Facelift for my control panel

[thekraken]

I don't get grain in my lines I have a triple filtering false bottom because my little 3gpm pumps would jam with grain...
They say they are reed switch activated but I do believe there is a cone type piston? That the fluid applies pressure to so it opens.
I saw the one you linked but those appear to monitor and control flow and I'm looking for a on off flow switch to allow current and cut current to my SSR powering my rims element

I'm sorry if you've already answered this, hell I may have already asked, can you give details on how exactly your filtering to protect the little tan pumps? You use them for everything right, whirlpool and mash?

 

[BitterSweetBrews]

I'm sorry if you've already answered this, hell I may have already asked, can you give details on how exactly your filtering to protect the little tan pumps? You use them for everything right, whirlpool and mash?

I have had that same problem with the little tan pumps on my mash tun. I ended up using my chugger for anything after the HLT, like recirculating to the RIMS, because they kept getting clogged and stopping from husks getting past the false bottom.

I did just recently make a grain bag for my 15 gallon kettle mash tun out of a polyester window sheer curtain. I haven't tried the tan pump with it, but I doubt any grain husks get past it. It also has the added benefit of making the tun cleaning and dumping as easy as biab.

 

[augiedoggy]

I use a false bottom in mymash tun and under that I now use A 30" long piece in stainless braid I removed from a new dishwasher water line. In my boil kettle I don't need to whirlpool... My wort is clear from recirculating and I use the larger 6x14 stainless arbor fab hop spider... As a last chance filter before it hits my plate chiller I now use an 8" long piece of braided line connected to my boil kettle dip tube.
I use a stirrer inside my hop spider to keep the hops whirlpools and suspended in the wort.
That's it... 4 years now and likely 75 brew sessions or so now. No issues with these pumps really at all. I did have my braided filter come loose under my false bottom once rece tly and it gave me a super slow mash record through my rims which resulted in uneven temps.. That's when I redesigned it a bit with a longer braid with more surface area. Before in had a bazooka tube withthe 8" section of braided line inside it. Anvil brewing sells a stainless device that's similar to mine

 

[Berchabar]

you may have already listed and i probably missed it but do you have a link for where you got your flow meter?

 

[augiedoggy]

you may have already listed and i probably missed it but do you have a link for where you got your flow meter?

It is listed in the thread somewhere but I got it from ebay.

 

[rnorman57]

Question on your RIMS tube with cartridge heater, when you say you drilled out a compression fitting, do you mean you had to drill out the ID of the NPT portion of the fitting? If I used a 5/8 compression x 3/4 NPT fitting, then I shouldn't have to drill to pass a 5/8 heater, correct?

 

[PapaFoxtrot]

There's a ridge inside the compression fitting to keep the tube from passing all the way thru. You need to remove that ridge for the cartridge heater to pass thru.

ETA this image from google:

 

[rnorman57]

Thank you for the picture, it helps. I think it confirms what I was saying. Do you have a similar picture for a fitting with a larger NPT connection, would it have the same kind of "ridge"?

 

[augiedoggy]

There's a ridge inside the compression fitting to keep the tube from passing all the way thru. You need to remove that ridge for the cartridge heater to pass thru.

ETA this image from google:

The ridge is the narrow area not drilled out in the diagram above and not allowing the element to pass completely through. the compression fitting ids the correct diameter for the element to seal it though. you want to use a larger 1/2" threaded reducer compression fitting since the one pictures above ould require drilling into the threaded base . the larger ones have a smaller "shoulder" to drill out.

here is a photo of an older smaller spare element I mounted..

 

[rnorman57]

Thanks. That's what I was getting at by suggesting a 3/4 pipe end which should have a shorter "stop" to drill out as the ID of the pipe section would be larger than the od of the heater

 

[rnorman57]

Question about your RIMS tube, is the red wire in the vicinity of the camlock in the body of the tube a ground wire? If so, how is it attached?

 

[augiedoggy]

Question about your RIMS tube, is the red wire in the vicinity of the camlock in the body of the tube a ground wire? If so, how is it attached?

Yes it is.the cam lock has has a small
Loop molded into it where a pin could pass through. I have the entire10awg wire passing through it and looped to itselftwisted tight.

 

[augiedoggy]

did some streamlining to the plumbing.. and angled the plumbing so it completely drains easily for cleanup.

