Top Teir, RIMS Tube, BCS RoboBrew featuring Mitch

[hopmonster]

I think it would be fun to watch and learn from Mitch as he puts his brewery together. His core parts are:

• BCS Controller
• RIMS Tube
• Top Teir

I can envision him using the little shelf that he got with the stand to hold his RIMS Tube and a pump (he is sort of physically building 3/4 of the SABCO RIMS Wizard) inside of some water proof housing. Having that as a contained piece that could be moved and plumbed as a pump or RIMS device could be really useful.

Mitch... over to you.

[mpilchuk]

My intention is to explain each part of the system Hop mentions above.

BCS-

The BCS controller is a device purchased from http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/  It is a small electronic box (see first photo below) that allows control of a brewery or really many other things, it was made for brewing but I could easily  see it being used to monitor and control an aquarium for example.

The way you talk to this BCS is by using a browser to visit the web site built into the box. (see second photo below for a screen shot of the browser)  This box is on your computer network. Set up correctly, you can even put it on the Internet so you can control it from anywhere in the world. Simply put, this box observes temperature and turns devices on and off based on your choices. You can click on buttons on the screen to turn things on and off OR you can program the site to do things for you automatically.

As examples of what you can do with it:

Turn on or off refrigerators, pumps, electric heat elements, electric valves or any other device you can control with electricity.

The BCS will not control a brewery out of the box. It requires a bit more work to get it to do its' thing. The box is run on low voltage and it has ports to connect up to 4 thermal probes and it also has 6 control voltages to turn on and off Solid State Relays (SSR) (see third photo).

You have to purchase Solid State Relays which are simple devices which have four places to attach wires. The two upper posts are where you attach the hot wire, 120-230 volts (depending on which SSR you purchase), the bottom post are for the low voltage output from the BCS. When the BCS turns on the low voltage, the SSR turns on or connects, the 120v (or 230v)switch.

I put the BCS in a box and mount the SSRs in it as well. (See fourth and fifth photos below). In the fifth photo you can see the side of the box where I have mounted three receptacles. These are under the control of the BCS. 

These outlets are only on when the BCS turns them on. Each is controlled by a separate SSR although two of them are turned on and off by the same 5v line from the BCS. This is because I want two of them to turn on at the same time to heat my HTL. The left duplex receptacle is controlled by one SSR. I have two 20A circuits there. I control two heat elements (mentioned above) that are mounted in my hot water tank (hot Liquor tank) (HTL). I use the left duplex receptacle for the pump that I run to recirculate the water in the HTL.

There is an iPhone app for the BCS that Noah Paci (club member here. Last two photos are screen shots) wrote. If you think about what I've said so far, I can control my HTL from my home (my brewery is a few miles away from my home). If I've pre filled the HTL and plugged it in. The BCS via the iPhone app allows me to turn on or off and/or adjust the temperature. If I'm going to brew, I can get the water heating while still home eating breakfast.

I currently use the BCS to control my HTL and will use it to control the heat tube device.

[mpilchuk]

The RIMS tube is a product from http://brewershardware.com (see photo one below). It is essentially a tube with a heat element and a thermoprobe in it with openings for wort to be pumped in and out.

Why would you want to use this? When mashing all grain to create wort, you put your milled grains in the mash-tun (a bucket or similar vessel with a false bottom. This allows you to wash the sugars off the grains while keeping the grains in the vessel) and add water of a certain temperature so you can get the enzymes active to convert starches in the malted grain into sugars. The temperature you keep it at can be kept constant with a heat tube. There are also other reasons to change temperatures while mashing so this will facilitate this as well.

This particular tube is all stainless steel with tri-clover (see photo two and three below. Add two item from the first photo to a clamp and gasket) fittings for easy disassembly. I don't have it yet. It is on back order.

