Hazelwood Brewday

[DocAnna]

Seeing this collection of components and the work you are putting in is remarkably therapeutic....
It reassures me that no matter how much effort, time and complexity I put in to home brew it will not come even remotely close to what other's think is perfectly reasonable to commit to!

Anna

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Test results...

Power up and set the required temperature of both brew-shed and fermenter to 25C. I have for each ITC (monitoring the brew-shed and the fermenter) a cup of cold water and a cup of hot water to simulate temperatures. Both probes are in cold water at about 21C.

Both shed and fermenter are below the set temp so both are being heated. The cooling glycol is being sent to the python - the “P” light is on and you can see the respective ball valve is open, the other two are closed.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The sun comes out and starts warming the shed (probe in the cup of hot water)...

Relays click, motors whirr. The python only gets cooling if the fermenter and shed don’t need it - the shed does. The “S” light is on, the python valve closes and the shed valve opens. The shed is being cooled. Result!

 

[Buffers brewery]

You're getting excited, I can tell!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

The fermenter is also warming up (probe in hot water ). More clicking and whirring...

Both shed and fermenter now need cooling but the fermenter gets priority so the “F” light comes on, the shed valve closes and the fermenter valve opens.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

You're getting excited, I can tell!

I bloody am!!

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Fermenter has now cooled (probe in cold water - you knew I’d do that). Clicks, whirrs...

Cooling now redirected to the shed which is still hot.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Final test. Both in cold water, Python bring cooled. The fermenter gets too warm, and...

So that’s it, all working. I’m quite relieved given all those wires. If it hadn’t worked it would be a devil of a job tracing everything through!

Next challenge will be to put it in a box.

 

[Clint]

Impressive! But way beyond my mental capacity....what will you use to cool/heat the shed space?
In fact....do us a drawing...

 

[Rodcx500z]

You didn't by any chance work for nasa

 

[Clint]

Who me...? No but I did once work on radar reflective composites,stealth technology and space "stuff"...but I can't say too much about it...(true).

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Impressive! But way beyond my mental capacity....what will you use to cool/heat the shed space?
In fact....do us a drawing...

I’m using the recirculation pump on a Maxi 310 and directing the flow of coolant through the motorised valves to heat exchangers in the shed or the fermentation cupboard, or just recirculating through the python when not needed elsewhere.

I’ll do a drawing for you later.

EDIT: I’ve incorporated the drawing in post #295 where I introduced the project, as part of the brief on what I’m doing.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

It all fit inside the box, not much room left! I do still have to label it up but that can wait until I fit it in the shed.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

These are the heat exchangers and fans that will cool the shed and fermenter.

 

[Pennine]

These are the heat exchangers and fans that will cool the shed and fermenter.

View attachment 33519

How is the temp control unit coming along? Too many tasters yesterday for progress?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

How is the temp control unit coming along? Too many tasters yesterday for progress?

Built and tested, the testing is at the top of this page.

I now have the chiller, the controller, the heat exchangers and fans, and all the valves, fittings, and pipe work.

Next job is to strip out the interior of the shed so I can put in some more electrics and fit 3 inches of Kingspan into the walls and ceiling for thermal insulation.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

Interior of the shed is now stripped out, ready for the refit.

I actually felt quite sad stripping out my brew shed. Apart from the lack of temperature control it’s served me really well .

For posterity these photos are before:





This is how it looks now:



That damp area is where the sealant I’ve brushed over the concrete floor hasn’t dried yet.

 

[user 18729]

Pretty much all the bits for the control panel have arrived now, just some cable glands arriving today. Time to get building...

View attachment 33440

Fancy coming to wire mine up? I can pay you in home-brew?

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I’ve started marking out where some of the main components will go.

In the picture above the red box on the floor is the footprint for the Maxi chiller (including ventilation space). It’s basically a freezer so throws out heat, something I obviously don’t want inside the shed. My plan is to box in the chiller and then bring cool air into the box and extract the hot air through the wall to the outside. The white thing in the right corner is an expelair fan, this will exhaust the air when the temperature inside the box exceeds a threshold - controlled using another Inkbird ITC.

On the back wall the red line represents the height of the chiller. The blue lines represent 2 layers of 3-inch thick Kingspan insulation. I might just use one layer, not decided yet.

In the photo below you can see where the cool air comes in - the hole in the left corner is actually under the bar on the other side of the wall. I’ll fit a mesh screen to stop spiders and other bugs climbing in. The red lines inside the chiller footprint are the air vents for the chiller - in at the back, out at the front (nearest the camera). The blue lines on the floor represent a “wall” of Kingspan that will seal around the chiller so cool air coming in HAS to flow through the chiller.

 

[Hazelwood Brewery]

I fitted the control panel in the shed today but need some power sockets, cable clips, and mcbs to finish the job - will have these tomorrow. Started on the coolant pipes and the control cables for the motorised valves.