Rebuilding My Brutus Hybrid Into a Kal Clone

[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

 

[Ole_Smoky]

Man thats a sweet build. How did you wire the control panel to only have the 2 alarm switches? I looking to build something very similar, just got everything ordered to start wiring my pane, waiting for it to arrive!!!

 

[kal]

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

Yeah, I can't get over how "new" they look!

Kal

 

[jcav]

Man thats a sweet build. How did you wire the control panel to only have the 2 alarm switches? I looking to build something very similar, just got everything ordered to start wiring my pane, waiting for it to arrive!!!

Thanks Ole_Smoky, that box was the box I built for my propane gas system and two Honeywell valves. I liked Kal's box so much that I copied his style and made my own version of what I wanted. I never was able to get it wired and it's only partially done on the inside. I put the whole project on hold and then I decided to go electric. Now I am in the middle of converting this system to electric and I thought I'd post what I started with and how I am changing it to electric, like taking off the Honeywell valves, adding the electric water heater elements, etc. I ordered Kal's electronic control box from his website completely assembled and wired, and it is being fabricated now and hopefully should be shipped to me by the end of November. I will end up selling my control box that you saw in this thread after I get my new one. Good luck with your build!

John

 

[jcav]

Yeah, I can't get over how "new" they look!

Kal

Hey Kal, they are basically new custom Sabco kegs that I bought four years ago for my propane rig I was building. I did hit them in some spots with some very very fine sand paper and then used Bar Keeper's Friend and they still look pretty much like brand new kegs. So much has happened since I started this build in 2010 (I can't believe it's been five years when I first started this thing) and things held up the build and I had to put the project on hold. The good thing is the more it was on hold the more and more I kept visiting your website and drooling over your electric brewery.

One day I decided that if that is what I really wanted then why not just convert this one over to electric and do it. I knew I could assemble the items, I knew I could fabricate the control box (I already made one similar), I just didn't trust myself to wire it and feel that I did it correctly and safely (I'm funny like that and I know my limitations). So one day the wife said "Why don't you just buy the right control box from the person who designed it?" Am I a lucky man or what! So that's what I did and here we are in the middle of a dream build for me!

Thanks again Kal for inspiring us all and for the awesome documentation on your website! Pretty soon I'll be living the dream so to speak!

John

 

[jcav]

Some parts for the electric 30amp/240volt power line.

My covered back lanai/porch where I will be brewing and will have the dryer outlet installed.

Electrician came and ran the wire and wired up the dryer outlet.

I bought the wrong cover originally so I got this one and installed it.

Here is the finished product I will paint the house this winter and paint the conduit to match the new house color. The other box you see is for the pool light that was installed years ago.

Here is my panel in the garage you can see the new 30amp GFCI breaker in the top left corner, sorry the photo is sideways.

 

[iijakii]

Damn that's an awesome patio!

 

[jcav]

One more of the breaker.......

 

[jcav]

Damn that's an awesome patio!

Thanks! Can't wait to brew on it with the new rig!

John

 

[itsnotrequired]

better call the electrician back, that receptacle is upside down

 

[jcav]

better call the electrician back, that receptacle is upside down

No kidding, wow that sucks..... I'll get on that right away!

 

[jcav]

better call the electrician back, that receptacle is upside down

No kidding, wow that sucks..... I'll get on that right away! Thanks for pointing that out. I don't have my power cord yet so I didn't try and align the plug to the outlet after he left. You think he would have gotten that right to begin with though......

 

[poptarts]

it will take you all of 3 seconds to fix yourself, not really an issue.

 

[jcav]

it will take you all of 3 seconds to fix yourself, not really an issue.

I guess I could just rewire that outlet myself. I still can't believe he did that though. I am still gonna call him and tell him.

John

 

[itsnotrequired]

i would call him and have him fix it. yeah, it isn't that hard but you paid for his services, he should get it right.

 

[jcav]

i would call him and have him fix it. yeah, it isn't that hard but you paid for his services, he should get it right.

Exactly!

 

[jcav]

Ok, I got ahold of the electrician and he is coming back tomorrow to correct it!

 

[itsnotrequired]

Ok, I got ahold of the electrician and he is coming back tomorrow to correct it!

it is the right thing to do. i had a plumber make the final water connections in my basement bathroom and a couple days later, i noticed a small leak from one of the sink shutoff valves. i started grabbing my tools but then said to myself 'you know, i paid a grand for this dude to take care of this entire bathroom, nothing should be leaking'. called him up, he was there the next morning and ten minutes later, all was well.

 

[Roadie]

Awesome lanai; my wife wants to put a pool in here but the word budget isn't in her vocabulary. Man that panel is full, lucky you had 2 spots left! Funny about the receptacle because even I knew to wire it with the ground plug at the top. Of course I'm still not done with my final connections yet so you beat me to it. Looking good!

 

[jcav]

The electrician came out today and rewired the outlet correctly and right side up this time It took him all of five minutes but I am glad I had him come back. I know what you mean about your wife and the word budget. This kitchen remodel is killing me!! It's coming out great though. Matter of fact the same electrician came and installed all the can lighting, cut the holes in the ceiling, mounted them, wired them up on a dimmer switch, cut a hole and mounted and wired a pedestal light over the sink, etc. and he did a fantastic job. When he quoted me the price to wire the kitchen, I hit him with running the brewery line for me on the lanai, and he basically only charged me another $125 because I had the wire, outlet, and breaker already, so I couldn't pass that up. Your right I did get lucky, only had two spots left on the panel for the breaker. Otherwise I would have had to get a spa panel and get that installed what a pain that would have been, and an expense too!

 

[jcav]

Took advantage of the last long day before the time change. I had some free time today so I set up my rig on the back porch. I don't have Kal's box yet but that's ok. I made all the silicone hoses and I used 3/4 inch tri clover hose barbs which fit over the 1/2 inch tubing fine with a little effort. I then tested the hoses and all the connections and ran the pumps and tested everything for leaks. I had a slight leak in my herms coil, which was leaking water into my HLT so I tightened the compression fittings on the top and bottom of the herms coil and ran the pump for a half and hour. The sight glass held the fluid level in the HLT and it didn't even budge so the leak in the coil was fixed. I also drained the HLT and just ran water through the herms coil and no water leaked into the HLT this way either. I didn't have a leak anywhere else. The loctite 55 sealed both pump head fittings and the herms coil ball valves with ease! Great stuff! I am very happy with the way the build is turning out and I will hook up the chiller tomorrow and put on all the fittings for that and see how it works. By the time Kal's control box gets here I'll be ready to brew!

John