Electric brewery build

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You can come over and play with my rig any time :) No, that's not a clever euphemism.

One big difference I noticed is I didn't have to scrub the bottom of the kettle - no heat down there means nothing sticks to the bottom. Just a quick wipe of the hop line on the sides of the kettle and it was squeaky clean.

-Joe
 
I forgot that I had taken a couple pictures of the first brew! Here's the setup. I haven't mounted the control panel yet, so I used my little stainless work cart.

firstbrew_setup.jpg


And here's the whirlpool - 4 ounces of pellet hops made a lovely cone. I can't say enough about how awesome having a bottom drain is, especially with the 1" butterfly valve. Just hose those hops right out the bottom into a 5-gallon bucket and the kettle's clean. I will never be able to go back to diptubes after this.

firstbrew_hopcone.jpg


-Joe
 
Happy new year, everyone. Finally got a little more time to play with the rig. I was trying to figure out how to mount the control panel for a few days when a light bulb finally went off - a $20 CRT TV wall mount! Good for up to 66 lbs.

panel_swingarm1.jpg


panel_swingarm2.jpg


-Joe
 
Did another batch on the rig today. It was awesome ;)

Tomorrow we're planning to punish the rig with a 15 gallon batch! We'll see how she holds up.

-Joe
 
I have done several 10-gallon batches since the last post. The rig continues to make me happy :) The only issue I have is with changing over fittings when pumping liquids in various directions. That's all going to change...

fittings.jpg


-Joe
 
Some more details on the new pump setup. I didn't like the idea of all that weight hanging off the output fitting on the head, especially with the tri-clamp fitting. I put the pump on my stainless worktable and stared at it, waiting for a solution to come to me.

Then I remembered the *other* stainless table that I shortened. Did I save the cutoff? Of course I did! Who throws out perfectly good stainless sheet? ;)

After some work with a jigsaw and a carbide blade, I had my blank cut out. Then I rounded the edges on my belt grinder.

Next I had to bend it in an L. That's where the poor-man's bending brake comes in. A Craftsman Workmate and a block of wood.

brake.jpg

Next was drilling the holes to mount the 3-piece ball valve. In case anyone's wondering, those are 5 millimeter bolt holes.

support.jpg

And here's a front view of the whole setup.

supportfront.jpg

I bolted the whole mess to my brewstand. Next I think I'll make up some covers for them to try to keep stray splashes out of the motors.

-Joe
 
I timed how long it takes to heat my strike water today, for those who are curious.

To heat 15 gallons of 56F water to 180F on a 75F day in an uninsulated stainless vessel with a single, 5500 watt element took 1 hour 10 minutes.

According to my calculator, that's 59% efficient. I'm planning to insulate the tuns at some point. It'll be interesting to see how much that improves things.

-Joe
 
That seems like a very long time. My experience is around 30 mins to heat 12 gallon from 65-70 degrees to 185 degrees. Like you, I have one 5500w element and an uninsulated keggle.
 
nostalgia said:
I timed how long it takes to heat my strike water today, for those who are curious.

To heat 15 gallons of 56F water to 180F on a 75F day in an uninsulated stainless vessel with a single, 5500 watt element took 1 hour 10 minutes.

According to my calculator, that's 59% efficient. I'm planning to insulate the tuns at some point. It'll be interesting to see how much that improves things.

-Joe
Click to expand...

That seems like a very long time. It doesn't take nearly that long for my system. I never timed it though.

Can you look up what it's "supposed" to be, and check it against your real life experiment? My brew room is quite cool all year round (50s in the winter) and I"m sure it's faster than that. The most I've ever heated at once was 14 gallons though (that's all that will fit!) and my tap water starts at 45 degrees.
 
At 100% efficiency it should be 49 minutes. So 30 minutes is either bending the laws of physics, or someone's timing is off.

I'll see if I can find another online calculator to vet my formulas.

-Joe

EDIT: 49, not 59 minutes.
 
On all these "timed tests" has anyone metered the heating element voltage while under load?
Any and all VD due to house service wiring length to brewery socket lets not forget the cord to brewery length plus AWG, VD adds up resulting in a massive drop in BTU output.
Starting water plus ambient air temp variables, humidity, wind chill factor, not much of a constant to work with.
I'll shut up.
 
nostalgia said:
This calculator, while in metric units, also comes up with 50 minutes.

I'm still looking for others, but seems like I'm in the ballpark.

-Joe
Click to expand...

That seems about right to me. I guess there isn't much of a difference between 50 minutes and 70 minutes in the grand scheme of things, but I know mine is under an hour starting with 45 degree water and 14 gallons.

That calculator you linked to didn't work for me- kept telling me "1" minute to reach the correct temperature!
 
Yeah, I'm sure there can be a wide fluctuation in actual BTU output. Which could well account for my lower efficiency.

Yooper said:
That calculator you linked to didn't work for me- kept telling me "1" minute to reach the correct temperature!
Click to expand...
Are you putting in 5500 watts? They're in KW, so you need to put 5.5 in.

-Joe
 
nostalgia said:
I timed how long it takes to heat my strike water today, for those who are curious.

