Pre-planning stages of BCS based homebrewery

[pngaudioguy]

So, I've started putting my thoughts on the actual programming process onto paper for my system. Here's what I'm thinking, based on the way I envision I'd like to have a brewday go, and the amount of automation I'm targeting. I know it's a really long post, but I'd love to get feedback from those of you who have already been using your systems on how this looks conceptually. It was all nicely formatted in Word with indents and whatnot, but copy/paste made it blah. Sorry about that.

Brew Day Process with BCS – v1.0
Process 0 – Fill and heat strike water
Check hose connections (HLT out to pump 1 in, pump 1 out to HLT in, MLT out to pump 2 in, pump 2 out to HERMS in, HERMS out to MLT in) Open pump 1 out valve and HLT out valve.
Stage 0 – Start brew day timer. Wait for DIN1 (HLT element safe volume)
Stage 1 – Output on for HLT element and pump 1, heat to strike temp, based on TEMP0 (HLT). (Manually turn off water fill when strike volume + HERMS minimum volume filled)
Exit: Alarm, HLT element off, pump 1 off, wait for input.
Stage 2 – Move hose from pump 1 out to fill MLT (over edge of MLT.) Press DIN0 button to continue. Pump 1 on. Wait for enough water to transfer to cover MLT out. Open HERMS valve, pump 2 out valve, then MLT out valve.
Exit: When pump is primed, press DIN0 button.
Stage 3 – Pump 1 and pump 2 on. HLT element set to maintain strike temp, based on TEMP0 (HLT).
Exit: When DIN3 (strike volume sensor on sight glass) goes positive, pump 1 off, maintain pump 2 and HLT element. Reset hose from pump 1 out HLT in. If HLT volume insufficient for sparge requirements, add water to HLT.
Stage 3 – Press DIN0 to move stage. Pump 1 on, Pump 2 on, HLT element set to maintain mash start temp, based on TEMP1 (MLT) Add crushed grains to MLT.
Exit: When grains added, flow rate established, and at mash temp, press DIN0. Process stays active with running day timer.

Process 1 – Mash (Likely need multiple processes depending on single temp/step mash.)
Stage 0 – Start mash duration timer. Pump 1 on, pump 2 on, HLT element set to mash start temp, based on TEMP1 (MLT). While waiting for the mash to complete, move DIN3 (sight glass volume sensor) to BK sight glass and set for collection volume.
Exit: Timer for mash step duration, set to 0 if no protein rest.
Stage 1 – Pump 1 on, pump 2 on, HLT element set to mash rest temp, based on TEMP1 (MLT).
Exit: Timer for mash step duration starts when TEMP1=mash rest temp. Set to 0 if no second step.
Stage 2 – Pump 1 on, pump 2 on, HLT element set to mash main temp, based on TEMP1 (MLT).
Exit: Timer for mash step duration starts when TEMP1=mash main temp.
Stage 3 – Set HLT element to mash-out temp (168F), based on TEMP1 (MLT).
Exit: 10 minute timer when TEMP1=mash-out temp, alarm.
Stage 4 – All off. Turn valves off. Move hoses for pump 2 out to BK in, pump 1 out to HERMS in.
Exit: Wait for input.

Process 2 – Sparge
Stage 0 – Open valves, press DIN0 button. Pumps 1 and 2 on, match flow rates with pump out valves for continuous sparge. Add FWH to BK if used in recipe.
Exit: Wait for DIN2 (BK element safe volume.)
Stage 1 – BK element on at 100% duty cycle, pumps 1 and 2 stay on.
Exit: DIN3 (sight glass volume sensor)
Stage 2 – BK element on at 100% duty cycle, pumps 1 and 2 off.
Exit: TEMP2 (BK) reaches 205F. Alarm.

Process 3 – Boil
Stage 0 – Start boil and hops timer. BK element set at duty cycle for 1.5 gal/hr boil rate (experiment to figure out setting.)
Exit: First hop addition (I like the method brewstarke used with recipe utility - http://forum.embeddedcc.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2571) Alarm.

While boiling, move hoses: BK out to pump 2 in, pump 2 out to filter in, filter out to chiller in, chiller out to BK in. Add cleaner to remaining HLT water, use pump 1 in manual mode to circulate through HERMS coil (HLT out to pump in, pump out to HERMS in, HERMS out to HLT in.)

