Rebuilding My Brutus Hybrid Into a Kal Clone

[jcav]

So I had this Brutus hybrid with a very elaborate control box that I fabricated and styled like Kal's on the Electric Brewery. I can fabricate and make things fairly well but I really am challenged when it comes to electronics. I can make plugs and cords and wire simple things like power in, and pumps, but I really couldn't wrap my head around the low voltage stuff and how to wire before and after the transformer. The more I was checking out the Electric Brewery site, and all of you on the electric forums, I kept wanting more and more to go the electric route. So I ordered Kal's control box completely assembled and it will be here in several weeks. So now I am going to remake my rig into a somewhat close resemblance to Kal's, but I am using my Sabco keggles, my stainless brew stand from my original build, and all my existing tri-clover stuff.

I took off the Honeywell valves and made the burners all manual. This way I can still make a quick extract batch and boil manually. Since I invested in making the stand I might as well use it. Heck we can have three burners to have a crab boil, or whatever!

 

[KennyM]

Beautiful!

 

[jcav]

Here is another one of the control box with the cords and probes attached.

Time to drill holes and weld the 2 inch ferrules for the electric elements in the HLT and Boil keggles

Getting ready to back gas

This is Jay Lesher ("Jay the Welder") on YouTube. He works at Cigar City Brewing and he also has welded in breweries all over the country. So naturally I trusted him to weld up my Sabco's!! Thanks Passedpawn for hooking me up with him!

 

[jcav]

Jay's got quite a little shop going there in his garage. What a host, while I was there at his place he treated me to Jai Alai IPA, and "Hops For Heros" IPA, both Cigar City Brewing specialties.

 

[jcav]

Finishing up the welds

Jay has a huge land tortise

Jay gave me that Barrel Aged "Big Foot" ale barley wine. It is $24.99 a bottle and like 12 % alcohol.....Gonna wait for a winter night to drink that one!

Jay's cool invention for cleaning in place a little "Z" to put on your inlet

Here it is working. Pretty good flow of water to cascade and clean the brew pot. Just put on a cover or lid and clean in place!

This is Jay's welded stand he calls the "Brew Gun" he welds them up and will be selling them in the near future. My Sabco's are showing it off.

That is my ugly mug on the right. Jay is on the left. I was a little eh tipsy in the photo!
The bottom photo is a close up of the little "Z" that Jay makes for cleaning in place.

 

[jcav]

Beautiful!

Thanks KennyM!

 

[jcav]

On Saturday I drilled out the holes on my HLT for the herms coil. I took my time and measured with the herms coil outside making sure I was above the heating element, and at the same time not near the ribs of the keg. Especially on the inside of the keg the ribs are cut away making a channel and I would think it would be a nightmare trying to get the bulkheads to create a good seal if your hole is in this area. The outside ribs protrude outward and that is a problem also. My herms coil was 10 1/2 inches from the center of the top herms coil tube to the center of the bottom tube.

I made sure the dots inside the circles were exactly 10 1/2 inches apart, positioning the coil above my heating element and far enough away from the ribs of the keg so the bulkheads would have flat metal to create a good seal.

I used a 3/8 inch drill bit to drill a pilot hole in the keg. Slow and steady with my low speed drill and used cutting oil.

I then used a step bit to drill out the pilot holes to 1/2 inch, as this is what the 13/16 Greenlee punch requires to work correctly (according to the manual).

Worked great, and then I put on the weldless bulkhead with the compression fittings from Bobby M, those bulkheads are designed very nice!

 

[jcav]

Some more pics for you....

So I have these StillDragon element enclosures. I put one on earlier in the week and the metal tube got hung up at the bend of the element right away and wouldn't budge any further. I didn't want to bend the element straighter so I inquired as I saw others had used these enclosures with ripple elements. Thanks to dcman73 he told me to squeeze the element together and that will make them slide right through. Here I am doing just that with some channel locks. Man he was right, it was like magic, the next photo was the enclosure sliding on through the rest of the way without me doing anything. Thought I'd pass this along and this helps someone else out too!

 

[stevehaun]

Ok, I am dying to know why you installed your HERMS coil with weldless bulkheads when you have everything else beautifully welded in?

