Recent content by Gripped

Update: Landed all of the low volt wires for valves and temp probes, just have the pumps. I don't think I could cram anymore wires in this little box!

Update After some sage advice from Dawai I decided to fabricate some stainless covers for the heating elements rather than use large heat shrink. I am almost finished with the the water system as well.

The BCS is pretty straight forward, I looked into the Brewtroller and the newest version is nice with DIN rail mount enclosure and all of the new generation components look very PLC like. I think the ultimate decision was the web interface of the BCS. The enclosure is a Wiegmann electrical...

Excellent idea on encapsulation! What kind of polymer resin would you suggest?

I haven't made the cable connections yet but I have some large heat shrink that fits around the connections and the element, I will post up some pics once I have them finished.

Haaaa those kick ass headers coming off the control panel are my way of limiting the number of penetrations I had to make in the panel. They are 2" stainless scrap tubing, I am going to pull my low volt wires through one and my high volt wires for the pumps through the other.

The mash tun does have a lip on it and I imagine I will just scoop it out with my hand. The tippy dump is designed so I can break the tri clamp connections and lift the tun off the stand if I need.

Some of that is far over my head. I know that the flow sensor I am using is in essence a hall effect senor measuring rpm of the impeller. The pumps I am using are 115v AC motors with a mag drive impeller head. Since the pump is magnetic driven I believe you can restrict outflow. I don't know if...

I don't have the volume control integrated yet. I have tried connecting the BCS to the Arduino through a digital input but it is still on/off control. I would prefer if I could control pump output via voltage control, however I am not sure it is possible. That is one of the drawbacks of using...

That is something that is great about Arduino, PWM is something I've been thinking about utilizing for flow control. I have a ways to go to figure out how to integrate the Arduino with the BCS. The BCS allows for digital inputs but no analog inputs. I'm not sure how to make this happen.

I have two additional solenoid valves that control water into the HLT and through the plate chiller. I will post up the progress once it is plumbed. All three vessels have bottom drains, the HLT and Boil kettle have offset drains so I can create a whirlpool without pulling out too much of...

I will be able to have data acquisition to retain temp profiles of each brew. I am hoping that having the bit of automation will enable me to produce brews that are consistent. Of course controlling fermentation is as or more important. I suppose a temp controlled fermentation chamber or...

Currently I have a stainless hand valve to control flow for sparging. You are correct the digital outputs on the BCS are on/off and would require a float switch or flow monitor for control. Possibly in the future.

I certainly don't have the chops to write the software that comes with the BCS http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/ The system is controlled entirely by tablet or device that can log into a wireless access point. I have been doing a little programming with an arduino in an attempt to...

Still have a bunch of wires to land in that little box but hopefully it still looks as clean when it is complete