Kill-A-Watt Brewery Build Compilation

[RDWHAHB]

The brewery is finished.

That's some funny ****.

 

[harley03]

Simply cool! Congratulations on your new addition :rockin:

 

[The Pol]

Thanks guys... I am just tickled that I am sitting on my sofa and I can turn on and off my little SSR LEDs

It is a sexxxxy build, better than I had originally planned.

 

[jkarp]

So when we gonna see some beer?

 

[The Pol]

So when we gonna see some beer?

A month or so I assume...

I need to run tests, tune PID functions, determine losses, create more processes...

But, it is built, now the fun part starts I hope!

 

[TheAleMaster]

Nice job, Pol. I don't know how you wait so long. I'm too impatient. I'd be wanting to brew yesterday...

 

[Photopilot]

Is the modem so you can control the brewing process from your layover hotel?

 

[The Pol]

Is the modem so you can control the brewing process from your layover hotel?

I could, I could

 

[The Pol]

Nice job, Pol. I don't know how you wait so long. I'm too impatient. I'd be wanting to brew yesterday...

I would like to, but there are a lot of #s I have to collect first, so that I know what I am working with.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Very nice POl I look forward to the data collected when you brew. I bet those LG pumps crank it out. They will show their weight when you chill. Keep us posted on your water tests. Really awesome man!

 

[The Pol]

Very nice POl I look forward to the data collected when you brew. I bet those LG pumps crank it out. They will show their weight when you chill. Keep us posted on your water tests. Really awesome man!

Thanks, I appreciate it. Looking at this thread, I have been at this for about 4 weeks, it seems much longer.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

Pol, I'm really interested in your wireless bridge. I have my BCS built onto a panel, and the rig is in my detached shop. I have wireless in the shop but no wired connection to the house so I have to be in the shop to connect to the BCS. That is not a problem on brew days, but it would be more comfortable to setup pids, processes, etc, in the house, then go to the shop for testing.

I started some wet tests last night, I'll be interested in your feedback when you get to that point. I'm gonna brew Saturday... will most likely be in the Manual Mode. I'm not expecting great results (I think the BCS will do fine, but I don't have all the info for the calculations... losses, etc.).

I found that in manual mode, after you make a change, you have to hit the "apply" button... so to turn off a pump, you hit direct off, then apply, then there is a slight delay, then the pump goes off.

Also, looks like the manual mode "fights" with the Output buttons on the top of the Main screen... So, if you are in manual mode with a pump (or heater) on, and you hit the Lighted Output button, you get a slight delay, then the pump goes off, then a delay and the pump comes back on! This is kinda obvious with a pump because you can hear it, not so clear with an element.

I'm certainly no expert, so maybe I missed something... Oh well, guess I'll go re-read the manual... wait a minute there is no manual Guess I'll go bouncing around the wiki.

BTW... Congrats on a beautiful build... can hardly wait to hear about it in action.

 

[The Pol]

Some pics from this morning after getting my hoses all cut. I had about 3" of hose left when I was finished

 

[Layne]

Holy crap. This thing gets more amazing looking everyday.
Especially now that it looks complete, rather than a collection of (great looking) parts.

 

[Hermit]

I'm calling the feds. There has to be SOME department that will think this is illegal for some reason or another.

 

[The Pol]

Pol, I'm really interested in your wireless bridge. I have my BCS built onto a panel, and the rig is in my detached shop. I have wireless in the shop but no wired connection to the house so I have to be in the shop to connect to the BCS. That is not a problem on brew days, but it would be more comfortable to setup pids, processes, etc, in the house, then go to the shop for testing.

I started some wet tests last night, I'll be interested in your feedback when you get to that point. I'm gonna brew Saturday... will most likely be in the Manual Mode. I'm not expecting great results (I think the BCS will do fine, but I don't have all the info for the calculations... losses, etc.).

I found that in manual mode, after you make a change, you have to hit the "apply" button... so to turn off a pump, you hit direct off, then apply, then there is a slight delay, then the pump goes off.

Also, looks like the manual mode "fights" with the Output buttons on the top of the Main screen... So, if you are in manual mode with a pump (or heater) on, and you hit the Lighted Output button, you get a slight delay, then the pump goes off, then a delay and the pump comes back on! This is kinda obvious with a pump because you can hear it, not so clear with an element.

I'm certainly no expert, so maybe I missed something... Oh well, guess I'll go re-read the manual... wait a minute there is no manual Guess I'll go bouncing around the wiki.

BTW... Congrats on a beautiful build... can hardly wait to hear about it in action.

The wireless bridge, in the end, very easy to set up. It was hard for me though because I had to go through a bunch of false starts to get the right parameters. NOW however the static IP address stuff and Gateways all make sense. To do it again would be snap!

I have been playing with the manual mode. I do like it, there is a 2 second delay after I hit "apply" before the action takes place.

Yes, the buttons at the top of the page for the outputs, will not work in conjunction with manual mode, since they are both trying to control the outputs in that case.

What I can tell you is this. The wireless bridge is easy to set up, just write down all of the settings from your router (log into it to get them) and then just place ALL of those in your setup for the bridge.

