Big TX Home Brew E-Herms Build Out

[WAORGANY]

Getting closer.
All my necessary parts are in, SSRs, contacts, etc. Now I'm waiting on LEDs, switches, and DIN rail terminal blocks. Should have everything before the long weekend.

Tomorrow though, time to pull out the hammer drill and makes a hole in the brick exterior.

What size is that box and were did you get it? Thanks looking good so far, I am just behind you on gathering the stuff for my build as well. Good luck.

 

[hatrickwah]

What size is that box and were did you get it? Thanks looking good so far, I am just behind you on gathering the stuff for my build as well. Good luck.

Box is a stainless nema, 24"w x 30"t x 12" d. A little over kill but is was free, and as another put it earlier "room to grow".

 

[lschiavo]

What size is that box and were did you get it?

I think thats his boil kettle

Too small an enclosure can be frustrating. You certainly won't need to cram things in that one. Looks like you're off to a good start.

 

[WAORGANY]

I think thats his boil kettle

Too small an enclosure can be frustrating. You certainly won't need to cram things in that one. Looks like you're off to a good start.

Yeah I am currently in the process to find a good box maybe a little smaller than this one and not necessarily in ss LOL thanks

 

[lschiavo]

Yeah I am currently in the process to find a good box

Aren't we all

 

[hatrickwah]

Productive day. Ran conduit for the most part. Still need to pull the hammer drill out for a few screws, but should be ready to run wire later tomorrow.

Drilling through the brick from the garage.

Also added plumbing for water into the garage, no hose is my goal here.

Conduit on the outside. Since this part is visible from the street, I wanted to do my best to conceal it for HOA purposes. (Didn't ask permission)

The GFCI spa panel to the left, then into the old clunker breaker box on the right. Not the prettiest job, but should be good.

 

[lschiavo]

I'll say productive! I hope you lubricated your efforts with a few beers. Lookin good!

 

[hatrickwah]

More work today. Conduit is in. Wire is hot, just have to flip the breaker on.

New breakers are in.

The spa panel is wired up.

Test mounted the panel. Thinking it is going to have to be closer to the garage door side, since spacing is tight in the corner. My stand is potentially 42" wide, and the whole currently is only 38" or so.

For those pondering a 42" brew stand. The setup is a 2 tier setup, but sort of inverted. I'm putting my HLT low, and pumping up to my BK and MT.

 

[Lucky_Chicken]

For those pondering a 42" brew stand. The setup is a 2 tier setup, but sort of inverted. I'm putting my HLT low, and pumping up to my BK and MT.

what is the benefit of having the HLT lower? you would still need two pumps right?

 

[hatrickwah]

what is the benefit of having the HLT lower? you would still need two pumps right?

Not a problem. I already have a pair. As I mentioned earlier, I am simply upgrading my propane single tier, therefore I already had a few things. I got a pair of chugger pumps last year.

There really isn't much benefit to the lower HLT, except for space for me. I have a very limited amount of space to work with, and putting the HLT low is practical since it isn't the one that I am constantly going into. Only thing the HLT has is the HERMs coil.

Funny part is I say upgrade, but considering the cost so far, I hate to think what it would cost me to do all new.

 

[hatrickwah]

I should add, I forgot to mention... 3/4" pvc conduit,and 4 6# wires = LOTS OF WORK to pull 30'. My wife and I had a bear getting that stuff from the front end to the panel. Next time I think I should use 1" conduit, and the entire bottle of lube.

 

[hatrickwah]

Been a bit since I last updated. I've been working on this the last few nights as most of my parts role in. I'm hoping to be up and running after the holiday, but since I haven't seen my switches yet, I'm not so sure. In the meanwhile, here is some brew p0rn for the DIYers.

Going with a Kal clone setup for attaching my elements to the keggles:

Coiled my 50' of 1/2 copper refrigeration coil.

HLT is ready. Just need a cutter for the copper coil.

Temperature probes are ready. Again, borrowing from Kal with the braided cover.

There are the updates so far. Should plenty more tonight.

 

[hatrickwah]

Today's progress. All I can say is, there isn't enough beer in my fridge to numb the soreness in my neck after today's progress:

Laying it out.

All my holes are cut, and switches and LEDs in.

A good percentage of the wiring is completed. Now I need to get more wire, I ran out of 14awg. I have plenty of 24, but that's for the low voltage stuff.

 

[hatrickwah]

Was a nice, short, holiday weekend, but thanks to it, I'm getting closer to brewing. The panel is on the wall, wired, and nearly working. Auto-Off-On for the pumps doesn't work yet, I had to order some additional switch blocks to add 5v switching.

If all goes to plan, I'll be brewing New Years with no auto, or only auto for my pumps. I've written the basic BCS brew plan, and will fine tune on Saturday with a mock brew with only water.

Tonight or tomorrow night I hope to be building my brew workstation for the kegs. I don't want to be doing this on Saturday.

