# Brewtroller E-herms Build (pictures)



## gava (4/9/11)

I've decided to upgrade my awesome four port power board and swapping power cord for something thats a little more professional 
We're moving into our new home in two weeks which I've got a brewery room built.. It has a laundry sink, plumbed in hot and cold water and the 22,000lt tank from outside plumbed in via two threads in the wall so I can this with my plate chiller instead of using town water.

I've also got the brewery on its own circuit (we have 3 phase 40amp) and since I didn't understand what I wanted at planning stage i ended up with 20amp (three flat pin) plug and two 10amps to use with the rig. From that I designed my control panel with the great help of guys in the brewtroller irc channel (mainly jcdillin) and I've started to wiring it up.














I sourced a full Stainless Steel enclosure that had a computer and touch screen, the board was busted so I gutted it and started planning..

Stage 1 of my brewtroller upgrade will have the following.

- Brewtroller 4.0 board (LCD inteface)
- 1-wire temprature and sensors for all vessels, h2o IN and out, Beer in and out
- On off Auto switching of elements, pump
- USB interface
- Water level sensing for all vessels


stage 2 will be the automation stage, i.e. Moterised ball valves and fully plumbed lines.

What I have to play with for my rig is

- HLT (70lt with a single 2200watt element)
- HEX (small pot with about 9m of copper coil with a 2400watt kettle element)
- MLT (New 70lt Robinox pot yet to be drilled)
- Kettle (70lt Robinox pot with two 2200watt elements
- March Pump
- Aquairum pump for water level sensing

so a bit of power required there, If I know what I know now I would have just got a 40amp plug put on the wall.

Here is a few pics of the control panel as I got it.

Here is the back of it with a heat sink and two fans (it was made to be fully sealed)






Under the lid there is a nice plate ready for my to mount all my goodies. The handy thing is there is already a 5a power supply there which is perfect.. 













the computer which was in it had a blown chip onboard , i found a replacment for $90 but couldn't be assed getting it, I saved all the screen etc so I can connect up to a LCD port and make something else with some old pc parts.. 

here is the wiring diagram that I had made up after some help from the brewtroller guys.. 








and here is some of the wiring that I started yesterday until I found out I didn't buy enough stuff to finish it

NOTE: Only the SSRs are stuck down ther rest will be done once its complete.

you can see the brewtroller 4.0 mounted with its USB and 1-Wire module mounted.







here is the front of the control panel which requires a sheet which i got today at a mates house, had some 1mm SS sheeting floating about..










the tape around the ende is to mark where the face is visible


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## _HOME_BREW_WALLACE_ (4/9/11)

Looks awesome dude! Congratulations and all the best with the move!! :icon_cheers:


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## gava (6/9/11)

well thought I screwed my troller board but it was a power issue, stupid me assume they connected a 12v fan up to the 12v supply but it was running 5v.. Once I rewired to the 12v rail its all working great!.
Built my 1-wire distribution box also.. Just used some cat5e cable a face plate and box.. just ran the wire through all the ports.. tested and works a treat!!

Notice Im using the yellow wire now which is the 12v..


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## Tim F (6/9/11)

So awesome... one day


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## gava (3/10/11)

First off, Bloody Internet explorer tabs, had a write up and bloody closed it... anyway..

Finally settled into the house and had some time to work on my brewtroller rig. I've now got it to a point that I can start brewing again..
What I have completed is the control panel, plumbed in the hot water to the HLT, configured all the temp probes, Configured the water level sensor bubbler.

What I required for the bubbler 
- 1 x aquaium pump 
- 2 x presure sensors
- 2 x flow restrictors
- Some 4mm hose
- 2 x Tees
- 1 x box to house it
- 2 x dip tubes
- 2 x 316 wire holding thingos to mount the dip tubes in the vessel 
edit: Here are the SS Wire Rope Clamps I used





I had a brain fart when I first set it up, I thought i'd put the flow restrictors on the outside so I could tweak when required but i quickly realised doing that resulted in the preasure sensors always registering a high presure due to sitting in front the restrictors.. once I fixed that it worked a treat.








Below are two of the presure sensors being used.. I soldered the wires then used hot glue over the top seems to have worked.
I found a old stir plate that I wasn'g using so I used the box to put the pump in. its a tight fit but works pretty well.






After trying to find some suitable SS dip tubes I was talking to a mate about it and 15mins later he was around holding two 45cm SS dip tubes... I now owe his some beer.
I found some 316 wire things from the local hardware store and it fit great! holds the diptubes solid in the vessel.

