Spike Brewing RIMS. My venture into All grain.

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Honda88

Honda88

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Hi everyone. I have recently designed some custom brewing kettles with spike brewing and will be building a 2 kettle RIMS system very soon. I am so excited about this new system and going all grain in general. Just thought id introduce myself to the forum. I don't have kettles or parts yet but will keep everyone updated. This build is going to be pretty awesome and I cant wait to brew my first beer on it!!!

I am looking into a PID and SSR at the moment. I'm looking at Auber instruments 2352 and 2362. Does anyone know the difference in these two? They seem to be pretty much the same unit to me.

BTW no negative posts about spending too much money on brewing equipment. Spike gives Americans jobs and I really wanted to support their business by buying my kettles through them.
 
Welcome! The 2362 is "universal" which Auber means can be set up to control a solid state relay or a mechanical relay - the output can drive up to 3 amps on the control signal. Mechanical relays need more current for the coil to move the contacts inside them. The 2352's output can't handle that current, as it's meant only for SSRs, which don't need much current.

And there is no such thing as spending too much money on brewing equipment!
 
Honda88 said:
Hi everyone. I have recently designed some custom brewing kettles with spike brewing and will be building a 2 kettle RIMS system very soon. I am so excited about this new system and going all grain in general. Just thought id introduce myself to the forum. I don't have kettles or parts yet but will keep everyone updated. This build is going to be pretty awesome and I cant wait to brew my first beer on it!!!

I am looking into a PID and SSR at the moment. I'm looking at Auber instruments 2352 and 2362. Does anyone know the difference in these two? They seem to be pretty much the same unit to me.

BTW no negative posts about spending too much money on brewing equipment. Spike gives Americans jobs and I really wanted to support their business by buying my kettles through them.
Click to expand...

Im not really sure what the auberins pid has to do with spike (maybe hes reselling them now?) but you can find the differences between the two pids at auberins.com where most people buy them. My recommendation is not to buy either and get the auber EZBoil unit which is designed for brewing use and a huge improvement for it in many ways over the standard pids they sell. They have features like timers and alarms built in to them which is really helpful and the algorithm they use to keep temps is better for keeping steady temps in a rims or kettle situation. I have used both an ezboil and pids and make this statement from experience with both.

In any case, (and im only mentioning this because of your desire to buy american,) You might want to look elsewhere if your looking for one that employs american people to be made (maybe love controls?) since all the auberins pids are made in china as well.. They might be designed here in the states though and thats something.

Good luck with your build! Im sure you will love your kettles.
 
never heard of love controls...I know hardly anyone is 100% American made but I try. The PID doesn't have anything to do with Spike I need one for my build and was wanting some advice.

Does that EZ boil controller do well with step mashing??? I want the ability to raise temperatures during mashing without having the element on full blast while doing the steps. Can you adjust the efficiency of the element while in mashing mode or would you have to use boil mode and just turn the power down?

Thanks for all the input so far.
 
Can you turn the power all the way down to zero on the controller? I was going to wire a switch in place so I can turn the element on and off without having to turn the actual PID off but if the power goes to zero I could just eliminate this switch by turning the knob all the way down.
 
First off I love this post as I am actually in the same boat. I'm new to homebrew but I've got quite a few friends back home that do it so I know what I'm getting into. I've been eyeing the Blichmann BrewEasy but there are a couple of things I'd like to do differently and with some research it has lead me to reaching out to Spike Brewing to get a quote on some custom kettles. I am no way done wit the design of my system but one thing I'd be interested to see if you've looked into is the Wort Hog controllers? If you have, what is the reason for not going that route?

Also may I ask what your kettle design ended up being?
 
yes you can both turn them down in manual duty cycle mode. or just set them to a temp much lower actual which will do the same thing but you still want some soft of main off switch to be sure the power can easily be killed to BOTH hot power lines going to the element since these controllers only use an SSR to control one side of the circuit.

honestly .. wiring a $4-5 22mm 10A switch between the controller and ssr control power to the ssr is cheap and easier to do than messing with the pids output constantly though..
 
Good choice on the kettles. Im still wait for the conicals. They are going to be out in may.
 
I think you'll love the Spike Kettles. I finished my 2 Kettle (K-Rims) RIMS system a little while ago. It's a joy to brew on and cleans up so easy!

congrats on the new system!
 
Glad to hear the positive feedback about spike. I've presently purchased a boil kettle and impatiently waiting for its arrival!

looking forward to watching your thread.
 
MAD_Brewer said:
First off I love this post as I am actually in the same boat. I'm new to homebrew but I've got quite a few friends back home that do it so I know what I'm getting into. I've been eyeing the Blichmann BrewEasy but there are a couple of things I'd like to do differently and with some research it has lead me to reaching out to Spike Brewing to get a quote on some custom kettles. I am no way done wit the design of my system but one thing I'd be interested to see if you've looked into is the Wort Hog controllers? If you have, what is the reason for not going that route?

Also may I ask what your kettle design ended up being?
Click to expand...

augiedoggy said:
yes you can both turn them down in manual duty cycle mode. or just set them to a temp much lower actual which will do the same thing but you still want some soft of main off switch to be sure the power can easily be killed to BOTH hot power lines going to the element since these controllers only use an SSR to control one side of the circuit.

honestly .. wiring a $4-5 22mm 10A switch between the controller and ssr control power to the ssr is cheap and easier to do than messing with the pids output constantly though..
Click to expand...