Stage 1 – Press DIN0 button when adding hops.
Exit: Hop addition timer. Alarm.
Stage 2 – Press DIN0 button when adding hops.
Exit: Hop addition timer. Alarm.
Stage 3 – Press DIN0 button when adding hops.
Exit: Hop addition timer. Alarm.
Stage 4 – Press DIN0 button when adding hops.
Exit: Boil timer reaches recipe duration. Alarm.
Stage 5 – Open valves to prime pump, then press DIN0 button. Pump 2 on, maintain BK element duty cycle.
Exit: 10 minute timer to sanitize chiller. Alarm.
Stage 6 – BK element off, turn on cooling water, adjust pump output rate.
Exit: TEMP3 (chiller output) <= target fermentation temp. Alarm.
Stage 7 – Pump 2 off. Close BK out valve. Move hose chiller out to fermenter in.
Exit: Wait for input.
Stage 8 – Open BK out valve, press DIN0, pump 2 on, start cool timer.
Exit: Wait for input. Stop timers when press DIN0 after transfer.

[oakbarn]

I have Processes saved for any beer I make. We remake the same beers over and over again, so I have a Mash Process and a Boil Process (with Hop Additions) all programmed in.

One thing that I found useful is to have my MLT pre grain water at the exact Strike Temp. I have the HLT Herms water also at that Strike Temp. Once the grain is added, I add cold water to adjust the HLT Temp to about 2 degrees above my desired Mash. I start the Timer after the Grain is in and I have obtained my Mash Profile Temp.

I "load" the Saved Processes before my brew day.


I also use a Timer to fill my HLT and BK. I heat the Strike water in the BK and have that pumped Primed and recycling water to itself while heating. I normally heat the BK SWtike water to + 15 degree F above my Strike Temp. This gets me just above my Stike Temp and it will cool down fairly quickly. I have found that it much easier to cool than heat the Strike Water.


You are certainly on the right track, but you will need to do a few brews before you can totally (if ever) nail down the "prefect" process.

My Brew Buddy always wants to do a "wet" run just with Water and no grain. You can try your process flow using just water and "reduced" Times and Temps to see where your issues are. The Great thing about the BCS is that you have 64 unique steps avaialable.

[oakbarn]

This is our process from adding Water to Grain in.
OUT 4 and 5 are Electro mechanical SS Ball Valves that are CR2-02 (close with no power). They are plumbed to fill my kettles. Currently I have no method to automate the propane but getting there. I have a manifold that connects all my kettles and we have Both SSRs and Manual switches for our pumps (Both must be on for a pump to pump). We time the water flow (thanks JonW!) and may have to make minor adjustments manually. We put a little water in our kettles (1 minute flow) then begin to heat while the rest is filling. We do log all the times and make adjustments in the Process Timers for the fill if they are significantly off. Most of the valves on the manifold are manual. The water in the HLT becomes the Sparge Water. The Small HERMS has a 1500w Element that we use Hysteresis to maintain the Mash Temp and it works very well.

This is what we do. I am sure that others may be more complex but as you can see, what you suggested for your process follows along these lines as well. Somehow, my tabs messed uop as well when pasting.

Process 0: Start Water 22g
Timers:
Timer 0: Cool to Strike
Timer 1: Filler
Timer 2: Heat HLT
Timer 3: Heat BK
State 0: Fill BK 1 Minute
OUTS: Out4: BK Filler || On
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Enabled Up
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Time1:Filler => 1.00 ||Go to S1: Fill HLT 1 Minute
ALARM: Short
State 1: Fill HLT 1 Minute
Manually light BK propane burner.
OUTS: Out4: BK Filler || OFF
Out5: HLT Filler || On
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Enabled Up
Timer 3:Heat BK || Enabled Up
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Time1:Filler => 1.00 ||Go to S2: Fill BK 5 Minute
ALARM: Short

