Hopefully this thread stimulates some good conversation about how to automate the water process of filling the hot liquor tank.
I am interested in connecting a water supply to my brew stand and have the BCS460 handle to process of filling the hot liquor tank to the appropriate level.
My thought is having a hot liquor tank which has two float switches. One of the float switches would be located low in the kettle and act as an "out of water" switch. The other float switch would be designed as an "add water to this level" switch.
Here's my thoughts.
I initially fill the Hot Liquor tank with water to the "mash in" level. This would be the only manual process. The BCS460 would control the heating of the water to the appropriate strike temperature. Once the temperature is reached, the BCS turns on a pump to move the strike water from the HLT to the MT. Once the water in the HLT is empty, the pump is shut off. Empty HLT is detected via DIN by means of the float switch.
Sounds easy enough.
Next process would be a fill process. We are now needing to fill the HLT to prepare the HLT water for sparge. The water valve solonoid (or electric ball valve) would open allowing the water to flow into the HLT. Once the designated water level is reached (via float switch din), the water valve is closed and the water is heated for sparge. The water temperature will be held for sparge until the mash process is complete.
Ideas? Thoughts? Easier way to achieve this?
Auto Fill Hot Liquor Tank
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clearwaterbrewer
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Re: Auto Fill Hot Liquor Tank
sounds good, here are some things that come to mind..
if filling from house water, treatment of water would be done once for mash and once for sparge. If a larger vessel and gravity or pump were used, water treatment could be done once. (I was thinking a white food grade 30-50 gallon barrel mounted up high)
float switches such as Grainger 5DYC9 http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MADISO ... id=search" mounted on small hollow tubes with graduation marks for gallons would let you raise or lower them in the HLT to pump the gallons you want before they shut off. I use these on the Lauter Grant on our 60 gallon setup
I really like the auto fill with correct amount of strike/sparge water for recipe repeatability...
-mike
if filling from house water, treatment of water would be done once for mash and once for sparge. If a larger vessel and gravity or pump were used, water treatment could be done once. (I was thinking a white food grade 30-50 gallon barrel mounted up high)
float switches such as Grainger 5DYC9 http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/MADISO ... id=search" mounted on small hollow tubes with graduation marks for gallons would let you raise or lower them in the HLT to pump the gallons you want before they shut off. I use these on the Lauter Grant on our 60 gallon setup
I really like the auto fill with correct amount of strike/sparge water for recipe repeatability...
-mike