Facelift for my control panel

rabeb25 · Jan 6, 2016

augiedoggy said:
I couldnt turn down $30 with free shipping from ebay...

$30, thats cheaper than I can find... have a link?

augiedoggy · Jan 6, 2016

rabeb25 said:
$30, thats cheaper than I can find... have a link?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-38MM-Fl...732790?hash=item3f372e7b76:g:JyAAAOxykUZTh~sZ

and heres a seller with stock in the states..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-5-38MM-Fl...836765?hash=item3a9d295c9d:g:BRcAAOSwEetV9nGf

Toejam792 · Jan 7, 2016

Can I have a link for the dual contact relays you used in your fermentation panel. I'm going to add a second and maybe third conical soon and like your set up for cheap easy expand-ability.

pablosbrewing · Jan 7, 2016

Here is what I have:

240V coil - I use this with my e-stop switch at the 240V inlet:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221568038965

24V coil - I use this to cut off the element, using a float valve to break the 24V:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221561053677

augiedoggy · Jan 7, 2016

Toejam792 said:
Can I have a link for the dual contact relays you used in your fermentation panel. I'm going to add a second and maybe third conical soon and like your set up for cheap easy expand-ability.

I used relays like this...http://www.ebay.com/itm/HH54P-DC-24...173238?hash=item51bdb60376:g:Ve4AAOSwu4BVieZF
since I used 24v dc solenoid valves and 24v heating strips it just made sense to use that 24v to activate my relay too... I used one NO contact to power my 240v chiller main pump and the other to activate the 24v valve at the same time... and the heater circuit is wired direct through the stc1000.

If you plan on using something like 12v instead then you can just search for a "12v coil dual relay"

Toejam792 · Jan 8, 2016

Thanks for the link. Do you use a submersible pump in your system or does your gylcol system contain one. I'm just wondering what gph I should get for 4 fermenters.

augiedoggy · Jan 8, 2016

Toejam792 said:
Thanks for the link. Do you use a submersible pump in your system or does your gylcol system contain one. I'm just wondering what gph I should get for 4 fermenters.

my chiller has one... not sure how powerful the rating is.. I would go with something like 900+ gph..

Toejam792 · Mar 31, 2016

How many KWH are you using per brew day? I've always been curious about my brew day power usage.

augiedoggy · Apr 1, 2016

Toejam792 said:
How many KWH are you using per brew day? I've always been curious about my brew day power usage.

I can tell you after tonight... brewing an IPA with a friend ... I cant remember what my meter says now but I havent reset the KWH meter since I installed it.

bradleyhunt · Apr 4, 2016

augiedoggy said:
I learned that you can just wrap this $10 discharge hose also avaliable from the home depot around any conical and make a very effective cooling jacket http://www.ebay.com/itm/330900552367?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT (i used two #8 1/2 rubber stoppers with a 2" long piece of 3/8" copper tubing stuck in it and held tight with a hose clamp around the discharge hose and stopper for bulkheads to connect the hose to my valves.

I also learned that thin walled 5/16" silicone tubing (like surgical tubing) works well for cooling these conicals as well.. I'm using this method on my smaller 7 gallon unit.

I also picked up this beer gun,
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/New-...-Free-shipping-by-ePACKAT-to/32294349177.html

How did you wrap the discharge hose? Just spiral down from the top?

How's the beer gun? I may have missed an update on it.

DangerisBrewing · Apr 4, 2016

I'm curious how the MyPins work for the BK? Can you put them in manual mode and adjust the power level?
PS very nice build. I'm looking forward to a setup like this myself as soon I have all the info I neEd.
Cheers

iijakii · Apr 4, 2016

DangerisBrewing said:
I'm curious how the MyPins work for the BK? Can you put them in manual mode and adjust the power level?
Cheers

Yes, as long as you get the TD4 model. The TA does not have manual mode.

augiedoggy · Apr 4, 2016

bradleyhunt said:
How did you wrap the discharge hose? Just spiral down from the top?

How's the beer gun? I may have missed an update on it.

Yes loosely wrapped and then insulated over it to hold it in place..

Beergun works great, I have used it a few times now... No modifications or leaks to address that others stated it might need.

And yeah @DangerisBrewing ...TD4-SNR is the ssr model you want with manual mode.

bradleyhunt · Apr 4, 2016

augiedoggy said:
Yes loosely wrapped and then insulated over it to hold it in place..