 

[hatrickwah]

Another update. I had hoped to put in a steel brew stand, but the quotes I received were so out to lunch that I bailed. Instead, I'm putting in wood setup, more built in the probably should be, but I don't plan on moving anytime soon.
Here's tonight's efforts:

 

[hatrickwah]

She's finished. Brewed a batch of Blonde ale today.
Aside from one big bug, everything seems to working well. Damn cheap Chinese SSRs were DOA. One comes on and off no problem if in short spurts, otherwise it sticks open. The other (on the BK side) is stuck open. Ordered a pair of replacements, but they won't be here until later next week.
Meanwhile, some pictures:

 

[Djlunchbox]

Wow! Nice work! What's the deal with the two chillers?

 

[hatrickwah]

Wow! Nice work! What's the deal with the two chillers?

Texas ground water is too warm. First plate chiller is a 50 plate from Keg Cowboy running off the tap water, gets the wort down to 100-110 degrees. The second plate chiller is a 40, also from Keg Cowboy, running with 32 degree starting temp, glycol. Depending on my flow rate, I averaged 70 degrees on 10 gallon batch over 25 minute knockout. Good number for Texas.

 

[JRems]

Damn, Texas ground water is hot! My NY well water in the summer is 55. One run thru a 25ft cfc and it's at 60 degrees.

 

[hatrickwah]

Yea sad, really. I started brewing in Wyoming, there the ground water gets COLD. I could knock out in no time with my old CFC, move here to Texas and I had to buy 60# of ice each week to brew, and spend 30+ minutes stirring the ice in a pre-chiller bath before the water entered my CFC. With any luck this plate chiller method will stand up. I'm using the same method some large scale brewers use. Down here though, a lot use a HLT and CLT, and knock out from the CLT. I don't want to go that route if I can help it.

 

[hatrickwah]

Couple more pics from yesterday's brew day. Here I'm knocking out.

A little late in the knockout, since the kettle temperature is low. I was going from 205 degrees to 65-70 degrees at about a 1/2 gallon per minute. Took about 20-25 minutes to knock out.

What you can't see in the pictures is that all my water from knocking out goes through my water filter as well and enters my HLT. I can then use the pre heated water to clean or brew another batch. Works pretty well.

 

[janitorjerm]

If I didn't know any better I'd say you live in my neighborhood.

 

[kosmokramer]

Today's progress. All I can say is, there isn't enough beer in my fridge to numb the soreness in my neck after today's progress:

Laying it out.

All my holes are cut, and switches and LEDs in.

A good percentage of the wiring is completed. Now I need to get more wire, I ran out of 14awg. I have plenty of 24, but that's for the low voltage stuff.

What are the center recepticles? Rj45? What plugs in here

 

[hatrickwah]

On the rj45 connectors on my temperatures probes, I took a few junk cat 5 cables and shortened them down and wired the temperature probes to the cable. The probes connect to the 4 rj45 jacks on the underside which tie into the BCS temp input pins via Cat5e that I had spare. The 5th RJ45 jack ties via pig tail into the rj45 network jack on the BCS. If I were to go back, I would have bough the crimpers and put new ends on the wire from ECC, and saved the time, and the unnecessary wire length of my temperature probes. Otherwise, the setup works without any issue.

 

[kosmokramer]

On the rj45 connectors on my temperatures probes, I took a few junk cat 5 cables and shortened them down and wired the temperature probes to the cable. The probes connect to the 4 rj45 jacks on the underside which tie into the BCS temp input pins via Cat5e that I had spare. The 5th RJ45 jack ties via pig tail into the rj45 network jack on the BCS. If I were to go back, I would have bough the crimpers and put new ends on the wire from ECC, and saved the time, and the unnecessary wire length of my temperature probes. Otherwise, the setup works without any issue.

I think that a nifty idea, just ordered a punchdown, crimpers, 50ft of cat 5, and 10 rj45 for like 15 bucks. i just need to pick up a faceplate and jacks. Great idea and it looks clean

 

[hatrickwah]

If I didn't know any better I'd say you live in my neighborhood.

I'm planning a brew this weekend... stop by. Likely to be my trusty amber, or a new pale ale.

 

[hatrickwah]

I think that a nifty idea, just ordered a punchdown, crimpers, 50ft of cat 5, and 10 rj45 for like 15 bucks. i just need to pick up a faceplate and jacks. Great idea and it looks clean

Hope it goes smooth. My favorite source for cat5/6 hardware, check out frwoodworking on ebay or fruitridgetools.com. Usually you can get a better deal on their ebay store. But eitherway, they were my source for the plates and jacks.

 

[janitorjerm]

I'm planning a brew this weekend... stop by. Likely to be my trusty amber, or a new pale ale.

Are you in Harper's Landing?

 

[hatrickwah]

Are you in Harper's Landing?

Nope, I'm actually in south Woodlands, Creekside/Augusta Pines

 

[janitorjerm]

I'll be off Saturday if you're brewing then.