Single Vessel, All Electric, NS, NC Brewery

[ScubaSteve]

I got mine at Marc's, but The Shack should carry them as well.

Didn't see any there yesterday, but I wasn't looking for one. Radioshack is okay for stuff in a pinch, but they are slowly moving towards being a cellphone/novelty electronics store. I have Amazon Prime (well worth the $80/year for 2 day shipping on everything....we went through that in just xmas gifts)....so I guess I'm biased.

 

[wyzazz]

Well...I got mine on Amazon....it's THIS ONE Really pretty cheap and does what it says (love stuff like that!)....it has a cast iron base and wing-nuts that you can crank down....very important because it will keep a firm grip on stuff so when you touch your soldering iron to the part it won't move.

I paid $3.99 for mine. (Yep, I'm a cheap bastard! This is why my build will not look anywhere near as nice as Steve's.)

 

[ScubaSteve]

Nope...you're just a better shopper

 

[TripleZ]

Great thread Steve,

Took me two weeks of lunches to get through it properly. I have limited space where I plan to brew and I will use your work(and others you linked to) as a guide. Thanks for all the effort in putting this together!

Mike

 

[ScubaSteve]

Great thread Steve,

Took me two weeks of lunches to get through it properly. I have limited space where I plan to brew and I will use your work(and others you linked to) as a guide. Thanks for all the effort in putting this together!

Mike

Thanks! Wish I could pare it down to the meat and potatoes, but she just keeps on goin'......

 

[ScubaSteve]

Okay....a little more progress:

I wired up a burly 50A range outlet into my garage.....I won't tell you HOW I did it....but it was relatively easy except for a few unforseen snags. Safety was a big issue, we took this seriously, and I'm very proud that I have an outlet that is to code and can be removed easily if I move.

 

[wyzazz]

Nice! So how are you planning on branching this off inside the control panel?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Here's a few more....we had to cut out some drywall to get an angle on the holes we were drilling for the cable. Also, I mounted the receptacle on the right, because it is actually "upside down"...range outlets are built that way so they can have zero clearance with the floor and the cord can travel upward. In this build, the cord will flop over the box then come down to tabletop height:

 

[ScubaSteve]

Nice! So how are you planning on branching this off inside the control panel?

I didn't show pics, but I got a 50A cutler hammer 2P standard breaker to fit into the main panel....then went with 6 AWG from there. I got 2 range cords for cheap; 1 for the control box, 1 for the wire run in the wall. And after wiring the subpanel I came out on top with an extra plug and about 10" of wire for a pigtail. Not sure how I'll use that yet, but I think it'll be nice to have.

 

[ScubaSteve]

And as a bonus project, I drilled and tapped holes in the heatsink to mount to the box. After breaking a bit AND a tap, I finally got it mounted. First time I've ever used a tap&die set....a very useful piece of gear to have! But there's a learning curve, and if you're using cheap tools like me, they can break BTW, SO glad I chopped down the heatsink. It's still heavy, but reasonable.

 

[Pinworthy]

You do realize you've just made one of the largest Coffee Makers I've ever seen?

For everyone else thinking about doing something like this on smaller scale, checkout Electric Turkey Fryer and restaurant coffee urn replacement parts. The fryers come with a heating element and control that fits over the side of the pot and the pot has a drain valve already installed. As for coffee urn replacement parts, they use pumps, valves, heating elements, etc...

Just my 2 pennies worth, FWIW.

Steve: aka, Pinworthy

 

[ScubaSteve]

Check THIS THREAD out....I scored a coffee maker several months ago and plan on making a smaller version at some point in time, once I get this beast completed. But you're right, as I was disassembling it, I could see there were elements, small pumps, silicone tubing, timers, etc.....all the things we use in brewing.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I made a bit more progress in the last few days...I had to get DIN mountable circuit breakers, some rail, and while I was at it I upgraded to LED lights. Now, I'm just mocking everything up and trying to visualize how to efficiently connect everything. Then comes the wiring! Right now, it looks like I have EVERYTHING I'll need to get this beast energized....I just have to put it all together! Third pic is going to be the alarm panel....I put a red light in place of the flashing buzzer I have coming. At present the E-Stop will be the power switch. If it's disengaged, the unit works. If not, nothing works. I'm thinking about getting a cool "missile launcher" switch for the power....but until then there's no reason I can't brew.

 

[ScubaSteve]

So here's the inside...I used a piece of scrap diamond plate for a base. I should be able to position everything to cover the holes. So here's my plug for FACTORYMATION.COM...I got my circuit breakers for way cheaper than anywhere else....and they have all kinds of other stuff. Very competitive (and sometimes cheaper) than AUTOMATIONDIRECT.COM (which I also bought a lot of stuff from). Quality is about the same for their economical products.

Oh yeah...and I got my contactors on ebay....they were supposed to be 40A FLA with a 120v coil. They were labeled for 24DC but it was marked out and 120v was written on the box as well as the unit. The vendor never got back to me when i asked why. I really hope they work!

 

[klyph]

I'm thinking about getting a cool "missile launcher" switch for the power.

My next control panel will have this integrated into it:

 

[ScubaSteve]

That's cool...nothing like a complicated ON switch. Reminds me of Maxwell Smart!

 

[Bachhus]

Just got done going through all 47 pages of this thing. Great build and I love your ingenuity. Do you plan to remove the basket for the boil or use the basket as a hop catcher/screen? If so do you forsee any problems boiling with the basket in the kettle?

Mark

 

[wyzazz]

Steve I just noticed you're using a 3Pole breaker, any particular reason why?

