About Time To Document This (Strut/Penrose/BCS-460 System)

[hyperboarder]

Alright, I'm at a loss. Can't get the damn compression fitting ferrules to clamp onto the coil. Any advice? I'm using big wrenches and torquing as hard as I can with no luck.

 

[hyperboarder]

Never mind, some strong arming and it looks to have sealed .

Leak Testing:



Wiring:



Outlet is going in soon, need to mount the pumps and the chiller to the stand but I'm awful close to testing.

 

[MrFeltimo]

Nice work mate,
Is that a moterbike and sidecart in the picture?

 

[hyperboarder]

Nice work mate,
Is that a moterbike and sidecart in the picture?

Yeah, that's my old Ural Tourist. I sold it a few months back, fun bike but a lot of upkeep and I never rode the thing. Replaced it with an 08 Yamaha WR250R which has been a hoot.

The 2014 Urals are supposed to all be fuel injected, once they work out those kinks I may buy another, the sidecar was a blast to own.

 

[hyperboarder]

Just realized I can use this setup for sous vide cooking as well. Sweet .

 

[ejluttmann]

Yep, I've done the sous vide several times, as well as water bath canning for my wife. Because I do BIAB I have a steamer/strainer insert I use that keeps everything above the element

 

[hyperboarder]

240V going in today. Getting real...

 

[ejluttmann]

Nice!

 

[zrule]

awesome!

 

[hyperboarder]

More updates, buttoning up the build portion:

240V plus a pair of 120's for whatever else needs plugged in (laptop, TV, etc.):



The thoroughly enthralling task of calibrating/stickering the site gauges:



Kettles and panel moved to their new home:



Anyone have a guess at the weight of the HLT with the coil and all the fittings (no water)? It's a beast.

 

[ejluttmann]

Yea, my 20 gal eBIAB kettle weights far more than I thought it would, noticeably more with the BIAB basket, element, two valves and all the tri clover fittings

 

[johns]

bump

 

[hyperboarder]

Same old story, busy busy busy .

Finished this though:


Mounted it here (Hose routing to the fermenter will be a bit odd):


Mounted up the pumps too:


I did actually plug it in and flip the switch. Lights came on, nothing exploded. Power switch is good, e-stop is good, element switch looks good, might have an issue with the wort pump switch wiring. Couldn't get the damn computer talking to the BCS, though I didn't give it too much time. I wanted to use a former HTPC running Vista (barf) that decided it doesn't have a wired network card anymore. Tried next with an XP Netbook that I had previously successfully connected, again no dice. I'll get it working, hopefully this week. Sort out the switch issue then water batch. Maybe before 2014 .

 

[GMP428]

So how much did the HLT end up weighing?

 

[hyperboarder]

So how much did the HLT end up weighing?

IIRC it was 43 lbs.

 

[hyperboarder]

Another hour in the garage and the BCS is still giving me no love. 3 computers, 3 cables, no dice. Figures that since I understand the mechanical and electrical sides of this, the computer based stuff would be the trip up.

 

[ChuckO]

Another hour in the garage and the BCS is still giving me no love. 3 computers, 3 cables, no dice. Figures that since I understand the mechanical and electrical sides of this, the computer based stuff would be the trip up.

Are you using the BCS-finder utility to locate the IP address? When I had a problem with no communication to the BCS I found that this utility helped me locate it and then I could enter that address directly into my browser and connect.

 

[hyperboarder]

Are you using the BCS-finder utility to locate the IP address? When I had a problem with no communication to the BCS I found that this utility helped me locate it and then I could enter that address directly into my browser and connect.

Originally I tried the direct connect method which was giving me no love. This afternoon I blew the dust off an old WRT54G and plugged the BCS and laptop into that. Bingo, problem solved. Now to get programming and whatnot.

Related question for those more in the IT know than I am, when I plug into the router the PC maintains the wireless connection to my home network (different network) but it kills my internet. Any way around this? I want music while I'm brewing.

 

[bcrawfo2]

So, you don't have a network cable available near your bcs? When you plugged the bcs into your old linksys, you built a new wireless network...independent of your existing one. You need a wireless gaming adapter, something like this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024G48VA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[ChuckO]

Related question for those more in the IT know than I am, when I plug into the router the PC maintains the wireless connection to my home network (different network) but it kills my internet. Any way around this? I want music while I'm brewing.

