Introducing Brewton

[Raf]

I'm also going to have to pick up a calibrated thermometer somewhere. The digital one I have reads about 4 degrees higher than the temp probe I am using in the system so not quite sure which one is correct.
[/quote]


All temp probes in dairies and breweries are calibrated with the following method.

Have small insulated drink cooler or at a pinch just a jug filled with ice and water and then also your kettle just boiled or boiling.
Place probe and thermometer in ice water see which reads closest to zero then place in the boiling / hot water and see which reads closet to 100 deg C. If your temp probe is out maybe you can have temp adjustment on your whiz bang program

 

[angus_grant]

Well, I think I have solved my top filter plate problem, and all for the measly price of $40 for 316 stainless steel. And thanks to Whitworths again, who I got my skin fittings from. I grabbed their catalogue and was reading through it and something caught my eye. Something very interesting!

34 cms in diameter. It was all sounding too good to be true. The grill sits inside the pot nicely, I have yet to figure out if my original catch system will still work (some 316 stainless hatch locks from Whitworths as well), And I will be able to attach the stainless wire mesh I have to the bottom of the plate. I can't physically flex the grill by hand, and I tried pretty hard.... So I think the problem is solved. B) And all for $40...

I will need to have a bit of extra water to get over the lip but I don't think that is a big deal...

So here is a shot of the grill cooker on top of my Big W malt pipe:

 

[Dan Pratt]

Hi Angus,

How is the build coming along>>I d imagine its up and running by now......can we see some pics and specs??

Dan

 

[angus_grant]

Well, the build has stalled a bit whilst I re-evaluate some components. The temp probe I had was a DS18B20 sheathed in a stainless probe. I then had this sitting inside a stainless thermowell. Even with thermal paste, it was not giving quick accurate temp results. I have ordered some weldless DS18B20 temp probes and am waiting for them to arrive.

In the mean time I am writing some fermentation controller software. I will be using some cheaper 25A SSR's to control a fridge and heating mat for my fermentation fridge. This will be controlled by the USB data acquisition device and I will still have spare power outlets for the braumiser.

I will have to get hold of a mate who used to be a stainless steel worker to weld up my top filter plate with the latches so get that sealing. I haven't really put my mind to the bottom filter plate or the bottom seal. I will most probably use some silicon baking sheets cut into shape.

The other thing I am playing with is sealing the malt pipe down against the main vessel from the top instead of the central threaded rod which is a common design. I figure I should be able to develop some clamping system from the handles of the main vessel.

Anyways, progress has stalled a bit with the temp probe problems. I will be ordering the heating element for the main pot next so I will have to make sure of that design and order it. I think I may have some slight problems with sealing the element to the pot as the pot I have has a steel base attached to the pot for even heat distribution. The edge of this base is right where the heating elements will come out through the bottom, so I may have some sealing problems. Hopefully the seal inside the pot will stop any leaks.

 

[angus_grant]

Well I received the new temp probes (about 2 weeks ago) and they are certainly quicker to respond to temp changes and are also very close to one of my digital thermometres. I will probably still pick up a glass thermo somewhere just to be completely over the top. My next task is to wire one of these into my fermentors so I can then control the fridge or heating pad with the fermentation controller portion of my software. Will be able to power fridge or heating pad, and log temps to local database.

I have also found a company local to me Helios who do hot water elements, industrial elements, drum heating elements, etc, etc. They are going to bend up an element for me. The guy said around $150 and it should be around 6-7cms high in the pot so 3 cms lower than my projected 10cm which results in a slightly lower minimum water level. They should be giving me a call Monday or Tuesday. All I know so far is that it will be a 2400W low-powered element. Apparently they did the exact same thing for a guy a couple of weeks ago. Ahh, I forgot to mention that the guy said it would be too hard for the element to come out through the bottom of the pot due to the extra plate welded to the bottom. This ends slightly in from the edge of the pot bottom and right where the element would exit from the pot preventing a good seal.

And I talked to a sheety mate who confirmed I'd be able to pop-rivet the latch to the grill and the malt pipe as well to finalise the locking system. I will then just use a voile sheet for filtering. I then have to finalise the bottom filter but that will happen after I attach the bottom plumbing, inlet and outlet, thermo-well, pump, etc and work out how much clearance I need.

So some progress is finally being made. It's a bit hard with a 6 month old getting enough time to work on this...

 

[angus_grant]

I have finally installed the custom bent 2400W heating element I purchased a few weeks ago. Haven't quite finished the install off but fired it up this afternoon.

It took about an hour to get up to boiling temps. I will definitely have to insulate the pot as it was a very gentle boil. Certainly got a better boil when the lid was on but I can't have the lid on whilst boiling the beer for various reasons. May work up a custom lid with overflow like Edaks (I think) if the insulation does not improve the boiling rate.

Shot of the control box with holes drilled for element terminals

Shot of the pot with the marks for the holes.

A glass of courage before I drill holes in my expensive stainless pot.

The pot with the holes drilled in it. Hope they are in the right spot.

yay, element screwed in and the holes are in the correct spot. I only measured the holes about 35 times each so they should have been in the right spots.

Control with the element installed. This is the leak test and I left the water in there for about 4 hours and not a drop.

So should now be able to get some BIAB brews done whilst doing up the malt pipe / inner vessel build.

