Hunter's Basement E-Brewery Build

@trippel-a Visio was the program I had in mind, I'll check it out!

Good news, just got another email from EbrewSupply and they have shipped replacement sheathing (Expandable Braided stuff). It should be here by Thursday so I can continue assembly!

Kudos for Great Service from EbrewSupply.com (Ryan)

bknifefight said:

Here is a really good write up step by step to put together a heating element:
http://theelectricbrewery.com/heating-elements

Click to expand...

Thanks! It would appear that this method dedicates a kettle to electric brewing, only. Is that right?

Trippel-A said:

Thanks! It would appear that this method dedicates a kettle to electric brewing, only. Is that right?

Click to expand...

Two of the three kettles are heated directly using the Electric Element. The Mash Tun is heated indirectly using a coil mounted in the HLT. Temperatures in the Mash are monitored by adjusting the HLT temperature throughout.

Boil kettle is directly heated for the duration of the boil.

I've been following this thread for weeks, Hunter, and have to say great job! If you ever find time to create a wiring diagram, I'd love to see it. I've been thinking of going electric and your design seems to really hit what I'm looking for.

Again, great job!

Trippel-A said:

Thanks! It would appear that this method dedicates a kettle to electric brewing, only. Is that right?

Click to expand...

Yes, it pretty much eliminates the option of direct firing the kettle, at least the way mine are put together it does. I suppose you could do it, but it would be risky IMO. The heat from the propane burner coming up around the kettle would get the element box and cable very hot and that's not something you want to happen. Perhaps you could make a large diverter plate in order to resolve that problem though. I just kept my old ugly Coors keggle for direct fire use. There really hasn't been a need for it yet, but if I ever lose power during a brew day or want to brew at another location it will be handy.

I used Bobby's 1.5 solder on triclover element holder. Makes it very easy to remove the element if needed plus I can cap the hole to brew at a buddies house on propane. On the flip side I can brew on propane until I get my electric brewery finished

Hunter anymore work on the brewery?

Sorry for the delay, gents. I did get the expandable sleeving in that was holding up the element build and I got back to work on them yesterday evening. I finished up one of the two elements, but now that the boxes are cured, the other should go relatively quickly.

Wiring up one of the twist lock plugs:


The weatherproof boxes from Ebrewsupply have the ground lugs in a different place than the reddot branded boxes that Kal used, so I did need to make room for the screws in for the faceplate. Not a big deal, just used a cutoff disc on the dremel to make space for the nut.



Marking the pilot hole for the QMax punch I used for the element holes:



Boxes being punched:







Installing the cable grips on the boxes:





Crimping on the 12-10 Connectors:



Element temporarily installed (I'll need to remove it to install it in the pot and apply silicone sealant):



And the final product, using the ebrewsupply element kit:



More work this weekend, I'd really like to finish up the build so I can get brewing the following weekend!

I did not use the silicone sealant when installing my heating elements and have had no leaking issues. The seal from the o ring is fine. It makes it easier to take apart and clean the element. I occasionally soak it in muryatic acid to clean it up real nice. It's the best thing I've found to clean up a scorched element.

Thanks for the feedback. As I compare the blichmann weldless design to the design used on the elements, I just keep noticing the space between the faceplate and the element base which have no rubber conforming seal.

On all of blichmann's weldless designs, it goes:

Machined Face, Oring (surrounded by large shim to hold the o-ring from deforming), Kettle Wall, and finally nut. The oring makes a proof-positive seal for liquid escaping by sealing against the machined face and the kettle wall.

If you have a blichmann brewmometer (weldless) that's a great example of it.

---
Now if I look closely at the Kal design, the element base (a nice flat machined face, sandwiches the outlet faceplate between it and the oring, leaving 1 ungasketed surface. Obviously a ton of people have had success with the design, but it certainly makes me feel that adding silicone is a good bet to ensure that you have safest seal possible against possible water intrusion.

Just my 2c.

Subscribed. This is amazing.

Hunter - coming together very nicely! It's giving me hope for all of the "stuff" I've been collecting in the basement. Curious on the ventilation fan that you picked up. Were you able to wire to the dimmer switch succesfully, and your thoughts on the one that you went with? I guess you'll probably know more once you fire it up for the first time.. But... If the fan you went with works, no shame in saving some $ along the way.

