Switching to eBIAB

[jjkeegan86]

Alright so figured out that we get 120 between the hot and neutral, at the plug, when no load is on it, once a load is applied the voltage drops and doesn't actually power anything.

Good news, probably nothing wrong with the control panel I built, bad news, we have no idea why it's happening.

Any ideas?

 

[jjkeegan86]

Alright it was a loose neutral in the panel, everything is lit up! So exciting

 

[doug293cz]

Alright it was a loose neutral in the panel, everything is lit up! So exciting

Glad you figured it out.

Brew on

 

[jjkeegan86]

I got a 240 volt indicator for three element, it's connected to each line to the outlet, so it's on but then on brighter when the element is switched on, can I just get a 120v led and hook it up top the hot that is switched by the ssr? If like the element light to only be on when the ssr is switched

 

[doug293cz]

I got a 240 volt indicator for three element, it's connected to each line to the outlet, so it's on but then on brighter when the element is switched on, can I just get a 120v led and hook it up top the hot that is switched by the ssr? If like the element light to only be on when the ssr is switched

Short answer: no.

Long answer: If you connect a 120V LED from the load wire (switched) from the SSR, when the SSR is off, then the LED will be in series with the 10.5 ohm element, connected between the unswitched hot wire (black) and neutral. Thus the LED will have almost 120V across it and light up at close to max brightness whether the SSR is firing or not. Read this post about how SSR's function to get a better understanding of what is going on.

If you test the system with the element disconnected, the "Element Firing" LED will light up dimly when the "Element Enable" contactor is activated, and the SSR is not being triggered on. This is due to leakage thru the SSR. When the SSR is being triggered, the LED will light up fully. This "lit when off" behavior will not occur when the element is connected. Again the post linked in the previous paragraph will help understand this situation (once you understand that post.)

Brew on

 

[jjkeegan86]

Short answer: no.

Long answer: If you connect a 120V LED from the load wire (switched) from the SSR, when the SSR is off, then the LED will be in series with the 10.5 ohm element, connected between the unswitched hot wire (black) and neutral. Thus the LED will have almost 120V across it and light up at close to max brightness whether the SSR is firing or not. Read this post about how SSR's function to get a better understanding of what is going on.

If you test the system with the element disconnected, the "Element Firing" LED will light up dimly when the "Element Enable" contactor is activated, and the SSR is not being triggered on. This is due to leakage thru the SSR. When the SSR is being triggered, the LED will light up fully. This "lit when off" behavior will not occur when the element is connected. Again the post linked in the previous paragraph will help understand this situation (once you understand that post.)

Brew on

Ah alright, thanks for the info, I'll hopefully get the kettle put together soon and test it all out

 

[jjkeegan86]

Things ate getting exciting!

Alright so getting the kettle together, I've got the ball valves on with the cam locks, but the side pickup tube and the spin cycle have me worried, is it okay for this much threading to be exposed on the pick up, and should I take the exposed teflon off?

And is the gap with the spin cycle okay? I can try to do one more full rotation but it stops around 1/2 turn. Or do I need something like this https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/nptext12.htm

 

[BeardedBrews]

Since those ports are welded you don't actually need the tape on the inside to keep it from leaking. My advice would be to leave it off entirely and take the fittings off to rinse everything out between batches. Just thread them in enough to stay put, don't over tighten.

I skipped taking the stuff off for about a year and did a recirculation with pbw instead. When I finally did take them apart I found some pretty gross funk inside. Now I pull everything off every couple brews just to hit them with a little cleaner and a scrub. New Teflon tape is a pretty cheap insurance against a skunky batch.

 

[jjkeegan86]

Since those ports are welded you don't actually need the tape on the inside to keep it from leaking. My advice would be to leave it off entirely and take the fittings off to rinse everything out between batches. Just thread them in enough to stay put, don't over tighten.

I skipped taking the stuff off for about a year and did a recirculation with pbw instead. When I finally did take them apart I found some pretty gross funk inside. Now I pull everything off every couple brews just to hit them with a little cleaner and a scrub. New Teflon tape is a pretty cheap insurance against a skunky batch.

Is there any worry on getting things disassembled without the pipe tape on there?

 

[jjkeegan86]

Alright, got a new mount to bring it the panel up a little higher. Water test went fine, just a little leak on a pump fitting.

Got 6 gallons of water from 60 to 160 in about 15 minutes. Also need to wire up the volt meter, misread auber's description saying it doesn't need a power supply.

Thinking I might want to put a shroud over the pump, any thoughts?

Electric brewing is going to be fun!

 

[BeardedBrews]

As long as you don't tighten them super tight they won't stick together, even without the tape.

I'd say yes for sure on the pump shroud, I lost a chugger pump motor to gradual drops and drips until eventually it wouldn't turn any more.