 

[angus_grant]

Even more progress. Wow, stuff is happening. I had the element wired up and some test boils proved that I did need to work on insulation to actually achieve a boil. It would sit on around 98 degrees bubbling mildly. So off to BCF, $15 for a double camp mattress and another $15 for some bungee straps. 30 minutes with a texta, scissors, and a scalpel and voila:

So things are somewhat improved. The temp ramping is a lot quicker with 80 degrees achieved about 15 minutes faster than before with no insulation but still did not achieve a good rolling boil. Was slightly stronger than before though. I had my pot sitting on two silicon pads from the kitchen and when I shifted the pot, the wooden bench was quite warm. So I cut up some of the camp mat as a base insulation and that achieved a slightly stronger boil but still not a good rolling boil. Bench was still a bit warm so perhaps another layer of mat.

As soon as I put the lid on, bam good boil which is obviously not a solution. So I think I will have to go with the solution posted in other threads about floating a pie tin or something to cut down on the surface area to achieve a good boil. Edak has built a domed lid for his system with a hole in the top and drainage system to drain off the condensation which is something I will have to go with as well.

What really worries me is that this was only with 20L of water, not 28L of wort...

 

[QldKev]

Are you using a long cheap extension cord? I had a cheapie 10m cord on mine and the boil was suffering. A mate gave me a extra heavy duty cord and it has helped my boil. Looking deeper into it the cheap cords are 10amp cord 1.0mm2, the tradey cords are actually 15amp cord 1.5mm2 with 10am plugs.

QldKev

 

[angus_grant]

It is a heavy duty 10A extension cord I bought from Bunnings. It is probably 5 metres long although I would have to measure it tonight. Feels quite substantial and hard to bend and certainly more substantial than the ordinary extension cords in the house. I figured at the time it would be running max power (10A for the boil) for 90 minutes so I should go with heavy duty to handle the workload.

I'll check the wiring thicknesses tonight though. And I did have the system plugged into a cheapy power board so might try plugging directly into the outlet to see if that makes a difference.

Good suggestion Kev! Cheers.

 

[stux]

Does the cord get warm?

 

[angus_grant]

Nope. I checked that fairly frequently the first time I ran the system.

Last night the cord was lying on a concrete floor in my car-port (open on one side) and there was a decent breeze around and the cord was normal temp. The plug in the powerboard was very slightly warm and the cord coming out of the junction box was normal temp so I don't think the wiring is getting stressed. And I don't really think the weather had much to do with keeping the cord cool.

 

[angus_grant]

Well last night I ran the power cord straight from the power-point and not much difference. Two base layers of camping mat didn't seem to make much difference to the boiling, but ramping time was reduced a little bit more. Having the lid slightly open resulted in a good strong boil so looks like I will be manufacturing a lid for it. I quite like Edak's method. He used a stainless mixing bowl and got some tubing which he cut and wrapped around the base of the bowl. The bottom of the bowl was removed so some of the steam could escape out the top. Steam which condenses on the bowl trickles down the lid into the tube and then out of the system

Edak's lid system (Images copied from his post on the Braumiser thread.)

 

[mxd]

my thin urn with a 2200 watt element could never get to a boil with 28 ltrs of wort, so I used to use an immersion for boil and single for mash etc..

 

[angus_grant]

Did you have any insulation on the urn?

I have yet to do a wort boil in the system, only plain water. It certainly gets up to 99 degrees but can't quite nudge over into strong boil. The lid will fix that problem.

My plan is to build the lid for it, and then do an extract IPA (and maybe some other extracts) to see how wort boiling performs. Once I have the boiling happening correctly, then I will do a few BIABs whilst finishing off the inner vessel.

 

[mxd]

I did, it may have been a bit loose.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&id=35055

 

[angus_grant]

Hmm, I guess I will have to build the lid and then see what happens.

I am getting a very mild boil, just not a strong boil like you are used to seeing. There is plenty of evaporation happening so it might just be a perception thing and it is boiling / hot enough to extract oils from the hops, boil off DMS, and whatever is supposed to happen whilst boiling.

 

[mxd]

Hmm, I guess I will have to build the lid and then see what happens.

I am getting a very mild boil, just not a strong boil like you are used to seeing. There is plenty of evaporation happening so it might just be a perception thing and it is boiling / hot enough to extract oils from the hops, boil off DMS, and whatever is supposed to happen whilst boiling.

if your evaporating 7% + in an hour you have a boil that is good, so get some grain and give it a shot.

Instead of a lid you can use some "suitable" item that floats on top of the wort (small plate or the like that floats/won't melt/food safe)

 

[iralosavic]

if your evaporating 7% + in an hour you have a boil that is good, so get some grain and give it a shot.

Instead of a lid you can use some "suitable" item that floats on top of the wort (small plate or the like that floats/won't melt/food safe)

This will actually work better than a lid because you are reducing the deadspace between the surface area and the lid. When I did full volume single batches (ie 28L boils) with my 2200w element, floating a cake tin was the only way I could get suitable boil vigour/evaporation.

 

[angus_grant]

A cake tin / whatever has a much quicker fabrication time than a lid. I can then get around to building the lid while I am still doing some AG batches.

I suppose one small problem is that I use a hop sock which may get in the road of the tin. Will have a look at that.

Thanks for the tips guys.

 

[Dan Pratt]

Angus,

what size is teh boil pot? and the element wattage? does that elemenet have only the single loop?

Im thinking that the element isnt enough to boil that size, especially if its only 1 round ring, the BM's have 2-3 loops>

Dan