio punches. Therefore the actual cut whole will be larger than the 13/16" or 1 1/4" size. Did you find this to be the case? Obviously it worked for you I'm just curious because Kal specifically mentions not to use conduit punches on his electricbrewery website.

 

[aubiecat]

Thanks for the info. My question about the punches was more regarding the fact that the harbor freight punches are conduit punches not chassis or radio punches. Therefore the actual cut whole will be larger than the 13/16" or 1 1/4" size. Did you find this to be the case? Obviously it worked for you I'm just curious because Kal specifically mentions not to use conduit punches on his electricbrewery website.

Ah, I got you. The punches do make holes that are slightly bigger than you want but in the case of the soldered lock nut for the element it didn't matter.
It really it doesn't matter that the holes for the 1/2" fittings were a bit bigger than needed because of the silicone gaskets. If you use a silicone gasket it will spread out way over any difference in the size of access hole. I was surprised to see, on the value fitting, that the washer spread out almost to the size of the washer and I used a large washer.
Right after I installed the fittings I did a 24 hour leak test without so much as a drop. I did several hours of run tests last night and still no leaks.

Kal used the punches he did because he wanted no extra space between the holes and the fittings. He did a superlative build and spared no expense with professional results.
My build was just trying to show how I did it and that it can be done without breaking the bank, even though I ended up buying a Greenlee punch. If you are willing to pay the price for the Greenlee punches then you should get the ones he recommends. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

 

[borny]

Awesome build! Thanks for sharing.

 

[aubiecat]

I can't put a whirl pool fitting on the kettle because of the steamer basket so I need to make a portable whirl pool fixture. Another run to HD produces these.

1 - Mueller Streamline 3/4 in. x 2 ft. Copper Type M Pipe
1 - NIBCO 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. Copper Pressure Cup x FIPT Female Adapter
1 - NIBCO 3/4 in. Copper Pressure 90-Degree FTG x C Street Elbow
2 - NIBCO 3/4 in. x 3/4 in. Copper 90-Degree Cup x Cup Pressure Elbow
1 - NIBCO 3/4 in. x 1/2 in. Copper Pressure 90-Degree C x C Reducing Elbow

Getting an idea where I want the whirl pool tube to exit.

Went ahead and soldered the main sections together.

I slid the parts together and set them into the kettle to get a mock-up fit.
Used a pencil to put timing marks on the pipe to make sure I solder it in the right position.

When I solder parts together I like to put the fittings in vertical position to ensure easy solder flow.

With clean parts, flux and heat all you have to do touch the solder to the copper and it will flow into the joint like water.

Using the ole die grinder to clean the exterior up.

Can't wait to see how it works.

 

[flyingfinbar]

Beautiful, beautiful work, man! Do you have a background in construction/wiring/engineering/ etc?

 

[duckdogs]

Yes, like the idea of the indicator lamp on the element box! Gotta add that to my list.

Me too:rockin:

 

[aubiecat]

Beautiful, beautiful work, man! Do you have a background in construction/wiring/engineering/ etc?

Thank you very much. It all kind of ties into the job I have had for the last 18 years. I work for an architectural metals company and it's a pretty interesting job. We have a crew working on the US capitol dome right now.
90% of everything we do is a custom job so I get to do a little bit of everything.
I guess it doesn't hurt that I am also into giant scale RC planes. There has been a lot of cross over between to two hobbies during this build.
My main responsibility at work is 3-D design, sculpture and CNC router.

This BIAB brewing rig has been one of the most fun things I have ever done.

 

[brewhokie]

The base of you element seems to have rusted quite a bit. On the first page of your build you had a magnesium anode, and you planning on installing it in the tee?

I wondering if the rusting issue is due to element type. I tend to see more people with the straight ULWD element have rusting issues than the ripp element. That could of course be my stupid brain making generalizations.

 

[aubiecat]

The base of you element seems to have rusted quite a bit. On the first page of your build you had a magnesium anode, and you planning on installing it in the tee?

I wondering if the rusting issue is due to element type. I tend to see more people with the straight ULWD element have rusting issues than the ripp element. That could of course be my stupid brain making generalizations.

Yes I am going to put the anode in the Tee. It slipped my mind because I got so involved in wiring the control panel and programming the PID. I need to cut the hex head off and retrace the threads from the other side since they are tapered to the anode side. I was amazed to see how fast the element started to rust from the first time I used it.

I wanted to use the rip element but I don't have the space under the steamer basket.

 

[vnakkar]

Hi,

I loved your idea of putting the indicator light in the gang box on the kettle.

I ordered the same lamp you have. Are you running them 220v? The website said 110/220... but on the lamp it says 110. I wired it up 220 and it lights up fine. However after having it on for 10 minutes, it was so hot it almost melted my hand! Whats your experience? Do they run hot for you? Are you concerned with the heat level in the gang box?

 

[aubiecat]

I am running it on 220v. Honestly I haven't felt of the lamp when it was working.
Next time I fire it up I will pay attention to the lamp and see what it does. It's supposed to be an LED and they don't usually emit too much heat.

One thing about it is mine seems to be dim. Did yours seem dim or normal? Maybe it's just me.

The heat level in the gang box should get pretty hot anyway because you have the kettle getting up to 212°.