Simon's Brewery Build

[simonranson]

The control box is nearly done. Just got a bot more wiring to do, and then the big switch on :pray:

Cheers
Simon

 

[snail59]

Makes mine look a bit amateurish Nice job :thumb: well done :clap:

 

[mixale]

Sure is looking good :clap:
I must have another go at my control box and do the re-design/re-wire.

 

[Sean_Mc]

Lovely stuff Simon :thumb:

Read the thread a couple of times whilst in work today

 

[evanvine]

I have read your thread with avid interest, and have come away with a couple of excellent ideas.
Many thanks Simon! :thumb:

 

[simonranson]

Cheers guys. I've not even finished this lot and I'm already thinking of ways I'd do things different 'next time'.

Hopefully I've got Friday off work, so can crack on and get the control box finished, and the elements wired up. The hot glue gun and a bit of silicone has stuck the boxes on the side of the HLT and boiler nicely. I need to remember to drill a small little hole on the bottomto act as a drain should the elements leak.

 

[simonranson]

As the weather is horrible, today's task is to get the control panel finished...

... now where the hell is that new packet of ring connectors?

 

[mashman]

Hi Simon.

Really good thread and piccies showing your build, I'm following it closely as I'm setting up same sort of arrangement, except my shiny's are all 50 litre as my brewlength is restricted. Thanks for replying to my PM recently too.

One of the things that I and maybe others would find helpful is a brief overview of your control box and what the various components do and where you sourced them from. I am just getting set up to brew all grain after years of kit brewing and know very little of preferred methods of HLT and boiler control so for the time being I will just be literally be fitting elements and putting a plug on the end until I get my head around control.

I've got loads of questions I would like to ask but a couple of burning questions I have for the moment are:

Do you anticipate that the elements chosen will provide a good boil in the kettle or would you need 2?

Have you managed to make an earth connection to the body of your shiny's as well as the element supply?

On the mash tun did you have any issues with the recessed rim that runs around pot just up from the bottom when you
were cutting a hole for the ball valve, I presume you managed to get just underneath it.

Thanks again for a cracking thread, lots will benefit from it. Regards, Steve

 

[simonranson]

Hi Steve,

Thanks Steve. Its the first time I've done anything like this, but I love building 'things' :)

I'll definately put more details on for the control box once its finished and working. Its still evolving a bit at the moment. I'll put together a full parts list too (with the usual caveat that it may not be the right way of doing things!). I think I've become a bit of a regular at Maplin since starting this!

I decided to get these elements from advice gained on here IIRC Aleman uses them, and others have commented that without controling, 3kW elements can give huge boil-overs. I'll give it a go, and see how things go. If one 3kW isnt up to it, I'll add a second, lower powered and uncontrolled element that will just be on 100% of the time then let the 3kW one be control the vigor of the boil.

I've earthed the elements and pot via the element fixing bolts. These just have copper washers between them and the pot, so shoudl be okay. I'll test them, and if it's not up to the job I'll just run an earth wire up from the element and fix to the handle.

I'm just cut into the recessed rim for the hole for the ball-valve on the bottom of the mash tun. I didnt really mind about this as it's not a watertight joint on the pot, so I just put a washer behind it and tightened against this to support the valve.

Cheers
Simon

 

[evanvine]

Your controll box looks the Bee's knees, a schematic would be much appreciated!

 

[simonranson]

a schematic would be much appreciated!

Cheers! I'll draw it all out once it's finished... its nearly there.

Its pretty simple - there's just a lot squashed in a small box!

The main power (red and black wires at the bottom of the picture) comes in to the main power relay. This relay is latched by the main power switch, to the right of the relay. This little loop is protected by its own fuse as its the part that's live when the box is off. The outlet of the main relay feeds the live and neutral connectors at the top of the picture. Top right is a second fuse which protects the PIDs and the other two relays. Between the two PIDs is the selector switch for either HLT or boiler elements. My little house only has a single ring main downstairs, so I only plan on using a single 13A feed into this, so only one element at a time. The element selector switch latches one of the other two relays at any one time. The white wires at the top right are the DC feeds to the SSRs. Thats the last bit lefts to do.... the live feed to the SSRs and the return to the element relays, and then onto the two outlet sockets.

 

[mr_spin]

great stuff - very neat wiring.. do you work in aviation?

 

[simonranson]

great stuff - very neat wiring.. do you work in aviation?

Thanks mr_spin... I found it quite therapeutic for a rainy Sunday. I'd not done any soldering for years, and soon realised my eyes arent as good as they used to be :nono:

No, I dont work in aviation, the closed I've come to doing this before was wiring little cars. :)

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Fine job, love the neatness. :thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

BB

 

[simonranson]

Its alive :) Got the control box finished off today, and plugged it in. Currently running through the 'Auto Tune' function for the HLT PID :)

AG #1 cant be too far away now!

Its taking forever to run through the auto-tune heat/cool cycle...

 

[evanvine]

Dr. Who would be proud of you!

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

FANTASTIC :thumb:

 

[simonranson]

As the sun was out, I thought I'd take some pictures of the shiny stuff. I've just finished off the sensor wiring for the boiler and have run through the PID auto-tune. Finished the mashtun too. I filled it up with water for about an hour and had no leaks, so everything looks good :)

Here's the brew-porn!

HLT

Mash Tun with false bottom.

Boiler... not quite boiling, but warming up!

Back...

Front...

Ready to get brewing :)

 

[BarnsleyBrewer]

Fantastic set-up Simon, maybe a new bench-mark for fellow brewers to emulate, especially the very nice control box...
Well Done! :thumb: :thumb:

BB :drink:

 

[pjbiker]

Marvellous, no expense spared. Unlike when I build stuff out of leftovers
Word of warning on the pump. I have the same, be careful to use flexible connectors on it and avoid stressing the plastic connectors, I broke one.
Wondered why you have gone the whole hog with PID controlling the boiler? :wha: I find a simple 'one element or two' to be sufficient. Still, you could employ it for when you upgrade to HERMS

Edit, read your earlier comment about 3Kw giving boilovers, fair comment, justified. FYI with my similar setup but with 2x 2.2Kw cheap kettle elements. Use both to get up to boil temperature and at start of boil but switching to just one keeps up to 65L on a nice rolling boil.