Then when you are ready to assign your BCS a static IP address, make sure you know your DCHP range of your router, then make sure the static IP address you assign it and the Gateway are OUTSIDE of that range of you will get all sorts of miffed up!

Go into ethernet settings on the BCS panel and UNCLICK the box where it sayes STATIC or DCHP IP address. Then change the IP address in that box to something OUTSIDE of your networks DCHP range. Mine was 192.168.0.10 - 192.168.0.19. So I set my Static IP to 192.168.0.21 and my Gateway to 192.168.0.2.

BAM, works awesome. I so far have 100% continuity (which I did NOT have when I had a dynamic IP address) and I can power the rig up and down and up and down and it always comes up under the same IP address and it actually comes up!

 

[The Pol]

I'm calling the feds. There has to be SOME department that will think this is illegal for some reason or another.

My painters are like... WTF is that? What do you do for a living? How the heck did you imagine that?

HBT baby... HBT... thanks fellas.

 

[The Pol]

Holy crap. This thing gets more amazing looking everyday.
Especially now that it looks complete, rather than a collection of (great looking) parts.

It is complete, I have used up all of my parts...!

The last part was getting it networked, now that I understand it, it would be easy to do again. But, not knowing dick about that stuff placed me on a steep learning curve.

 

[Dog House Brew]

My painters are like... WTF is that? What do you do for a living? How the heck did you imagine that?

HBT baby... HBT... thanks fellas.

Classic

 

[thorongil]

That's all so clean, you need to get rid of the wall worts... split off one leg of the 240V and get a couple internal outlets...

C'mon... I've gotta find something to pick on...

 

[The Pol]

That's all so clean, you need to get rid of the wall worts... split off one leg of the 240V and get a couple internal outlets...

C'mon... I've gotta find something to pick on...

Like this one?

Pick away

 

[thorongil]

Jeez... with all the time I spent drooling over the pics, you'd think that I'd have remembered that...

So are you going to have multiple 240W drops installed so that you can brew in multiple locations?

 

[The Pol]

Jeez... with all the time I spent drooling over the pics, you'd think that I'd have remembered that...

So are you going to have multiple 240W drops installed so that you can brew in multiple locations?

My garage is 20 x 20

My power cord is 10'

That is about as far as I need to go

 

[netjunk1e]

Pol, I'm really interested in your wireless bridge. I have my BCS built onto a panel, and the rig is in my detached shop. I have wireless in the shop but no wired connection to the house so I have to be in the shop to connect to the BCS. That is not a problem on brew days, but it would be more comfortable to setup pids, processes, etc, in the house, then go to the shop for testing.

I started some wet tests last night, I'll be interested in your feedback when you get to that point. I'm gonna brew Saturday... will most likely be in the Manual Mode. I'm not expecting great results (I think the BCS will do fine, but I don't have all the info for the calculations... losses, etc.).

I found that in manual mode, after you make a change, you have to hit the "apply" button... so to turn off a pump, you hit direct off, then apply, then there is a slight delay, then the pump goes off.

Also, looks like the manual mode "fights" with the Output buttons on the top of the Main screen... So, if you are in manual mode with a pump (or heater) on, and you hit the Lighted Output button, you get a slight delay, then the pump goes off, then a delay and the pump comes back on! This is kinda obvious with a pump because you can hear it, not so clear with an element.

I'm certainly no expert, so maybe I missed something... Oh well, guess I'll go re-read the manual... wait a minute there is no manual Guess I'll go bouncing around the wiki.

BTW... Congrats on a beautiful build... can hardly wait to hear about it in action.

I have set up alot of wireless bridges, the easiest is to use DD-WRT. Buy a compatible router, flash it with dd-wrt, change the wireless mode to client bridge and select your wireless network. The BCS will then grab all its information from the main router.

 

[The Pol]

I am using my BCS from my bed, while my brewery sits on the first floor

Ha ha ha, too cool

 

[beerocd]

I am using my BCS from my bed, while my brewery sits on the first floor

Ha ha ha, too cool

OK, there's at least half a dozen jokes that can be had with that statement. But all I'm gonna say is congratulations, it looks great, good luck on the first brew.

 

[JayInJersey]

First off....I hate you Pol

Second off...just get a $30 Wireless Game System Adapter. I use them for all my A/V things that need the Internet to look up junk or get firmware upgrades and don't come pre-wireless. Like my x360 or my Sony 400 disc Bluray players I love saying that.

 

[ibbones]

That not only looks good, it's sexy! So when you gonna do your first web cast on it? I bet there are some that would like to see her in action.

 

[The Pol]

That not only looks good, it's sexy! So when you gonna do your first web cast on it? I bet there are some that would like to see her in action.

I have a lot of testing and data to gather first, may be a month or so depending on work. Finally got to post it in the "Rigs" thread.... glad it is complete.

 

[The Pol]

OK, there's at least half a dozen jokes that can be had with that statement. But all I'm gonna say is congratulations, it looks great, good luck on the first brew.

Thanks, no blood or tears on this build, but a few curse words for sure. Glad it is assembled. 6 weeks from start to finish:rockin: