Anyone in RI built Kals electric brewery?

[NewBrewB]

NewBrewB, are the volt/amp meters the only thing not working? I love the way everything looks in there! If you need some help or need to borrow some testing equipment let me know! Ive got some time on my hands lol.

I may have to take you up on that. I tried some initial troubleshooting tonight.

Thought I found a missing jumper on the hot bus but that didnt fix it.
Thought maybe the adjustment screw was turned too far left and only giving 0volts output so I turned them to the right 3-4 x but no difference.
Checked the volt/amp portion of the panel against the wiring diagram but it looks like everything is there.

Any ideas? I am almost to the point that I fire it up while open and start poking around with meter probes...

 

[SmoothCrown]

Any luck? I would use probes with everything powered up but if your not comfortable doing that my offer still stands. That's ow I've been doing my build all along. That way you can verify that everything works as your building along.

 

[SmoothCrown]

Also having some people over tonight for some brew and campfire and your welcome to come over. PM me if you want to come.

 

[NewBrewB]

I got the amp meter working. I was right about the jumper so when I installed that, power was solid up to the variable dc converters. Unfortinately, one of them was bad so I will have to order a new one from china. At least it isnt brew-critical. For now, I just put twist caps on the 4 wires until I have a new converter to connect.

I spent a good portion of the day working on my keggles (and soldered a half coupling in backwards). Despite the drama, it was a productive day.

Hoping to at least do some system testing and sanitation by tomorrow night--maybe brew my last extract kit mon or tues night.

 

[NewBrewB]

Sorry I missed the festivities last night. I got knee-deep in troubleshooting and things are not going well.

(1) Looks like my thermometer coupling on my BK leaks. I tried tightening it but that didnt' fix it so it must be the weld. I'll have to hit that with some more solder/flux later today.
(2) When my kettles are NOT plugged into the control panel, the element switches turn the element lights on/off and with a tester, the outlet underneath is hot. When they are plugged in, the element indicator lights don't even come-on. I opened it up while it was on and flipped the element select switch back/forth and the relays appear to be working properly. My two thoughts are either (a) the SSRs are wired upside-down (I barely remember what they look like from when I originally installed, but I know the wires are not long enough to simply switch them and see if that fixes it--going to have to make all new wires) or (b) the power cables to the keggles are not wired properly to the twist-lock plug. Since (b) is a lot easier to troubleshoot without making whole new wires inside the control panel, I'll probably check that first.

Q: Do you know if it matters which (black/white) wire goes to which screw on the element? I didn't think polarity mattered but maybe it does? The ground is obviously correct to the green screw.

One success, though---both pumps worked perfectly, though I am realizing why people hard-plumb these rigs. Every time I disconnect/move a hose, it invariably drips on the floor. I need to find a plastic "tray" about 10' x 4'. Anyone know of an industrial application for something like this? I was thinking maybe one of those trays that goes under an AC unit in the attic to keep drips from coming through the ceiling.

Any chance you have some time today to help me out with a little troubleshooting?

 

[KramE]

Sorry to hear about your luck! I wish I could be more helpful when it came to the wiring, perhaps you should post something in the electric forum, or shoot a question to P-J?

As for a drip tray, does it have to be plastic, and how tall? A cheap application would either be a cake pan, or plastic tote lid (I swear I don't use plastic totes for -everything-)

 

[SmoothCrown]

Wow you did get a lot done. As far as the element there is no polarity hot is hot. Green is ground. Are you running the elements in water? I do have time later today if you want, sometime after 6?

 

[NewBrewB]

Well, I officially brewed on the system today. It was my last extract kit....a Holiday Ale.

Everything went pretty well. I still need a stainless steel washer so I can attach the temp probe on the mash tun before I can do an AG batch. Oh, I also used the HERMS coil as a chiller and that was pretty effective. Going to list my immersion chillers for sale I think.

 

[konrad]

Hey guys. I'm in Mass but I finished my build year and a half ago. Wiring was my favorite part. Bending the coil was the biggest pain for me and took me a long time to get it done. I love my setup now and brewing is so much more enjoyable.

 

[NewBrewB]

Awesome thanks for the response! Did you post pictures of your build?

 

[konrad]

No I didn't. I used kegs on my setup so it isn't the prettiest looking Kal clone.

 

[NewBrewB]

Haha Im using 2 kegs and a big blue 30 gal plastic barrel.

 

[SmoothCrown]

It doesn't matter how it looks as long as it gets the job done.

 

[KramE]

Agreed. I used a plastic tote for the control panel

 

[NewBrewB]

Had my first AG brew on the new E-build. Other than taking me from 1530 until after midnight (9ish hrs) I would say everything went well.

I wanted 8 gal of strike water, but I didn't want my HLT to be completely empty (or freshly-filled with cold water) just as I was starting to recirc my mash, so I went with this technique:

Filled MLT to 8gal (+ a bit that doesn't drain from the very bottom)
Filled HLT to 15 gal (absolutely full... 15.5 gal? whatever)
Pumped MLT to Water Pump input, Water Pump output to HERMS coil, coil to top of MLT
Heated HLT to strike temp (154).

I should have probably gone to 160 because adding the grains and having the lid off of my MLT really dropped the temp (142ish) and it took awhile to get back to 154. Also, having the HLT set for a target of 154 was idiotic... I eventually changed it to 165 and then just paid attention. When the MLT temp got to 150, I turned changed the HLT target temp to 156 and left it alone... wasted a lot of time creeping up on the target temp instead of just getting there. This makes sense in my head but if it was not English, let me know and I'll try again.

After the mash (60min), I increased to mash-out temp of 169. I'm still fuzzy on why people do this, but I did it anyway.

I pumped the sweet wort out of the MLT and into the BK at the same (very slow) rate that I pumped hot water from the HLT to the top of the MLT, maintaining the water level at about 1.5-2" above the grain bed. (This was cool--I used a flashlight through the lid of the MLT and could see the water level from the outside... who needs sight gauges!) Once I matched the rates, I let that run until I hit the target Pre-Boil Volume of 13.5 gal in the BK.

I drained the rest of the liquid from the MLT and used the leftover hot water for cleaning it up while the boil was going. The boil was mostly unremarkable...almost had a boil over but caught it in time. Ultimately, the target temp of 213 helped me maintain a nice healthy rolling boil without undue cleanup.

A note about boil-off.... I estimated 1.5 gal per hour (90min boil) so 2.25 gal. I probably should have stuck with Kal's estimate of 1.9 gal/hr. Needless to say, my garage was getting VERY foggy....I finally opened the garage door to air things out a bit (no, I never installed ventilation/fans---cutting corners to save cost hah).

I quickly realized that having lights on inside the garage when it was dark outside would invite bugs, so I turned off the garage lights, then went inside the house to turn on the outside lights (wanted outside brighter than the control panel). When I came back into the dark garage, I heard scuffing sounds in the driveway and thought it might be the neighbor. I walked towards the garage and saw... an adult black bear at the opposite end of my car, about 20' away..... I backed away slowly and hit the garage door button--didn't look back again as I jumped inside the house and told the wife. haha Kinda' backfired though--she doesn't want me to brew for a month, to give the bear time to move-on. lol

Sorry no pictures of the bear, but here are some brewing pics. Enjoy!

 

[NewBrewB]

Heating up the Strike water

Control Panel in action

Ingredients laid-out

Hop additions ready to go

Using the light to see MLT water line

Maintaining rolling boil

Beer!

Filling Carboys

After clean-up. Don't worry--the towel will get washed too...