Category Archives: eHERMS Build

Brewing Log, eHERMS Build

Bulk buy and Porter brew

I brewed a porter on Sunday.  It was my first chance to try the brew bag and I am a big fan.  My mash tun cleanup was super simple.  I removed the grain and bag and placed it in a kitchen garbage bag so it did not leak as I carried it out to the compost pile.  I them simply dumped the bag out, rinsed it out, and hung it to dry. I ended up running close to 90% efficiency so my OG ended up at 1.059  which should result in a 6-6.2% ABV beer.  I wonder if the bag actually helped improve the efficiency?  Perhaps reducing channeling down the side of the mash tun?   Five days in and the gravity has dropped to 1.018.  I expect a drop of 6 to 8 more points in the next few days.  The sample was nice and hoppy so I do not plan on dry hopping.

I waited until this Sunday because my grain came in from my clubs group buy.  Homebrew clubs commonly work with a local brewery to do bulk buys once or twice a year.  I was able to pick up a 100lb of 2-row for $0.61/lb.  I also picked up a 55# sack of Maris Otter and Pilsen malt.

Now on to planning my big barleywine.

Brewing Log, eHERMS Build

Process Improvement Experimentation

I am thinking about starting to try some different techniques to make my brew day even easier without compromising the beer.

  • Using a Brew Bag. This is normally used for brew in a bag (BIAB) systems but can also be used in a dedicated mash tun.  I will continue to use my false bottom but the bag will allow easy removal and disposal of the grains after the mash is complete.  This will also cut down of the effort and time needed to clean the mash tun.
  • Pick up some iodine cheap to check for conversion completion rather than always mash a set time of 60 minutes.
  • Switch to batch sparging vs the current fly sparging.  This will eliminate the hour long sparge process.  I small efficiency loss is no big deal as long as it is consistent.   I can take this farther and stop doing a mash out.  Instead while I drain the first runnings I will bring the HLT up to 170 for the sparge water.  This will eliminate the 10 or so minutes it takes to heat the whole mash to 168 via recirculation.
  • Try low or no-chill brewing.  This will save time, reduce water waste, and add the chiller to one less thing I need to clean.   Folks in our local homebrewing club have been experimenting with this with success.
  • Build a single step beer line cleaning process for all 5 taps similar to this post. The only special step would be to remove the restrictor plate from the stout tap.
eHERMS Build, Keezer

New projects

I stared a post called new projects in June 2015, all it had was three additions I wanted to make to the brewery. I promptly forgot about it until today while looking through draft posts. Funny enough the three items are three of my more resent adds to the brewery.

  • Heating for fermentation
  • A beer gun for bottling
  • A pressurized racking system

I do heat my new brewing space but unless I am working in the space it is only in the 40s or 50s mid-winter. This means I need to heat my fermentation chamber. I am using the same FermWrap I use in the Keezer. This will also be useful for trying the new Norwegian Kveik yeast strains. These like to ferment hot and are very interesting and very different then the yeast I am used to. Check out Larsblog for info.

I finally splurged for a Blickman beer gun. I normally gravitate to DIY options and there are certainly lots of options to build a home made beer gun or counter pressure filler. In this case Blickman’s solution is very slick and what I can build with generic parts would not be as nice by a wide margin. For the price and savings of mine time researching/building/troubleshooting etc its a bargain.

The last item is focused on limiting oxygen exposure during transferring to kegs. This is detailed in a separate post.

eHERMS Build

Prepping for first brew day

Did some volume checks to find my dead spaces.   I also finished marking the sight glasses.  The boil kettle and HLT measure the full volume of the kettle.  The mash tun sight glass measures gallons above the false bottom.  I do not care about he volume below the false bottom since it has no effect on my mash thickness.  I may make a new dip tube for the mash tun to leave less sweet wort behind but I will first see if has a major impact on efficiency.  I am not concerned about having super high efficiency just very repeatable efficiency.

Boil Kettle and HLT  = 2.3qt/.575 Gallons
Mash tun under pickup = 3.5qt/.875 Gallons Made a new dip tube
Mash tun under pickup = 2.0qt/.500 Gallons
Mash tun under false bottom = 8.5qt/2.125 Gallons

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eHERMS Build

Setup for SYL-1512A

I used Auber SYL-1512A PIDs for the mash temperature displays.  These are not used in Kal’s original design.  The following is how I set them up.

Enter system configuration menu
1. push set
2. enter 0089
3. push set
In the system configuration menu change the follow entries
1. intY to PT100 (for probe type)
2. outY to 0 (output set to alarm only)
3. PSb to correct your temperature probe reading if necessary
Exit the system configuration menu

Optional – I have not set this filter value but I may if the temperature display is jumpy.