Beergun works great, I have used it a few times now... No modifications or leaks to address that others stated it might need.

And yeah @DangerisBrewing ...TD4-SNR is the ssr model you want with manual mode.

Do you notice much overshooting with such a high surface area of cooling? I have been researching making my own Cooling Jacket with silicone tubing and a neoprene yoga mat, but the cost was going to be about the same as the CoolZone Jacket.

augiedoggy · Apr 5, 2016

bradleyhunt said:
Do you notice much overshooting with such a high surface area of cooling? I have been researching making my own Cooling Jacket with silicone tubing and a neoprene yoga mat, but the cost was going to be about the same as the CoolZone Jacket.

No... my temp probe is in the center coming in from the top so I get a little overshooting in the very beginning but I have my stc setup for a 1 degree variation and it hold very well without running much... I do have heating strips on my conicals as well also controlled by the stc1000 so they control any overshoot in the beginning fairly quickly.

I used 3/8" silicone tubing for my 7.5 gallon conical and it works but its not as effective as the discharge hose..

Toejam792 · Apr 7, 2016

augiedoggy said:
I can tell you after tonight... brewing an IPA with a friend ... I cant remember what my meter says now but I havent reset the KWH meter since I installed it.

Did you reset your meter last brew?

augiedoggy · Apr 8, 2016

Toejam792 said:
Did you reset your meter last brew?

I did not..sorry. But since its installation, I have done 5 brews and one 1 hr long cleaning session and have 71 kwh on the meter.

Toejam792 · Apr 8, 2016

augiedoggy said:
I did not..sorry. But since its installation, I have done 5 brews and one 1 hr long cleaning session and have 71 kwh on the meter.

Cool so less than 15kwh a brew. I can live with spending $2 a brew day on water heating costs.

augiedoggy · Apr 8, 2016

Toejam792 said:
Cool so less than 15kwh a brew. I can live with spending $2 a brew day on water heating costs.

a little less actually since I forgot to include the chocolate porter I made in January... so it was 6 brew sessions.. with 4 of them being 11 gallons each

stever1000 · Oct 13, 2016

BitterSweetBrews said:
The sticking pump is my issue too. It will go for a while, then stop. It seems to stick between magnets. It was a black solar pump and thinking back, I am not sure it is considered "Food Grade". It is supposed to be rated to 100 deg C. I just ordered one of the 12v tan food grade pumps today. I bought a 24v 1a power supply for the other one, now I need to find a 12v model. The specs say .7a draw and I haven't found one yet. I may get a 1a one and hope it doesn't blow the motor.

I think I'll get 2 or 3 T valves next. I have a plan in my brain I need to put on paper. Do you see any problem using copper pipe to get started? I know SS would be better but I need to start out low budget and could put the piping together in copper for the cost of 1 section of SS. I just bought a 12" x 1 1/4" SS nipple to replace 2 shorter ones in my RIMS and it cost $22. I could buy all the pipe and fittings in copper (no valves) for much less than that. Otherwise, I could just use hose and fittings. I have a bunch from when I replaced hose barbs with quick connects. Though I would like the sturdiness of pipe and am pretty good at sweating plumbing.

Where did you get your SS nipple from?

stever1000 · Oct 13, 2016

augiedoggy said:
Its a stainless "cartridge heater" they are often used in industrial and food manufacturing applications, I tried a few different sizes before deciding on a 24.5" log by 5/8 (or possibly 1/2') diameter element... its 1000w at 240w and because of the length and diameter its still ULWD. I made the tube of 1" stainless with a 1" camlock pictured for easy removal to clean (so far only needed to clean once when I accidently left it dry dry while on -hence the flow switch I installed above to prevent that from happening again.

I drilled out the extra bit at the base of a compression fitting and mounted the element inside of the compression fitting to mount it and keep everything waterproof.

these cartridge heater can be found for as little as $10 all the way up to $100... just search "cartridge heater" on ebay or amazon. I have mounted and tried 3/8 x 10" and 3/8 by 17 and 1/2" x 15" elements... they even sell them with a j type thermocouple built right into the element which would really prevent scorching which I tried but decided against because it operated much slower this way.

