My Electric Brewery Build

[Ozbrewer]

Thought I might start a thread to share my experience of building an electric brewery clone.

I've been collecting parts since about March last year, but haven't put anything together yet. I suspect maybe end of this month I will commence build on the panel, and hopefully over Feb / March actually put it all together and have a functioning clone.

Anyway, thought I would just include some recent purchases that might be of interest to everyone.

First up is the Silicon hosing. I watched the last group buy and thought it was good, but for those looking to go it alone I found the following quite good:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silicone-Dairy-Tubing-Milking-Transfer-Hose-12mm-ID-x-21mm-OD-x-20mtrs-BNIB-/221180341975?pt=UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item337f602ed7

It was roughly 65 euro, 3.25 euro a meter. This was the best value I could find for tubing with this wall thickness.





I also spent a significant amount of time searching for quick disconnects as used on the Electric Brewery. Pretty expensive stuff here in Ireland and although reasonable from the US websites still more than what I wanted to pay.

So I found this site: http://www.aikecoupling.com/Products-489.html

I was looking at the ZJ-KB in stainless steel but they didn't have any in stock, so they suggested brass, which I declined. Minimum order was 200 for stainless, but I reckon as a group buy you could get an order of 100. They are BSP thread. So I asked what did they have in stock in stainless and I ended up with the ZJ-KC type, which is similar enough except in NPT. So I'm going to go NPT for the rest of the fittings in the next month or so.

So costs: The price of ZJ-KC-04-SF was USD5.50/piece, and of ZJ-KC-04-PM was USD3.50/piece. I reckon again a group buy would get that cost down.

The quality is really good. Pictures below.








I dealt with a guy called Frank at AikeCoupling. The customer service was brilliant. I paid a fair bit in shipping but overall it was cheaper than buying off the US websites or here in Ireland. I had to do a bank transfer (AIB online banking worked perfectly for this) and once they confirmed receipt of the monies, they were shipped straight away - DHL express - I think they left China on the Friday and I had them by the Monday.

Well, I hope this helps some people on the forum looking to do this.

I'll keep this updated as I go along. I have all the heating elements x 3 (Camco 5500watt), the 3 x Bergland Kettles (I'm not doing a thermopot), PIDs (Auber), False Bottom (Blichmann), Pumps x 2 (Chugger centre inlet) amongst other equipment.

I'm happy to post more pictures of any of the stuff I have if it helps anyone.

Cheers.....

[Ciderhead]

It's a pity you didn't read Damos post on pharma grade silicone tubing and pharma clamp disconnects, the ones you have are hydraulic disconnects, used for connecting transfer to injection moulding tools they are not for contact with foodstuffs neither are the gaskets food approved, you should be able to change them anyway.
Damo still has more tubing than you can shake a stick at in what ever lengths you want and it was a third of that price
Members also get a discount on the disconnects.
http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.com/forum/index.php/topic,4559.msg56681.html#msg56681

Very interested in the rest of your build.

[Damo]

Hiya oz,

I've followed a few electric brewery builds over the last couple of years.

Lookin forward to this one! I think Barney has set the bench mark.
Best of luck.

Keep the pic's coming

[Ozbrewer]

@CH

Yeah, I saw the Damo thread and the silicon hose buy. My understanding was that hosing was 3mm wall thickness and I thought the buy was at 2 euro a metre. I wanted a thicker wall, 9mm on this hosing, and which is more in line with EB build. I rang microhydraulics for hosing with this wall thickness and the price, if I recall correctly, was ridiculously expensive.

As to the quick disconnects. I didn't want to go down the cam lock route. Again, I rang MH and Norgren and a few others explaining what I wanted. They offered the Parker snap tite disconnects at over 25 euro a pop for just the female part. They all list them as hydraulic fittings but they did inform me they are also used in food processing. I discussed this with the supplier in China as well and from my research on the US websites these are the same fittings being sold there. I feel comfortable enough with them for the brewing process.

@Damo
Yes Barney's build was spectacular. I won't have as many bells and whistles, but I will be running three PIDs and two timers for back to back capability. I'm designing the panel to be rated at 63amps. I have a panel layout which I'll post up in the next day or two.

[Garry]

Droool! Keep the pics coming Oz

[Ciderhead]

@CH

Yeah, I saw the Damo thread and the silicon hose buy. My understanding was that hosing was 3mm wall thickness and I thought the buy was at 2 euro a metre. I wanted a thicker wall, 9mm on this hosing, and which is more in line with EB build. I rang microhydraulics for hosing with this wall thickness and the price, if I recall correctly, was ridiculously expensive.

As to the quick disconnects. I didn't want to go down the cam lock route. Again, I rang MH and Norgren and a few others explaining what I wanted. They offered the Parker snap tite disconnects at over 25 euro a pop for just the female part. They all list them as hydraulic fittings but they did inform me they are also used in food processing. I discussed this with the supplier in China as well and from my research on the US websites these are the same fittings being sold there. I feel comfortable enough with them for the brewing process.

