Portable electric brewery

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:02 pm

I'm in the process of building a dead-simple, portable electric brewery. The main requirements are cheap, transportable, and safe. here's a sketch of what i'm planning:

hotrod brewery.png

The first part will have two cords, so it can connect to either oven or dryer outlets - so that i can use it anywhere. 30A gfci (spa panel or in-line) so i can use ten gauge after that. then my stilldragon controller. then heat-resistant wire to connect the element via a hot rod heat stick.

Parts I have yet to get:
1. outlets/wire/high temp wire
3. gfci or spa panel

Only one question so far:
1. is there any issue having ~30 feet of wire from outlet to element? I want to keep this setup as flexible as I can, but need to use 10 gauge at the end because of the limitations of the hot rod. Quick googling for a chart shows 30' at 24A (5500W@240V) should use 6 gauge. could i get away with 6 gauge up til the last 6 feet?

If anyone else notices anything or has questions, please post up! or send an email or pm if you prefer to keep your expertise quiet.

I'll keep this post up to date with links to future posts as I go through my build.

GasMD30 · Post by **GasMD30** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:16 pm

This looks super wicked awesome. I will follow this with great interest. Is that a mashtun/kettle/fermenter?

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:02 pm

GasMD30 wrote:This looks super wicked awesome. I will follow this with great interest. Is that a mashtun/kettle/fermenter?

15gal pot from Dave at everwood. The 5500W ULWD element will be a tight fit - has about 1cm to spare from the edge of the element to the side of the pot. If it moves around much once it's assembled, I will have to upgrade to 19gallon. The advantage of this setup is that it would work for any system - can just move the element to the vessel as needed.

I intend to use it as a BIAB system, but I ferment in carboys. Fermenting in the kettle wouldn't work so well for me (would have to change my brewing style - normally I brew a bunch of batches at once, then let them hang in their carboys for a month or three).

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:16 pm

How large a batch would this do Liam?

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:24 pm

Keith wrote:How large a batch would this do Liam?

Depending on the size of pot, as large of a batch as 5500w will boil

LiverDance · Post by **LiverDance** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:54 pm

I boil 52l down to 40l with a 5500 in a 15 gal. You will be limited by your mash size only with that pot and element

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

jtmwhyte · Post by **jtmwhyte** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 6:31 pm

This is similar to the build I'm doing but I went with the 19 gallon kettle and don't plan on making it portable so much as reducing my footprint

Keith · Post by **Keith** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:59 pm

Think that setup would do a 30 gal batches.

GuingesRock · Post by **GuingesRock** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 8:03 pm

If you could get a jacketed pot that would be nice. Would also allow you to ferment in there, if there was ever an occasion that would work for you.

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 8:06 pm

Keith wrote:Think that setup would do a 30 gal batches.

yeah, if you have a big enough pot. i dont know if BIAB would work for 30 gallons. the big limitation is going to be the amount of time it takes to heat - it could be worthwhile to add a second heat source once you get to a certain point (even just an additional 1500W heat stick). this calculator is useful to calculate boil time:

http://www.phpdoc.info/brew/boilcalc.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

remember that the element wattage is rated at a certain voltage. so a 5500W element at 240V is only 4100W at 208V. this calculator can help with that (or the equations are pretty simple):

http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/electri ... ulator.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i intend to insulate my pot, reflectix for now (won't melt without a burner below it, hopefully.

Post by **LeafMan66_67** » Sun Apr 05, 2015 9:12 pm

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:
Only one question so far:
1. is there any issue having ~30 feet of wire from outlet to element? I want to keep this setup as flexible as I can, but need to use 10 gauge at the end because of the limitations of the hot rod. Quick googling for a chart shows 30' at 24A (5500W@240V) should use 6 gauge. could i get away with 6 gauge up til the last 6 feet?

Your last 6' using #10AWG will be fine. The voltage drop for those last 6' would be negligible.

Halifax_Jeff · Post by **Halifax_Jeff** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 9:25 am

This looks really interesting. Have you thought about how you're going to ventilate if it's mobile?

I've been tinkering with a couple ideas of a mobile vent hood that could hook up into a window.

