My E-HERMS Brew Rig Thread

[moparx12]

Yea I'm going all electric. Most likely a 4500w for the hlt and 5500w for my bk. I wasn't sure of the heat resistance rating on regular powder coating so that's why i asked.

This may be a stupid question but is there a chrome ceramic powder? I was thinking chrome powder for my boiler and HLT and the ceramic for the mash tun to aid with insulating the keg

Not sure. check places like prismatic powders or eastwood. Those are a couple of popular suppliers. I know my particular powder coater could not get a higher temp chrome powder than what i got - but i don't know why. I decided 250F was good enough.

 

[moparx12]

Those kegs look great! Really dumb question, though. Did you make all of the necessary holes and do the welding on the kegs before you had them coated? Are you going weldless?

All of the welding and holes were put in before the coating. I realize now that none of the fittings can be seen in the pic!

 

[moparx12]

Ok here is an update: I sent the frame and pivot trays to be powder coated today. I think I am gonna go with blue, but a really vibrant almost electric blue. I actually told the guy gloss black but i need to call in the morning to change it!

Anyway this Sunday i had some time to work on it so i kinda 3/4 of the way installed the dip tubes for my bubbler volume measurement system. Tonight i put together the electrical box for one of the four elements and temporarily installed it as well:

 

[moparx12]

Any ideas on how to brace the bottom of the dip tubes? I was thinking of maybe copper wire or something wrapped around the base of either the dip tube bung area or the element bung and wrapped around the bubbler tube near the bend.

 

[moparx12]

oh and check out the pumps im going to be using. Believe it or not the flow and max head is supposedly better than a march 809 @ 2450 L/H and 6.5 M respectively.

 

[Varroa]

The flow may be better but is it food grade and can it handled the temps that are used during brewing?

 

[moparx12]

not sure if food grade but the housing and impeller are plastic (mag drive) and can take 212F

 

[moparx12]

Its official. I changed the powder color to candy blue. Should be done by the beginning of next week.

here is the color: http://www.racecitypowdercoating.com/gallery/rcpc_prod_06_full.jpg

 

[TaylorInOK]

Awesome. Subscribed!

 

[ohararp]

Interested to see how the rest of the powdercoating turns out.

 

[moparx12]

Alright, here is my stab at a wiring diagram. Remember i am using 4 5500w elements, two 24V pumps with speed control (potentiometer). I think i got all the major components. Although i didn't include my din rail breakers for the valves and pumps and i'm sure a bunch of other stuff.

 

[TrainSafe]

I love the idea of powder coating. That stand looks sturdy and well balanced.

I'm watching intently!

 

[CCBrewer]

cool build subscribed

 

[BWN]

can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[moparx12]

Just got the rig back from the powder coaters today. The color looks great, but they had a major "out gassing" problem with all four pieces. The silver underlayer for the candy color bubbled and wrinkled in various places. The guy wouldn't discount me therefore i will likely not go there again! anyway, here are some pics:

 

[moparx12]

Ok i got one of the kegs mocked up in place and took a picture. Looks like i may have a slight problem with clearance between the heating element box and the outer posts on the frame with both the HLT and BK. I think i will either use a smaller box for those elements or use not box at all on those. Not sure yet what i am going to do about that.

I fixed the bubbler system dip tubes so that they are rigid by installing a brass compression fitting in place of where the rubber grommet was. I will post a pic of that when i get one, i am away from the house at the moment.

The next steps are to finish installing all of the pivot trays, rivet the diamond plate to the trays, and then fasten the diamond plate to each keg somehow. I am thinking about using rivets up through the diamond plate (1/4" thick) and into the rolled bottom edge of the keg in 8-12 places. More pics to come!

 

[EarthBound]

Wow! Excellent work so far!

 

[moparx12]

Wow! Excellent work so far!

Thanks!

 

[phoenixs4r]

I wrote a comment but for some reason it didn't actually post.

What's the deal with the paint? The painter take the blame for it or blame something else?

 

[WAORGANY]

got the kegs back from powder coat last night. They look pretty good and not nearly as much work as polishing each one!

Powder coated vessels! I think this is a first, very cool!

 

[moparx12]

I wrote a comment but for some reason it didn't actually post.

What's the deal with the paint? The painter take the blame for it or blame something else?

The powder coat for the candy blue color is a two step process. The first coat is a shiny silver color that serves as the reflective material behind the "candy" blue second coat. Apparently the second round of heating while the candy color was curing, many of the areas (mostly around welds) showed little bubbles of silver coating protruding through the blue.

They told me it was likely due to the metal i used containing trapped gasses that came out when heated. Upon further reveiw i think i have confirmed that since it only out gassed near/on the welds, it could be a product of having too much argon/co2 pressure while welding. I was told after all of the welding that the pressure should be around 15-20 psi. I had it at like 45 or 50!.

Anyway, the owner would not come down on the price because he saw it as an uncontrollable problem that was not his fault. i was a bit disappointed because i paid double for the 2 step process!

 

[phoenixs4r]

Bummer. May I ask what the paint job cost you, that's a awfully pretty stand

 

[moparx12]

sure, it was double the cost of a standard color. $250!

 

[phoenixs4r]

That's quite a beautiful frame my friend. I would attempt the same but I'll be running gas.

 

[moparx12]

Ok i got some work done today. It's starting to come together now! I got the diamond plate mounted to the pivot trays and the kegs mounted to the diamond plate. I then started mounting the control panel just to see how it would look. Here are some pics:

 

[JKoravos]

That looks pretty damn cool.

 

[moparx12]

That looks pretty damn cool.

I hope i can make good beer with it too!

 

[moparx12]

I didn't leave myself enough room for an electrical box for the elements i am putting on the side of the BK and HLT. I came up with this for a solution. Its not done yet but i plan to trim the cap so that it fits flush to the adapter that's in place. i also need to find a way to cleanly attach the ground to the keg somewhere.

 

[moparx12]

just realized those pictures dont show up today. I will have them back up shortly.

 

[moparx12]