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120V, Single Tier, RIMS Showoff Thread

 
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Troubs




Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Posts: 39



PostLink    Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 2:19 pm    Post subject: 120V, Single Tier, RIMS Showoff Thread Reply with quote


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So, I have finally completed my brew sculpture. This has been the culmination of 4 months of work and a lot more researching/reading/forum lurking then I would like to admit to. There were two main inspirations for this build. The stand was based on Sam Scott’s over at Aleiens Homebrew Club and others that have been done on Homebrewtalk and the control panel/wiring and almost everything else was obviously based on Kal’s design. Without the time and effort that these guys put into building and meticulously documenting everything (looking at you Kal!), I would have never attempted such a build.



What I wanted to construct was a single-tier, RIMS system that runs off a 20A service at 120V. I rent a 3rd floor apartment at the moment so having a brewery permanently installed, like Kal’s, was out of the question. Fortunately my parents live a couple miles away are cool enough to let me brew in their garage but it’s not my place so again, no permanent install. I also don’t have access to 240V where I brew so I have to rely on propane to heat my HLT and Boil Kettle.


THE STAND

I decided to build a weldless stand since I have zero welding experience and did not want to pay someone to do it. I also needed something fairly cheap. For these reasons I chose to make it out of galvanized perforated angle steel.



It measures 72” in length, 24" in height and is 16 ½” deep. 6 feet is longer than most stands. The storage area where this is going to wheeled after brew sessions was plenty long so that wasn’t a factor. Also I wasn’t sure how I was going to mount the heat exchange so I wanted to leave myself some room to play around with that. Lastly, I wanted the vessels to have plenty of spacing because I didn’t want the heat from the burners messing with anything adjacent (heat exchange, MLT). I’m not sure if that would have been an issue, but I didn’t want to take any chances. I purchased the following from McMaster Carr for the construction:

QTY------ITEM #----------DESCRIPTION
4--------8968K26------------1 ½" X 1 ½", 6’ length
7--------4664T65------------2 ¼" X 1 ½", 6’ length
18-------4664T22-----------Steel Corner Plate, 6"x 6"
3--------4664T61-----------Bolts W/nuts & Washers





I also purchased a cutoff wheel for a miter saw to cut this stuff to size. The stand rolls on four of these casters from surpluscenter.com. Since the stand is going to be stored outside in a garage, I wanted to give it some kind of protection against rust so I painted it with high-temp black paint that I found at Lowes. I not sure how effective it will be. It might just burn off after a couple brew sessions but we’ll see. After I cut all the pieces and test fitted everything, I disassembled it, scuffed it up with some sand paper, cleaned it with a vinegar based degreaser and gave it two coats of paint. Once it was all dry it and put back together, two chugger pumps and two banjo burners were installed. ½” black pipe and various fittings/hoses were used to plumb the propane.





HEAT EXCHANGE



The heat exchange for the RIMS system was made from 1 ½” stainless steel pipe and fittings that I purchased from murrayequipment.com. It is composed of the following:

QTY------ITEM #----------DESCRIPTION
1--------S4N11/2X6--------MALE NPT NIPPLE 1 ½” X 6"
2--------S4T11/2------------FEMALE NPT TEE 1 ½”
1--------S4B11/2X1--------1 ½" MALE NPT X 1" FEMALE NPT BUSHING
3--------S4B11/2X1/2-----1 ½" MALE NPT X 1/2" FEMALE NPT BUSHING
1--------S4B1/2X1/4-------1/2" MALE NPT X 1/4" FEMALE NPT BUSHING

A 120V/1,500 watt heating element provides the power at the bottom and an Auberins probe monitors the temp at the top. I will control the element using an Auberins PID. I added some quick-disconnects to the inlet and outlet for easy hose attachment. I ended up mounting this vertically on my brewstand with some u-bolts. The orientation was just for aesthetic purposes. Depending on how it performs, I may end up moving it around.




CONTROL PANEL





So obviously this was based on Kal’s design. It uses the same switches, lights, and receptacles and PIDs. Of course, I had to make some changes for my build. I went with a smaller enclosure since I was not going to have an amp meter or volt meter.



I chose the 12x10x8. If I had to do this build again, I would have definitely chosen a larger enclosure. It was a very tight fit to get everything in there! The panel controls the two pumps, the heating element and houses the three PIDS, a SSR and the heat sink. The PIDs monitor the temperature of the HLT, the Heat Exchange (top of the mash) and the exit of the mash tun (bottom of the mash). The “HLT Temp” and “Mash Exit Temp” PIDs only monitor temperature and don’t actually control anything. As I said before, the “Heat Exchange Temp” PID controls the element which intern will allow me to maintain mash temps.



I kept the wiring as close to Kal’s as possible. I have limited knowledge when it comes to electrical so the less modifying I had to do, the better. I made myself an “electrical map” which helped tremendously when it came time to wire this thing up and to triple check everything.







The main power comes from a 120v/20A receptacle. This will allow me to have both pumps and the element on at the same time if I so choose.


VARIOUS BITS

I’m using keggles for my set up. They have ½ couplers welded to them in the usual spots. The MLT has a false bottom and I will just be using a hose to sparge with (similar to the Brew-Magic system).