 

[jcav]

Ok, I am dying to know why you installed your HERMS coil with weldless bulkheads when you have everything else beautifully welded in?

That is an excellent question! I know, I know, but hear me out first. The welder lives 1 1/2 hours from my house. I didn't have my herms coil ordered yet (I was deciding between two different ones), so I didn't have it with me when I got my kegs welded.

Having the 2 inch tri clover ferrules for my heating elements sanitary welded for my HLT and Boil kettle was not cheap. When I was quoted on the phone the price the welder didn't know me yet and that was all I was really willing to spend on the two welds. Granted he did a lot of work and it took some time to do it right and I am very happy with the work he did, and I will use him again. Some people are lucky and say that they have friends that do welding for some homebrew. I am not that lucky.

My main concern at the time was to have the heating element ferrules sanitary welded, and I loved the idea of being able to remove the elements for cleaning, and cleaning the kegs without dragging the cords. My rebuild is kinda on a budget and I set aside a few thousand dollars and I am trying to keep within that budget. Keep in mind Kal's fully assembled box is $2,295.00 and I still have to acquire several more items/parts. I also have to have an electrician run the 240v electric line and install a breaker from my box in my garage, through the attic and into my back lanai. This is not going to be cheap either.

My thoughts were that the weldless bulkheads from Bobby M are very well made and you can torque the heck out of them and the seal is excellent and they will not leak. So I thought I'd use them for now and see if I want to stay this route, (although I like the idea of just unclamping the coil to clean it or blow it out if I wanted to).

Jay (the welder) got to know me that day at his house and we really hit it off and became friends. I talked to him about the herms coil later that afternoon and he told me that he would weld the fittings for the coil anytime I wanted and since he like me, he would make me a much better deal. So I think I will take him up on this a few months from now.

So that is why I didn't get them welded right away. I hope I didn't commit any keg welding sacrilege in the process, and if I did I hope I can be forgiven....... I guess my Sabco's can't go out in public anymore!!!

It was a very good question though....

John

 

[AkBrew907]

Beautiful setup. Eager to see more progress

 

[jcav]

Just a shot of some of the parts before being installed....

.

 

[jcav]

So I installed the electric ripple elements in the keggles and conducted a leak test to make sure all is water tight, before connecting the cord wires. Also put on the ball valves for the herms coil inlet and outlet. I used this Loctite 55 cord that I had on hand. Works great and the best thing about it if your not using tri clovers and you are using npt fittings, you can actually reposition the ball valve and turn it backwards 45 degrees to make the handles line up where you want it and it will still be leak free. There is actually a video on YouTube showing them repositioning plumbing fittings with no leaks. You can't do that with Teflon tape!

After the leak test measured the water to see how much until the electric element was covered. I added exactly 3 gallons of water to both keggles and this covered the element with roughly one inch of water. If I want to make a 5 gallon batch I will make a minimum of 7 to 7.5 gallons pre boil, depending on boil times, so no worries at all here!

You can just make out that there is one inch of water in the photo

I used "Bar Keepers Friend" to clean up the keggles. They look so much better with all the smudges and streaks gone. I really should polish them to a mirror finish, but I heard it's such a pain......

 

[iijakii]

Looking great. I honestly think those look cooler than the mirror finish ones.

 

[jcav]

Looking great. I honestly think those look cooler than the mirror finish ones.

Thank you sir! I'm trying not to polish them!!!

John

 

[jcav]

So I'm getting ready soon to have the 240v line installed from the electric circuit breaker panel in my garage, into the attic and then out to my lanai where the dryer outlet will be. My question: Is the heavy 10/3 SJ00W line supposed to be run bare in the attic, or is it supposed to be housed in conduit pipe. My attic has both batting and extra blown in insulation so can the line sit on top of the fluffy insulation or does it need to be enclosed in conduit? I don't know what the code is yet in Florida, but what about in general? Any thoughts on what's appropriate?

John

 

[itsnotrequired]

not sure of the actual code in enforcement in your jurisdiction but it has long been a part of the nec that flexible cords and cable (e.g. SJOOW) are not a substitute for permanent wiring, even if it is in conduit. the routing you are describing is a direct violation of the nec. your electrician should tell you the same. the installation should use 'traditional' wiring methods from your panel to the dryer receptacle.

 

[jcav]

Wow I didn't know that. I was trying to get an idea of what I needed and how much it would cost in materials. I figured I could buy the materials at Home Depot or Lowes myself to save some money rather than have the electrician supply it. The electrician was going to come over and give me a price today but I had to reschedule, as I had to put new brakes on my oldest son's car and was not able to get with him today. The electrician and I haven't talked about if he did everything verses, if I bought the material and did most of it, and then he installed the wire and hooked it all up properly. Not sure how he is going to do this and what is all involved but if I'm understanding you correctly do you mean he would have to go through the walls and studs as in traditional wiring like when I had the house built? This is going to be EXPENSIVE!

John

 

[BrunDog]

Just looked up that loctite stuff... very cool except in the instructional they want you to roughen up the threads with a saw or plier teeth. not sure the purpose... perhaps to prevent the joint from rotating easily... but i wouldn't want to do that to my fittings.

BD

 

[itsnotrequired]

there are a number of ways to run the circuit, your electrician should be able to give you some options. concealing the wiring behind the drywall makes for the cleanest look but often ends up being the most expensive. not sure of your exact route but you mention running through the attic so i assume it is accessible. the nec allows nm cable (romex) to be run exposed in attics, provided it is protected. this usually means boring through the exposed joists or laying it on top of the joists, with running boards on the side. some jurisdictions (e.g. chicago) doesn't allow nm and everything has to be in conduit. another option is surface-mounted wireway, which is mounted to your existing wall surfaces without the need to bust up drywall. typically a cheaper installation but now you have this square tube running along your wall.

your electrician should be aware of what is allowed and isn't as well as various options for installation. and as far as buying materials goes, this can be hit or miss, especially for a single circuit. next thing you know, you are missing a couple fasteners or are short by a couple feet and now there are problems. if installing a gfci breaker in your panel, maybe buy that for the electrician but have him get the other stuff.

 

[jcav]

Just looked up that loctite stuff... very cool except in the instructional they want you to roughen up the threads with a saw or plier teeth. not sure the purpose... perhaps to prevent the joint from rotating easily... but i wouldn't want to do that to my fittings.

BD

Hey BrunDog, I know what you mean about roughening up the threads. That was something I did not want to do either. I saw on a plumbing site that it was mainly to keep the cord material from backing out on some types of metal fittings like brass. The site said that is was not necessary for all installations and some guys chimed in and stated they never roughen up the threads on their installs, and they are professional plumbers and they never get leaks with this stuff.

I also saw a video of some huge project of some type of furnace type of thing with an insane amount of fittings and no one roughened up one fitting. So I didn't roughen up mine either and I don't have any leaks. This stuff really grabs your fittings and is tacky also. You can feel it's resistance when you rotate the fitting with a wrench and it really must fill the gaps well. It worked for me, I am happy with it. I really think it will work for others if they want to try it. Just thought I'd post it as an alternative as I know it's a pain to align the ball valves where you want them sometimes with Teflon tape.

John

 

[jcav]

there are a number of ways to run the circuit, your electrician should be able to give you some options. concealing the wiring behind the drywall makes for the cleanest look but often ends up being the most expensive. not sure of your exact route but you mention running through the attic so i assume it is accessible. the nec allows nm cable (romex) to be run exposed in attics, provided it is protected. this usually means boring through the exposed joists or laying it on top of the joists, with running boards on the side. some jurisdictions (e.g. chicago) doesn't allow nm and everything has to be in conduit. another option is surface-mounted wireway, which is mounted to your existing wall surfaces without the need to bust up drywall. typically a cheaper installation but now you have this square tube running along your wall.

your electrician should be aware of what is allowed and isn't as well as various options for installation. and as far as buying materials goes, this can be hit or miss, especially for a single circuit. next thing you know, you are missing a couple fasteners or are short by a couple feet and now there are problems. if installing a gfci breaker in your panel, maybe buy that for the electrician but have him get the other stuff.

