porterguy
Well-Known Member
How long is a brew day with an automated system? I know there are many OTHER reasons to use such a system, but I'm curious as to the length of a brew day. 
Set-up, Brew and Cleanup time-start to finish
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Here's an example of a beer I brewed a few weeks ago. It had a 1 hour mash, 40m boil and 10m whirlpool. The total time from start (weigh/mill/water fill) to finish (xfer to FVs and system cleaned) is about 4 hours. This can obviously change a little, if starch conversion is done prior, I'll start my sparge and xfer to brew kettle before the typical hour. I weigh my grain while filling my HLT, and I mill directly into my Mash Tun as I fill it. My system is natural gas, so a drawback would be that it takes ~40m to heat the brew kettle from xfer temperature to boil, not sure if that is fast or slow, but it is a bit of time.
I also gain a bit of time efficiency by double batching, which is my norm. I didn't this time around because I started brewing at 9pm and got done at 1am... Here's a snapshot of what it looks like.
I also gain a bit of time efficiency by double batching, which is my norm. I didn't this time around because I started brewing at 9pm and got done at 1am... Here's a snapshot of what it looks like.
I use an inline Endress + Hauser 63 series Coriolis mass flow sensor on my HERMS loop. It has analog outputs for temperature and gravity, and frequency for flow rate. I use an Arduino to capture the data which sends to a micro PC running Node-Red via MQTT. From Node-Red I’ve got a couple embedded dashboards for gauges and control (timing, temps and recipe importing) and send to Grafana for datalogging (as pictured).
One can find mass flow sensors on eBay for a relatively good price if you know what you’re looking for. Most all have analog outputs, it’s just a matter of finding the right size, with the right options for the right price. I bought this specific one for ~$350 shipped.
Cheers,
Matt
One can find mass flow sensors on eBay for a relatively good price if you know what you’re looking for. Most all have analog outputs, it’s just a matter of finding the right size, with the right options for the right price. I bought this specific one for ~$350 shipped.
Cheers,
Matt
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Very cool, thank you. A mass flow sensor has been on my wish list for a while. I’ll keep an eye on eBay.
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