Enter tuning/performance menu
1. push set
2. enter 0036
3. push set
In the tuning/performance menu change the follow entries
1. filt to 1 (for weak filtering, default is 0 for no filtering)
Exit the tuning/performance menu

eHERMS Build

Panel is complete

The control panel is complete!  Amazingly all parts and pieces are functional, nothing was DOA.  I am waiting on a tag for the mute button, if you notice that missing.  I wired up and tested the elements and verified they work.  They pull about 21 amps according to the meter.

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eHERMS Build

Pump mounts

I decided to mount the pumps directly to the brewing stand.  I used rubber grommets to help isolate the pumps from the metal shelf.  They seem to have worked nicely.  There is no odd noises or vibration in the stand or pumps while they are running.

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eHERMS Build

Auber JSL-73B wiring

This seems to be a common question on the forums.  People looking to use Auber’s beer timer vs the more expensive Omega timer used by Kal.  Since the Auber timer is designed to do many events I wanted the push button on my panel to just dismiss/mute the alarm after each event.  You can wire it to function as a reset by moving the wire in pin 4 to pin 3.

jsl73b

eHERMS Build

A discussion on differences

I based this project very closely on Kal’s design at www.theelectricbrewery.com.  If you do the same please try to use the links on his website to help support him.  I decided to make some changes to the design.  I will follow up after I start using the system if I think they add any value.

1. I added an extra temperature probe on the input of the mash tun.  This will let me monitor both the temperature going in and coming out of the mash tun.  Kal does not monitor this since he has found that his system and process makes the HLT temperature the same as the mash in temperature, there for  it would be redundant.  Hopefully this will be the same case for my system, but who does not want extra bling and it will help me know if anything is going wrong.  Instead of using two SYL-2352 1/16 DIN PIDs I used cheaper and smaller SYL-1512A 1/32 DIN PIDs.  These are for temperature display and alarm purposes only so I do not need the features of the larger PID.  I also swapped the two position alarm switch with a three position so I can set an alarm for either PID.

2. I used the Auber JSL-73B timer for for beer brewing vs the Omega timer.  I think the ergonomics are better on the omega but I like the timer options on the auber better, plus it is cheaper.  I hooked the red momentary button on the panel to the mute not the reset.  The wiring is as follows. Pins: 10-8=120v power, 9=neutral, 7=alarm switch, 4-2=mute.  The mute is simply a loop between 4 and 2 with the momentary switch in between.  There is no need to supply power or neutral like the omega.  I will add a post with a drawing.

3. Box orientation.  My panel opens upward.  This was originally done because was going to set the panel on a table are run the electric into the side of the panel.  That plan changed but it does look more symmetrical and the cable plate is not an issue now.

4. Combined amp/volt meter.  Picked up a cheap combo meter off ebay.  It runs on 240v so there is no need for the doorbell transformers.  This frees space inside and on the front of the panel and removes parts.

5. Added an emergency stop.  It is simply wired before the power lead to the power switch.

6. Used a combined buzzer/light for the alarm.

7. I did install a safe start relay.  I mistakenly purchased at relay with a 240v coil.  The only change I needed to make was to swap the neutral lead with a lead to the other 120v leg.  As a side effect the safe start relay now checks everything in the panel.  Requires good 120v from leg A and leg B to power the coil on the relay.  It checks the state of the pump and element switches and finally it requires a good neutral to activate the main power contactor.

8. The guys at chugger do not like you cutting the standard plug off their pumps so I used a standard two plug outlet for the pumps.

9. I used Chugger pumps vs March pumps.  Chuggers were cheaper and it seems like they have worked out their earlier kinks.

10. I used less expensive kettles.  They are 20 gallon stainless Concord stock pots (18″ wide x 19″ tall).  At $99 each they are much cheaper then the Blichmann boil makers.  The Blichmann’s are far nicer but I could not justify the cost.  I used a false bottom from jaybird that is built like a tank.

11. Cam-locks vs quick-disconnects.  I doubt these mater much.  I like the cam-locks because they are more open so there is less chance of things getting gunk’ed up in places that are hard to get to.

12.  I am using a whirlpool with immersion chiller vs a plate/counter flow chiller.  I am also not using a hop stopper but plan to build a “hop dam” in the kettle that when combined with the whirlpool will keep trub away from the kettle pickup.  I am also planing on upgrading my chiller to a The King Cobra by JaDeD brewing.  This should match or even exceed the performance of most plate/counter flow options.

eHERMS Build

It has guts

More progress.  All the 10 and 14 gauge wire has been run.  I need to finish the 22 gauge for the temperature probes and volt/amp meter.  The electrician will hopefully be installing my spa panel soon so I will be able to start testing the panel.

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