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our distillery BCS...

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:48 pm
by clearwaterbrewer
One of the first runs with my homebrew controller attached to the production rig:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4zM76VxuUM

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:54 pm
by clearwaterbrewer

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2015 8:00 pm
by JonW
That's some pretty cool shit!

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:48 am
by pngaudioguy
That is very cool. Lots of nifty equipment beyond what is needed for beer making there!

Two quick and completely unrelated questions to the process. Are those 3 way illuminated switches? What part of the process is making them blink like that?

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 3:54 am
by clearwaterbrewer
pngaudioguy wrote:That is very cool. Lots of nifty equipment beyond what is needed for beer making there!

Two quick and completely unrelated questions to the process. Are those 3 way illuminated switches? What part of the process is making them blink like that?
Yes, they are 3-way switches for manual(pwm)-off-auto(bcs) operation. They are in the auto position, with the BCS supplying 70% power. Each on a 5500W camco, so 7700W.
they are 120V LED lights, that is why the third one 'glows'; a bit since the element is unplugged. Most of my process states have 2-5 elements full on, but I was playing around with lower power for stabilizing the column. The BCS also controls a relay board that is wired to a 3-pole contactor in the other panel. That contactor powers 3 more camco elements. Eventually I will eliminate my brewery panel and have the panel on the left dedicated to the distillery, with maybe one SSR driven element, the other 4 driven by contactors.

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 4:10 am
by clearwaterbrewer
Oh, and let me throw my 4-20mA info in there for the powers that be... I have a *separate* PID (cough-cough) that you see sitting in a gray box above the 2 panels. This *separate* PID (cough-cough) controls the temperature of the reflux condenser (above the glass column) with a johnson controls VA9104-GGA-2S variable ball valve (blue box on wall behind the glass column on the right, 'GGA' is the 2-10v/4-20mA version) that limits flow through the condenser... this holds temps to within 1 degree, which allows me to precisely control the output ABV of the alcohol.. It would be a huge benefit to be able to have this *separate* PID(cough-cough) integrated into the BCS so I could have a programmed set of temp steps and ramps.

Who else wants the BCS to provide direct control of a variable ball valve? let the powers that be know!

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:02 am
by Joyride-Brewing
That's pretty cool, and a nice BCS setup too!

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 2:57 pm
by clearwaterbrewer
Video of the BCS operating with new 4.0 upgrade

https://youtu.be/D18681HgTPE

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 2:22 pm
by Bayoujeeper
Sweet setup! What mount is that holding the iPad on the panel? Looking to do something similar myself..

Re: our distillery BCS...

Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2015 2:06 pm
by clearwaterbrewer
belkin refrigerator mount, https://www.google.com/search?q=F5L098tt I just got 2 more for $12.95 on amazon, but the deal looks gone now...

(and a spare/new ipad - refurb ipad gen3-retina-3g for $210 from newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 8HF3DK1819)