 

[DangerisBrewing]

Love the updates Audie.
I have a question or 5 about your system.
How do you like the tan pumps?
Any issue with them?
How do you keep them from getting plugged by grain?
What do you use as a false bottom in the MT?

Thanks

 

[augiedoggy]

Love the updates Audie.
I have a question or 5 about your system.
How do you like the tan pumps?
Any issue with them?
How do you keep them from getting plugged by grain?
What do you use as a false bottom in the MT?

Thanks

I love using them, no complaints.the 24v ones are a lot better than the 12v ones... I answered the false bottom question a bunch of times in this thread but basically its the Bayou false bottom with 2 long sections of braided stainless coiled underneath it to catch the finer stuff that might get through the false bottom this allows me to have no issues with the pumps plugging at all. the hop spider and smaller section of braided stainless in my BK keeps the hops out of my pump and plate chiller as well.

 

[Cashjon]

Sorry, didn't realize this thread was long, I read first page and posted, whoops looks like things really changed from the start.

 

[Cashjon]

Thanks... its a bit confusing since I kept upgrading things along the way, I hope to eventually make a youtube video showing how things work.... I did end up moving my flow switch to the rims inlet and it now works well in recirc or sparge mode and while running pbw through it and my chiller for cleaning.

I believe I have made over 50 batches of beer on this rig now and I love it!
Unfortunately life has gotten in the way and I havent brewed in about 2 months..

Hey Augiedoggy, I hate to bother you buddy, I was just wondering if you ever got around to making a YouTube video of your rig in action, Thanks

 

[augiedoggy]

Hey Augiedoggy, I hate to bother you buddy, I was just wondering if you ever got around to making a YouTube video of your rig in action, Thanks

Ive never made a youtube video... I dont know how to edit the footage into one video but I guess I should look into it. I had a few people ask me about it and it would make trying to explain some things much easier.

 

[purdman10]

Hi, Augie, I appreciate the time and energy to answer the many questions that people have and hopefully mine as well. I was brought to
this thread because of your assistance to another panel builder because of the use of the inkbird idt-e2rh timer. I want to use a three way switch on it to pause and start it along with an alarm. I have terminal 2 jumped to terminal 5 to have it paused on start up, and changed the transistor type within the program to npn. I understand on the three-way switch I need a NO block and a NC block. Right now, i have a three-way switch with two NO contacts. I cannot find a diagram anywhere to visualize the wiring for a three way switch only a two way or reset button. Can you help? Thanks!

 

[thekraken]

As a last chance filter before it hits my plate chiller I now use an 8" long piece of braided line connected to my boil kettle dip tube.

You're primary concern is filtering for your plate chiller and not the dc pump, right?

I bring this up because I have the same 24vdc tan pumps, but plan on using a cfc. I'm wondering if the tan pump would handle wort that is NOT filtered with the braided line? I would still use a hop bag during the boil.

 

[augiedoggy]

You're primary concern is filtering for your plate chiller and not the dc pump, right?

I bring this up because I have the same 24vdc tan pumps, but plan on using a cfc. I'm wondering if the tan pump would handle wort that is NOT filtered with the braided line? I would still use a hop bag during the boil.

Well both actually. I think more for the chiller though.

 

[augiedoggy]

Hi, Augie, I appreciate the time and energy to answer the many questions that people have and hopefully mine as well. I was brought to
this thread because of your assistance to another panel builder because of the use of the inkbird idt-e2rh timer. I want to use a three way switch on it to pause and start it along with an alarm. I have terminal 2 jumped to terminal 5 to have it paused on start up, and changed the transistor type within the program to npn. I understand on the three-way switch I need a NO block and a NC block. Right now, i have a three-way switch with two NO contacts. I cannot find a diagram anywhere to visualize the wiring for a three way switch only a two way or reset button. Can you help? Thanks!

I am not sure I can be of much help since I wired mine up years ago now and have since moved to an arduino based control panel for everything.
Sorry

 

[purdman10]

Thanks, I appreciate your reply and the time you take to maintain this thread.