I had good results with this heater but went longer for more safety...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FAST-HEAT-C...386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b023ad2aa

Where do you find such long sections of stainless?

augiedoggy · Oct 13, 2016

stever1000 said:
Where do you find such long sections of stainless?

Theres two sellers on ebay that sell different lengths.. I used like a 12" and 20" or something to that effect with a coupler before I added the sight glass down below , Then I went with like an 18 or 16" piece with the 12"

just search 1" stainless nipple or pipe and the sellers should come up that offer different lengths.

stever1000 · Oct 13, 2016

augiedoggy said:
Theres two sellers on ebay that sell different lengths.. I used like a 12" and 20" or something to that effect with a coupler before I added the sight glass down below , Then I went with like an 18 or 16" piece with the 12"

just search 1" stainless nipple or pipe and the sellers should come up that offer different lengths.

Ok I found them, I was hoping it was a Chinese supplier because shipping to Canada fromthe US is horrendous on eeBay

augiedoggy · Oct 13, 2016

stever1000 said:
Ok I found them, I was hoping it was a Chinese supplier because shipping to Canada fromthe US is horrendous on eeBay

gotcha... well there are chinese suppliers too I bought many of my stainless fittings from a huge store out of china on ebay daily deals I think its called..

stever1000 · Oct 13, 2016

augiedoggy said:
gotcha... well there are chinese suppliers too I bought many of my stainless fittings from a huge store out of china on ebay daily deals I think its called..

Exactly the same deal for me - all my camlocks and fittings are from china.
The stainless tubes only go up to 200mm (8") so not long enough, I asked and that's the longest they carry, probably common size

stever1000 · Oct 18, 2016

augiedoggy said:
Its a stainless "cartridge heater" they are often used in industrial and food manufacturing applications, I tried a few different sizes before deciding on a 24.5" log by 5/8 (or possibly 1/2') diameter element... its 1000w at 240w and because of the length and diameter its still ULWD. I made the tube of 1" stainless with a 1" camlock pictured for easy removal to clean (so far only needed to clean once when I accidently left it dry dry while on -hence the flow switch I installed above to prevent that from happening again.

I drilled out the extra bit at the base of a compression fitting and mounted the element inside of the compression fitting to mount it and keep everything waterproof.

these cartridge heater can be found for as little as $10 all the way up to $100... just search "cartridge heater" on ebay or amazon. I have mounted and tried 3/8 x 10" and 3/8 by 17 and 1/2" x 15" elements... they even sell them with a j type thermocouple built right into the element which would really prevent scorching which I tried but decided against because it operated much slower this way.

I had good results with this heater but went longer for more safety...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FAST-HEAT-C...386?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5b023ad2aa

Were you able to stepmash with this setup? I know your current setp is longer, but I don't want to go too long because I have limited space. I like the 15-1/2" length you linked at the bottom too

augiedoggy · Oct 18, 2016

stever1000 said:
Were you able to stepmash with this setup? I know your current setp is longer, but I don't want to go too long because I have limited space. I like the 15-1/2" length you linked at the bottom too

yes I was able to step mash ... its still much faster than a herms system as far and stepping up the temps.

stever1000 · Oct 18, 2016

augiedoggy said:
yes I was able to step mash ... its still much faster than a herms system as far and stepping up the temps.

Awesome, I may have to get the shorter and copy your fitting setup
Super slick :mug:

stever1000 · Oct 18, 2016

Do you have a closeup of how the cartridge heater is mounted in the compression fitting?

Do you see any benefit in going up to 1-1/2" stainless steel pipe, or is 1" good enough based on the cartridge taking up less space in the pipe than an elemnt would?

augiedoggy · Oct 20, 2016

stever1000 said:
Do you have a closeup of how the cartridge heater is mounted in the compression fitting?

Do you see any benefit in going up to 1-1/2" stainless steel pipe, or is 1" good enough based on the cartridge taking up less space in the pipe than an elemnt would?

I believe the 1" is better than 1 1/2... in fact if I was using a smaller 3/8" diameter element I would consider 3/4" pipe.... better tranfer/contact with the element during travel will equal a more stable even temp conversion

The compression fitting is just drilled out at the base where they are normally slightly smaller than the actual compression area and then I drop the element through and tighten up... The pics in the thread are all I have since its assembled now.

Facelift for my control panel

Help Support Homebrew Talk:

HE of who can not be spoken of.

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Well-Known Member

Similar threads