Building an electric brewhouse (moving indoors)

nagirroc · October 09, 2015, 08:47:46 AM

First step is to create a room in the basement. Actually this is the third step, first step was design/pricing and the second step was to get the ok.

I luckily have a sink in the storage room next to a window that is not used. It took about eight hours and now I have a room that is sealed off from the rest of the house.

Two Wheeler · October 09, 2015, 09:28:54 AM

Awesome! What did you decide on for design?

nagirroc · October 09, 2015, 09:42:13 AM

It will be a 15 gallon, HERMS, single tier system. The power house will be two 5500W elements (fired individually).

I will post more pictures as completed. The vessels are almost completed and I am still waiting on some parts for my control panel.

More to follow.

nagirroc · October 10, 2015, 07:20:45 PM

Vessels are built minus the HERMS coil and pickups. Waiting for a tool delivery. I am happy with how they turned out.

All the hardware came from @Everwood Brew Shop, Dave was a great help as I am sure most of you know.

Now to build the control panel.

Kyle · October 11, 2015, 05:47:06 PM

I built my control panel a few years ago with a single PID, one pump switch, and an alarm with switch, following the P.J. diagrams on HBT. It was a great learning experience, and at the time it was cheaper than buying a commercially available one But... prices on those have gone wayyyy down. I suggest getting something like this:

http://www.highgravitybrew.com/store/pc/EBC-LT-120V-with-Infinite-Power-Control-269p4653.htm

It will save you a lot of time and get you brewing faster. If you do want to do the control panel yourself though, have fun! Auberins.com has a lot of cool stuff. You can buy all kinds of e-brewing control panel kits now. They take the annoyance out of parts sourcing. Please use a GFCI.

jamie_savoie · October 17, 2015, 11:06:35 AM

killer man! that's going to make a really nice brewhouse!
it put my getho setup to shame lol

JohnQ · October 18, 2015, 08:59:32 AM

Quote from: jamie_savoie on October 17, 2015, 11:06:35 AM
killer man! that's going to make a really nice brewhouse!
it put my getho setup to shame lol

You and that getho brewhouse, all those wild yeasts flying around...everything turns out sour!

JQ

nagirroc · October 18, 2015, 11:26:52 AM

The panel took many hours longer than expected to build not to mention way more wire than expected.

I am happy with the result except for my crappy paint job on the door.

Remaining is to tie down the wires and connect my source.

All things considered the cost of the brewhouse was reasonable.

Al-Loves-Wine · October 19, 2015, 08:28:42 PM

Quote from: nagirroc on October 09, 2015, 09:42:13 AM
It will be a 15 gallon, HERMS, single tier system. The power house will be two 5500W elements (fired individually).

I will post more pictures as completed. The vessels are almost completed and I am still waiting on some parts for my control panel.

More to follow.

You are absolutely going to love the HERMS, I have been doing RIMS on my mash and efficiency is off the charts! Not to mention super clear wort.

nagirroc · October 19, 2015, 11:01:39 PM

My efficiency has been good but I am hoping it will help with clarity.

Two Wheeler · October 20, 2015, 11:48:14 AM

Keep posting Nagirroc, this is nice to see.

Al - what did you put together for a RIMS system?

Al-Loves-Wine · October 20, 2015, 02:24:20 PM

Quote from: Two Wheeler on October 20, 2015, 11:48:14 AM
Keep posting Nagirroc, this is nice to see.

Al - what did you put together for a RIMS system?

I just did a 30 gallon ssbrewtech system with a panel from high gravity, and blichmann sparge arm. Works excellent, efficiency is as high as 90% with the lighter beers, and always 80+ with the bigger beers. When I first started using it I was milling grain like I was still cooler mashing expecting around 75 +/-% and beer were way higher ABV than intended.

nagirroc · November 09, 2015, 02:49:51 PM

Finally managed to test my panel on the weekend and to my great relief it worked well.

The HERMS system worked as expected which was fun.

The only problem that I experienced was my PID (SYL-2352) controlling the heating element was keeping the water warmer than the target. I had the PID set to 152 and temp overshot to 155. The very odd thing was that if the temp dropped to < 155 the element would fire and bring it back to 155. I did a small amount of testing so will investigate further.

Next step is to patch the holes in my ceiling, passing the wire was not a lot of fun.

Then all that is left is to install a ventilation hood and brew beer.

Kyle · November 10, 2015, 09:58:28 AM

To get your PID to fire the element properly, locate the temp probe right in the kettle, not in a Tee nearby. Also, as your PID "learns" your system, it will adjust how it ramps up to the desired temp so as not to overshoot.

nagirroc · November 15, 2015, 09:12:01 PM

Hopefully this thing makes beer after all this work.