Check out the IP address of the IPv4 Gateway in the properties of each of your two network adapters (both wired and wireless). The address should be for the router that is attached to the internet modem.

 

[hyperboarder]

So, you don't have a network cable available near your bcs? When you plugged the bcs into your old linksys, you built a new wireless network...independent of your existing one. You need a wireless gaming adapter, something like this http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0024G48VA/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Yeah, figured that one out, hoping a local home-brew buddy is going to hook me up with an adapter . If not I'm not too worried, I can always just use the phone for music or something.

 

[bcrawfo2]

Ok....so that solves your real problem. But since you don't have that adapter...you use a router you already had to make a wired connection between your bcs and your PC...but you lose access to the internet when you do this?

If so....that's not too hard to explain. When you connect to the router, either wired or wirelessly, the router gives you an IP address. Something like 192.168.0.100. Think of this as a street name with a house number. Street is 192.168.0 and the house number on that street is 100

You could be getting two different addresses on the same "street" and confusing your laptop.
There is also another problem.....the default gateway is an address where you put your "outgoing mail" (or any other packets destined for the internet) that your ISP will deliver. If your brew stand router doesn't have an internet connection hooked up, your PC doesn't know that and will try to use that to get to the internet

You can look at these settings by clicking start -> run. Then typing "cmd", no quotes
Then in the new window type ipconfig /all

 

[johns]

On post 73 can I ask what strut channel part number was used to mount the pumps. I really like the way it was done. Its nice and neat, along with the plate chiller. I am looking forward to building my own soon.

Cheers.

 

[hyperboarder]

On post 73 can I ask what strut channel part number was used to mount the pumps. I really like the way it was done. Its nice and neat, along with the plate chiller. I am looking forward to building my own soon.

Cheers.

Those were both custom/hack jobs by me.

For the pumps I drilled some thin plate and used bolts through that and the 4 holes on the pump base to clamp to the strut. The Chuggers have rotatable heads so that location seemed to work best, time will tell if they stay there but they should be easy to move.

For the chiller I used some metric bolts into the studs on the back of my Duda Diesel Frankenstein, I had to use a leftover chunk of DIN rail to space the bolts on the backside (I may just replace with proper length bolts) but so far it's sturdy.

Sorry for the lack of updates, combination of busyness and laziness. Someday...

 

[hyperboarder]

Ooof. Need to finish this damn thing. I could make excuses, but I've taken too damn long to close out the last items. I did finally put in the time tonight to write some processes, and now that I'm familiar with them, I'm embarrassed that it told so damn long. It's really not too hard, even as a mechanical engineer I can work with a simple state machine.

Anyway, hoping to test in the next few days and then brew soon. Fingers crossed.

 

[ejluttmann]

Let me know when you do your first brew and I'll bring over a growler of my latest batch.


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[hyperboarder]

Put some water in to see what happened today. No heat and only one pump working. Discouraging.

Unhooked the panel and brought it in to do some troubleshooting, found a few culprits in the form of some swapped wires (in a way that wouldn't damage anything) and a loose switch. Fixed those up, hooked it back up, and everything appears to be working as it should. I'll probably be up snowboarding tomorrow and won't be able to test it again for a couple days, but I'm optimistic. Close...

 

[hyperboarder]

Tested today. Both elements work great, heating just like they should. Wort pump was fine as well. Water pump was not having it. Checked continuity everywhere, wiring is correct. Checked pump function on the wort pump circuit, pump is fine. Tracked it down to the SSR, the DC side is fine but the AC side isn't actuating. I'll futz tomorrow but will likely just replace it next week and hopefully brew next weekend. I wanted to brew Monday but oh well, another 6 days is trivial at this point .

 

[ejluttmann]

You have your pump on an SSR or a mechanical relay? A SSR requires AC side current to function and isn't really ever 'off' so it's always leaking some voltage which is fine for elements but not sure about pumps. I just put my pumps on a 120v switch for on/off



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[ChuckO]

You have your pump on an SSR or a mechanical relay? A SSR requires AC side current to function and isn't really ever 'off' so it's always leaking some voltage which is fine for elements but not sure about pumps. I just put my pumps on a 120v switch for on/off



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An SSR will work just fine for a pump. The voltage across the AC side only shows up at very low (milliamp) levels. As soon as a reasonable load is put on the circuit the voltage drops close to zero.