Brew day--RIIIPA

Got a pretty early start today and things have gone well. Dropped the hops at 11:00 and man those citra hops smell good!!!

Had more volume than expected so I had to add a half hour to the bull time to cook it off. No worries though.

Learned that my rtd connections don't work for 5 gallon batches as they are to high. ...... oh well I'll just have to make 10 gallons from now on.

It's been a while

Well,  the backyard brewery has a new back yard.  I am now located in Bristol Rhode island. I have yet to brew a batch here, but hopefully soon 

Re-worked immersion / HERMS coil

I felt that during my first batch using the new system the temp took too long to change during recirculation. So I took apart my old counter flow chiller and added it to the other chiller.

So now my cooling/heating run is twice as long and should be much faster and more efficient. I've also added a second pump and another PID and temp probe.

Can't wait to brew again to see how it all works

Upgrades....

I felt that I needed a little more control and info during brewing, so I cut a couple more holes in the control box to accommodate another RTD connection, another PID, and a buzzer with a switch. It was pretty cool that just as I got done cutting out the square for the PID the mail arrived, and in the mail was the new PID!!

Now I just have to wait for the switch and buzzer to arrive, unfortunately they are coming from china so it may be another week or two.

Some other upgrades include another pump which will serve to recirculate the liquid inside the HLT/brew pot to keep temps even and aid in whirl pooling during the cooling process. I also need to install the RTD probe into the pot. So that means another 3 holes in the brew pot!! That will make 6. I haven't done that yet so pics of that later.
Once done, I'll be able to brew another batch with or without the buzzer and switch.
That's it for now

Ed

found a new site for making beer labels...it is called Pixlr, and I was using the "express" editor.  Super easy to use once you get the hang of it....  Made these.....

And also this one

These are great, because I was thinking I wanted something simple like these!

IT WORKS!!!!!

After some troubles with the control box, I got a guy who is a retired electrical engineer to come look at it.
A couple wrong connections and settings later the element fired up and I boiled some water. (Very exciting!!!!)
So here's a couple pics and video. I think the system needs to "learn " a little bit because it was overshooting the temps a bit

Steam Hood/Vent

Wow, it's been a while....finally picked the spot where I'm gonna set up. I reworked a work bench in the basement, lowering it, and installing the 4 prong receptacle to plug the control box into.

Then I made a hood to collect the 1-2 gallons of evaporation from the boil. I knocked a hole in the wall to vent it to the garage, right next to the smaller one that I use to send the beer from the chiller into the conical fermentor when I'm brewing in the garage.

I have to wait for the liquid nails to dry before I attempt to install the hood and connect it to the vent. Maybe tomorrow I can test it out!!!!!