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:09 pm

Halifax_Jeff wrote:This looks really interesting. Have you thought about how you're going to ventilate if it's mobile?

I've been tinkering with a couple ideas of a mobile vent hood that could hook up into a window.

Part if the reason for the 30' of length is to let me get it outside, or at least next to a window. If I set up somewhere more permanently I'll rig up something for the moisture exhaust

Thanks for the vote of confidence Derek

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:17 am

Anyone have suggestions on where to find an L6-30 plug and receptacle? want to use them to connect the high temp wire from the heat stick to the regular wire from the controller.

this sort of thing but without the $15 shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replacement-30- ... 1095964776" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

home depot has them, but they're $30 each... would prefer to find somewhere a bit cheaper if possible. anyone have any info on other places to try?

Post by **Jimmy** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:22 am

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:Anyone have suggestions on where to find an L6-30 plug and receptacle? want to use them to connect the high temp wire from the heat stick to the regular wire from the controller.

this sort of thing but without the $15 shipping:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Replacement-30- ... 1095964776" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

home depot has them, but they're $30 each... would prefer to find somewhere a bit cheaper if possible. anyone have any info on other places to try?

Nedco maybe?

Jayme · Post by **Jayme** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:31 am

I can't remember if they'll sell to the general public, but I would expect Harris & Roome would have it.

Post by **RubberToe** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:34 am

I wasn't happy with the local prices so I ended up getting my plugs from ebay via the US.

Nedco sells to the public, I've bought there before.

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:42 am

Thanks for the info. Nedco looks to have all the parts i intend to get. I'll have to draw up a list and see what kind of price i'd be looking at from them, then decide.

Post by **Jimmy** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:44 am

Jayme wrote:I can't remember if they'll sell to the general public, but I would expect Harris & Roome would have it.

That's where I picked up my GFCI breaker.

Jayme · Post by **Jayme** » Fri May 15, 2015 11:51 am

The only thing to watch out for in Ebay is counterfeit safety approvals... If you're buying out of china in particular. I've been burnt a few times on small shit where the risk was minimal (just small electronic circuits). A fake 30A plug could be a bigger issue.

Anyway - not to say DON'T use Ebay, just be cautious. If it sounds too good a price to be true, it probably is.

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Fri May 15, 2015 12:00 pm

Jayme wrote:The only thing to watch out for in Ebay is counterfeit safety approvals... If you're buying out of china in particular. I've been burnt a few times on small shit where the risk was minimal (just small electronic circuits). A fake 30A plug could be a bigger issue.

Anyway - not to say DON'T use Ebay, just be cautious. If it sounds too good a price to be true, it probably is.

indeed. i could get one shipped straight from hong kong for like $5, but it isn't work the risk.

the only part i am going to be using that came from china is a ammeter/volt meter thing. if it breaks its no big deal. some folks on some still website got one and tested it and it worked well so i figure it was worth the risk

mckay75 · Post by **mckay75** » Fri May 15, 2015 12:25 pm

How's your build going? I ordered my high temp wire from ebay a few weeks ago...looking at the tracking...it should be here next week.

CorneliusAlphonse · Post by **CorneliusAlphonse** » Fri May 15, 2015 12:35 pm

waiting on the high temp wire, and a voltmeter/ammeter, plus gotta get a few connectors and some bulk wire for either end. I am not assembling until i have all the parts. Once I start assembling I'll take a bunch of pictures and note what all the costs were for posterity. may not be until july though, june is looking pretty busy as i'm away for a few weeks

mckay75 · Post by **mckay75** » Fri May 15, 2015 2:56 pm

CorneliusAlphonse wrote:waiting on the high temp wire, and a voltmeter/ammeter, plus gotta get a few connectors and some bulk wire for either end. I am not assembling until i have all the parts. Once I start assembling I'll take a bunch of pictures and note what all the costs were for posterity. may not be until july though, june is looking pretty busy as i'm away for a few weeks

Cool! Look forward to seeing pics. I'm in the same boat...waiting on a few items. Just bought a new mountain bike, so the remaining items are on the back burner for now. Will be up and running by September though hopefully.