https://goo.gl/photos/BEqugkJSKm7oENKP9
After a year of thinking about it, I pulled the trigger, and decided to go the Electric Brewery route. Seems more..industrial.
Anyway. It never occurred to me that it'd come with crazy Californian power connectors. I think I want to swap the NEMA L5-15 and NEMA L14-30 sockets with something..more Irish. Anyone know a) what they should be and b) where I could get them around Dublin ?
I think I want something like an IEC 60309 from the wall to the control panel. But..most of the ones I can find are only 32A, not 50A.
What have people used for the element connectors ? Would an IEC60320 do ? It also occurred to me that I don't know how to cover the wires when they are attached to the element...some folks use some sort of ... metal box ?
I also need two sockets for the cables to a pair of chugger pumps. IEC60320 might be overkill, but would do the job there...
I'm also planning going down this route, the panel is the one thing I haven't started buying components for, you bought it directly from them? I'm looking at assembling it myself, for all thing electric brewery build I look at ozbrewers thread here http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,5267.0.html (http://www.nationalhomebrewclub.ie/forum/index.php/topic,5267.0.html) good luck with it and I'll be following closely.
Looking good.
Why not just stick with IEC 60309 for all - as they are the standard european industrial connectors and are easily available at any electrical wholesalers.
As you are near Swords try Mainscourt Electrical!
They also have a good range of bits and bobs including "pannel wiring" cable and crimpy ony things.
Great to see a full electric brewery build around here - those kits look great and take a lot of pain out of the build. There are a lot of moving parts involved, so simplifying them really does help.
I'd echo Will on the connectors - just go for standard european.
Enjoy the build - you won't look back once it's all done. I'm sitting here having a cup of coffee while my mash is working away upstairs - won't have to start doing anything until mash is complete and I need to sparge. Once you get these dialed in, it makes the brewday a breeze.
I'm mildly concerned by some things...when I asked the electrician to wire-up, I asked for a 50A circuit. He stuck a commando socket in the workshop, I assumed I was sorted. Just checked it this morning; there is a 63A breaker on the workshop box alright...but seems he put a 32A breaker on my commando socket which also has a 32A-6H mark on it. So...maybe I won't be doing back-to-back batches, after all.
Will, thanks for suggesting Mainscourt. Nice one. Though seems they are never open when I'd be able to get there. Might take a half-day off work and head out. I don't think I'll have enough room on the box for outputs for 5 IEC60309s (input, 2 element outputs, 2 pump outputs), so if I can just go with 3, that'd be great.
On the panel itself - I think it was really expensive, once you factor in shipping & VAT. But I couldn't imagine doing anywhere near the same quality job if I hacked on the case on my own. Very happy I went that route.
They are open Saturday mornings (but not if its a bank holiday long weekend!)
Looks sweet.
Your sparks should have run that cable through protective PVC tubing or even better metal, is that socket very high up?
Yeah, those sockets will be pulled out completely. The original electrician wasn't good at following directions like "All sockets 3m up, please".
Anyway, nearly there; just making up the counter top (https://goo.gl/photos/f1qfTZWGC9Dcg4QE8), and waiting on a mate to help me wire up the panels. I just realised though - I'm not sure on kit for cooling. I'm thinking of ditching the copper-tubing chiller I had, and going for a 32-plate chiller + ThruMoMeter. Is this sensible, or are there cunning ways to not lose my mind with the coil ? I suppose I have pumps now, so could push water or wort around...
The rest of the album; https://goo.gl/photos/BEqugkJSKm7oENKP9
You could use the coil to build a counter flow chiller.