Do you see what I see... (A Christmas Brew Shed Story)

[SHvanBommel]

So, my LL relented and has allowed me to use his father's old tool shed...
I'm planning a Hybrid Brutus 20/Rims (I think i've got that right) with two keggles and this is the place holder for the build. So far I have *legally* acquired the two kegs, found a place, decided on using electricity for heat etc. Now, my dilemma; I have a friend who is in the industrial control business. His company is laying him off after 27 years, they are moving and he doesn't want to go so they didn't give him any wiggle or options. He has graciously offered to give me a top of the line PLC and even TEACH ME how to program it and probably provide all the additional components like relays etc. to build a control panel. That's option one. Option two would be to go with something similar to what's being sold by ebrewsupply and and go with a two PID setup... I will update as I build out to include the wooden brew sculpture, electricity burns (jk, i know i know, orange wire goes to purple 42 ) etc. your input is important so comments, concerns, spam, flames are always appreciated!

 

[BadWolfBrewing]

I'm jealous of the great brew space.

Programming plcs isn't tough, but coming up with a good robust state machine can be tricky, depending on the complexity. Once you have an idea of the program behavior, post it here and the community might be able to help

 

[SHvanBommel]

thanks for the reply, I'm thinking 4 basic states, Heat water in BK/Transfer to MLT/RIMS, Mash/Recirc, Sparge/recirc/Transfer then Boil, boil recirculate/whirlpool, and final, gravity drain through CFC.... i'm pretty sure that's 6 or 7, also looking at potentially *other states* for *other things* that you typically watch on TV and involve mason jars... :fro:


EDIT

the possibility for things like PH sensors etc is out there so i would be interested in that, also, the PLC would clearly be control mash temps, alarms, and if doing a step mash... the schedule for the step mash as well.