Appreciate the advice. I guess I'll let the electrician recommend what is the proper way to do it here in my neck of the woods. He is going to have to go from the garage up through the ceiling into the attic, and across the house into the lanai and then down the outside wall on the lanai. My wife would never go for the tube running through the walls inside my house. I'd have to rename my brewery the "Used To Be Married Brewery"! I'll let you know what the electrician says....Thanks again.

John

 

[jcav]

Here is the video of the Loctite 55 cord that I posted in the DIY forum under Kettles, Mashtuns, & Hotliquor Tanks, in case anyone wants to see it. The end of the video shows the ball valve being repositioned without fear of leaks. You can do the same thing with 90 and 45 degree elbows and other fittings to get them to line up where you need them.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o4uMq6yQiQ&noredirect=1[/ame]

 

[jcav]

Here is the video of the furnace with an insane amount of fittings being installed. This was done in Europe and they did not gnarl or roughen up one fitting. They just wound it on the threads and put on the fitting. Looks like they used it for gas also which would be even harder to seal than liquid. The directions on the can say to use 6 to 8 wraps of the cord for a 1/2 inch pipe.

 

[Gavin C]

Cool Thread man.

Just beautiful documentation of the process. The photos of the welding are just brilliant. Top notch stuff. Thanks for sharing your marvelous build. Tremendously envious of your creation.

 

[jcav]

Cool Thread man.

Just beautiful documentation of the process. The photos of the welding are just brilliant. Top notch stuff. Thanks for sharing your marvelous build. Tremendously envious of your creation.

I really appreciate that Gavin!


John

 

[dmcman73]

Some more pics for you....

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So I have these StillDragon element enclosures. I put one on earlier in the week and the metal tube got hung up at the bend of the element right away and wouldn't budge any further. I didn't want to bend the element straighter so I inquired as I saw others had used these enclosures with ripple elements. Thanks to dcman73 he told me to squeeze the element together and that will make them slide right through. Here I am doing just that with some channel locks. Man he was right, it was like magic, the next photo was the enclosure sliding on through the rest of the way without me doing anything. Thought I'd pass this along and this helps someone else out too!
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Glad my tip worked out for you in getting the elements into the Stilldragons, looking good!!

 

[jcav]

Glad my tip worked out for you in getting the elements into the Stilldragons, looking good!!

Yes sir, your tip really saved me!! I was really stuck and so was the enclosure but after your advice it went on like butter! I was so thankful I just had to give you props and post it, so others with the same problem could benefit also! Thanks again brother

John

 

[jcav]

So I wanted to put on metal cable gland/strain relief cord grips on my StillDragon enclosures. I enlarged the hole in the end cap with my step bit. It took quite awhile as the metal end cap is very thick. I took my time and used plenty of oil and kept stopping to dunk the step bit in water also to cool it off.

The diameter of the conduit nut was way too big and when I first screwed it on it would not allow the end cap to fit on the tri clover ferrule. So I held it with a pair of pliers and I used my electric grinder and I grinded off the metal tabs that encircled the nut. I then continued grinding down the whole outer circumference of the nut on the grinder, so it fit inside the end cap without hitting the edge, and it then went on just fine.

 

[jcav]

I cut the 10/3 wire to make two 10 foot lengths.

The StillDragon enclosures come with three copper ring terminals and shrink wrap (see below). I wanted to use the 10 gauge ring terminals that had the plastic skirted insulation attached to them for peace of mind. There is a lot of current going through them so I wanted to use these.

I had to enlarge the hole a little so they would fit on the grounding screw stem.

Then I put on the shrink wrap anyway for extra security (more like peace of mind for me).

Then I hit them with my $8.00 Harbor Freight heat gun. What a great buy that was a few years ago. Still going strong!

I used a 5/32 Allen wrench to fasten the ground wire to the ground lug/screw. With my luck a pair of pliers would have beat it up and stripped it.

Attaching the wires and getting the end cap to go on was a real pita! There is not much room in there like a nice conduit box. So you have to pull down on the outer thick cable insulation, to be able to get your fingers to pull and then bend the two wires where you need them. This took some time but I was able to make it happen eventually!

 

[jcav]

Now for the plug end of the cord.

Take the plug apart.

Strip the wires.

