Fully Automated Brewing System Design

[roller997]

Fully agree with the sentiment expressed by BeerDingo.

Some members may not agree with the timing, goals set, money spent and see this as a waste of time / money.
Bear in mind that it is not your money / time being wasted and ultimately no one is asking you to follow the threads.
I also don't see that there is anything to be gained by having a go at the individuals for the slow progress or money spent since it is their choice to invest their own time and money into these ventures. They choose to spend their time and money and at the same time keep other members who are interested informed of their progress.

I find both threads quite interesting and hope that both Bandito and Jonathon keep updating the threads frequently.

PS: Jonathon - It was a great Youtube video clip.

 

[gregs]

What Bandito is doing is absolutely personal to him and his end goal (whatever that is?) And if thats what he wants to do then good luck to him, all I see is a system of plastic buckets and plastic tubing and a cheap electric jug, no brilliance at all, very little but a thread full of rubbish.

As the title says

Fully Automated Brewing System Design, Self milling, mashing, lautering, hop adds, ferment.

As I said good luck to him I hope he can do it, so come on Bandito where is the brilliance?

 

[bum]

Why does Bandito need to assuage your demands for brilliance? He never promised such a thing.

You guys also need to start reading threads rather than just looking at the pictures - he has clearly stated that kettle/bucket thing is a small test mock-up. If you guys really want to bag him wait 'till he gives you something to actually bag. At present you just look like catty bitches.

 

[yardy]

Why does Bandito need to assuage your demands for brilliance? He never promised such a thing.

You guys also need to start reading threads rather than just looking at the pictures - he has clearly stated that kettle/bucket thing is a small test mock-up. If you guys really want to bag him wait 'till he gives you something to actually bag. At present you just look like catty bitches.

catty ? read between the lines bum, 20 pages later and hes drilled a few holes, spent two grand and bastardised a couple of kettles..

i'm not bagging the bloke, i offered my 2 bobs at the start when he didn't know the difference between a tun and kettle, i honestly hope the bloke brings it to fruition, my point of view as someone who fabricates for a living is to take the easy road in building something, keep it simple stupid

 

[Batz]

One day 'Fully Automated Brewing' will be so good you will be able to just walk into a store and buy beer without brewing it at all.

Batz h34r:

 

[LethalCorpse]

I thought the PFD was supposed to ensure perfect implementation, first time. Bandito's an expert on drawing PFDs, you know?

 

[Bandito]

Getting back to the business side of things now.

I just boiled 5L of water to dilute yesterdays wort, and realising I needed to use a peristaltic pump to transfer to the fermenter, I pumped through boiling water for a while, then I figured I would keep it running to help cool it faster. The 9 volts I have been using is a bit slow, so I connected a 24 volt powersupply, and its going like a rocket! Tested the voltage under load, and it is actually 26.8 volts, and pumping 1L per minute! (rated at 0.675L per minute at 24 Volts) The motor is getting very hot and wouldnt be supprised if it burns out - only one way to find out. It does sound like it is coping well though.

 

[bum]

read between the lines bum, 20 pages later and hes drilled a few holes, spent two grand and bastardised a couple of kettles..

Wait, I'm confused. Do you want me to read between the lines or the actual lines? Because that's what you told me to read.

The 20 pages of which you speak is mostly catty bitches telling him he's wasting good beer drinking time. Clearly Bandito's aims are a little different to most of the rest of us and yet many of us seem to be judging him only by our goals.

my point of view as someone who fabricates for a living is to take the easy road in building something

Some people enjoy taking the long way. It's not the destination, etc.

 

[Bandito]

The pump survived! 1 hour of recirculating hot water untill it was just worm at 26.8 volts and 1L per minute, Then 23 minutes of airating the wort - strangely enough, judging by the sound, it struggled with this most of all, and the motor did get damn warm, probably 80C. But a sucessful test nonetheless. Last test is a pressure test. It is rated at 14psi, so thats about 10 metres height, I'll save that for when I am really bored.

Determined to order those butterfly valves tomorrow night.

 

[yardy]

One day 'Fully Automated Brewing' will be so good you will be able to just walk into a store and buy beer without brewing it at all.

Batz h34r:

it'll never catch on ...

 

[Bandito]

Just uploaded some vids from last weekends tests.

This one shows the peristaltic pump pumping boiling water at 26.8 volts (1 L per minute):

This some shows peristaltic pump pumping boiled wort into fermenter at 9 volts:

This one shows using a peristaltic pump in a dogie herms, and using a normally open pinch valve. Also shows filling the inner bucket above the top of the outer bucket and causing a leak (thought it was an unsealed tube but wasnt). This also hilights that these solenoids need a high voltage to actuate, but overheat at those voltages, to keep them cool, the voltage should start off high, then drop down.


I ordered the 12" teflon coated butterfly valves from the US today, almost time to call them and give them a hurry up, should have them within 2 weeks - at 53KG, the hard part is getting them up the stairs!

On the books this weekend is testing the normally closed pinch valves for the automated morning coffee part of the project. I dont think my granulated coffee will flow, but thats the purpose of the tests. I think the sugar, water and milk will though Within the next month I will get some relay boards to use with Labview, and some powersupply's, With those I can setup a system for these normally closed valves. I plan to actuate them at higher than they are rated at - about 16 to 18 volts instead of 12 volts. But with the use of Labview program, or mabee just simple electronics, reduce the voltage about a 1/4 of a second after actuation to about 6 volts, which should keep them cool enough.


