Kauri Road Brewery 2.7

[Barry]

Finally got my wiring done, sporadic nights over a couple of weeks but I got there in the end.

I would recommend to anyone doing this to set enough time aside to do it in one bang :)

There's enough to this system that just when you have your head around it you discover some other little piece of complexity that makes you think really hard about what you're doing.

My timer is different from Kal's one on theelectricbrewery.com so that took a fair amount of thinking and research but in the end it was actually easier.

Now I have to wire a plug into the end of it and test thoroughly, calibrate sensors, etc before mounting it on the brewstand and making some damn beer.

Cheers.

[Barry]

That was with my old setup, which was running on a dedicated circuit that happened to be the old hot water cylinder supply – thus on the pilot circuit. Until I tried to brew through 6pm one evening and the pilot circuit went off. Lost boil. Quickly connected up a standard 10A 3 pin plug and plugged into a wall outlet and used that ever since, because bugger losing my boil half way through again.

Except of course that circuit wasn't up to the 3000W element, and I guess the phase connection in that blue plug might've been a touch loose and became the weak point in the circuit.

It heated the internal plastic in the plug, which then became crystallised and brittle. Lucky it didn't burn the house down.

Lesson learned from that, this new system is earthed up the whazoo, full of every safety feature (mains in and each element has it's own a mechanical relay for full isolation), extra headspace on every component (120A mechanical and 40A solid state relays). And a sparky will be sorting out supply and RCD on the switchboard. No chances this time round, I want to KNOW it's safe.

[Adam Sparks]

Yeah good lesson! I didn't note the size of your DPDT relays, they are huge! I have the 50amp versions and 25amp SSR's. Im hoping the relays will be ok for my 5.5kw elements. I did splurge and buy Kals custom heatsink so fingers crossed it works well.

[Adam Sparks]

What sort of meter did you go with Barry? I don't notice any transformers of power supplies.

[Barry]

A combined volt/amp meter that runs off 240VAC.

This one

You can see the donut transformer (black blob) at the bottom of the first image, it has 2 phase legs going through the middle – one high draw on it's way to the HLT SSR, the other a low draw on it's way into the hot bus.

[Adam Sparks]

Thats a really elegant solution!

[dean fisher]

Barry those blue plugs are easily sourced as they are standard caravan outlets, if you need help sorting any electrical bits and pieces let me know and I can organise for you (perks of being a sparky)

[Barry]

Cheers Dean!
My dad has accounts at a few wholesalers, but I'll let you know if I can't locate any.

[Barry]

Threw a 3 pin plug on it last night and plugged it in for a little light testing.

IT ALL WORKS! Amaze.

The volt/amp meter is upside down :( So I cut the silicon and switched it round, having to re-route some wires. That was a bit of a pain but no major.

The illuminated switches turns out need their own supply to light up, so I have to do a little bit more wiring for that.

But the PIDs, relays, SSRs, alarms, all work as expected. Pretty stoked with that effort.

[Adam Sparks]

Congrats Barry, that must feel good… Bet you haven't made any beer in a while!

[Barry]

I haven't made beer at home since February 2013. I cannot wait to get this thing working, all this patience is very trying.