Brewery Electric Control Panel

[paul3944]

Has anyone got any experience of building a panel or where to buy one already assembled?

I’m looking at a electric 3 vessel setup however there is no control panel. I’m just trying to work out how much a panel would cost and any special requirements ie upgraded supply from the fusebox.

Thanks

 

[jceg316]

I have an Einbrew 1v1P which I got from Angel Homebrew, but it doesn't look like they stock it anymore. They do have one for powering two elements as well but I have a one kettle system.

It will be a lot cheaper to build one yourself, however I'm terrible at this sort of thing and don't want to risk building a unit which will kill me or destroy my electronics. Depending on the element power you might need to upgrade the power supply. I'll soon be running 2 x 2.4kw elements at the same time but will be moving into a room with 3 phase power.

Electrim offer a pretty good unit for powering one element which is relatively inexpensive. One option would be to get 2 or 3 depending on your setup.

 

[Petrolhead]

I am part way down this road. I have assembled/built my three vessels, pumps, piping, heaters, etc. and I am about to start building the control panel.

This I hope will contain a PID (ITC90(?)) on the water outlet of the HLT which will be recirculating when on to prevent any hotspots. A PID on the MT outlet as this is how I will be circulating the hot liquor to the MT from the HERMS coil and a PID on the BK.

I am also mounting two ITC1000's wired to two double sockets which will run my fermentation fridges.

I will also put a power meter, maybe an alarm, isolation switch, etc. as bells and whistles.

All this I am going to mount in a steel electrical enclosure, would have it by now if I could get one cheap enough, with a DIN rail inside and suitable breakers.

I'm fairly handy, have done a lot of reading and my brother is an electrician so I am looking at having the time to finish off this project.

 

[paul3944]

Are you following a UK specific wiring diagram? I looked at the 240v write up over at the Electric Brewery however it’s a couple of years old now and has pages of comments with all kinds of variations.
Are you able to give a ballpark figure in cost of parts to assemble your panel less labour obviously.
Thanks