My Electric Brewery Build

[raindogxx]

I would LOVE to see that list of suppliers. I'm not able to go full scale 3 vessel electric brewery (yet!) but I am working on setting up a single vessel BIAB following Kal's build. Now once I get that 3 phase circuit in...

[DEMPSEY]

Great to have you and we can have a chat about your build as well

[Will_D]

Just a note about fuses:

The ESB fuse in a consumer unit is a conventional wire fuse.

A wire fuse typically blows at 100% overload (i.e. A short circuit)

If you over use the circuit by say 50% (e.g. 13 amp fuse supplying 20 amps) (This is a typical: plug 2 boilers into a socket strip scenario) then the fuse won't blow. Things will get hot but you will get away with it.

Downside is that the fuse wire has got hot and has thinned down a small amount so that instead of blowing at 26 Amps it has aged and so will blow at 24 Amps. Repeat the scenario and it thins out some more and that is why fuses blow when there is NOT a short circuit or fault in the load. Its called ageing and happens to all devices and especially Welshmen.

So if you are over driving the ESB main fuse just buy a spare!

HTH: Will

[raindogxx]

If you over use the circuit by say 50% (e.g. 13 amp fuse supplying 20 amps) (This is a typical: plug 2 boilers into a socket strip scenario) then the fuse won't blow. Things will get hot but you will get away with it.

So does that mean you can get away with using a 4500 watt element on a 13 amp circuit provided nothing else is running on the circuit?

[johnrm]

Nope. 4500w / 220v = 21amps
I think you could run it through an oven supply.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Modern pumped showers run at in and around the same demand as Ozbrewer's brewery,  eg Mira Elite T90 etc. no one thinks of shutting everything down when someone's having a shower, just don't run another shower at the same time, and don't go mad banging things on at the same time. If the brewery is drawing 42 amps that's only a little over half of his 80 amp supply. As Will has said don't continually overload the 80 amp supply as eventually the fuse will soak out and that particular fuse is sealed,  you need to remove the seal to replace the fuse and there's a fine for removing the seal.

PS anyone thinking of building an electric brewery as per Ozbrewer needs to take professional electrical advice, it is not a diy project. Electrical regulations differ between here and other juristinctions. It is not necessary to install a 3 phase supply but will need a dedicated supply and in the event that there already is an electric shower installed, then a device needs to be installed to prevent both running simultaneously

[Ozbrewer]

Thought I might give a quick update in two posts - some new pics and the list of suppliers as best I can.

6 brews on the system and I couldn't be happier. Best thing I ever did. It works very much as expected and I find I'm still using all the features on the control panel, in particular the alarms on the pids and the timers. Those alarms really make it a lot easier on brew day. The size of the 100lt boil kettle was spot on. I've been brewing double batches and ending up with 2 x 33lt fermenters full of beer into the fermentation fridge.

I managed to get all the labels done and onto the panel. There is one mistake where I have "mash element" when it should be "boil element" but I will get around to getting a new label eventually. But the labels make the panel. Here come the pics....

All clean and washed up after a brew:


The panel with the labels:


The name of my brewery:

[Ozbrewer]

Here is the list of suppliers that I have used; they cover all equipment and materials purchased for the building of my electric brewery. If you have any questions, or think something might be missing, let me know and I will update/edit the list.

PIDs, Temp Probes, Timers, SSR's, Switches, Lights, Heatsink
http://www.auberins.com/

3 ½" LED Blue Volt Meter, Amp Meters, Temp
http://stores.ebay.com/niceanna758595/

Adjustable DC power supply (4-30V AC/DC input, 1.5-27V DC output)
http://stores.ebay.com/niceanna758595/

Chugger Pumps
Danny Suozzo
Tri-State Pump Inc
5044 Industrial Road, Suite C
Farmingdale, NJ 07727
Ph (732) 223-3222
Fax (732) 223-2587
Dan@pumps-parts.com

Control Panel
Demense Electrical, http://www.demesne.ie/

Brew Stand
wood from TJ O'Mahony or Brooks, http://www.tjomahony.ie/ or http://www.brooksgroup.ie/

Brew Stand – all bolts, coach screws etc
TJ O'Mahony. I found them to be the cheapest. http://www.tjomahony.ie/

1 x 100lt, 2 x 70lt kettles
Catering-Portal.Bergland@msg.afterbuy.de
If you setup a shipito account, email the Bergland guys and get them to ship it to your shipito account, don't mention Dublin, which has an address in Austria, you might still be able to buy these at the cheap cost. I don't believe anyone has tried this yet, but worth a shot.

Camco 5500watt heating elements, gang boxes for housing, heating element nuts, silicon O-rings
www.amazon.com

Silicon O-Rings
http://www.abbeyseals.ie/

Castor Wheels for Brew Stand
http://www.castormart.com/

Neutrik Plugs and Connectors
www.thomann.de
By far and away the cheapest I could find.

Blichmann False bottom
www.hopandgrape.co.uk

Hop stopper and sight glasses
www.homebrewbuilder.co.uk

Silicon Tubing (12mm ID, 21mm OD)
Tubing walls very thick
http://www.ebay.ie/usr/unitedsilicones2011?_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2754

Stainless Fittings + herms coil
www.stainlessbrewing.com

Stainless Steel Quick disconnects (ZJ-KC-04-SF, ZJ-KC-04-PM)
frank@aikecoupling.com, http://aikecoupling.com/Products_Show-2370.html

All Electrical Cables
http://www.kellihers.com/ or http://www.demesne.ie/

Panel Tags
http://www.signsbannerstags.ca/

Internal Panel Switches, relays, interlocks, wiring, trunking, connectors etc
http://www.demesne.ie/ or www.auberins.com

Hole Punches (Sheet Metal)
http://search.handyhardware.ie/search/Price-Less_than_%24100--keywords-sheet_metal_punch

All Tools
B&Q and www.handyhardware.ie

Fitting (Brass and Stainless) for Counterflow Chiller
www.bss.ie
White Heather Industrial Estate
301 South Circular Road
Dublin 8
T: +353 14 165100 +353 14 165100

Spray Painting of Panel
http://www.qualitypowdercoating.ie/

[acaoshes]

Thanks Ozbrewer. I appreciate the time in compiling this one stop list.

[Samael]

Awesome !!! More pictures please !

[raindogxx]

Thanks for this, it'll be a big help during my build. I'm working on a single vessel biab design.

[molc]

I've been referencing this constantly when getting parts for my 3V build. Very helpful.