Fully Automated Brewing System Design

[Bandito]

:lol:

Relays are switching 12 and 6 and 4.5 volts. RS485 is a communications bus that can span up to 1200m.

 

[Margwar]

A 16A circut can safley draw 16A over that circut, but not from the one power point as they are only rated to 10A.
So on the one circut you could have one 1800w element in one outlet and another 1800w element in another outlet. That gives you a total of 3600w of heating. The current draw from the circut is 15A which is under the 16A of the circut, and is safe as long as you use two different outlets.
All circuts in your house are designed like this.... you could have a fridge, microwave, TV, computers, portable heaters and more going, all plugged into different outlets, but drawing current from the same power circut. This could be drawing more than 10A from that circut easily... but the circut is rated to safley draw 16A.
This was how I was planning to build my next HLT, but using 2 1500w elements from 2 outlets in my shed.

The trouble though I can see is that your mains into your apartment will probaly not be rated to draw all this power all the time, and you may not be able to turn anything else on whilst the brewery is brewing... so if you want to cook while you are brewing, you may be in trouble. Or even if the fridge came on... or your heater... could be a concern.

 

[bigfridge]

I'm one of these people. I reckon we'll see something pretty impressive one day

 

[yardy]

i think that will impart too much roastiness..

 

[bigfridge]

i think that will impart too much roastiness..

With a touch of smoke .... :beerbang:

 

[bill_gill85]

What size kettle can I fit on that burner?

 

[Supra-Jim]

hmm... needs more 3d modelling i think!

Cheers SJ

 

[goomboogo]

hmm... needs more 3d modelling i think!

Cheers SJ

Good job with the modelling. The fireman are perfectly rendered.

 

[Bandito]

If ya cant beet em, join em.

What does this button do?

And my other project that I dont think I have mentioned here before: ipods for cows. Patent pending. As you can see, its currently undergoing animal trials. It also has a remote control feature to automate the rounding up of the cows. Only 6 cows in queensland have then atm, but they are solar powered and are showing promise so far.

 

[bum]

i think that will impart too much roastiness..

Gold.

 

[Bandito]

Some stuff arrived today: 3d monitors look great - so much bigger and better than the other 22" monitors I was using (they are samsung 2233RZ (Search staticice.com.au for cheapest prices on all hardware))- glasses due next week, 10 x .35 micron nominal filters thanks to the bulk buy, 12 usb to com port cables for the pic controlled relay boards, and most important of all - an automatic pet feeder!

The mechanism in the pet feeder looks perfect, dont know why I didnt think of it before. Camera is flat atm, but will test it during tomorrows brew day.

Seems like a lot of people are getting into preheating strike water for when they get up on brew day. Seems to me like one of these ($115) could be filled with the precracked grain bill and controlled by one of the pic controlled relay boards (US$65) that is turned on by a 12V transformer plugged into a 240V timer. Once I have my setup going I will have to program a pic to do it - remind me if your interested. Could shave another 60 to 90 mins off brew day.

Labview should be able to make the programming for the pic and download it easy as, but failing that I started programing pic microcontrollers like 14 years ago, and also for the cow ipods too, and it is pretty simple - the timing delay loops are the hardest part.

 

[jakub76]

3d monitors look great ... Search staticice.com.au

Fat Chance.

Just curious about the .35 micron filter. As I understand it 'nominal' means it will filter out 90% of particles larger than the stated size. From memory, info from the BN suggests that 5-7 microns is enough to clear the yeast, 3 will pull out the haze and 1 will effect flavour. It was in one of The Session mini topics and Tasty said he uses a 7 micron filter.

I notice that '1 micron absolute' seems a popular choice on this forum. As someone considering filtering for quicker conditioning I'm curious...has anyone done the pepsi challenge to see how a 1 micron filter effects flavour?

 

[Bandito]

Fat Chance.

Just curious about the .35 micron filter. As I understand it 'nominal' means it will filter out 90% of particles larger than the stated size. From memory, info from the BN suggests that 5-7 microns is enough to clear the yeast, 3 will pull out the haze and 1 will effect flavour. It was in one of The Session mini topics and Tasty said he uses a 7 micron filter.

I notice that '1 micron absolute' seems a popular choice on this forum. As someone considering filtering for quicker conditioning I'm curious...has anyone done the pepsi challenge to see how a 1 micron filter effects flavour?