Kettle





HLT





To test to see if I had a good seal on all the parts I filled the vessle up half way and tweaked the flow restrictors so it'll push out about 3 bubbles a second.. the Kettle stopped putting bubbles out so I had a leak, took it off and blew down the pipe I could hear some leakage on the presure sensor side so I change the ends and tried again.. Success!..
Time to calibrate on the brewtroller..

to calibrate the troller for the levels you have to fill up a known amount of water and set it on the troller. i.e. up to the bottom of the dip tube to give it a starting point.. it was 4lts for me, then I added 6lts to get to 10lts.. from there i just filled up 10lts at a time.. Note: if your using a converted keg style and the sides are different theres a different way to configure.. see the brewtroller wiki..

Once I configured both I did a test and drained 10lt from the vessel into a fermenter only using the brewtroller LCD output to see when 10lt was done.. I then looked at the fermenter and it was bang on 10lts.. same results for both vessels.. did this a few times checking how it worked just to double check.. all seems good.. Now to do a test with temprature change.. but it all seems to be going great guns and Im all set to do a brew in the next few weeks..


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## NickB (3/10/11)

Loving it! I'm slowly, slowly in the planning stage of my build. Long way to go (haven't even got the BrewTroller hardware yet!) but trying to do it right from the beginning.

Keep us posted!

Cheers


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## mfeighan (3/10/11)

im curious is this bubbler going to constantly bubble during the boil and how much effect will it have on HSA. Yes i know many ppl say its a myth etc but it cant help having it bubble constantlty for the whole 60-90 mins?

edit: Your build looks awsome btw


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## gava (3/10/11)

good questions.. no idea im asking in the brewtroller irc channel


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## weiht (3/10/11)

A little off topic, but does the air from ur aquarium pump smell rubbery? I bought one but have yet to use it as it gave a rubbery taste and smell when i tested it with water..


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## gava (3/10/11)

No my pump didn't smell rubbery at all when I was testing the presure sensors i was blowing on the tube and didn't notice any off/weird smells it was just air..


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## gava (3/10/11)

had a quick chat in the brewtroller irc channel (only one guy awake) seems HSA is a bit of a myth in the homebrew scene.. I've had a quick google and found a trend in the myth idea.. I will keep an eye out in my future brews though..


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## NickB (3/10/11)

It's a shame the 'proper' pressure sensors are so expensive. Would be much easier....


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## mschippr (3/10/11)

Looking good. My brewtroller system is slowly taking shape too. My volume sensor setup is the same as yours, i was told that it was good to put a 90 degree bend at the end of the dip tubes to help the bubbles escape otherwise the readings can get a bit messed up from time to time. Since i havent tested mine yet dont take my word for it though.


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## gava (4/10/11)

mschippr said:


> Looking good. My brewtroller system is slowly taking shape too. My volume sensor setup is the same as yours, i was told that it was good to put a 90 degree bend at the end of the dip tubes to help the bubbles escape otherwise the readings can get a bit messed up from time to time. Since i havent tested mine yet dont take my word for it though.



Mine seems to push the bubble out pretty good, Although saying that I've only tested with 30c -> 40c water.. but when the vessel is empty and full (70lt) it pushs out the bubbles no problem.. I'll do a heat test and hook BtRemote up and see what it says I think..

Have you brewed with yours yet? if so how'd it go? any issues you found?


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## ArnieW (4/10/11)

gava said:


> Mine seems to push the bubble out pretty good, Although saying that I've only tested with 30c -> 40c water.. but when the vessel is empty and full (70lt) it pushs out the bubbles no problem.. I'll do a heat test and hook BtRemote up and see what it says I think..
> 
> Have you brewed with yours yet? if so how'd it go? any issues you found?


Nice build gava - well done.

There won't be any point trying out BTremote with the brewtroller. It was coded for ver 1.x of brewtroller and the serial commands have changed a lot since then. I just don't have time to update it and the BTnic stuff will supersede it. You could try any serial capture software and then analyse it with an excel spreadsheet or similar.


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## mschippr (4/10/11)

Hi Gava,

No i havnt brewed with mine yet. I dont have a lot of time at the moment and am spending what little i have trying to get my frame built so i can set it up correctly. My bubbler system is almost ready, i just need to drill some holes to mount the dip tubes and im done on that side of things.

Once my frame is ready hopefully in the next week or two if i can get some time to finish welding it, ill do a test run with everything.

Here are some pics of mine so far https://picasaweb.google.com/mschippr/Brewe...feat=directlink

I'm keen to see how you go with yours.


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## dannymars (18/8/15)

how are you guys going with this set up now? keen to see some updates.


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