What's the first brew going to be?

@ttown

Still haven't hooked up the mains to the brewery wall yet, so I can't comment on the dimmer for the fan. As soon as I get that hooked up, I'll let you know.

I've been debating what I'm going to brew first and at this point I think I've decided on an All-Day IPA clone recipe I found here. I love these big-hoppy lighter IPA's. After the first batch, I'm probably going to run Kal's Electric Pale, which apparently has some really positive feedback as well.

This afternoon, I got the Boil kettle put together! This was the simplest of the Kettles, so I figured that it made a good starting point to cutting into these fancy pots.

Here we go:

Marked off the 1/4 sections on the kettles using a fiberglass tape from the wifes collection of goodies. Started with a pilot hole to guide the large bit:



Then went to the large bit, for the Qmax punch bolt to pass through:



And finally, ran the punch through the kettle wall:





The finished punch-out for the boil element:



Then I started marking out the temperature probe, this one I piloted and then drilled with my Greenlee Step bit, as it was the only hole that required a 9/16" punch. I couldn't warrant buying the punch for just one hole, so I opted for the quick and dirty step bit.







Installing the element housing onto the kettle. I did leak test this before applying silicone sealant to the inside of the box, so you won't see the silicone applied in these pictures:





Element and Probe installed, read for the leak test:



Here's a major milestone, the first time I've fired the kettle!! Filling from the cold-water filter using one of the hoses I built earlier:



Setting up the Boil PID (note the EEEE on the other pids, which are not hooked up):



Bringing the cold water up to mash temperature which isn't really realistic in the boil kettle, but gave me a good test temperature to target:



Finally, drained the kettle to apply the silicone sealant to the face of the element to prevent rust, to the inside of the junction box to increase the safety factor and seal it up tight, and install the hop-stopper!



Tomorrow I'm headed to the HLT. Feels like we're close now, so far the panel has performed flawlessly. I see about 22.7a draw on my 245v line when the elements are firing (5500w) and the pumps work great, although I discovered I have a leak in my elbow joint that I need to attend to.

Stay tuned! :rockin:

Wow you are making serious headway and everything looks great! Congrats on firing the element, another milestone.

Looking at the diagram I have from ebrewsupply it shows both hot legs are powering the Green 220v LED right after the 63a contactor, but your wiring pictures look like you are making that run after the 2 pole breaker. Is this true? If so why did you do it this way?

Thanks!

@oatstraw,

I put the leads to the 240v green power light on the din-rail blocks because it was easier. There was no functional difference to putting the connections on the rail blocks vs running them directly to the power inputs.

Just to clarify when you say rail blocks are you talking about the DIN terminals or the breaker. This is what I'm seeing in your pictures for the green 220, correct me if I'm wrong.

Power In -> 2 Pole Breaker -> DIN Terminal -> 220v Green.

Those 2 gang receptacle boxes are HUGE! I know that's what kal uses but I didnt have any issue using a single gang box wiring my element.

Looks amazing so far.

OatStraw said:

Just to clarify when you say rail blocks are you talking about the DIN terminals or the breaker. This is what I'm seeing in your pictures for the green 220, correct me if I'm wrong.

Power In -> 2 Pole Breaker -> DIN Terminal -> 220v Green.

Click to expand...

You are correct, after the 2 pole breaker, you'll have your din terminal rail. I tied my light in off each leg of this a the din terminals. Because the 63a input contactor, and the din breakers really shouldn't have more than one wire in the screw down terminals, the din rail (after the breaker) makes the most sense for a reliable and safe connection.

@bknifefight

Funny you mention that, I was looking at the boxes with my brother and he said the same thing. You could definitely use a single gang box for hooking up the elements without trouble, however the faceplate on the back might not have a ton of surface area to make a good seal with the JB Weld. Either way, as long as you have it sealed up, I say use what works best for you!

hunter306 said:

You are correct, after the 2 pole breaker, you'll have your din terminal rail. I tied my light in off each leg of this a the din terminals. Because the 63a input contactor, and the din breakers really shouldn't have more than one wire in the screw down terminals, the din rail (after the breaker) makes the most sense for a reliable and safe connection.

Click to expand...

I was hoping this was the case. I think I'll do it this way too, as I'm concerned enough about using that jumper from one of the contactor poles to the coil.

