Jay's The Electric Brewery Build - 220-240 UK Version

[Jay7792]

Hi All, I'm back after a near 12 month break due to the birth of my little girl:) I was worried about all the homebrew smells and fumes not being very good for her as our old house was rather small.

BUT....... We have now moved to a much bigger house and my daughter is now 8 months old I thought is was time to get back to it.

I was inspired by Barneeys brewery build viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50861 that I have decided to try and build my own along with a nice new Brew Shed in which to put it:)

[Matt]

Welcome back Jay, good luck with the build plans

[Belter]

Awesome. Pictures please

[Jay7792]

Welcome back Jay, good luck with the build plans

Thanks very much.

Jay

[Jay7792]

Awesome. Pictures please

Hi All,

My Steel Enclosure arrived today

It is IP65 Rated and very, very heavy.





I am very happy with the quality of the enclosure, it has a removable Gland Plate on the bottom and also a removable steel back plate inside.

I must admit that I am really happy that the first part of my Electric Brewery has arrived, I almost don't want to cut holes in it...... Nah!!!!

Jay

[barneey]

Good luck with the build.

Only real bit advice I can give you apart from the stuff in my thread is to carefully plan the layout both externally and internally. Use conduit for your wiring runs. Buy most if not all the components from ebay HK if you can wait.

Items I found VERY useful on my build = Adjustable Element Supply, Amp Meter, Anti start up
Items not so useful = Volt Meter
On the Fence = B3S Start up timer is nice - but as I use a combi hot water supply at 50c - its not really needed.

WORD of warning if you are using the Volt and Amp meters (unless they have changed the design) USE separate 5v power supplies.

Buy yourself a 100m of wire in say 10 different colours.

Buy yourself a decent crimping tool.

Last but not least A Large Red Flashing light is a must have.

Have Fun

[Jay7792]

Good luck with the build.

Only real bit advice I can give you apart from the stuff in my thread is to carefully plan the layout both externally and internally. Use conduit for your wiring runs. Buy most if not all the components from ebay HK if you can wait.

Items I found VERY useful on my build = Adjustable Element Supply, Amp Meter, Anti start up
Items not so useful = Volt Meter
On the Fence = B3S Start up timer is nice - but as I use a combi hot water supply at 50c - its not really needed.

WORD of warning if you are using the Volt and Amp meters (unless they have changed the design) USE separate 5v power supplies.

Buy yourself a 100m of wire in say 10 different colours.

Buy yourself a decent crimping tool.

Last but not least A Large Red Flashing light is a must have.

Have Fun

Hi Clive, thanks for the advice... I have taken it all on board an plan on doing this build nice and slow.

I like the idea of adjustable element control, do you have a link to what I will need?

Thanks in advance

Jay

[Jay7792]

Hi All, a few more bits turned up today

My PIDs turned up, I went with the Sestos versions x3





They came with 25A SSRs which will be no good for my build so they have been upgraded to 40A versions.



My Heat Sink also arrived, this will be mounted on top of the enclosure and my Element PIDs will be bolted to it

It has taken a knock in the post and 1 of the fins has got a bit bent but can easily be straightened.

I was thinking about getting a black anodising kit just to finish the Heat Sink off....... what do you guys think?



My 40A Element SSRs



Some of my 22mm Panel LEDs arrived, still waiting for the others.



Some of my cable arrived to, I went with 6mm 53A cable for the main power in, elements etc etc in red, black and earth.

For the rest of the general wiring I have gone for 2mm 25A cable.

Thinking on it now 2mm sounds a bit thin, it is rated at 25A so should be just fine?

That's about it for the moment, all comments welcomed.

[Belter]

How big are your pots? I take it you have a 6kw element in each?

[barneey]

Throw away those sensors and buy some longer better quality ones. Assuming your build is wall mounted they wont be long enough anyway.

[Jay7792]

How big are your pots? I take it you have a 6kw element in each?

Hello mate, pots are 15 Gallon, elements will either be 3kw or 4.5kw

Jay

[Jay7792]

Throw away those sensors and buy some longer better quality ones. Assuming your build is wall mounted they wont be long enough anyway.

Hello mate, yep I was planning on upgrading the sensors to PT100's

Jay

[Belter]

A 25A ssr would be perfectly acceptable for a 4.5kw element?

[Jay7792]

A 25A ssr would be perfectly acceptable for a 4.5kw element?

Hey Belter thanks for the info, I was following the parts list on the Electric Brewery website and they stated 40A, it's nice to hear from people over here in the uk who know though:)

What are you thoughts on the power in supply, my system will at maximum use 2x 4.5kw elements ( should not be both on at same time) EB website says 32A but I have seen people use 16A supply?

Jay

[Belter]

Assuming your element is spec'd to 230V then you're already at 20A for each element.