Deep Six Brewing System - v2.0

Yakima 728
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Yeah, I'm no cinematographer and I don't think anyone will be calling me up to do voiceovers, but I think the videos get the overall point of my rig across...
 
ALL that equipment and you're using BUBBLE WRAP for a lid!?! :)

Just kidding, the system looks great! Nice job!
 
1 Tier, 2 Keggle, single pump HERMS - $400.00

Touch Screen PID + automation software - $500.00

Bubble Wrap MLT Lid - Priceless
 
kladue said:
Outstanding job there, how long will you be able to resist the impulse to expand and improve this system.
Click to expand...

I am working on him to replace that HLT/HEX recirculation system. Which btw probably works fine, but pales in the shadow of the rest of that system. I'm thinking a 4-jet direct draw/return whirlpool set-up with a small manifold and a march pump. You know you want to do it! :p
 
I am still new to the whole brewing world, and am already becoming more addicted by the day. Having seen this setup for the first time ever, I am a combination of baffled, surprised, amazed, excited and scared because of that amazing setup. You've already received several cheers for your work... I'm just going to add to that.

great job, I can only dream of being that innovative with my brewing. :ban:
 
Hey now, bubblewrap is some badass stuff! I had to fight my boys for that piece... heh. I'll get some proper lids in due time...

Korndog, I bought a thrumometer to put on the backside of the therminator but haven't put it in place yet due to it using 3/8" hose barbs and everything else in my setup is 1/2". For now, after the system is primed, I just run it as slow as it will go, which brings it all the way down to the same temp as the tap water.

And as far as further upgrading my system - heh - I don't believe it will ever be exactly done. But I will say after talking with Kladue, Yuri, and BrewPastor and picking up the two 30 gallon steam kettles, I'm already toying with the idea of a one barrel system powered by steam... someday. heh
 
John Beere said:
Korndog, I bought a thrumometer to put on the backside of the therminator but haven't put it in place yet due to it using 3/8" hose barbs and everything else in my setup is 1/2". For now, after the system is primed, I just run it as slow as it will go, which brings it all the way down to the same temp as the tap water.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my thrumometer is sitting in a corner too. I ended up using a 1/2" SS tee and screwed a dial thermo, into it.
 
first .... This is amazing. Very cool.

I would like to suggest something for safety. What about adding some moisture sensors to look out for that short? While I realize you are gfci out the yang, the moisture sensors like we use in marine environments for electronics will catch a leak before it becomes an issue.

Also I thought it worth mentioning that anyone building something like this needs to be sure to add drip-loops to their lines.
 
Yeah, I am still working on the "safety" side of the project... not dismissing its importance - but I do have a master "oh ****" switch that kills everything already in place. I hadn't brewed in forever it seemed due to all this personal crap I have going on and decided to chanced it. I'll look into those moisture sensors you mentioned.

Oh another note, I forgot to mention that I hit 92% efficiency on that batch yesterday. I had always got around 80% with my previous setup. Specifically, I doughed-in at 104 and held it for 20 minutes for the acid rest; then 126 for 20 minutes for the Protein Rest; then 152 for 60 minutes for the Saccharification rest; then 170 for Mash out.
 
John Beere said:
Yeah, I am still working on the "safety" side of the project... not dismissing its importance - but I do have a master "oh ****" switch that kills everything already in place. I hadn't brewed in forever it seemed due to all this personal crap I have going on and decided to chanced it. I'll look into those moisture sensors you mentioned.

Oh another note, I forgot to mention that I hit 92% efficiency on that batch yesterday. I had always got around 80% with my previous setup. Specifically, I doughed-in at 104 and held it for 20 minutes for the acid rest; then 126 for 20 minutes for the Protein Rest; then 152 for 60 minutes for the Saccharification rest; then 170 for Mash out.
Click to expand...

Not bad, but still 8% to go :D
 
John Beere said:
Oh another note, I forgot to mention that I hit 92% efficiency on that batch yesterday. I had always got around 80% with my previous setup. Specifically, I doughed-in at 104 and held it for 20 minutes for the acid rest; then 126 for 20 minutes for the Protein Rest; then 152 for 60 minutes for the Saccharification rest; then 170 for Mash out.
Click to expand...

Gosh, sorry to hear that. Do you think the setup is responsible for that piss-poor efficiency? Perhaps you should take up a new hobby.

I hate show-offs! :) j/k
 
You have out done yourself Gabe. All the guys that see this will want automation if they are really into brewing but they have to realize that there is a lot of work to be done on this even though you have a working version. This reminds me of working in the medical plastics production line as we had touch screen controls and they could tell you anything you wanted to know like the percentage of errors for any station to graphs of any process, temperatures etc. I'm sure you want to know the temperature after the chiller and other items as well but us who are the onlookers have to wait until you have the time to do all that is needed. Again I want to say congratulations on an awesome system.
 
John Beere said:
I had an issue last night that I didn't have a chance to look at until I started to re-test this AM - the circuit for the 220v heating element was not turning off at the relay when it was supposed to... the LED on the relay would toggle off, but the power wouldn't. After asking around (thanks kladue), my hunch of what was causing it turned out to be right - the relay was getting too hot.

So I did what any good DIYer / Modder would do on a Sunday night when there wasn't anywhere to go buy a heatsink - I scavenged. I ended up disassembling a small 12v fridge that was powered by a peltier cooler. After removing the peltier cooler and hacking around, turned out to be a perfect fit - even the bolt pattern matched up - although it isn't the prettiest thing. It is pretty much hidden from the front of my rig, so I'm OK with it.

I'm running one last test with it now that everything has been reassembled and it is working great. Thank God I didn't ruin that relay - that would have been several days wait to replace...