I was going to wire a main switch that will kill everything but I know some people have a switch for just the element itself so they can adjust the pid without dry firing. I will probably end up adding it so I can kill the boil really fast.


As far as the wort hog controllers go I'm not interested in them mainly because I can build something that works for much cheaper. If you look up terpsichorean kid on youtube he has a build that is much similar to mine only I'm going to be trying a few things different. My sensor placement is probably going to be on the output of the boil kettle. I'm also going to attempt to recirculate without an autosparge by controlling the pump flow. I'm not sure if I will be successful with this but I thought id give it a shot. Also I should have stated I'm not new to homebrewtalk just new to the ERIMS stuff.
 
autosparge is totally not needed for recirculating... I never used one.. I believe they can come in handy when a sparging but I stopped using a float switch based one I designed because it was just one more thing that could (and did) get stuck and cause problems.
 
More comments on Spike. I purchased a custom 15 gallon BK about 6 weeks ago and it's a dream to brew with. Mine includes the 1.5" element port, a RTD port, sight glass, and the two front side ports for drain and whilrpool.

The easily removable heating element and 1.5" port makes cleanup so much easier. You can set the thing over a sink with a slight tilt and wash all the trub and hops out that low set port without having to tip the whole kettle over.

The whirlpool functions exactly as advertised. I recirculated through my counterflow chiller and it created a nice cone of debris in the center of the kettle. I'm going to put it through a real test in a few days when I brew a much hoppier IPA.

Final note on the build quality and welds... this thing has a kick-the-tires solidity you'll really appreciate. Totally worth the few extra dollars.
 
There were 3 reasons I went with spike for this.
1. I like to buy quality things that last.
2. I needed a custom design and I really like the welded fittings.
3. The customer support is pretty darn good.
 
Update on the whirlpool. I did Kal's Electric Hop Candy IPA today which put about 6 1/2 oz of hop pellets in the kettle for a 6 gallon batch. The whirlpool did create a cone in the center, but a ton of hop junk flowed out with the wort. No clogs, but this has me wondering if a dam of some sort might be helpful.
 
My plan is to use a hop strainer thingy when I do the hop additions.
 
augiedoggy said:
autosparge is totally not needed for recirculating... I never used one.. I believe they can come in handy when a sparging but I stopped using a float switch based one I designed because it was just one more thing that could (and did) get stuck and cause problems.
Click to expand...

If the idea is to build a pump + gravity 2 vessel clone of the BrewEasy, the autosparge really is an integral part of the design to keep from pumping all your wort into the mash tun and dry firing the kettle element. Yes, you can use a float switch to prevent the dry fire, but it may not stop from overfilling the Mash.
 
In my thinking the sparge arm would just allow me to walk away from the system without worrying about overflow...This might be beneficial enough to justify buying one...I don't know. As far as the mechanics go, the thing is just a valve that controls flow which if I just observe the grain bed I should be able to control this pretty well and I highly doubt I would be able to stuff it full unless I ran the pump valve wide open which would be bad in many ways.
 
Waiting on parts but this my progress so far. The tun has an autosparge installed in it that you cant see.

spikey.jpg
 
NICE! Looks like it's coming along. It's amazing how much you have in SS fittings, and extras. What did you decide on the sparge arm. I am not saying that you can't get away without it. But I know, on my 2 kettle RIMS system, it gives me both piece of mind (against drying the element in the event of a stuck grain bed...and also piece of mind on controlling the rate entering the mash tun. This control is a combination of the pump running through the valve control and the sparge arm set in the tun.

What were your thoughts? You don't have to implement a sparge arm right away either. If you're not convinced you need one, run a few brews without it and see if you've got a need for one. Going through the process will help clarify a few matters for you.

I know that my brew days are pretty easy with my setup...while the sparge arm isn't a perfect device...it does give me piece of mind.
 
I do have the sparge arm installed I went ahead and added it mainly as dry firing protection. thanks for the comment and encouragement. I am working on getting supplies for the controler and counter flow chiller.
 
Just deleted my Photobucket account, that sure feels good! Ads were getting ridiculous, then the blocking of third party linking on their free accounts sealed the deal.



Anyway...


If he's doing a similar system to my K-Rims setup (kettle rims, two kettle rims). The boil kettle has the element, it is pumped up to the mash tun (with auto-sparge arm). The auto-sparge will stop the flow of water into the mash tun when the float is set, leaving specified amount of water always in the boil kettle.


SITWl9S.jpg



Hope that helps,
Dan
 
wishingiwasfishing said:
Just deleted my Photobucket account, that sure feels good! Ads were getting ridiculous, then the blocking of third party linking on their free accounts sealed the deal.



Anyway...


If he's doing a similar system to my K-Rims setup (kettle rims, two kettle rims). The boil kettle has the element, it is pumped up to the mash tun (with auto-sparge arm). The auto-sparge will stop the flow of water into the mash tun when the float is set, leaving specified amount of water always in the boil kettle.


SITWl9S.jpg



Hope that helps,
Dan
Click to expand...

Thanks, I got it, so its still a rims system just not the type typically referred to here which utilizes an external inline rims tube.
 
Yes, thanks for answering the question. The only difference in my setup is that I am only using one sensor and it is placed on the outflow of the boil kettle. I should be able to switch from mashing to boil without having to change the sensor wire. The analog probes are just there to verify everything.
 

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