Simple eHERMS, following PJ's diagram w/ only 1 PID.

[Squeeky]

Agree with PJ, in order to keep costs down I recommend an air pump to keep an even temp in the hlt. It's a lot cheaper then another pump or motor.

 

[Kayakr1988]

Sorry to bring this post back to life but I was thinking of building something along like this.

For now I only want to have the hlt on the pid with the option of expanding in the future. I would be starting from a 4 prong dryer outlet for the power. Looks like I will need a spa 30a breaker box. Can I get away with one pid, one ssr with Heat sink, and a one relay or will I need a contactor?

Also I will only be using one pump for now so there's that as well.

Thanks

Andy

 

[Lost]

Andy,
You can use one pump, just make it a two tiered setup. I use gravity to drain the hot water out of the HLT but use the pump to recirculate the wort through the coil. You set it up so that both the boil kettle and mash tun can get pumped through the HERMS coil (use a diverter valve to select the source) and just put a diverter valve on the outlet so you have the choice of sending the outflow back into the mashtun (for recirculating) or into the boil kettle (for lautering or chilling). I use the HERMS coil as a sort of reverse immersion chiller by filling the HLT with ice water and pumping the wort through the HERMS coil. You need to put a lot of thought into the plumbing. While two pumps is great, I'm happy with a single pump setup, it makes for less to clean.

As to the contactor, I used it (two actually). It's a sort of safety device. You switch it on and off using a low current controlled by a switch. It, in turn, turns on and off the dangerous amount of current flowing to the element. By using a contactor you don't have huge amounts of electricity flowing through the switch you'll be touching and this is just another layer of safety protection between you and the electricity.

As an alternative, you can just get a switch rated for the sort of wattage you'll be sending to the element. These aren't that cheap so you don't save a whole lot by going that route and it's a bit less safe. Actually, though, I suppose you could just do away with a switch for the element entirely and use the pid to control the element. I'd definitely have an e-stop with this setup though so that you have a way to shut the system down in a hurry.

I may get some flack for this but I don't have an e-stop on my setup. My spa panel is literally right next to the rig and I would (but never have) use the breaker to disable everything if a brew session went south.

 

[Kayakr1988]

Also if i have one of these already in my breaker box do i need the spa breaker box?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202307131&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202307131&ci_kw={keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202307131&ci_gpa=pla#.UMjCGLZVoeg

Thanks,

 

[Lost]

Also if i have one of these already in my breaker box do i need the spa breaker box?

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202307131&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202307131&ci_kw={keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202307131&ci_gpa=pla#.UMjCGLZVoeg

Thanks,

No, you don't need a spa panel then. It's usually cheaper to buy the spa panel which comes with a gfci breaker than it is to just buy the gfci breaker itself. I know, strange.

 

[BLANK1911]

I love this design! I know it has been a while but I am dying to know if you have a parts list for this Squeeky? Also, are you still brewing on it and if your still satisfied with it. I'm planning my build and budget is huge for me and this looks like the ticket.

Thanks, Nice work!

 

[Squeeky]

Sorry I haven't been active in the forums for awhile. New job and new house, well closing at the end of the month. The last time a brewed over 6 months ago I still used this setup. Been working on automated brewtroller but this will be my fall back system as it works great, and simple.

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