Here's a photo:
DSC00631.jpg
Click to expand...

I was asking myself after reading your # 2 post reply after seeing the picture you had with all six SSR's in a tight group this producing a lot of heat, seems you found this out. I recall every SSR available on the net always had a large heat sink recommended next to it. A oversized heat sink on a SSR operating near its maximum amperage output will make it live longer than the minimum heatsink for the SSR used. I replaced many VFD units that failed due to being operated in overly high air temperture conditions.
 
I'll get this project back on track as soon as I can... have been dealing with personal issues for some time now but starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
 
Glad to hear you are going to start working on this again. Even more important, I'm happy to hear you are persevering through w/e is going on! Perhaps it's not really "light" at the end of the tunnel, but a pint of some high tech beer!
 
did you ever price out how much this all costs? i was crawling through but couldnt find anything on the subject..eventually i want to do something similar, probably with c++ instead....i dont know GUI programing :(
 
John,
I am going to set aside what I think about the system for just a second and say some things maybe some have said.

1. It must have taken some kind of imagination to come up with this
2. It must have taken a very, very intelligent individual to design it
3. It must have taken some mad, mad skills to build it/write the software

Nice, nice work.

Oh, and I almost forgot. I like the system. Copyright that software and liscence the software and system to be sold at NorthernBrewer, and you've got yourself a money maker. :mug:
 
Just catching up on this thread. Sorry if this has been mentioned, but have you checked out this?

Embedded Control Concepts: Products

I've been reading the beta tester feedback. You can either just use the web interface directly, or write some custom HTTP code in front of it. Has more features than any arduino setup I was thinking about.

Most OS's suck at "real time" stuff (like what a PID does) - luckily, I guess brewing temps are okay with only tens of milliseconds granularity. I'd be interested in how the embedded system actually performs. It seems you can load a "config file" as well. Some quick perl/python/whatever to convert BeerXML, and off you go... Maybe??

It may be interesting to see how/if this could tie into John's system/ideas.
 
I've looked at the website. It's very interesting. But one thing I don't quite get is why the outputs are only 5vdc. I can't find any solenoid valves that are compatible with this, so that means you need multiple relays to use this system with something like a Brutus 10.

Maybe I am missing something... Someone explain it to me?

Thanks!
Michael


bakins said:
Just catching up on this thread. Sorry if this has been mentioned, but have you checked out this?

Embedded Control Concepts: Products

I've been reading the beta tester feedback. You can either just use the web interface directly, or write some custom HTTP code in front of it. Has more features than any arduino setup I was thinking about.

Most OS's suck at "real time" stuff (like what a PID does) - luckily, I guess brewing temps are okay with only tens of milliseconds granularity. I'd be interested in how the embedded system actually performs. It seems you can load a "config file" as well. Some quick perl/python/whatever to convert BeerXML, and off you go... Maybe??

It may be interesting to see how/if this could tie into John's system/ideas.
Click to expand...
 
datamike said:
I've looked at the website. It's very interesting. But one thing I don't quite get is why the outputs are only 5vdc. I can't find any solenoid valves that are compatible with this, so that means you need multiple relays to use this system with something like a Brutus 10.

Maybe I am missing something... Someone explain it to me?
Click to expand...

It's only meant to control relays, not anything directly.
 
Wow, I'm totally new to brewing - but that thing is something to aspire to, definitely.
 
I think I'm going to brew today... haven't had a chance to in over three months now due to personal issues. The rig hasn't changed since I last left it, but I've sourced the PH probe and amplifier and plan on adding it in the next few weeks.

Now, what sounds good today? I'm thinking a Steamer...
 
John Beere said:
I think I'm going to brew today... haven't had a chance to in over three months now due to personal issues. The rig hasn't changed since I last left it, but I've sourced the PH probe and amplifier and plan on adding it in the next few weeks.

Now, what sounds good today? I'm thinking a Steamer...
Click to expand...

Cool. Glad to hear you're putting this to use. I'm sure everyone would love to see some video of this thing in action if you have time for it. Regardless, have a great brew session.
 
John Beere said:
I think I'm going to brew today... haven't had a chance to in over three months now due to personal issues. The rig hasn't changed since I last left it, but I've sourced the PH probe and amplifier and plan on adding it in the next few weeks.

Now, what sounds good today? I'm thinking a Steamer...
Click to expand...


not a Cleveland steamer, right? You're thinking a California Common.
 
lordbeermestrength said:
not a Cleveland steamer, right? You're thinking a California Common.
Click to expand...

Oh, absolutely a Cleveland Steamer... I won't go into details yet, but it is a new style I'm perfecting with a very "special" ingredient. heh

Nah, I think I'll do a recipe I made, but haven't brewed yet, I've dubbed "Anchor Overboard"...
 
datamike said:
I've looked at the website. It's very interesting. But one thing I don't quite get is why the outputs are only 5vdc. I can't find any solenoid valves that are compatible with this, so that means you need multiple relays to use this system with something like a Brutus 10.

Maybe I am missing something... Someone explain it to me?

Thanks!
Michael
Click to expand...

Almost all of the SSR's I find on e-bay work with as little as 3V.

Linc
 
Wow this thing is simply amazing. My hopes and dreams were to build something like a Brutus 10, but you just took a sledge and completely crushed them.

JB, after checking out your setup, I was wondering if you could answer this for me. Do you have any idea which would be more efficient, cheaper, and consistent to use? A Brutus 10 deal or a HERMS like yours (minus the automated program and touchscreen).

Excellent work by the way, I only wish I had the 'handy' skills you have to complete projects like you do. You are the homebrew DIY master.
 

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