Another E-Brewery Build

[Lucky_Chicken]

let me know how that hot glue holds up... I love the concept! especially since you don't have to wait for the JB to cure!

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

let me know how that hot glue holds up... I love the concept! especially since you don't have to wait for the JB to cure!

Will do. Before anyone else runs out and tries this I should point out that this is only an experiment at this time. It could fail miserably. Also you must use high temp sticks preferably polyamide sticks. Regular glue sticks soften below 200 degrees so I don't think they would be a good choice.

 

[Doed]

I am assuming that the green wire is your ground, but what is it attached to inside the white compartment you have made?

Edit: I went back and looked at the second picture again and noticed the shadow of the ground wire ends...So...I figure the ground wire is cut off and will be mounted directly to your pot??

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

I am assuming that the green wire is your ground, but what is it attached to inside the white compartment you have made?

Edit: I went back and looked at the second picture again and noticed the shadow of the ground wire ends...So...I figure the ground wire is cut off and will be mounted directly to your pot??

Yes. I have a ground lug soldered to the kettle.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Some progress has been made. The heat sink is certainly large enough to keep two SSRs cool.

I cut the hole in the top of the control panel. The heat sink will be mounted over it.

The holes are drilled and tapped to hold the SSRs. Heat sink is attached to the control panel with epoxy, but will also be screwed.

Holes drilled for the temp probe connectors. I will have to file out some key ways for them to sit flush.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Some more wiring pics. SSRs and contactors are all set.

 

[Doed]

thanks for the update. looks to be coming along nicely.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Ok five months is a long time, but I finally have some progress to report! It has been so long because I moved, so some of my original plans have changed. First off, since I bought my own home I decided to install a dedicated 30 amp 240v circuit in the garage for brewing. I also mounted my spa panel to the wall next to the outlet. I no longer need the 60' 10/4 extension cord, but for now I will keep it coiled up just in case.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

I completed the wiring in the control box and wanted to test my progress. After connecting everything, testing the emergency stop, and making sure all the controls and lights worked, I tried a simple boil of 5.5 gallons of water.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Good news is everything works! Bad news is I have a very small leak where I soldered the nut for the heating element. Also using hot melt glue to pot the element didn't work as well as I had hoped. When hot it started to pull away so I will be redoing that with JB weld. This heats up fast! From 80 to 120 in just about 7 minutes!

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

So I still have to wire the temp sensor for the PID, solder the connections onto the HLT, mount and wire the pump, assemble the silicone hoses. Guess I'll be busy tomorrow. I haven't brewed since I moved and I am running out of home brew!

 

[jtkratzer]

Stick with it. I took a 6 month break from my build and then smashed through to the finish in a fairly short time. I brew my first batch on it yesterday. Keep going.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Some more progress to report. Mounted water filter and pump on brew stand. Made a dip tube for the boil kettle from some left over tubing, started soldering fittings into the HLT. Also wired together my temp probe which left me with a question. Where to put it? Here is my problem. I am using a PWM for my boil kettle that has a dial thermometer in it. No temp probe for the boil at all. I have one PID that I will use to control the element in the HLT. For strike water I would want to monitor the temp in the HLT, but for mashing I want to monitor the temp of the water leaving the mash tun. I have an extra probe, and can put one in each. Will I be able to switch which probe is connected to the PID depending on which step in the process I am in? Can I monitor mash temps with a thermometer and just set the HLT temp accordingly? I was also thinking of mounting the probe in a tee fitting after the QD, I guess it would be in the hoses so to speak, and it would move to the proper tank when I switched the pump configuration. Any suggestions?

 

[jtkratzer]

Some more progress to report. Mounted water filter and pump on brew stand. Made a dip tube for the boil kettle from some left over tubing, started soldering fittings into the HLT. Also wired together my temp probe which left me with a question. Where to put it? Here is my problem. I am using a PWM for my boil kettle that has a dial thermometer in it. No temp probe for the boil at all. I have one PID that I will use to control the element in the HLT. For strike water I would want to monitor the temp in the HLT, but for mashing I want to monitor the temp of the water leaving the mash tun. I have an extra probe, and can put one in each. Will I be able to switch which probe is connected to the PID depending on which step in the process I am in? Can I monitor mash temps with a thermometer and just set the HLT temp accordingly? I was also thinking of mounting the probe in a tee fitting after the QD, I guess it would be in the hoses so to speak, and it would move to the proper tank when I switched the pump configuration. Any suggestions?

I don't have a temp probe or thermometer "in" my mash tun. I only have a thermometer in a tee fitting after the ball valve on my mash tun. When I'm recirculating the mash through the HERMS coil, I can see what the temp of output from the mash tun. I set my temp on the PID controlling the temp in the HLT a degree or two above my mash to account for a degree or two of temp loss in the pumps/tubing between the output of the HERMS coil and the return to the MLT.

I only have temp probes in my HLT and my BK. I put one in the boil kettle because I can run both elements at the same time and use the boil kettle to heat my strike water while the HLT is heating up my water to maintain mash temps. If you get the panel mounts or the deluxe cables from Auber, you can easily swap which probe is plugged into the PID.

If you're not recirculating the mash, is there any reason to monitor the output of the mash tun with a temp probe connected to a PID? I see switches on your panel for two pumps, are you planning to recirculate at some point?

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Ah yes, I see I left out some information. Yes I am planning to recirc during the mash. This will be set up as a HERMs system so I assumed you recirc through the HERMs to maintain mash temps.

 

[jtkratzer]

Ah yes, I see I left out some information. Yes I am planning to recirc during the mash. This will be set up as a HERMs system so I assumed you recirc through the HERMs to maintain mash temps.

Yes, I use one pump to recirculate through the HERMS coil and the other to recirculate the water in the HLT while mashing.

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Here are some pics of the finished control panel wiring. Hopefully only a few days away from a full test run!

 

[BigJim_inFLA]

Got my control panel labels today. This build is just about done. I have brewed two 10 gallon batches on it so far and I am quite happy. I'm having some growing pains learning a new system and all grain brewing all at the same time. I am still tweaking my process and changing things, but the rig is about finished. I'll get out and snap some finished photos tomorrow.