NattyBrew's Electric Brewery Build

[aceuass]

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Cheers
Paul

 

[wegz15]

sorry if you posted but what brand timer did you go with? I know he talked about the omega and auber version. Yours doesn't look like either.

 

[ddknight]

I think that he's using the Auber timer. I'm using the same one and it looks just like that one. It's the ASL-51 model.

 

[bbognerks]

If you are having a problem finding a heatsink, I just bought one of these
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120670121120

Fairly cheap and made specifically for SSRs. I too am building a control panel a lot like Kals. Freaking awesome.

 

[NattyBrew]

sorry if you posted but what brand timer did you go with? I know he talked about the omega and auber version. Yours doesn't look like either.

Thanks for the clarification there ddknight, it is the Auber timer. There are some wiring instructions floating around here somewhere that I found that saved me half the headache of having to read through the wiring diagrams.

-=Matt=-

 

[ddknight]

No problem. Here is the post that I used to wire up the timer in the control box for my setup.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/asl-51-timer-wiring-207860/

Title of the thread: ASL-51 timer wiring

 

[CodeRage]

I love the fact people are really stepping up with their control panels! looks nice!

 

[hatfieldenator]

We need to start a local club devoted to building Kal's electric brewery!
I too live in Cincinnati and I'm tackling the same project as you right now! I'm not nearly as far along as you, but I'm getting there. I just started drilling holes tonight. It will probably be a few more weeks before I catch up.
Yours looks AWESOME so far! What part of town are you in? I'd love to check out your system some time. We should trade some bottles of homebrew sometime too

By the way, I love your avatar picture of the Roebling Bridge, very nice!

 

[hatfieldenator]

Hey NattyBrew,

This is freakishly familiar! I am right in the middle of building the exact same thing!!! I just got my last parts from China yesterday and can now start wiring. I plan to do that tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. I have completed everything else on the kettles and pumps and wort chiller. Luckily I already had the pumps, kettles and chiller from my Brutus stand! Now if I can just sell that I'd be ahead of the game.

What part of town do you live in? Didn't know anyone else here that's also on HBT so that kinda nice. I'm up near Fields Ertel area.

Good to see your progress and talk to another Cincy brewer!!

Holy Crap! Cincinnati must be a hot spot for building Kal's brewery!

 

[kegtoe]

whats wrong with one of these GFCIs?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001OE3JHC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[BrewBeemer]

If you are having a problem finding a heatsink, I just bought one of these
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120670121120

Fairly cheap and made specifically for SSRs. I too am building a control panel a lot like Kals. Freaking awesome.

Barrett; I was looking at those heat sinks myself 6 hours ago thinking of purchasing two until I came up with these; http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...si=%2FJFzJDilu7QqIMbEcq79gWKzWFo%3D&viewitem=
Four Gordos (USA) 45 amp SSR's mounted on heat sink $34.99 each, purchased two of them.
Two of the above bare heat sinks plus shipping would of cost me $33, adding eight 45 amp SSR's at $9.00 each the assemblies became way cheaper. $86.49 vs $123.17 a $36.68 savings.

 

[bbognerks]

Ah well, I already had the SSRs. You save money and you lose money the first time around. Thanks though, hopefully I can save some brewclub friends some cash if they decide to go electric.

 

[wegz15]

Does anyone know if these would work with the PIDs?

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DWYER-Temperature-Sensor-6CTY0?Pid=search

 

[wegz15]

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/DWYER-Temperature-Sensor-6CTY4?Pid=search

Meant that one

 

[bbognerks]

Yes that should work. Wish you had found these about 2 weeks ago. Would have saved me $45. Not sure if it's liquid tight though, like the ones I got from Auber. You may have to do some modifications to it to make it liquid tight. I think Bobby has a post about how to do it.

 

[wegz15]

I'm doing a lot of research first. Trying to find better prices. Found stainless ball valves 9 total for $50 shipped.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Carla with the heat sinks stated he had many more, they are offered at a great price.
I was in a world of hurt needing six 40 amp or higher SSR's plus a couple for pumps and stir motor as I gave back a bunch of SSR's a friend had given me for his second build. They came from Hong Kong plus I felt better using higher amp Gordos.
Gordos with the heat sink a packaged unit I had to grab them with needing two units.
The ebay seller I mentioned above has many more units plus different amp SSR's.

