New build for fermentation control

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Phischy
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New build for fermentation control

Post by Phischy »

Hello,
I'm brand spankin' new and I'm trying to figure out if this is the solution I'm looking for. Currently I have 2 14 gal conicals running off simple 2 stage controllers from morebeer. It works, but as I'm building out my new system I want to log data temps. I'm only looking for fermentation control, I'm not an electric brewer and I have no use for automated valves.

My new build consists of a walk-in cold room custom built for my garage using a Coolbot and window AC unit. It has a 6x8 footprint and 9 taps off of it. Sharing a common wall I built two insulated fermentation chamber rooms, one for each conical. Initially I was going to treat it like a refrigerator and pull cold air from the main room but then decided it would be too inefficient so I decided to wrap the upper portion of my conicals with copper tubing, insulate it and then push glycol from a reservoir using simple sump pumps.

Ideally I'd like a simple setup that can control both heating and cooling of the conicals, log the temps and have 3 readouts showing cold room temp, and set point and actual temp of each conical.

I understand the BCS cannot run the heater/sump pumps, so I need a relay of some sort to turn those on.

I can do basic household wiring and I've wired up several motors for grain mills. I'm not an electrician by any means, but I can figure just about anything out.
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oakbarn
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Re: New build for fermentation control

Post by oakbarn »

I use a coolbot
just as you describe in my cold room (12x 13 Insulated room built in my barn). I do use valves to move Glycol to control temps in fermenters.

The BCS has lots of options to basically make it your "own" with logic for May steps (you could build a logic tree 64 steps long although 8 is most common).

One nice thing about the BCS is has a high level user interface where you generally just plug in your names and values.

It can automate but also be a manual controller.

I think it is the best on the market as it has support and this forum of active users
Phischy
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Re: New build for fermentation control

Post by Phischy »

This sounds like what I'm looking for, where in TX are you? I'm in Houston.

So what would be a parts list that I'd need?

I think figuring out the temp probes and setting up the interface is the easy part. The part I think I personally would have a problem with is wiring the heaters and coolant pumps to the BCS After that I understand the labeling would be pretty easy, it'd be FV1Heat, FV1Cool, FV2Heat, FV2Cool, FV1Temp, FV2Temp, ColdroomTemp. That's basically all I need, and just create the set points for on/off and wiring up small LCD's and maybe lights to let me know when heat or coolant is on the actual box. I wired an ether net cable out to my garage where my cold room is, so plugging it in will be easy.

I'm using thermowells from brewer's hardware where is where I buy all my SS parts.
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oakbarn
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Re: New build for fermentation control

Post by oakbarn »

Near DFW. Basically you wire dependent upon what you are controlling. THE BCS can control 240 120 vac using standard SSRs. You just wire the "hot" (normally black in the USA)to one side of the SSR and the other side to the Outlet. You just run the neutral (normally white in the USA) from the circuit to the outlet. You can also use the BCS to control 12 or 24 volts valves (Ac or DC). It will control other voltages as the voltage is independent of the BCS. The BCS just sends a very tiny control signal to trigger a Relay or SSR. You will need do decide what you are going to control and design around that. Basically you will need an SSR for any AC Outlets you want to control. AS an example, you would need an SSR to control the outlet where the Coolbot is plugged into, Since you are using the cool bot to control the Window AC, it would not need an SSR. If you have a valve that needs to be opened to send glycol into your wrappings of the fermentors, you would need either an SSR or relay board to control the Valve. Relay boards are good options for valves. I have tended to use SSRs because I had them.

SSR come either DC or AC, so you need to get the correct ones.

Below is my SSR Lay out for my 120 AC. I am controlling a Gylcol Pump, A Gylcol Chiller and three Freezers and a Coolbot. I have two spare AC SSRs for future upgrades

The Hots are Circuits (all 120) and the number refers to the Circuit Breaker number. These are all GFI Protected circiuits.
box position_Fermentor_AC_2.png
box position_Fermentor_AC_2.png (40.15 KiB) Viewed 3364 times
This is my connector box. These are teminal strips where I connect my wires. I find it easier to make changes to the terminal strip rather than re wiring the SSRs. All my wires are numbered. F1 and F2 refer to wire bundles.
15 Amp Fermentor ACpng.png
15 Amp Fermentor ACpng.png (74.51 KiB) Viewed 3364 times
This is a work in progress that is just about complete.
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oakbarn
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Re: New build for fermentation control

Post by oakbarn »

All my plumbing for Glycol is in. The Pump works but I have to wire the Valves to check if they are leaking but is sort of an open system as there is always an open return to the system. Wiring is well over half done and hopefully will finish this week end!
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