What I am replacing with it is a small cooler with heat elements that heated water (see fourth photo below). I would pump the hot water through a chillzilla wort chiller (see fifth photo below). I was using the wort chiller as a heat exchanger. With another pump, I would pump the wort through the second channel of the chillzilla. The BCS would keep the wort temperature in the range I wanted.

This move changes my brew method from a HERMES to. RIMS system.
(Here is a link that explains the two acronyms:  http://www.vandelogt.nl/htm/rims_herms_uk.htm )In a HERMES the wort doesn't come in contact with the heat source. In RIMS the wort does come in contact the heat device. The complaint that the contributors to Homebrew forums have with RIMS is that the wort can get scorched from the heat source. I imagine this could happen if the wort wasn't continuously flowing past the heat element but having observed a SABCO system (which is a RIMS system) in action I don't think it is a problem.

I'll post more on this after I get it.

[hopmonster]

With that RIMS Tube, be sure to put it in something so you do not accidentally touch it. It will deep fry you. Also, if you develop a leak, you will want to contain the liquid.

[mpilchuk]

Yeah, I've got to figure out how I'm going to deal with the RIMS tube.

I exchanged emails with Derrin, the guy behind the heat tube. He had a new part on order to do a slight modification to the tube. Hopefully I should have it soon.

[mjc393]

btw great description on the setup.  It answered quite a few of my questions.  Something to aim for when I have the money and space.

[Jaguar10301]

pretty awesome, can we get some ideas on costs for this stuff?

[hopmonster]

pretty awesome, can we get some ideas on costs for this stuff?

If you have to ask.

[mpilchuk]

pretty awesome, can we get some ideas on costs for this stuff?

BCS - http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/index.php/products.html
RIMS TUBE - http://www.brewershardware.com/Tri-Clover-RIMS-Tube.html
Blichmann Top Tier - http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/brewing-equipment/all-grain-equipment/blichmann-top-tier

[mpilchuk]

With that RIMS Tube, be sure to put it in something so you do not accidentally touch it. It will deep fry you. Also, if you develop a leak, you will want to contain the liquid.

I can see the heat angle, but the tri-clover fitting and pipe are so structurally sound that I think you could build a structure out of them. It has strength and keep in mind, these are 1.5 inch tri-clovers. The tubing would more so be something that I could see leaking.

I do need some tubing with some strength in it. The stuff I've got now goes limp when it gets hot. How does the SABCO tubing do with this? I assume it can handle heat to scarification temps.

[hopmonster]

There are only short runs of braided, hi-temp tubing in the integration. I would say that the longest run, connecting the hard pipe to the pump, is maybe 6 to 8 inches. This connection, once, came loose and it was scary.

Do you have a picture of your RIMS tube integration?

[mpilchuk]

I'll have one as soon as I get that repaired piece back. I don't want to take a photo of the thing with the spare piece I have on there now. It isn't a representation of what Brewershardware.com sells.

[Cooke]

I finally convinced Brewchief Gorbsky to order one for the setup we've been piecing together and it seems the part you're talking about is 2+ weeks off for us.  I'm pumped for that.  Mitch, what are the specs of your heating element?  As long as it is low density and fits, it doesn't seem to matter too much from what I've seen, but that seems too easy

[mpilchuk]

Mitch, what are the specs of your heating element?  As long as it is low density and fits, it doesn't seem to matter too much from what I've seen, but that seems too easy

I couldn't tell you. I was using two of these elements in a six pack cooler to heat water for my heat exchanger. I got them at Lowes and they are 120v elements at around 9 dollars. I imagine that any element that will fit will do what we want. You are just turning on for heat and turning off when the temperature threshold is reached. Hell, you could even use a 220v element on the 120v feed (I wouldn't use 220v unless it is sitting there easily ready)

I plan on having the pump run all the time I'm doing the sacrification rest. This is how the SABCO does it and I like the idea of wort flowing over the heat element all the time. This will drain off the heat when the controller turns off the element.

[hopmonster]

Get a looped or twisted element to maximize your efficiency.