Electric brewing without a Control Panel??

[kal]

One good point to keep an eye on as you decide to go electric: It will likely cost more than you think. It'll most certainly cost you more than what people here quote.

I see SOOOO many posts from people saying "It's not expensive... It only cost me $X!" when in fact these people rarely take the time to actually list each item they had to purchase (we subconsciously like to forget expendatures) and/or they've completely forgotten half the things they used, and/or they had a bunch of stuff already around.

Whenever someone says "it should cost you $X", assume it's at least 2 times X.

Kal

 

[emerex]

@Walker

What do you mean by control boils? <-stupid question I'm sure!

 

[Walker]

@Walker

What do you mean by control boils? <-stupid question I'm sure!

I am talking about the strength of the boil. Just like with propane burners or your stove-top, you can gently boil something on low heat or you can crank up the dial and boil the sh!t out of it.

In either of those two scenarios, the temp of the liquid is the same, but the vigor of the boil is very different.

A controller that operates only based on temp cannot control your boil strength.

 

[MazdaMatt]

I work with controlls for a living, but I've never done anything to do with heating. I was curious what sensor you'd use to measure boil aggressivness? Temp probe at the top of the kettle with a low-pass filter? Humidity sensor?

 

[staab016]

One good point to keep an eye on as you decide to go electric: It will likely cost more than you think. It'll most certainly cost you more than what people here quote.

I see SOOOO many posts from people saying "It's not expensive... It only cost me $X!" when in fact these people rarely take the time to actually list each item they had to purchase (we subconsciously like to forget expendatures) and/or they've completely forgotten half the things they used, and/or they had a bunch of stuff already around.

Whenever someone says "it should cost you $X", assume it's at least 2 times X.

Kal

I'm learning this very quickly. I've been lurking your site for a while now, and figuring out exactly how much it's going to cost... I need to give my fiance a nice shopping spree when I'm done with all of this!

Kal, is there any news on a "package" version of your brewery? I definitely want to do the build myself, but tracking down parts and multiple shipping rates is killing me...

 

[kal]

I work with controlls for a living, but I've never done anything to do with heating. I was curious what sensor you'd use to measure boil aggressivness? Temp probe at the top of the kettle with a low-pass filter? Humidity sensor?

I don't know any electric brewers that use something to measure 'boil agressiveness'. Most simply boil with the heating element control in some sort of manual/duty cycle mode where the element is cycled on and off.

The feedback is your eyeballs. If it's not boiling agressively enough, increase the duty cycle.

Kal

 

[kal]

Kal, is there any news on a "package" version of your brewery? I definitely want to do the build myself, but tracking down parts and multiple shipping rates is killing me...

Nope, not at this point. We've been focusing on the hard to build/obtain items first which meant the control panel in various forms from kit to pre-built. Heating element kits are basically available now too and pre-coiled HERMS coils are next. The rest is actually pretty easy to build yourself.

Kal

 

[Walker]

I was curious what sensor you'd use to measure boil aggressivness?

This one:

 

[MazdaMatt]

Well that's not very creative or geeky at all!

 

[GRHunter]

This one:

To be accurate, mine would be a lot more bloodshot on brew day.

 

[Dgonza9]

If you're looking to have an electric system you can boil with, just go with elements installed in a pot. Install two elements and you should be able to do up to 10 gallon batches with them. If you're doing five gallon batches, just turn one off. Mount each in a box with an gfci outlet and a switch and you're good.

If you're looking to control temps during the mash, consider getting the all grain equipment first. A cooler works fine. While it's fun to have the bling, I'm not sure why you would want to build a control panel to maintain temps for steeping grains. Get the all grain equipment first and see that you like doing it that way.

Or not. Just trying to be helpful. Cheers.

 

[ffletcher]

The strength of boil is basically how much of the liquid is at 212, adjusted for sea level. Water is the hottest near the heating element, once that water hits 212 it turns to gas, forms a bubble and heads for the surface. If it can maintain 212 it reaches the surface. This can happen when the surface of the water is as low as 160 to 180. To reach a full boil the water at the surface is 212. This is a very aggressive boil. It looks almost out of control. It takes a floating sensor to measure the water surface temperature.

 

[emjay]

The strength of boil is basically how much of the liquid is at 212, adjusted for sea level. Water is the hottest near the heating element, once that water hits 212 it turns to gas, forms a bubble and heads for the surface. If it can maintain 212 it reaches the surface. This can happen when the surface of the water is as low as 160 to 180. To reach a full boil the water at the surface is 212. This is a very aggressive boil. It looks almost out of control. It takes a floating sensor to measure the water surface temperature.

Wort should boil a tiny bit hotter than 212°