The green ground wire goes to the green screw. The other two wires go to the other two screws. It doesn't matter on these other two wires which screw they go to, according to the directions.

The finished element cord with plug.

Of course I followed Kal's e-book "The Complete Guide To The Electric Brewery" when I was assembling the cords and plugs for the elements and enclosures. What a treasure of information this book is!. Kal your the man!

 

[jcav]

Time to install the herms coil in my HLT.

I ordered the nylon ferrule from Bobby M when I got my weldless compression bulkheads. I didn't want a permanent connection, as later on I want to have the coil welded with tri clover ferrules and I will have the vessel welded for tri clover ferrules also, as all of my fittings on everything else are welded with tri clover fittings. I didn't want to have the stainless ferrule swaged permanently on the coil, so I went this route for now.

Here it is installed. They went on without any issues and I tightened the compression fittings down with a wrench. They seem to grab and hold extremely well. I will fill the MLT with water and run the pump, and pump the water through the coil to leak test the coil and fittings. I will report back how it went when I test it out.

 

[Gavin C]

That's some seriously good planning ahead with the non-swaged ferule.
Learning a ton from this thread.

unreal. TY

 

[jcav]

Thanks Gavin, when I saw that the compression bulkheads came with the nylon ferrule option I knew that was the route I wanted to go for now, until I put the funds aside for the welding upgrade. Gotta keep the wife happy, we (or should I say she is) are looking at remodeling our kitchen and getiing estimates and this is going to hurt. I also installed the return on my HLT and I came up with an idea for my whirlpool in the boil keggle and got that installed as well. I will post those pics this week when I get some more time.

John

 

[jcav]

I installed the small return arm on my HLT using a stainless steel piece bent to a 45 degree angle, and a stainless steel whirlpool arm for my boil kettle. I got the return arm bent for me at Stainless Brewing.

I took out the stainless steel ferrules that come with the compression fittings. I replaced them with 1/2 inch silicone O-rings. This way I can remove them for cleaning or realign and adjust them to the exact angle and position that I need them to be once I test it with the pumps, for the correct angle on whirl pooling and recirculation without the connection being permanent.

My Sabco kegs come with a small 1 inch section of welded 1/2 inch stainless tube welded to the return on the top inside portion of the kegs. I didn't want the ferrule to be swaged permanently here either, as I am going to need to adjust the position of the return arm to the correct angle. So I used the silicone O-rings in this side of the compression fitting as well.

Here is the return arm installed.

 

[jcav]

Now to install the whirl pool arm in the boil kettle. I ordered a 1/2 inch stainless steel racking cane from Stainless Brewing and told them the height I wanted and had them bend the end into an "L".

 

[jcav]

The pics didn't load so I'll try this again.....

Here is a pic of the small 1 inch section of stainless tube that is welded into the top inside portion of my kegs.

Tightening the compression fitting with a wrench.

Just align the whirl pool arm, slide up the compression fitting nut, tighten with a wrench and your done.

Whirl pool arm installed.

 

[Roadie]

Wow, build is awesome and the keggles are polished wonderfully! Good job!!

 

[jcav]

Wow, build is awesome and the keggles are polished wonderfully! Good job!!

Thanks Roadie! Congrats on your move to your new house and I hope you get that awesome brewery of yours up and running soon!

John

 

[jcav]

Not much going on this week with the build, been too busy. My sister-in-law is visiting from Colorado. We took her to "Cigar City Brewery" in Tampa and had a great time. I got to try their "Invasion" pale ale, and their "Vanilla Maduro" and "Cubano Espresso" brown ales, really good beers! I had an electrician come by the house this week and he gave me a quote to run the wire from my panel in my garage to the lanai, and wire up the dryer outlet and install a GFCI breaker in my electric panel. I had purchased the correct Cutler Hammer 30 amp GFCI breaker (with tan handles to fit my breakers in my panel) which was hard to find, and 100 feet of 10/3 (with ground) wire, and the outlet, box, and cover. He is hopefully coming next Saturday to do the install and then I will have this part of the build finished. Then I just need for Kal's control box to get here and run my silicone tubing, do some testing, figure out my dead space, etc. and start brewing.

John