To heat 15 gallons of 56F water to 180F on a 75F day in an uninsulated stainless vessel with a single, 5500 watt element took 1 hour 10 minutes.

-Joe
Click to expand...

Are you actually using 15 gallons for strike water or is the extra needed to cover a HERMS coil? I used to try to heat up all my water (mash and sparge) at the beginning of the brew but I realized I could save a bunch of time on my brew day if I heated only what I needed to strike with at first and then the sparge while I was mashing. Just a though.
 
nostalgia said:
Yeah, I'm sure there can be a wide fluctuation in actual BTU output. Which could well account for my lower efficiency.


Are you putting in 5500 watts? They're in KW, so you need to put 5.5 in.

-Joe
Click to expand...

Yes. The calculator just didn't like me.

I just got done brewing, and ended up doing a single infusion batch sparge.

What I like best about this electric system is the flexibility. I can do a 12 gallon fly sparge, or a 5 gallon batch sparge, with HERMS without HERMS, gravity drain the MLT, use the pump, change up the chilling procedure, etc. I love that flexibility. The only thing I can no longer do is decoctions. But step mashes are super easy, because I can ramp up fast.
 
nostalgia said:
Ok kids, we're ready for power! First, I thought you might like a glimpse into the chaos that is my workbench...

workbench.jpg
Click to expand...


Ummm....how is THAT workbench chaos?? One of the cleanest active workbenches I've ever seen! :mug:

(Where are all the posters and bumper stickers of questionable taste? the endless detritus of half-finished projects stacked on each other until they spill off the bench? piles of nearly empty paint and solvent cans filling the space under the tabletop? the jerry-rigged shelves and hooks for random tools? the #10 cans filled with mismatched nails, screws, and stereo components?) :drunk:
 
nostalgia - still monitoring this thread?

I see you soldered a triclover ferrule onto the boil kettle (for the dump valve?) How did that go? It looks like you dimpled it to the outside, and soldered on the inside, but must have fussed to get just the right fit to force the ferrule in from outside.

How useful do you find the bottom dump valves? Presumably used for cleanup. Someone I think suggested keeping the top fitting on the keg for an electric keggle, and using it for a dump valve for cleanout, inverting the keg and cutting out the bottom rather than the top. Sounds good to me.
 
Yeo, I'm still here :)

What I did was push it through from the inside, then pop it out and push it back in from the outside.

Since I use mostly pellet hops, I don't know if the larger valve makes a lot of difference. It's nice to rinse everything down the bottom drain, but I don't know if a 1/2" valve would be any worse.

But in general, having a bottom drain is the best thing EVAR.

As a quickie build update, I've been having some trouble with the heatstick leaking, so I'm probably going to drill a new hole and stick the element right in the kettle.

-Joe
 
I've got one of the 7gal conical fermenters from stout tanks and kettles, and have looked at the kettles and other stuff he sells. For electric kettles, he sells them with a 1 1/2 triclover on the side, and a 1 1/2 tricolver - 1" NPS fitting for mounting the heating element into the kettle.

That might be the way to go. As my kettles evolve, I'm thinking of doing that for the heating element myself.
 
Joe

You suck!!! LOL. Nice write up but an instruction manual or a "Build an E-Brewery for Dummies" Authored by Joe Fisher himself... I want the signed copy 1st edition. ;)

WW
 
Wanna say thanks for the ideas nostalgia. Finished my panel based off of your panel
 
So with this version of control panel are you able to have both elements firing at the same time? Wondering if you could run back to backs on this fairly easily?
 
Awesome, thank you... Wouldn't happen to know much about electrical theory would you? I'd like to build a panel like this one with a few subtle changes... Problem is, while I can follow a diagram, I draw a blank when it comes to making one... Looking for someone who can give me a good "road map"
 
Awesome, thank you! You wouldn't happen to know much about electrical theory would you? I am currently in the process of reworking my rig to get away from propane and move to e-brewing. I have tried a few different control panel configurations now and have failed miserably. I really like what Nostalgia has done here but would like to make a couple of subtle changes for my own. While I can follow an electrical diagram fairly well, I have no idea how to put one together. I'm kind of hoping that someone out there can help me with a sort of "panel diagram for dummies" if you will, lol.
 
Im a complete rookie i watched videos and jumped between this post and some others. However in my research i found a website that has different panels with schematics for a decent price. Ill try and find it today.
 
So basically this is what I'd like to build, I have a HERMS coil already plumbed into my HLT, but I'd still like to have the third PID in the center, just for closer monitoring of temps in my Mash tun.

On the backside of this one he has four outlets turned on and off by the four bottom switches on the front panel. I would have two outlets with front switches for my pumps, and then a single 110v/double usb outlet controlled by the third front switch, that way I could use my phone for timer and music while keeping it charged and also run my "El Cheapo" vent hood.

I wouldn't want that big honking red switch on top either, so the fourth front switch would be replaced with a keyed master on/off.

I'd also leave the lighted kill switches for the elements as they are. Does all that make sense? And can anyone help me make it happen?
 

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