 

[augiedoggy]

Thanks, I appreciate your reply and the time you take to maintain this thread.

if I remember right I used a couple three way switches to just switch the signals coming out of my pids as well as the alarm relay switch on the timer.. the timer alarm was just a switch so whatever you fed into the input comes out of the output which could be ground or the alarms voltage... The pause button needs a no/nc maintained switch to stay paused but the reset button would ideally use a momentary switch... I took my pause button out because I found it wasnt useful for me.
in the end I used one of my EZBOILs relay functions to hold the reset signal until the boil was reached and then it would release and start the timer automatically.

 

[purdman10]

Thanks again. I have the timer working in two of the three positions. I think you have answered the puzzle by changing out one of the NO contacts with a NC contact. I had removed the momentary reset pushbutton for the three way switch instead.

 

[augiedoggy]

So Ive been doing a lot of brewing lately and since adjusting my mill with a credit card Ive been averaging 86% efficiency... (I just brewed an irish red today and got 88.3% efficiency)
all in all im very happy with the system. I did replace the temp controller on my chiller with an stc clone since I have like 10 laying around... I keep the chiller at 28 degrees now and have a pale ale cold crashing now thats at 38 as I speak and still coming down. as well as gavins lager at 57 degrees and the irsh red at 67.

I also built a new arduino based system with a touchscreen interface which I like.. This will allow me to automate and streamline certain things (as much as I want really)

I really need to come up with a new hood though..

 

[BrunDog]

Nice!!

 

[highland_brewer]

Looking good. What program (arduino) are you using? I have though about messing around with some of that type of systems.

 

[augiedoggy]

Looking good. What program (arduino) are you using? I have though about messing around with some of that type of systems.

Its not yet officially been released and Im just one of the Beta testers so im going to wait until I have the green light to talk about it further which I believe will be any day now. I will say it doesnt have many of the limitations of a lot of other arduino based software... it works with all sorts of different temp probes including the pt100 rtds and Ive just build the second control panel to control my glycol jacketed /heater temp control for my conicals. Its super versatile.

 

[highland_brewer]

Its not yet officially been released and Im just one of the Beta testers so im going to wait until I have the green light to talk about it further which I believe will be any day now. I will say it doesnt have many of the limitations of a lot of other arduino based software... it works with all sorts of different temp probes including the pt100 rtds and Ive just build the second control panel to control my glycol jacketed /heater temp control for my conicals. Its super versatile.

Cool thanks.. got a pm from the developer

 

[TenaCJed]

I was curious if you have any recent pictures of the inside of your main control box since you changed out to the arduino?

 

[augiedoggy]

I was curious if you have any recent pictures of the inside of your main control box since you changed out to the arduino?

Its not pretty... let me snap a few and upload them.

 

[augiedoggy]

Ok so im not proud of my wire routing by any means, It was tight in the box and some things were added later in the build.. Plus I was growing impatient. But the important thing is its actually done pretty safely, each circuit and element is protected with appropriate sized fuses and wiring. There are relays cutting power to both phases of the elements as well as the ssr switches.. You can see I used a lot of aviation connectors and the large blue switchcraft connector sees 8 amps max for my rims. The others are rated for 30a and dont even get warm when using them.
I have yet to add the board for the 4th rtd sensor yet although I have everything... in the summer I have a lot going on and brewing doesnt get as much attention.

my other fermentation control panel is even more of a rats nest im embarrassed to say... That one is screwed shut...
but remember MOST of the wiring in my panels is low voltage sensor, 12v or 24v dc wiring.. As you can see I'm barely utilizing the 16 relay board I have... I do have it setup so certain elements cant be energized at the same time due to the 30a service.

 

[augiedoggy]

Here are some more random pics as I was configuring and experimenting with different free background images I found via google... I know Brucontrol is working on a way to make the background more transparent and not as distracting since it looks almost too cartoonish in some of the shots..

 

[TenaCJed]

Quick question for you, what are the 3 dark looking items between the 16 channel relay and SSRs? That is the only thing that I am not following as far as what is going on. Is it a contactor that is controlled by the relay? I see that it is connected between the relay and the SSRs, so that is what I was guessing.

 

[BrunDog]

They look like power relays.

 

[TenaCJed]

They look like power relays.

That would make sense, as it is for heating element.

 

[augiedoggy]

They are, omron 25a 24vcoil controlled relays.

 

[shadow160]

What system is that you are using to control this new build? It looks interesting.

 

[augiedoggy]

What system is that you are using to control this new build? It looks interesting.

Brucontrol www.brucontrol.com