I have also done my homework on disconnects and gained a lot of info from UK forums about rusting Chinese disconnects and I am also fortunate to have the option of folks being able to bring bits in from the US, in my case however I will be using MH as although they are more expensive for cam locks (which will be my route as that's what I see on commercial brewery visits) v's the US the product quality is unquestionable.

Unfortunately ebay and particularly Chinese vendors are full of false statements about what approvals their products have, we have already seen that here on contact with plastic.
The question that keeps coming up is how much is actually in contact and really does it make any difference?
Being used in the food industry and being in direct contact with and carrying of foodstuffs are two very different things.
I knew very little about steel until I came to this forum and learnt that only 304 and 316 types are approved for conveyance and in direct contact.
I can't see the specification sheet of the disconnects you purchased on that website, but the ones I did look at are all carbon steel, so neither of those two and therefore better to err on the side of caution and it would be wrong to recommend them for contact with foodstuffs.

Keep the pics coming tho 

[Ozbrewer]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

The panel layout I have designed is below. I used a program called InkScape - www.inkscape.org - it's freeware, very simple to use, especially if I managed it. Although I used SESTOS pids in the layout diagram, the ones I actually have are the Auberins PIDs.

I will be running two elements in the HLT. I know this is controversial, but I am using the HLT as the HERMS, so two elements will give me the power and speed to ramp temperatures sufficiently. I just felt this was a simple solution and I realise I am trading increased power costs as a result. I'll have two 5500watt camco ULWD elements in the HLT. But the panel will be designed that if both elements in the HLT are on, the element in the BK can't be on. This keeps the functionality/capacity within the 63amp range and can't be exceeded. The panel will be 600mmx600mmx200mm.

[Ciderhead]

Omg a thing of beauty:)

[St. Fursey]

I'll have two 5500watt camco ULWD elements in the HLT. But the panel will be designed that if both elements in the HLT are on, the element in the BK can't be on. This keeps the functionality/capacity within the 63amp range and can't be exceeded.

That's a serious power draw! Hope the lads at the ESB don't come knocking!

Best of luck with the build, I'm working on an electric brewery too; I'm in the process of building up shiny plumbing for my brew vessels before I tackle the control panel

[alealex]

Impressive, cant wait to see the progress on the job.

[Ozbrewer]

It's been awhile since the last post. Not much progress due to life and funds. I did purchase last week all my shiny plumbing for the system. Not cheap at all. I bought from Stainless Brewing in the US as they were they only company that did a HERMS stainless steel coil at 1/2 inch and 50ft at under $100US. So I figured I may as well get the rest of the fittings from there as well. So I have the whole system in NPT now.

But I did make some progress this weekend on the brew stand. Tops still to be completed and then stained and varnished. But I'm well chuffed with this. Some of the joins aren't the best, but the main thing is it is all square, level, and very sturdy. I've attached photo's.

Main wood is: 144mm x 40mm
Legs: 75mm x 75mm

Overall length is 1800mm, with height at 750mm. Height will increase, 22mm for the top and probably 70mm for casters I'm planning on. That would give overall height of 842mm. I tested the kettles at that height, and I can comfortably see in and also reach in and touch/clean bottom of kettles.






Advice on building the stand:
- Understand the overall length you want, take into considerations the width of the wood you will use for the top, and then adjust length of stand to suit an full number of planks for the top. I hope that makes sense.
- Measure everything at least twice before cutting or drilling. I did make one mistake but lucky had enough wood to cut another piece.
- Don't take your kids shopping when you go to pick up bolts, nuts and washers. I counted too short on the washers, and over counted on the coach screws. Or better still, work out it before you go, write it down and then go shopping. 

Anyway. Just thought I would share. Any questions, let me know.

[LordEoin]

You might want to consider putting a few diagonals between the uprights.
It might seem solid now, but when you have those tanks full of water it'll eventually start to sway and weaken.

[Garry]

That is sweet. What are you going to use for the top? It's a quare size for plywood!

Are you planning on putting a shelf at the bottom level? It would give you some great storage for your bits and bobs.

I don't think you need bracing myself, the 140 deep joists look oversized relative to the height of the table. The top will add further lateral and longitudinal stability. There's a rule in engineering: if it looks wrong, it probably is wrong. This looks right to my eyes.

[DEMPSEY]

I originally built mine using a table but with the usual bit of spillage found the under shelf part getting fooked so decided to build 3 separate tables to sit my pots on that way I can clean easier :.

[DEMPSEY]

Lecce question for yis all. A standard electric kettle has an element fitted to the floor of the kettle and so not directly in contact with the liquid inside. Can this be adapted up to do a larger kettle .