 

[ScubaSteve]

Just got done going through all 47 pages of this thing. Great build and I love your ingenuity. Do you plan to remove the basket for the boil or use the basket as a hop catcher/screen? If so do you forsee any problems boiling with the basket in the kettle?

Mark

Thanks for reading! I plan on keeping the screen in, but we'll see. The legs on my basket are adjustable, so I should be able to tweak distance from the element. I'm hoping all the holes in the basket will allow a good boil/circulation of wort with hops....this is something that can't be done as easily if you use a solid walled pot with mesh at the bottom.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Steve I just noticed you're using a 3Pole breaker, any particular reason why?

I ran the neutral through it. It wasn't really necessary, but since I was stepping down from 50A to 30A I figured I better keep it uniform. It was like $2 more, so no biggie.

P.S....Just got a TIG welder with the ol' tax refund....this hobby is a curse!

 

[BrewBeemer]

P.S....Just got a TIG welder with the ol' tax refund....this hobby is a curse!

It's not the "hobby" it's us telling you what to spend your money on.
Congrats with the Tig purchase, now the fun and spending begins.

 

[wyzazz]

P.S....Just got a TIG welder with the ol' tax refund....this hobby is a curse!

Now you're going to have to redo all those solder joints you made.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Now you're going to have to redo all those solder joints you made.

Ha, don't think I haven't thought about that! Right now I just want to finish this build. I need to put the time into wiring and it should be up and running! I'll probably get my feet wet messing around with scrap, then building a welding table, then maybe a small cart (It's a Maxstar 150 STH, so it's really compact already)...or maybe I'll build a cart that'll hold my O/A stuff; the cheap porta-torch carrier was already jacked up when I bought it.

The possibilities are endless. I'm a Miller fanboy now....next thing you know I'll be wearing a welding jacket around the house for no reason.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Cool tool you'll enjoy;http://www.millerwelds.com/om/o2242y_multi.pdf
Keep it within it's duty cycle and enjoy, best to run it off 230 volt to get the full potential out of it.
The "Power of Blue".

 

[ScubaSteve]

UPDATE: Box appears to be functioning as intended, minus the alarm. Can't get the buzzer to work. But man, oh man...when I flipped the switch and she lit up, it was GLORIOUS!

Gonna do some tweaking then hopefully hook EVERYTHING up. Once I'm sure I won't embarass myself, I'll be doing a youtube video of the wet run.

 

[wyzazz]

Great! Can't wait until the inaugural brew!

 

[klyph]

Ya man, it will be really cool to see this thing in action.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Okay....so I did a fair amount of tweaking and troubleshooting yesterday....still haven't figured out the alarm issue (but I know the buzzer was bad). I think it has to do with setting it up in the PID's/Timer the right way.

Also, I plugged the elements in and my GFCI breaker kept tripping immediately! Turns out I wired the 220v receptacles wrong...because it said "w", like an idiot I hooked up the neutral (white) and ran it to the neutral bus. But that was actually the terminal where the element's ground was supposed to travel through. So I shorted neutral to ground on accident! GFCI'S ARE TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Lastly, and probably the most important discovery: 30x30 mesh is TOO SMALL. The surface tension of the water does not allow the bubbles to pass through as the liquid boils! As a result, the bubbles run across the bottom and up the sides....causing a lot of splashing. It could be better with wort, but I highly doubt it. If I were to use fermcap, I wonder if it would help. Because it is a surfactant, it might lower the surface tension enough. If I can't get the bubbles to pass, I won't be able to use the basket for hops.

I have a 4x3 roll of some burly 6 mesh....but I'm thinking it's too big. McMaster shows it here as filtering rock salt sized particles:

Each opening is 0.139 "....but after looking at the perforated sheet we use for FB's, their holes are 5/32" which equates to 0.156"...which is actually bigger. Maybe it's the difference between a round hole (false bottom) and a square hole (mesh)? I know for sure bubbles will pass through this, but wonder about grain chunks. Pellet hops will also probably make it through.

Wondering if I should change the mesh? I have a small piece of perforated ss I can put over the bottom drain as a prefilter.

 

[KCBrewer]

Gotta love CFCI's, they let you know if you made a mistake. And high voltage is not an area with room for mistakes. So yes, they are totally worth it!

I use a cut keg top with about 500 5/32" holes drilled in it for a fb. I was getting small pieces of grain coming through, but that may have been because it doesn't have a perfect seal around the edge. I went back to my SS braid for now until I find some good edging for it. I may also try wet milling to see if it helps. Like you said though, others are using 5/32 mesh for FB's. I do know that it's not going to stop pellet hops.

I've got to ask, if you don't mind, what is the running tally on this monster? It's worth every penny whatever the amount is, but after looking back over the massive bling on this baby, I just started seeing dollar signs. A lot of them!

 

[ScubaSteve]

Well, I know some of the parts like the valves and pump are pretty high dollar....but I got those for relatively cheap on ebay.....as an example, the valves alone are extremely expensive...but i got them $50 for 2 pieces. Most of the fittings were bought at the cheapest places you can get them. Already had the kettle.

How much total? Only God knows If it weren't for all my experimenting, It could probably be done for ~$2500 or less, like most of the other Brutus builds, etc. But I've changed my mind a million times and made even more mistakes. This build started about 1.5 years ago, so it's taken some time to design/spend/build....call it evolution of a homebrewing sculpture

About the 5/32" holes....good to know. I'm not concerned with small amounts of grain...even my prefabricated machined FB will pass a bit at first; that's why I plan to recirc. I'm concerned with grain that doesn't stop coming through the holes...once enough of it gets in the lines, it's destined to make it to the plate chiller or at least clog it's prefilter. Could also scorch on the elements; all bad things.