From sunglasses to E-biab

[JINKS]

I had been kicking around switching from kits to brew in a bag for a few weeks and had acquired a new Bayou 11 gallon kettle.

My main desire was to make something that I could use to crane out the bag, so I didn't have to hold the grain bag while it drained.

I had been looking around here on HBT and discovered many fine ideas for a crane style framework.

Just before I could pull the trigger on a specific design, my work decided to dispose of several merchandise displays that were no longer needed.

I managed to pick up this little beauty.


The framework is all metal, and it has a mild steampunk look which I like. And it's on wheels

I pulled out all the plexiglass windows and parts to strip it to its metal components.

As I have few metal working tools, I had a buddy cut a hole in the bottom and weld in a propane burner and a cross bar to attach the pulley from @wilserbrewer at biabbags.webs.com

I attached a 18' RIMS tube and a 5000 watt 240v heating element from @Bobby_M at BREWHARDWARE which I am going to run on 120v to maintain the mash temp.


The height for lifting the basket out came out perfect and if you look closely through the holes you can see my wilserbrewer bag waiting patiently for the first brew day

I purchased all the camlocks and silicone hose from Bargainfittings
Here are a couple of pics with a mockup of how I was thinking of piping the wort. I have already decided to make a couple of changes to the kettle outlet and inlet side of the rims tube using some angled pipe fittings to mount to the RIMS tube, so I don't stress the plastic of the pump.

Still waiting for all the electrical components to get here from around the world so that I can power this beast. Unfortunately I need a modern PID but all the switches will be antique appearing Knife switches running the low voltage side.

This display was lit from the inside via led's so it comes with a ready made low voltage supply which I will use to run the controls.

 

[Inkleg]

Awesome job, can't wait to see it completely finished and brewing.

 

[JINKS]

Awesome job, can't wait to see it completely finished and brewing.

Yea me too.

 

[RandallFlag]

Subbed.

Very cool. I may have questions on this in the future.

 

[JINKS]

Subbed.

Very cool. I may have questions on this in the future.

I may have answers.

 

[NathPowe]

This is so cool man. Completely original and ingenious. You should be proud. I'll look forward to future updates and I hope the rest of the build goes well for you.

Cheers and enjoy the brew.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I like that stand! Perfect re purpose and it would be tough to build something that attractive. How did you tattoo the logo on your kettle? That's cool

 

[JINKS]

I like that stand! Perfect re purpose and it would be tough to build something that attractive. How did you tattoo the logo on your kettle? That's cool

Had a print shop print my logo on what they call bumper sticker paper.
It is plastic and sticks amazingly well.
I put it on the kettle and in an amazing, incredibly short time {read 2hrs} I was able to cut out the pattern. Well at least the letters.
The next day I talked a co-worker into cutting out the rest in trade for a bottle of wine I made (read great deal). She spent a modest 7 hours cutting out all the intricate details of the gears and the border.
I was explaining the etching process to a different co-worker who owns a knife making/welding shop and he has a professional version of what the OP has made which he let me borrow.

First setting is ETCH and second setting is MARK which is what makes it black. Everything was coal black until I tried to clean off some left over glue residue from the stencil.

Some shiny where I didn't etch deep enough showed back up. I may attempt to go back and use some kind of small brush or something to deepen the etch in the shiny spots and try to re-blacken them again.

But I am pretty happy with the results as shown.

Did inside markings for gallons and half gallons also.

Inspired and learned from this thread.

My posts are #566 and #571 although this is pretty much verbatim what I wrote in that thread.

 

[JINKS]

The Indicator lights have gotten here bought on Ebay for $4.84 and free shipping.

I can't figure out how they can mail something all the way from China for free and still turn a profit, when it cost me $3.00 to send 2 3/8 npt locknuts from Montana to Texas.

The Low voltage control switches I plan on using are available on Amazon.


Still waiting for the PID controller and temp probe, the solid state relay, and some misc parts.

 

[JINKS]

This is so cool man. Completely original and ingenious. You should be proud. I'll look forward to future updates and I hope the rest of the build goes well for you.

Cheers and enjoy the brew.

Thanks I appreciate the compliment.:rockin:

 

[JINKS]

Nothing major done today. The fittings I ordered from bargainfittings came in so I put them on.

I was concerned about all the weight and pressure being on the plastic of the pump, but with this configuration that has gone away.