State 2: Fill BK 5 Minute
Manually light HLT propane burner.
OUTS: Out4: BK Filler || On
Out5: HLT Filler || Off
Out 14: Red Pump || On (Recycles BK Water)
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Enabled Up
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Enabled Up
Timer 3:Heat BK || Continue From Previous
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Time1:Filler => 5.00 ||Go to S3: Fill HLT 4.5 Minute
ALARM: Short
State 3: Fill HLT 4.5 Minute
OUTS: Out 0: Radiator ELEMENT ||Controlled|| Hysteresis
Controlled|| 162 Degrees F
Out4: BK Filler || Off
Out5: HLT Filler || On
Out 14: Red Pump || On (Recycles BK Water)
Out 15: Yellow Pump || On (Recycles HLT Water)
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Enabled Up
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Continue From Previous
Timer 3:Heat BK || Continue From Previous
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Time1:Filler => 4.30 ||Go to S5: Heat HLT ALARM: Short
State 4: Heat HLT
OUTS: Out 0: Radiator ELEMENT ||Controlled|| Hysteresis
Controlled|| 162 Degrees F
Out4: BK Filler || Off
Out5: HLT Filler || OFF
Out 14: Red Pump || On (Recycles BK Water)
Out 15: Yellow Pump || On (Recycles HLT Water)
Out 16: Green Pump || On (Recycles Small HERMS Water)
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Off
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Continue From Previous
Timer 3:Heat BK || Continue From Previous
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Temp 5:HLT => 170 ||Go to S5: Heat BK
ALARM: Loop
State 5: Heat BK
Manually turn down Propane on HLT
OUTS: Out 0: Radiator ELEMENT ||Controlled|| Hysteresis
Controlled|| 162 Degrees F
Out4: BK Filler || Off
Out5: HLT Filler || OFF
Out 14: Red Pump || On (Recycles BK Water)
Out 15: Yellow Pump || On (Recycles HLT Water)
Out 16: Green Pump || On (Recycles Small HERMS Water)
TIMERS: Timer 1: Filler || Off
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Off
Timer 3:Heat BK || Continue From Previous
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Temp 6:45g BK => 180 ||Go to S6: Strike
ALARM: Loop
State 6: Strike
Manually turn down Propane on HLT
Transfer Strike Water to MLT through manifold
Manually turn On Out 16: Blue Pump once MLT is filled with Strike.
OUTS: Out 0: Radiator ELEMENT ||Controlled|| Hysteresis
Controlled|| 152 Degrees F
Out4: BK Filler || Off
Out5: HLT Filler || OFF
Out 14: Red Pump || On (Recycles BK Water)
Out 15: Yellow Pump || On (Recycles HLT Water)
Out 16: Green Pump || On (Recycles Small HERMS Water)
Out 16: Blue Pump || On (Recycles Strike Water through small HERMS)

TIMERS: Timer 0: Cool to Strike ||Enabled Up
Timer 1: Filler || Off
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Off
Timer 3:Heat BK || Off
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Temp 0: MLT FLOW AVG => 162 ||Go to S7: Grain In
ALARM: Short

State 7: Grain In
Pour and Stir in Grain
OUTS: Out 0: Radiator ELEMENT ||Controlled|| Hysteresis
Controlled|| 162 Degrees F
Out4: BK Filler || Off
Out5: HLT Filler || OFF
Out 14: Red Pump || Off
Out 15: Yellow Pump || On (Recycles HLT Water)
Out 16: Green Pump || On (Recycles Small HERMS Water)
Out 16: Blue Pump || Off

TIMERS: Timer 0: Cool to Strike ||Off
Timer 1: Filler || Enabled Up
Timer 2:Heat HLT || Off
Timer 3:Heat BK || Off
EXIT CONDITIONS: Enable on Exit 0 || Time1:Filler => 5:45 ||Go to Proc Off ALARM: Short
Spawn: Proc 1: TGS Mash

[pngaudioguy]

Thanks for your thoughts, oakbarn. I only have one or two beers that I make with any regularity, otherwise I'm typically trying new stuff out, so I'm looking to make use of the recipe utility in the v4 firmware to enable having one set of processes for brew day that have times and temps adjusted using those variables.

My plan is to have the MLT water at strike temp along with the HLT water to start the day. However I am doing electric, so no direct-fired mash. Therefore, I'm going to heat up my strike water + enough extra to keep the HERMS coil covered in the HLT with that element. It should heat more quickly that way than trying to heat it all through the HERMS coil. Once it gets close to temp, I'll pump the amount needed for the batch into the MLT and circulate it through the HERMS to maintain strike temp. If I need extra gallons for sparge later, they'll get added at this point so the whole system will be at strike temp.

Once I've gotten to strike temp I can add my grains, which will cool the system down. Instead of attempting to maintain strike temp, obviously I want it to switch to my starting mash temp once the grains are in. With the liquid circulating, it should stabilize pretty quickly, I'm hoping, without over or undershooting too much. I've only ever done single temp mashes on my previous equipment due to system limitations, so will start there, but would like to try out step mashes down the road, which this system will enable easily.

I'm planning to do a small 5 gallon (or closest minimum that keeps the HERMS coil covered) water with PBW run with full temps but reduced times once I finish the build. One of the many things I'll need to dial in will be the boil duty cycle. I want to get ~1.5 gallons/hour rate, so I need to boil for 10 minutes and evaporate off .25 gallon to get in the ballpark. After a full batch run I can start tweaking that in even closer.

Thanks for posting your process schedule. That layout makes more sense. Too many extra words in mine I know I'd seen some as I was reading through on here, but couldn't remember where when I went looking to start mine the other day.

