Earthbound's Rig

[drinkerofpints]

Im doing a sessionable red ale at around 4.9 abv and also a not so sessionable RIS at around 11.2 abv. I cant wait!

 

[dannedry]

I have NOT finished her yet - she still needs A LOT of paint. The infrastructure will be red. The propane burner support and conduit will be yellow. The control panel and pump shields will be green. The "heat sink" blocks will just be some black BBQ paint.

Awesome rig! One question, the two kegs on the right... what did you use to clean them up like that? Bobby M's approach? Something else?

Thanks!

 

[EarthBound]

Awesome rig! One question, the two kegs on the right... what did you use to clean them up like that? Bobby M's approach? Something else?

Thanks!

Thanks, buddy!

I used paint remover to get the stickers off, and I used medium and fine Gator discs to clean and finish them. I took about 30-45 minutes. I will have someone polish them soon. It's great having people to work for me for beer.

 

[EarthBound]

Here's the updated schematic. I'm glad not to have that big-ass xfmr in my enclosure anymore. I'll need the space for my electric upgrades.

 

[EarthBound]

Im doing a sessionable red ale at around 4.9 abv and also a not so sessionable RIS at around 11.2 abv. I cant wait!

RIS! Sweet!

I'll be doing an Irish Red ale this weekend at around 6%. St. Patty's will be awesome!

 

[EarthBound]

Here’s a progress update: See pics below.

I have the gas and electric phases complete. I will have the liquid phase complete by this weekend and will be brewing on it again next weekend. To complete the liquid phase, all I have to do is install a sight gauge on the HLT and clean off some burnt stuff on the bottom of my MLT.



This picture shows the most accurate tint of green that it really is. Right inside those French doors is my brewhut. The door to the backyard is located in there. When I bought the house, they called it a sunroom because of all the windows, but I thought it was perfect for my brewery. It has a 240VAC outlet with a dedicated 50A breaker because there used to be a spa in there. That will help facilitate my electric upgrades. It’s adjacent to the kitchen, particularly the kitchen sink, so it will be very easy to install a utility sink. It’s a very well-ventilated room because it has a sliding glass door, a large window, and a ventilating (easy to open) skylight. Right outside the back door is the grill, so it’s easier to BBQ while brewing. To go in or out of the back door, you must go through the brewery, and my last name is Dorr, so I call it the Back Dorr Brewery. I will post more pics of the brewery when the time is right.

I even used green electrical tape on the junction box and valve handles.
I hate the flash on this camera…

Much cleaner wiring than before. Taking that xfmr out of there helped with that. Now I have room for all kinds of other stuff!

I had to re-plumb the tubing for the main burners because of adding the needle valves. If you haven't noticed, the needle valves have compression fittings on both ends. To connect them to the existing compression fittings, I just used a small length (less than 2") of copper tubing. Look closely and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[EarthBound]

I tested the electrical and gas phases, and everything worked perfectly. I'm digging the needle valves. It's really nice to have precise control of the flames. The liquid phase is almost finished. I just bought all the stuff I need for installing a HERMS coil and for making a 120VAC heatstick. I'm working on designing labels this week for the control panel.

 

[EarthBound]

I'm sure no one gives a ****, but I might as well mention that I have brewed a couple barrels since my last post, and I have had no problems. The paint has not been affected by the heat. As the upgrades (HERMS, electric, etc) are made, I will keep this thread updated. It won't be long until the next update.

Here's a pic of what she looks like:

 

[Layne]

Great looking rig!

 

[PuckeredPenguin]

Looks great!!

 

[bellecitybrewer]

Where did you acquire that keyed on/off switch?? Ive been looking for one that's a bit more industrial looking and I'm having a hard time finding any except the cheapo eBay ones...

 

[EarthBound]

Thanks guys!

bellecitybrewer, I picked it up for cheap at the local used electronic parts store. They had a few to choose from. It's a place called "OEM Parts" (stands for Optical, Electrical, and Mechanical) here in Colo Spgs. I absolutely love that store.

I'm currently working on a couple upgrades to the brewstand. I'm uninstalling the lid returns and installing new returns into the keggles, and I'm installing a HERMS coil. After the HERMS coil upgrade, it will be capable of propane-fired-RIMS and propane-fired-HERMS. Pictures will be posted soon!

