thomasjr16
Well-Known Member
After ordering my kettles last March and expecting to be fully operational for when they arrived in August, learning of and planning for the arrival of my baby boy (Finnley Kolsch... Can you tell my wife and I are beer fans???) chewed up build time and funding for the better part of the past year. At least my kettles were ordered and my wife was on board so I knew the project would be completed, just not as quickly as I anticipated. Now that he's here, the panel is just about wired, the kettles are setup on the brew stand counter (the base materials are in the basement and need to be constructed), the GFCI components are here, and only a few odds and ends are left that will be taken care of after one more visit to the LHBS and big box store.
My plan for the system was to have something that allowed 5.5 gal batches but could handle 12.5 gal (or slightly larger) batches if the need arrived as I have had more and more requests to make beer for family parties as my brewing career develops. The Stout kettles, while a little pricier up front than first planned, meet these requirements and have a few bells and whistles that I just liked (welded triclamp fittings, domed BK, raised bottom drain MT). I decided last March when I ordered my kettles that my next system needed to be electric and INSIDE as the temp was a lovely (20F) and I couldn't wipe things down fast enough before icing occurred during cleanup.
As for the control panel, I started with the pricier prebuilt PID and BCS panels and slowly worked back to a simple (and much much cheaper) single PID, single outlet, and single temperature sensor panel that would be built by me after I fully wrapped my head around the electrical components. I know that having to swap out the element plugs when moving from the the HLT to BK is an "extra step" but I wanted another guarantee that I wouldn't dry fire the BK without having to add and wire a float switch (plus I couldn't bring myself to drill a hole in my shinny new kettles).
More to come but here's pics of the progress so far, my panel was partially wired over the past two days with help from my brew master in training, the wood for my brew stand base is in location of the new brewery, and the 30 amp GFCI cord (which is a beast!!) is waiting for the plug and breaker to be installed off the main panel this week so I can hopefully test out the panel before heading back to work after the holiday break.
Once I'm done, I'll post a detailed part list and wiring diagram in case others can benefit from what I've put together / researched over the past year.
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The eagle eye view my little brewer, double checking my work as I progress...
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I was planning on a spa panel for GFCI protection but stumbled upon and scored this GFCI cord while up with the newborn at 2:30am the other week. The cord is 15 feet long and the price was right as I've seen others that were very costly. I also saw that this cord is featured on electricbrewrey.com but couldn't find any available on eBay or Amazon.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946775.123011.jpg
My plan for the system was to have something that allowed 5.5 gal batches but could handle 12.5 gal (or slightly larger) batches if the need arrived as I have had more and more requests to make beer for family parties as my brewing career develops. The Stout kettles, while a little pricier up front than first planned, meet these requirements and have a few bells and whistles that I just liked (welded triclamp fittings, domed BK, raised bottom drain MT). I decided last March when I ordered my kettles that my next system needed to be electric and INSIDE as the temp was a lovely (20F) and I couldn't wipe things down fast enough before icing occurred during cleanup.
As for the control panel, I started with the pricier prebuilt PID and BCS panels and slowly worked back to a simple (and much much cheaper) single PID, single outlet, and single temperature sensor panel that would be built by me after I fully wrapped my head around the electrical components. I know that having to swap out the element plugs when moving from the the HLT to BK is an "extra step" but I wanted another guarantee that I wouldn't dry fire the BK without having to add and wire a float switch (plus I couldn't bring myself to drill a hole in my shinny new kettles).
More to come but here's pics of the progress so far, my panel was partially wired over the past two days with help from my brew master in training, the wood for my brew stand base is in location of the new brewery, and the 30 amp GFCI cord (which is a beast!!) is waiting for the plug and breaker to be installed off the main panel this week so I can hopefully test out the panel before heading back to work after the holiday break.
Once I'm done, I'll post a detailed part list and wiring diagram in case others can benefit from what I've put together / researched over the past year.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946369.286669.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946397.174671.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946451.782285.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946486.710604.jpg
The eagle eye view my little brewer, double checking my work as I progress...
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946636.206443.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946530.653702.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946554.126150.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946663.156918.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946698.755229.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946730.493906.jpg
I was planning on a spa panel for GFCI protection but stumbled upon and scored this GFCI cord while up with the newborn at 2:30am the other week. The cord is 15 feet long and the price was right as I've seen others that were very costly. I also saw that this cord is featured on electricbrewrey.com but couldn't find any available on eBay or Amazon.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1419946775.123011.jpg