Braumeister NEXTGEN Build

[booargy]

I was getting zero readings until I found that that arduino board had a ground fault on pin 11.

 

[bonj]

I was getting zero readings until I found that that arduino board had a ground fault on pin 11.

Eeek! Which board was that booargy? Not one of mine I hope!

 

[blotto]

Thanks edak,

I believe the earth connection is pretty good, although I have not powered up the element yet. You can see the earth wire in the last photo, inside the diecast aluminium sealed box. It is connected to one of the element fastening screws (not the terminal) underneath the nut. In your opinion, have I earthed the whole pot by doing so?

It's a little hard to say from the photo, it's possible for elements to become insulated from the pot if big fiber washers or silicon seals are used on the inside and outside. The only way to be sure is use a multimeter and do an earth resistance test to confirm the earth, test between the plug and exposed metal parts of your rig (Test to the pot, box and element), it should be no greater that 1 ohm but I would expect it to be less as 1 ohm is max.

Hope this helps.

 

[micbrew]

I need some advise on filters for my malt pipe
ive have asked for a quote on 2mm s/steel .... 300mm in diameter with 2mm perforations

will this size be adequate and the pump im using is a LBP from keg king , I hoping the pump and the diameter of the perforated holes are enough
for the pump to handle etc etc



with thanks mick

 

[notung]

It's a little hard to say from the photo, it's possible for elements to become insulated from the pot if big fiber washers or silicon seals are used on the inside and outside. The only way to be sure is use a multimeter and do an earth resistance test to confirm the earth, test between the plug and exposed metal parts of your rig (Test to the pot, box and element), it should be no greater that 1 ohm but I would expect it to be less as 1 ohm is max.

Hope this helps.

Will do, thanks. I see what you mean. I've got silicone element washers on the inside of the pot but not on the outside. The multimeter test is a great idea.

 

[lael]

I need some advise on filters for my malt pipe
ive have asked for a quote on 2mm s/steel .... 300mm in diameter with 2mm perforations

will this size be adequate and the pump im using is a LBP from keg king , I hoping the pump and the diameter of the perforated holes are enough
for the pump to handle etc etc



with thanks mick

I'm not sure about your pump - but from memory the smallest hole size I could find for 2mm perf ss was 3mm hole size.

 

[pat_00]

Almost finished acquiring all the bits I need to make my version.

But where can I find a short thermowell? gonna try and fit one under the malt pipe.

 

[blotto]

Almost finished acquiring all the bits I need to make my version.

But where can I find a short thermowell? gonna try and fit one under the malt pipe.

Here http://gryphonbrewing.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=564 or here http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/shop/details.asp?PID=4092 but Craftbrewer is out of stock so you might have to call them to see when they are getting more in.

 

[pat_00]

Cheers,

I have emailed craftbrewer, will wait and see what they say.

The gryphon one looks like it might not be suitable for 'weldless' use? doesn't seem to have enough of a lip for sealing.

 

[angus_grant]

Unless I have missed the updates, CB have been out of stock ever since I started building mine

I have a bunch of thermo-wells I was going to use but could not get good thermal reading speeds through them with a DS18B20 temp probe. I tried using thermal paste, but could not get a quick enough response time. Maybe it is the thermo-well, maybe it was the probe I was using. The actual probe was installed inside a metal sheath and I was sliding this sheath into the thermo-well. So that could explain the slow temp readings.

http://www.brewershardware.com/2-Non-Heat-Shielded-1-2-MNPT-Stainless-Steel-Thermowell.html

I ended up using some thermowells with DS18B20 probes pre-installed. Buggered if I can find the email where I bought them though.

You can have one of the thermo-wells for $15. Should cover postage and a bit of the initial purchase price.