After those upgrades, I will work on the most important upgrade: electric. I'll be installing 3 PIDs (SYL-2352), 3 SSRs, 4 DPST relays, a 120VAC to 24VAC xfmr, 3 TCs (for the PIDs), a timer (ASL-51), a timer reset button, an alarm indication light, an alarm buzzer, 4 alarms switches, another bus (the 120VAC Hot B Bus), a 4-position switch, element indication lights (HLT, MLT, and BK), two 240VAC elements (HLT and BK), and an ERIMS tube (with a 120VAC element). All that work will provide capability of EHERMS and ERIMS.

 

[EarthBound]

Here’s what she looks like after installing the returns and HERMS coil.
I also installed 3-piece SS ball valves, so now I have no brass in the liquid phase of my brewstand.

Inside of the HLT.

Inside of the MLT. To fly sparge, I simply push silicone tubing over the copper tubing.

Inside of the BK. I’m in the process of installing a new hop filter.

Here’s my 2000W heatstick (120VAC) with its portable, switchable, GFCI outlet. I use it for heating strike water and to get the boil going quicker.

 

[h22lude]

I wish I knew how to weld. That looks great. I pretty much want exactly that just electric instead of gas and plate chiller instead of counter-flow chiller.

If you ever want to travel to RI and build one of them for me, I'll pay in beer and food (oh and obviously pay for material) hahahaha

 

[EarthBound]

I wish I knew how to weld. That looks great. I pretty much want exactly that just electric instead of gas and plate chiller instead of counter-flow chiller.

If you ever want to travel to RI and build one of them for me, I'll pay in beer and food (oh and obviously pay for material) hahahaha

Thanks. It was a really cool project. I bought a HH140 without knowing how to MIG weld. It was fun and easy to learn it.

I'll making a couple batches this weekend via HERMS (for my first time). After that, I'll be doing those upgrades I mentioned. I already have all the parts. I posted the schematic for it all in a thread I made in the electric brewing forum.

 

[h22lude]

Thanks. It was a really cool project. I bought a HH140 without knowing how to MIG weld. It was fun and easy to learn it.

I'll making a couple batches this weekend via HERMS (for my first time). After that, I'll be doing those upgrades I mentioned. I already have all the parts. I posted the schematic for it all in a thread I made in the electric brewing forum.

How much would you say the brew bench cost? Just the parts to make it?

MIG welding wasn't bad to learn? I can rent them locally.

 

[illadelphbrew]

if you have a welding supply shop in your area u might be able to pick up a cheap mig welder for between $200-$300, the one i picked up came with an empty tank and and can be plugged inton any 120 electiric line.

 

[EarthBound]

I have one of phases completed for my crazy-ass electric upgrade. I installed a 2-pole 30A GFCI breaker and a 30A 240VAC receptacle in my brewhut, so now I have the power I need. It was fun and easy!

I also added a lot of holes to the control panel over the weekend. I’ll be doing lots of wiring over the week, so I should have more pics coming up soon.

Here’s the front of the enclosure.

Here’s the top of the enclosure.

Here’s the bottom of the enclosure.

Here’s the left of the enclosure.

Here’s the right of the enclosure.

I have a new control arm. It is beefy and completely adjustable.

 

[EarthBound]

Here's my progress over the weekend:

 

[Layne]

Nice job.
It's like science fiction. If you told someone, just a few years ago, that that is what it would look like to brew beer, they would have thought you were crazy........Actually, they still do!

 

[EarthBound]

It's like science fiction.

I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't brew that.

 

[EarthBound]

The wiring and installation of components for the control panel are completed and were tested successfully. It is also mounted to the brewstand via the new mounting arm. The next step is to wire the control panel to the pumps and solenoid valves via a junction box.


Is this congested enough for you?

 

[EarthBound]

Here's a good pic to illustrate the whole control panel.

 

[EarthBound]

Here's the brewstand with the upgraded control panel connected to the new mounting arm. You can also see the new 240VAC outlet I installed behind the control panel. The pumps and ASCO valves are wired back up, so I can brew like I did before (direct-fired HERMS/RIMS).

Here's a better view of the control panel. You can see a PID and a timer on the right side of the panel.

Here's a rear view. You can see the other two PIDs from this side. That j-box below the pump has a couple TBs in it for neutral and ground.

Here's a couple pics of my new RTDs.

That's all the pics I have for now. There will be more to come very soon.

Here are the next few tasks for the electric upgrade:
-Wire up the three new RTDs to the PIDs
-Attach a secondary j-box on top of the primary j-box (the one I just mentioned a second ago)
-Run the wiring from the control panel to the secondary j-box
-Install three conduits between the secondary j-box and three other j-boxes (HLT j-box, BK j-box, ERIMS j-box)

Anyway, I hate this brewstand, and I hate all of you...

I'm just kidding...

I don't hate this brewstand...