PS. I trust you dont mind me plagurising your sig Yardy.

 

[Bandito]

Just called the butterfly supplier in the US, and a good thing, as they hadn't realised that I had sent a purchase order thursday afternoon ((their time) (currently friday morning)). So that'll probably speed it up a few days - hopefully will be sent within the next 8 hours.

I tell ya, I'm living on the smell of an oily rag to afford this stuff, and thats with saving since well before the start - put off the power bill (currently a week overdue), living on soup, wearing torn jeans, drinking home brew - at least its not all bad. 'Gotta spend money to make money lou!'.

 

[yardy]

I tell ya, I'm living on the smell of an oily rag to afford this stuff, and thats with saving since well before the start - put off the power bill (currently a week overdue), living on soup, wearing torn jeans, drinking home brew - at least its not all bad. 'Gotta spend money to make money lou!'.

how goes the build bandito ?

 

[skippy]

those videos are boring as bat shit

 

[hockadays]

Just called the butterfly supplier in the US, and a good thing, as they hadn't realised that I had sent a purchase order thursday afternoon ((their time) (currently friday morning)). So that'll probably speed it up a few days - hopefully will be sent within the next 8 hours.

I tell ya, I'm living on the smell of an oily rag to afford this stuff, and thats with saving since well before the start - put off the power bill (currently a week overdue), living on soup, wearing torn jeans, drinking home brew - at least its not all bad. 'Gotta spend money to make money lou!'.

Hope he has't run out of cash for internet connection

 

[Bandito]

Still waiting for the butterflys to arrive, and saving for the next procurement - the labview relay boards and power supplies. Still a huge list of things to get.

stainless 300mm pipe 450mm long with flanges welded to each end for MLT body and 600mm long for kettle body. Plus gaskets.
300mm False bottom
24V DC, 4.5V DC, 12V DC and 6V DC power supplies.
5 x 8 relay boards.
Mains pressure automated valve.
plate chiller
Tablet dispensers for Hop dispenser carosels
Peltier fridge for hop storage.
40L HLT urn
Automated dog food dispensers for grain dispense
Electronic Temperature sensors
Stainless Steel Radiators (not sure if they exist)
60L Stainless conical fermenter.
Hermes.
Stainless mixing arm with motor for MLT
100-150RPM whirlpool motor with stainless impeller.
2 x Butterfly valve actuators
2 x power controllers for HERMS and kettle, and mabee 2 extra ones for heating the 53kg butterflys.

View attachment AUTOBREW_02_rev_V.pdf

 

[Bandito]

Should add a water filter to the above list, not sure if it will just be a 1 micron sediment filter with an activated coconut carbon filter, or a full RO. I will need an extra tablet diapenser carosel to dispense measured quantities of brewing salts as well. I am thinking something like this: http://www.psifilters.com.au/buy-online/de...ink-system.html It looks like it uses the same cartridges as my current kitchen RO setup uses (http://www.psifilters.com.au/buy-online/de...psi-021-4p.html), so will be looking to put the new cartridges in my kitchen, and move the old ones to the brewery.
Although, if I get this new 2 litre per minute model which I havent seen before, I could plumb the 12L kitchen tank from the brewery: http://www.psifilters.com.au/buy-online/de...sis-system.html Will have to give peter a call, I got my existing system from him and he gives good advice. RO's usually have a dismal flow and so require a pressurised bladder tank that fills slowly but empties fast (of which I have two (one to take to work and one for home))

Which leads me onto the next item to add to the list: A Sanitary water supply.
There are Ultra Violet inline lights that are meant for sanitising bore water, but for brewing, I think the only real option is boiling and cooling. I would love to have sanitry water on tap. Ie. Press a button to sanitise water, then wait a while for it to cool. Possibly pass it through a chiller (especially if it was purely for boiled water) or perhaps just pumping it through a SS pipe with a $100 job peristaltic with heatsinks on the pipe and a couple of fans.



Got a call RE: the Butterfly valves - they are in the country, and are now in the process of being cleared by customs. I would like to think that I will get them on friday, but it has taken so so long that all I can hope for is a friday in june! This purchase has been so drawn out it really starting to piss me orf.

 

[unrealeous]

Which leads me onto the next item to add to the list: A Sanitary water supply.
There are Ultra Violet inline lights that are meant for sanitising bore water, but for brewing, I think the only real option is boiling and cooling. I would love to have sanitry water on tap. Ie. Press a button to sanitise water, then wait a while for it to cool. Possibly pass it through a chiller (especially if it was purely for boiled water) or perhaps just pumping it through a SS pipe with a $100 job peristaltic with heatsinks on the pipe and a couple of fans.

No need champ - your 60/90 minute wort boil takes care of that. All you need to ensure if you filter out the dirt!

 

[Bandito]

The sanitary water supply is not for mashing, rather, for other tasks like diluting the fermenting volume to achieve the wanted SG, rinsing kegs in the later to be unvieled keg washing part, perhaps diluting fermented wort, mabee for starters (although will probably just do a tiny automated mash instead). Lots of times I would have loved a tap with sterilised water in it!

I hope to build it into the morning coffee part of the brewery. So when someone asks ' and does it make coffee for you in the morning?' I can say Yes! it does!

 

[katzke]

The sanitary water supply is not for mashing, .... perhaps diluting fermented wort,

You have proven you do not take advice so this is not for you but those reading in the future.

It is not good to dilute fermented wort with water. If you need to dilute, it is done before it ferments. Just had a post about this end of April 2010.