Control Boxes

[rh1an5]

im interested in teh collection of control boxes peopel have made up to help in their brewing, newguy was kind ebnought to share teh info on his setup, i was wondering if others could
a. post a pic of your controler
b. list its functions - does it just heat, does it also controller pumps etc etc
c. parts used to construct

much appreciate any info.

cheers
rhian

 

[pokolbinguy]

Great thread... I'm eager to see the responses you get

 

[rh1an5]

come on guys, im dying to see some of the electrical wonders you have created, last night i stumbled across a guy who has a PC program , from Germany i think, that even controls his gas burners!!

and i did see a topic soemwher on using a pc to monitor temps, but for the life of me cant find it now, cant search on 2 letter words

 

[dicko]

come on guys, im dying to see some of the electrical wonders you have created, last night i stumbled across a guy who has a PC program , from Germany i think, that even controls his gas burners!!

and i did see a topic soemwher on using a pc to monitor temps, but for the life of me cant find it now, cant search on 2 letter words

Hi,

I cant help you but I do remember that there was a guy over on the Grumpy's forum three or four years ago that had a pc running parts of his brewery. If I reacall his name was Greg Lehey or similar. His handle was "Groggy" I think.
I have not seen him on any recent forums or at least on the ones that I read anyway.

Good Luck

 

[Sammus]

Theres some nice pics of Zwickels setup Here on page 1. Also some of another members amazing work (jonothan maybe?) and a link which has some good info. There was another one too about a build of some sort that was also a good read with lots of pics but I cant find it. Here is another link to ArnieW's page which has a few auto brew machines hes made.

 

[Tony]

Hi rhian

Here are some pics of mine.

It has 2 temperature controllers. The one on the left controls the temp of the HLT. It switches a 45A solid state relay that is connected to a 3600W element.

The one on the right is hooked up to the outlet temp of the mash tun and switches valves to either run recirculating wort through the Herms coil in the HLT, or bypass it to maintain mash temp.

I have a switch that turnes the march pump on and off

I also have selector switches for the Herms valves to run them in auto (switches on temperature) or manual (switches with the manual switch)

and lights to tell me which Herms valve is on.

I use PT100 temperature probes everywhere as they are acurate and reliable.

I also have a caravan style plug on the side to hook up the power lead. I used to have a lead comming out eith a plug but it was a PITA. This is neater and less likly to get run over. The switch above it is rated to 32 amps and i use that to isolate the element in the HLT.

cheers

 

[pokolbinguy]

Tony how do you have that wired into the mains of the house? Do you have a dedicated circuit from the main house board?

 

[dicko]

Dicko, here's a link to Greg's web page. His system controls his fridge, not his brewery. His software might be able to be adapted to brewery control, but that's out of my league.

link:-

Wally

Cheers for that Wally, I knew it involved computers and beer in some way
There are plenty of links here now to help with the enquiry.

 

[Tony]

Na i just hook it up to the nearest power point with a 2.5mm extention lead.

But im an electrician so that makes it ok. h34r:

It draws 16 amps running so i wouldnt recomend this if your not sure of your house wiring ect.

I do plan to wire in a dedicated 15 amp outlet for brewing and water purification services but i dont have time. There is beer to be brewed

cheers

 

[schooey]

...and water purification services ...

:huh:




h34r:

 

[Tony]

h34r:

 

[pokolbinguy]

Na i just hook it up to the nearest power point with a 2.5mm extention lead.

But im an electrician so that makes it ok. h34r:

It draws 16 amps running so i wouldnt recomend this if your not sure of your house wiring ect.

I do plan to wire in a dedicated 15 amp outlet for brewing and water purification services but i dont have time. There is beer to be brewed

cheers

Ok cool.

I am planning to get a electrician mate to check everything out before I go plugging all my gear in anyway just in case.

Pok

 

[Franko]

Here's the start of my one for the red rocket it has a dedicated 32 AMP circuit wire directly to the house switchboard

Yes Tony it still isnt finished yet waiting for you to make a trip down
:lol: lol

Franko

 

[rh1an5]

so something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/USB-Relay-Card_W0QQ...idZp1638Q2em123

could possibly be used to control stuff? similar to teh card Zwickel mentioned he used, only this one is usb

one of my mates is a software engineer and is keen to make some software up, as long as i can provide a collection of hardware for him to interface with. this card would seem like a good step in the right direction

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Tony is lucky..

He has one of these in his back yard to power his rig...

 

[schooey]

This is the control panel for my rig in construction at the moment. Has two main circuits;

PID controlled Element to control the water temp in the HLT. Basically just a 3600W element (was going to use a 2400W, but decided to 'Beef up my triuck' a bit). Runs through a 40A Omron SSR and can be isolated by a 25A Hager contactor and a two postion panel switch.

The other is the HERMS system which consists of two PID controlled Granzow solenoid valves that are switched through an Omron changeover relay, again the system can be isolated back to manual bypass with a two position panel switch.

There are indicator lights for the heat/bypass function and also one so I know when the element is on or off and the whole thing is protected by a Clipsal 2 pole combined MCB/RCD circuit breaker and will run off a dedicated 20A circuit installed in my garage.

I bought most of the bits and pieces off Ebay and all up it's probably cost me $500

 

[Tony]

Tony is lucky..

He has one of these in his back yard to power his rig...

3 of them actually mate

 

[Zwickel]

so something like this

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/USB-Relay-Card_W0QQ...idZp1638Q2em123

could possibly be used to control stuff? similar to teh card Zwickel mentioned he used, only this one is usb

one of my mates is a software engineer and is keen to make some software up, as long as i can provide a collection of hardware for him to interface with. this card would seem like a good step in the right direction

Hi mate,

yes, you can use such an USB card, but it would be far cheaper if youd build one for the parallel port by yourself.

Youd need only one relais and one Darlington transistor for each channel, up to 8 channels.

 

[bugwan]

Hi guys, just wondering where the best would be to find a control box like those pictured above? I presume you sparkies have got it sorted, but where should the rest of us go? As always, I'm keen for a bargain...!
Cheers
Dave

 

[Jono_w]

Hi guys, just wondering where the best would be to find a control box like those pictured above? I presume you sparkies have got it sorted, but where should the rest of us go? As always, I'm keen for a bargain...!
Cheers
Dave

I would start at your local Electrical Wholesale outlet, ask for a soiled stock or wrong order or the like, before I was a sparkie I used to have some luck as they sometimes had old stock or boxes with bits missing.. Plastic enclosures are fairly well priced.
Also sometimes Ebay.