[oakbarn]

I know when I got the BCS, I wanted to see what others are doing. I alsways think that seeing an example is much better than an explaination. I use a little program called Brew Math that gives me my Stike Temp. We statrted being a little high and then cooling the mash down with a small addition of cold water, but after a while we found that the calculated Strike was right on. I have a small HLT that has an electric element that we use for a HERMS. I keep it at strike while adding the grain but add about a quart of cold water to drop it to mash temps. We have 4 kettles, A large Stout MLT (unheated), a Small HLT with Electric Element (Stout 9gal BK), a Stout 30 gal HLT, and a 45 gal Stout BK. The 30g HLT and 45g are Propane. We actually use Chilzilla as the "HERMS". We Pump Wort on the Inside Tube and the Small HLT water on the Outside one. While this does take two pumps, the control is very good and easy to maintain our mash.

I have 4 temp probes for the MLT. Two are in the "body" and one on the Wort Infow and one on the Wort Out Flow. I average the two body ones and the two on the flow in 3.7.1, but looks like I am the only guy in the world that uses Temperature Averaging so it looks like it is going away in 4.0 (It is not in the Beta). I had tried to use the Temp Probes in the Wort Flow to control the Small HLT Element but found that if I used the Probe in the small HLT and set it 2 degrees above my Mash, it worked very well.

Once you get your systems up, you will also discover the sweet spots for the Temperature or settings for Duty Cycle in a Boil. THe BCS has made our brewing much more On Temperature and On Time.

[pngaudioguy]

If you've been following along, you know I decided to go with one 9kW heating element for each of the boil and HLT kettles. I did the math and realized that's basically 40A draw, which is absolutely not going to work on the normal 30A twist-lock NEMA connectors everyone uses. At first, it seemed like my choices were a standard 50A dryer plug for an inexpensive solution, or the stupid expensive 50A twist-locks. Then I was on stage at a gig the other day and stopped myself as I was plugging in our power to the 63A multipin (IEC 60309). Duh. Got these today:


Total cost, $140 for 2x 63A connections and 2x 16A connections (decided why not throw the pumps on them as well to make it all look nice and consistent.) Everything is IP44 when connected. Could have gotten IP67, but wasn't worth the extra cash to me. The 63A have a pilot contact that contacts last and separates first disconnecting the circuit to prevent arcing if you accidentally decide to unplug the thing hot, and of course the earth pin is heavier gauge than the others.

I love these plugs - wish we had them for stage power back home instead of the 5 separate camlocks. They make versions up through 125A, with 2 to 6 poles + earth depending on how many phases you require. Slowly checking off the list of stuff for the brew rig

[pngaudioguy]

The more I've been reading, the more I realize that I'm really not going to ever use manual mode for the heating elements, so I'm going to just have an LED indicator to let me know whether the elements are on at the moment or not. Along those lines, I also won't need the element selector, as it's easy enough to program the settings so that no process fires both elements.

I do still want the 3 way switches for the pumps, so I can override if I lose a prime, and also be able to run a pump in manual mode to do cleaning without needing a process - for instance to clean out the mashtun once the boil has started.

I really like the idea of only having the 5V switched on the panel, instead of having both 120 and 5V, but I like the added safety that having a contactor in the heating element electrical path adds given that SSR's usually fail closed and are renowned for having a slight current leakage. My internet foo seems to be failing. Is there a way of switching just the 5V signals, and still having a 100% disconnect when the circuit is off? Like a 50A relay with a 5V coil?

[JonW]

If you want a 100% disconnect, then that needs to be a high voltage switch - otherwise it's not 100%. How can you have the 5V switch the main power off if the main power is supplying the 5V?

I agree on the manual controls. I've thought many times about doing a whole control panel with On/Off/Auto type switches, but I've brewed for years now and never needed them. Even for cleaning, you don't need a process when you can just click on the output items on the main BCS screen to turn them on or off.

For pump prime issues, I either just hit pause on the process for a couple of seconds and then resume or I actually have a prime state in a few processes that stops the pump, then jump back to the previous state. Sure a toggle switch would work good, but I've just not been driven to add it. I do all my control from the touchscreen monitor.

[pngaudioguy]

Well, since I'm starting from scratch, adding in 3 way switches is just as easy. I guess I was hoping there was a relay or contactor with a 5V coil, maybe.

So, let's say I'm in the middle of the brew process, around 15-20 minutes into a 60 minute boil. I've finished the mash, and now I want to pump the cleaning solution from the HLT into my mashtun to start the cleaning process while I wait for the next hop addition. It seems like the easiest answer is just to flip a switch on the panel to turn the pump on, leaving the BCS to do its thing with the boil kettle. Can I assert the pump stage while the BCS is maintaining my boil duty cycle without altering anything?

[JonW]

Yes, any output that is not currently under process control can be manually turned on/off from the main BCS screen. Just click the output to toggle it.