A little update on whatsup with the brewery build out. I haven't gotten the HLT or Mash Tun kettles constructed yet, and I was out of town all weekend, so my schedule slipped a bit.

I did however get my ThermoPop in from ThermoWorks and so far I'm very impressed. It seems spot on with the PID readouts that I'm getting from the boil-kettle and the Blichmann Brewmometer mounted on the kettle. The first one had some unusual dust in the display, so thermoworks replaced it no questions asked. Can't recommend them highly enough, customer service was awesome.

On the build front, the plan is to get the electrical hookups run this week (hopefully this evening) at least to the breaker panel. Once I have the wire at the breaker, I can install the last GFCI and the fan will be ready to test.

On the Kettles, the Boil kettle is complete and tested, the pumps are tested and leak at the elbow has been resolved. I'm hoping to get the HLT and Mash tun setup before the weekend.

No pictures from this update!

I'm curious about the water filter. What are the inlets and outlets like? Could I hook it up as a modular unit that I connect to water only when I need it? Or does it need to be a permanent install? Our Chicago water is damn good, but we still filter it through the little Pur charcoal filter on our kitchen sink. This is a very slow process that I'm interested to speed up. If I were to build a unit I can easily connect and disconnect, I suppose I could add an in line flowmeter, too. That would also save time.

Sent from my XT1060 using Home Brew mobile app

@trippel-a

No reason that the water filter needs to be permanent. In fact, before this one was on the wall I used it with a potable-water garden hose to filter the water in the garage while I was using the patio burners. Same idea would apply here, you could just build a faucet adapter for your water filter and run it inline when it's time to fill up your HLT.

I only mounted mine because I was planning the whole build from the bottom up and it seemed easier to hook up to the filling hose directly.

Quick update, since it got way too late to post a bunch of pictures this evening. I spent the afternoon in the shop building the HLT. I knew this one was going to take the longest to put together, and it didn't disappoint. Tomorrow, I need to run a quick leak test and get it heated by the element to ensure all the fittings are water tight, then I've just got the Mash-Tun left to build. Oh, and a few odds and ends to finish the space like 120v power for the kegerator and fan...

Quick picture of the setup from this evening, HLT finished.

Wow! So freaking shiny!

Thanks for the info on the filter.

Hunter,

Maybe you mentioned this and I missed it but do you have a part number or link for the QMax punch you used for the element? Is this the correct one:

Amazon - Q.Max Sheet Metal Punch - 1.1/4in

eBay - Q.Max Sheet Metal Punch - 1.1/4in

How did it work for you? Any leaks? I only need to cut one hole so if I can save money on the punch, that would be great!

Thank you.

hio3791 said:

Hunter,
...

How did it work for you? Any leaks? I only need to cut one hole so if I can save money on the punch, that would be great!

Thank you.

Click to expand...

I bought this punch, I believe the same one you linked:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121159870509&ssPageName=ADME:X:eRTM:US:1123

The 1.1/4in Qmax punch worked awesome, I had no problems doing my two element cut outs with it. I oiled it up liberally before running it through the kettle wall, but I had no trouble otherwise. I'd highly recommend it.

Now, the smaller 13/16 punch seems a little more temperamental. I only have one more hole to punch, but I did have it give me some fits on the last hole I punched on the HLT. Nevertheless, for the amount of money I saved, I'm happy to fight with it a little.

A another quick update on the Brewery!

On Monday evening, I put together the HLT, but it got far to late to do an initial leak test to make sure things were liquid tight. Yesterday evening, I was able to run that test and found leaks at multiple weldless contact points on the kettle. I ended up disassembling the entire HERMS coil portion of the HLT and re-built it while really wrenching down the weldless fittings, which seems to have resolved my issues.

As for the Heating Element, it was liquid tight right off the bat, just like the Boil Kettle. I applied Silicone to the element and element base in the pot before I wrapped things up yesterday evening.

Last, I found my pumps still have a few really tiny leaks at the joints, so I'll be re-taping those as soon as I run up to the hardware and grab another roll of the Blue Plumbers Tape.

Picture of leak testing yesterday, after the complete rebuild:



I'm feeling pretty good about the HLT, I think it's ready to go. After testing the element and triple checking all the joints, the only thing left is to build the Mash-Tun.