General Questions - Brew System

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datamike
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Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:40 pm

General Questions - Brew System

Post by datamike »

Hi,

I've been brewing for over 20 years and am a BJCP certified judge. I am finally building the brewing system of my dreams. I stumbled upon the ECC BCS460, and it seems to be what I need.

I'll probably have many question in the next few months, so hopefully someone here can provide some help.

The system I am building is similar to the single-tier, 2 pump "Brutus" systems. (http://www.alenuts.com/Alenuts/brutus_build.html) So, it seems that I can use the BCS460 in place of the Love controllers to control the solenoid gas valves. I am guessing that the 460 and the SSRs will reside in a metal box. First question: the pumps, and valves will also require manual switches, but reading the 460 docs, it seems like I can use the user interface for this as well. Am I correct here?

I am also planning on using the 460 for temp controlled fermentation. I'll have a stainless conical inside a freezer. Can I use the 460 for this? Does the 460 require that a PC always be connected? Or do you just use the web interface to set it up and then can disconnect the PC?

This type of process control stuff is very new to me, so please bear with my newbie questions.

Thanks!
Michael
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ECC
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Re: General Questions - Brew System

Post by ECC »

datamike wrote:First question: the pumps, and valves will also require manual switches, but reading the 460 docs, it seems like I can use the user interface for this as well. Am I correct here?

I am also planning on using the 460 for temp controlled fermentation. I'll have a stainless conical inside a freezer. Can I use the 460 for this? Does the 460 require that a PC always be connected? Or do you just use the web interface to set it up and then can disconnect the PC?
Hello Michael, welcome. You are correct. On the Main Control page, the output control bar at the top of the display (I think I call it Output Display Bar in the doc), those Outputs are clickable. If they aren't being controlled by an active process, you can click them to toggle the output manually.

The external control box/switches aren't technically necessary, but I know that many of the BCS-460 owners still use them. Some people use 3 way switches, On/Off/Auto to control pumps, more as a convenience for priming pumps or running cleaning cycles. But its really personal preference.

The BCS-460 can absolutely be used for fermentation control. Just switch the output over to 'cool' mode. You can set a single state to hold that temperature, or do multi day ramps with ramp mode. The BCS-460 is a standalone device. In fact, sitting on the network is more natural for the controller than being directly connected to a computer. It is itself a computer, and just uses the network to interface with the user for programming and monitoring.
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mpilchuk
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Re: General Questions - Brew System

Post by mpilchuk »

datamike wrote:First question: the pumps, and valves will also require manual switches, but reading the 460 docs, it seems like I can use the user interface for this as well. Am I correct here?

I am also planning on using the 460 for temp controlled fermentation. I'll have a stainless conical inside a freezer. Can I use the 460 for this? Does the 460 require that a PC always be connected? Or do you just use the web interface to set it up and then can disconnect the PC?

Hi Michael,
You have stumbled across a great product for doing what you want to do. We are all learning how to use this thing so we will all figure it out as we go along. I am in the process of setting up a hot Liquor Tank using electricity and using the 460 to control it. I will mount the HTL up high and use gravity to move the water.

I plan also on controlling my mashing with it and of course controlling my fermentation temps. I have a Blichmann 14.5 gal. which I control temps on now with a Ranco controller.
Mitch
np0x
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Re: General Questions - Brew System

Post by np0x »

First question: the pumps, and valves will also require manual switches, but reading the 460 docs, it seems like I can use the user interface for this as well. Am I correct here?
Yes you can cycle the outputs via the UI.
I am also planning on using the 460 for temp controlled fermentation. I'll have a stainless conical inside a freezer. Can I use the 460 for this? Does the 460 require that a PC always be connected? Or do you just use the web interface to set it up and then can disconnect the PC?
I am doing this right now, i have 6 carboys actively fermenting at 78 degrees(belgians finishing out) in a fridge, it's cold here right now, so I am (obviously) heating my fridge to a stead 78 degrees. I am using the bcs to do this, the bcs easily acts as a two stage controller(to do heating and cooling if ambient is going above and below target temps).
Image

And NO you do not need to leave anything connected, one of my favorite details about the bcs is it's small energy foot print, this is not a big pc, it uses 1 watt of juice, and works independently of any computer, so you just configure it and forget it.
Image

Also the temperature probes come with a reasonably long lead(4 or 6 feet) but this can be extended with low resistance wire almost any distance due to the high resistance of the thermisisters(10K ohm) and the low resistance of wire adding almost nothing to the resistance. Additionally you could if it were an issue(which it wouldn't be) tweak the configuration of the temperature probes in the BCS ui to compensate for any resistance introduced by a really long run of wire. I am still investigating whether the use of shielded wire for long runs is required. I will post back when I know more about that.
Check out the Brew Buddy for iphone controlling your bcs-460.
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