 

[Edak]

Unless I have missed the updates, CB have been out of stock ever since I started building mine

I have a bunch of thermo-wells I was going to use but could not get good thermal reading speeds through them with a DS18B20 temp probe. I tried using thermal paste, but could not get a quick enough response time. Maybe it is the thermo-well, maybe it was the probe I was using. The actual probe was installed inside a metal sheath and I was sliding this sheath into the thermo-well. So that could explain the slow temp readings.

http://www.brewershardware.com/2-Non-Heat-Shielded-1-2-MNPT-Stainless-Steel-Thermowell.html

I ended up using some thermowells with DS18B20 probes pre-installed. Buggered if I can find the email where I bought them though.

You can have one of the thermo-wells for $15. Should cover postage and a bit of the initial purchase price.

I believe the link you were looking for (for the thermowell with sensor already inside was this:
http://www.sureelectronics.net/goods.php?id=1276

 

[QldKev]

I believe the link you were looking for (for the thermowell with sensor already inside was this:
http://www.sureelectronics.net/goods.php?id=1276

I'm with Edak, screw paying big money for a thermowell when you can get a decent sensor setup for half the cost.

 

[angus_grant]

Bingo edak. I wasn't looking forward to trawling through 50 pages of this thread to find the link. Mine is working well and I prefer this one as the thread is on the outside away from the mash and wort and less cavities for nasties to hide.

 

[pat_00]

Sweet! Will order one of those sureelectronics ones. Cheers

 

[angus_grant]

May as well grab a few. A spare or two and you can always think of more uses.

Once I get my patio set up properly I will be running my fermentation processes from the laptop, control the beer fridge, and be controlling my brewing. All these will be using these probes...

Cheers,
Angus.

 

[MastersBrewery]

you could also check out the probes over at brewtroller, however I believe most of these would be too big

 

[Edak]

If you are a bit suss about ordering from their dodgy website, they also have an ebay store, which is probably the same price.

I remembered the store name and just went there instead of trawling.

 

[pat_00]

I ordered two. Didn't even notice their website was dodgy

Chopped up a keg (legal) to start my clone. Took a while, but it all looks good to go. The BigW 19l malt pipe is sitting pretty low in the keg I reckon I might extend it by stacking another pot on top, after cutting the bottom out. I guess the bigger the malt pipe the better, right?

I also have a question about the wiring for a 240v pump using the brauduino/brewmiser kit. Namely, where to put the earth connection I assume running the earth back into the control box is the way to go.

Should I use IEC plugs and sockets for this instead of the microphone type specified in the kit? I have a lot of experience with DIY electronics, just not a heap of 240v stuff.

 

[angus_grant]

The short answer is we can't give you an answer. Read on for the longer answer.

With regards to the malt pipe height: this is governed by what beer you are making. You have to be conscious that (grain + water that grain displaces + water) covers your heating element whilst recirculating.

So the higher your malt pipe the more water + grain volume you need to fill the malt pipe to actually over-flow the water and keep your heating elements covered by water.

You will need to calculate what beers you brew most often and make that the sweet spot for your malt pipe. Brewing a higher gravity beer than normal and you can cram a bit of extra grain into the malt pipe or mess with your grain to liquor ratio. Lower gravity beers and you need to be careful with your water level to make sure recirculating still covers the elements because less space is taken up inside the malt pipe.

Basically with a single Big W malt pot, my system has a theoretical (i have yet to use my system) max grain capacity of 6kgs taking into account mash thickness inside the malt pipe plus keeping my element covered by liquid. I have a spreadsheet linked way back in this thread which has a basic calculator for malt pipe size + volume calculations for grain capacity, grain to liquor ratios, etc, etc. This will give you a max amount of grain you can cram into the malt pipe. Then you can roughly calculate max original gravity possible with that grain on based on some efficiency figure you pluck out of the air.

Bigger may not better. Bigger may cause expensive stinky smoke from your heating element.

I plan on using a single Big W pot for my normal beers (4.5% to 5.5% or so) and then work out some way to bolt 2 pots together for higher gravity beers.

 

[angus_grant]

Here's the link to my post with the spreadsheet calculator: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/index.php?showtopic=57924&view=findpost&p=907532