I used ½” brass quick-disconnects that I got from McMaster Carr throughout the system for easy hose transfers. I opted not to get stainless because of the cost. Also the brass ones have a 90-degree bend version as well as the straight which allow for a more direct connection.

Pipe to Hose Coupling
90-degree Quick Disconnect
Straight Quick Disconnect

The transfer hoses are ½” ID x ¾” OD silicone tubing.

I had to lengthen the wires for the temperature probes due to my build. I used 20AWG wire to accomplish this. The 20AWG was actually slightly bigger than the wire that Auberins uses but it still worked out.

I’m probably still a week away from actually being able to brew on this thing but I’ll let you know how it goes! Mug

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kal
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Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice work! Looks great!

Kal

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rmessick




Joined: 20 Feb 2011
Posts: 123
Location: Turners Falls, MA


PostLink    Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 2:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

kal wrote:
Nice work! Looks great!


I agree! Nice work and great documentation of the process - thanks for sharing!

-Dick
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pola0502ds




Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 290
Location: poland, Ohio


PostLink    Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sweet, another 120v control panel build and a RIMS system. I'm in the same boat as you..

Here is a link to my thread and some pics. it's not completely done yet but pretty close.

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24807
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pola0502ds




Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 290
Location: poland, Ohio


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Question..

Say you typically do 1.5 qts of water per pound of grain for mashing in on a NON-RIMS system, with a RIMS system do you still use 1.5qts of water or do you increase it since some of the liquid will be in the pump, hoses, and rims tube?
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Troubs




Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Posts: 39



PostLink    Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2011 2:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I find that 1.5 qts is enough liquid
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you take a look at my step by step brewing instructions I mention I add 0.5 gallons to the strike water amount to account for hoses/HERMS:

Quote:
The gallons of strike water required = (pounds of grain x mash thickness) / 4.
Assume 1.25 qt/lb mash thickness for most beers. Lagers and lighter ales may get 1.5 - 2 qt/lb.

Example: If we're using 20 lbs of grain with a mash thickness of 1.25 qt/lb, we require (20 x 1.25)/4 = 6.25 gallons.

Our hoses and 50' HERMS coil hold 0.5 gallons, so we add that to the strike water too, so total strike water is 6.75 gallons.


Kal

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milldoggy




Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 569
Location: Pottstown, PA


PostLink    Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very nice build! Looks great. Post some pics of it in action.
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Danrb




Joined: 07 Nov 2011
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just curious how this setup is doing? I've read that the zinc plating will separate at about the boiling point.
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pola0502ds




Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 290
Location: poland, Ohio


PostLink    Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the heating element?

I use a element on my RIMS tube so the liquid around the element doesn't get that hot but i'm sure the element itself does get as hot or hotter?

On one brew day I did scorch the wort and I had some build up on the element, I took some sand paper and removed it all including the zinc plating and since then I've brewed many times with the same element, no problems.
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Troubs




Joined: 23 Feb 2011
Posts: 39



PostLink    Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The setup has been running strong. No problems with the zinc plating. I do have to open the RIMS tube every other brew day to scrub the gunk off but other than that its been great!
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pola0502ds




Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 290
Location: poland, Ohio


PostLink    Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man, I really think I am becoming a clean freak. Is there honestly anything wrong with not cleaning your element after each brew?

I just can't put my system away without cleaning it. One thing happened to me that scared me and ever since then I clean everything really well. After one brew day, I back flushed both my pumps very very well. When i went to brew the following week I had taken my pump cover off to see how clean it actually was and there was a very small amount of slime and mold. It's because not enough air could get inside the pump to dry eveyrthing. I don't care how clean you think you, this will happen. If you have a rims tube and don't clean it each time, air it out, I bet you have a tun of mold in it unless you use PBW after each brew. However, is there anything wrong with that? Needless to say, right now I remove my pump covers and tear down my rims tube after each use, air them out, air dry a few days and the put back together. My rims tube is triclamp so it literally takes me 2 minutes to assemble and tear down.
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kal
Forum Administrator



Joined: 12 Dec 2010
Posts: 11116
Location: Ottawa, Canada

Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter


PostLink    Posted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 9:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pola0502ds wrote:
If you have a rims tube and don't clean it each time, air it out, I bet you have a tun of mold in it unless you use PBW after each brew. However, is there anything wrong with that?

Nope. Since you'll be boiling everything anyway. It's all on the hot side of the brewing process.

Kal

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We ship worldwide and support our products and customers for life.
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Danrb




Joined: 07 Nov 2011
Posts: 2



PostLink    Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Troubs wrote:
The setup has been running strong. No problems with the zinc plating. I do have to open the RIMS tube every other brew day to scrub the gunk off but other than that its been great!


Thanks! I read elsewhere that the zinc plating separates at around boiling temp, but I'm guessing you paint helps a lot. I like this build best and plan on copying it. Eventually I'd like to make an indoors natural gas brewery in my Basement. I just recently finished my basement and now will have to get new permits for running gas.

I'm not a fan of the electric heaters. Did I read that it takes a 50 amp circuit? My whole basement runs on 50 amps.

Dan
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pola0502ds




Joined: 14 Mar 2011
Posts: 290
Location: poland, Ohio


PostLink    Posted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How is the paint holding up on the stand. I used header paint and my burners burned right through it.
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