Staticice is just a search engine that searches all aussie pc shops for the lowest price (just thougt it may help someone).

Havent done the taste test, but speaking to Smashin who is doing the bulk buy, he said that the .35 nominal was equivalent to about 0.85 absolute for these filters. They do have heaps more pleats(folds) so the beer has a lot more surface area to pass through before blocking. They are claimed to have almost zero pressure drop. If I get large enough ferment volumes they might be disposable, but most likely 2 brews each (@ ~5 to 6 brews per year)

I have tried a 1 micron polyspun filter, but that didnt clear ****! Its the pleated ones that work.

 

[schooey]

Hey Banano,

I got one of those fangled Peter Brock Energy Polariser's sitting here in the shed somewhere, imagine how good that'll make all your 3D modelled gizmos go! PM me and I'll do you a sweet deal on it...

 

[Bandito]

Thanks, but I think I'll pass on the dirty peter brock jockstrap thankyou.

I am planning on making one of those iron man energy modules with lights an all just to make it look like thats what is powering the brewery. What are they called again?

 

[bum]

It's just a battery. It does have a cool light that does nothing though.

You should think about getting some of those for your kit.

 

[Bandito]

Incase someone missed it.. Schooey, I'm looking in your direction>>>

/SNIP
During the week, I met a bloke that works for the local sheet metal fabricator. He said they are currently fabricating stainless stuff, and so can fabricate my vessels (probably from the scrap of their current work). So it looks like I now have a fabricator.
Unless anyone here wants some work!!!! I asked before, but the offer still stands for the next few weeks, I dont need an expert, just someone willing to give it a shot!

/SNIP

 

[jakub76]

~5 to 6 brews per year

really? unless you already make awesome beer with little room for improvement I think this could be another signpost on the bad road you're travelling down. I imagine you like beer - maybe I'm wrong but let's pretend - I would think you would get the itch to try brewing at least 5 different styles of beer over the course of a whole year...at least.

Unless you refine and repeat your attempts they are not going to improve. In the last 6 months, along with brewing a variety of beer styles, I have been tweaking two of my favourite recipes - over 4-5 generations they have improved considerably. If I was going by your brewing schedule that would have taken me 4 or 5 years.

Now, as fun as it is to drink a six pack and hang **** on bandito, I'm not just having a go...ok maybe just a bit...but dude, I think you should seriously consider prioritizing the quality of your beer before frothing over the toys. Maybe consider Nick's example of 10 litre batches, that way you'll get a lot of practice in and hopefully find a recipe worthy of you 100 litre automated behemoth.
Best.

 

[Bandito]

Yea, I do agree with you Jakub. I was thinking about this during the week, and realised that I do want more than one brew on tap at once.

So I narrowed it down to how long it takes to ferment. So that's about 3 to 4 weeks. So there is my maximum fermenting frequency (unless I go 2 fermenters which I intend to in the future). So in 4 weeks @ 10L per week for drinkin, thats 40L.

But I do want some lag time, so I dont want to have to do a brew every 4 weeks or else I run out, so assuming a 50% laziness factor... Thats a bit concervative as I am as lazy as they come, so realistically, lets say 100% laziness, so thats 1 brew every 8 weeks, so would need 80L per batch. 56 weeks divided by 8 weeks is 7 brews per year assuming 100% laziness. So 5 to 6 brews is within acceptable laziness parameters.

But, yes, I would like some more differnet brews in the kegs.

I have decided to make the fermeter take up the whole fermenting fridge, and that seems to be about 100L, so 80L fermenting volume is just acceptable. However two fermenters would be the ducks nuts, but I dont think I have enough valves for that - so that is earmarked for the future expansion. I would also like to have some leway for producing wort for local brewers.

So, yea, I agree, need to do some more drinking on it. How to get enough brews into the first year to dial in the process? Hmmm, I suppose in the begining I just need to make more than I can consume and give it away - think I can hear a few people putting their hands up already!

 

[schooey]

Incase someone missed it.. Schooey, I'm looking in your direction>>>

Sounds good, B1, but you gotta come forth with some plane tickets... then of course you'd have to buy a pulse tig with foot control, plasma cutter... oh, oh! and one of those cool self darkening storm trooper type welding helmets.. then there's the issue of cleaning out your bathroom for a workshop because the laundry space is gone already, and the loungeroom is full of 3D monitors.

On second thoughts... might be easier with you new bud from the local metal fabricator's