I also needed/wanted a place to hang utensils, my mash paddle (still building) and spoons and such, so rather than some boring old hook, I went with these.




The PiD I ordered came in today and as soon as I can weed through the instructions to figure out how to wire this thing I'll start building the control panel.
.
.
.

 

[Carlscan26]

How did you make that site glass? Was that a kit or your own design?

 

[FatDragon]

Looks like you've got something beautiful in the works. I'm going to follow this for ideas for my own hopefully impending eBIAB setup, but for now, one question:

Have you tested the castors (or is it casters?) with the kettle full of water for a while? If the display was built for sunglasses, I would be worried that a full propane tank and heavy kettle of boiling wort might be too much for them. You definitely don't want to discover they can't handle the weight during a brewday. I would test with the full kettle for a few hours first, then run the propane for an hour-long boil, to be sure that the setup can handle the weight and the heat.

 

[JINKS]

How did you make that site glass? Was that a kit or your own design?

I bought it here:
http://www.norcalbrewingsolutions.com/store/Sight_Glass_Stainless_Steel_11_inch.html

But I decided I didn't like how far it was away from the brew kettle and un-supported at the top, so a quick trip to the hardware store to get fittings that would work. Still weld-less just smaller holes at 3/8 inch. Got silicone o-rings from bargainfittings.

 

[JINKS]

Looks like you've got something beautiful in the works. I'm going to follow this for ideas for my own hopefully impending eBIAB setup, but for now, one question:

Have you tested the castors (or is it casters?) with the kettle full of water for a while? If the display was built for sunglasses, I would be worried that a full propane tank and heavy kettle of boiling wort might be too much for them. You definitely don't want to discover they can't handle the weight during a brewday. I would test with the full kettle for a few hours first, then run the propane for an hour-long boil, to be sure that the setup can handle the weight and the heat.

It doesn't carry the propane bottle and I'm not going to be rolling it around when a full brew kettle is sitting on it.
The heat source is a good foot or better away from the uprights so I'm not to worried about them getting to hot to hold up their own weight. The uprights will have time to cool down (if they get hot while I boil) when I use the chiller to cool the wort. I figure 15+ to cool the wort and 10+ while I wait for the whirlpool to settle, thats at least 25 minutes, so no worries.

But I do plan on giving it a shakedown test with water, mostly for proof of concept, to check the fittings for leaks during the recirculation stage.
I'm not real keen on the weld-less sight glass mounting. I may need to re-gasket because the o-ring is a little small.

I've had no leaks with cold water while I marked the gallon increments but I haven't checked it with boiling hot water for leaks yet.

 

[JINKS]

Today was a fairly nice day at @ 60 degrees so I was able to head out to the garage and outside to get some more work done on the conversion.

Today was cutting and fitting a panel for the controls.

I didn't use the old panel because I had holes cut through it for the sunglasses logo.


Cut a hole for the PID control.


I also mocked up where the panel lights and switches go.


Red for Heating
Blue for wort
Green for main power.

The Solid State Relay that I ordered is apparently coming from China via a rowboat manned by a guy with a broken arm, so it will be a while still before I can complete the wiring.
I'm also incorporating a flow switch on the output of the rims tube so that if I forget to turn on the pump, it fails, or I get a stuck recirculation, the heating element will not turn on.

 

[JINKS]

So with the help of @doug293cz and @ChocolateMaltyBalls I was able to get this to where it was electrically safe to run. You can see them coach me along in the electric brewing forum here on this thread:https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/will-you-check-my-diagram-521805/#post6790165

 

[JINKS]

I ordered some contactors and led's per the wiring diagram. Coming from China via Lame Sloth Deliveries, so the delivery date is sometime in late April or early May.

 

[JINKS]

Nothing much to report, the electronics have cleared customs this week in Chicago, so within a week or so I should be able to get this monster up and brewing. If the weather holds I'm going to do a little painting. I have some antique brass spray paint that I think I'll paint the dark parts with.

 

[el_Palido]

Awesome build man. Ingenious!
Looking forward to seeing it completed.

 

[JINKS]

Unfortunately nice days are few and far in between here this time of year. I did get outside and modify my 3 wire rtd pt100 probe wire.



I soldered a 3 pin xlr connection into the system so I can take the rims tube off and apart for cleaning without having to un-wire the temperature probe.



Now I can just take it apart and carefully wash the probe side.