 

[wegz15]

Doing more research on the probes. I found these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RTD-PT100-Tempe...652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a55d99b84

http://www.lightobject.com/10ft-3M-K-type-Thermocouple-with-8cm-pole-thread-P488.aspx

They are slightly different. One has 3 spade connectors and the other has 2 spades. Does anyone know what the difference is? I would most likely go with the lightobect.com porbes and they are 20mm (.78 inches) shorter and are the same price.

 

[ddknight]

Hey hatfieldenator,

Looks like Cincy is a Kal Model replication center! It's nice to see a few Cincy people on here. Hopefully your build progresses nicely. I am smack in the middle of my build and didn't change a whole lot of the stuff around from what Kal did and it's going smoothly. Just trying to figure out the placement of everything on the two bus bars now and we'll see what we have.

I'm assuming your located downtown. I'm actually up a little north just off of Fields Ertel road not far from Kings Island. Keep us posted on you build. I'm hoping to start a thread here soon when I organize some pictures!

 

[wegz15]

By wifes sister lives in cincinnati. Actually, about 10 minutes from kings island. Small world

 

[ddknight]

Small world indeed! You'll have to come visit someday and have few beers.

 

[bbognerks]

Doing more research on the probes. I found these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RTD-PT100-Tempe...652?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a55d99b84

http://www.lightobject.com/10ft-3M-K-type-Thermocouple-with-8cm-pole-thread-P488.aspx

They are slightly different. One has 3 spade connectors and the other has 2 spades. Does anyone know what the difference is? I would most likely go with the lightobect.com porbes and they are 20mm (.78 inches) shorter and are the same price.

RTD sensors are different than K Type Thermocouples. The inputs into the PID are different. RTD/PT100 sensors require 3 wires while K type thermocouples only require 2. Also something to note is that RTD sensors are more accurate.

Edit: You also need to set the PID to the type of sensor being used. It won't work with a RTD sensor if it is set to K type and vice versa.

One last thing, that K-type you listed is definitely not liquid tight. The probe should not have a gap or seam next to the threads. It should look like 1 piece.

 

[NattyBrew]

Holy Crap! Cincinnati must be a hot spot for building Kal's brewery!

Wow, seriously talk about a small world! Sorry I have been a bit absent this week, work's been killing me so far in the new year. I am making some progress on the wiring this week, now if my heat sink would show up as planned tomorrow I can finish the wiring completely! I will be sure to update you all with some wiring pics as soon as it is all tidy and doesn't look like a plate of spaghetti.

-=Matt=-

 

[hatfieldenator]

Small world indeed! You'll have to come visit someday and have few beers.

Sounds good to me! I'll be sure to post pics as I make progresss. It's gonna be a few weeks until I get all my parts in the mail.

 

[NattyBrew]

So I finally got the rest of my wiring for the control panel finished yesterday, so as of 1/13/11 stage one of my electric brewery build is complete!

These pictures are after everything inside the box had been tidied up, because just a few moments before both my work table and control panel looked like the following:

Anyway, after about four solid evening of stripping, crimping, and wiring I got everything completed and tidied up. Following Kal's wiring diagrams were pretty much painless, nearly everything was pretty straightforward. For anyone who is tackling this project or just has questions about what was done please feel free to ask and I will be happy to help. Now the long and painful process of saving up for the next step, the three Bilchman kettles!

 

[NattyBrew]

And a few more pics of the wiring for the folks!

 

[ddknight]

Looks Awesome! The wiring is much nicer than what I have going on right now! Hopefully over the wknd I'll get a chance to clean things up a bit. Nice first step for sure!

 

[bbognerks]

Talk about an exact clone of TEB. That's a job well done. Looks like Kal did it himself, lol.

 

[wilceaser]

Sweet mamma lucia! Nice job!!!

 

[NattyBrew]

Sweet mamma lucia! Nice job!!!

Just had to quote this one, hands down the best response I've gotten!

Thanks all for the comments, I only can hope to nail this build in the same way Kal did. I guess my whole approach with this replica build is "Why change something that works in every way you want/need it to?". As you all can tell I am just a little bit of a perfectionist so I took plenty of time to try and make sure things were done right.

Now the excruciating wait while I save up for the Bilchmanns... Especially difficult to do when you are in the middle of buying your first home as well! In the down time between step number two anyone who has any questions at all, big or small, I'd be glad to help answer them. Thanks guys.

-=Matt=-