This overview is by Homebrew Finds Contributor Brad Probert. Brad is an engineer, professional homebrewer and skilled reviewer. Seize a hyperlink to Brad’s web site on the finish of this overview.
Kegland Fill-O-Meter
Homebrewing is stuffed with devices. There are some issues which are excessive tech variations of widespread gear everybody has and makes use of. Then there are devices which are distinctive in what they do. They possibly aren’t a requirement for brewing, or aren’t belongings you’d discover in each brewer’s toolbox. The Kegland Fill-O-Meter is unquestionably one among these. The Fill-O-Meter has two functions- turning on & off the water move, and measuring the quantity of water that goes via it. The intersection of those two capabilities is the place it turns into a helpful instrument within the dwelling brewery.
The Fill-O-Meter has ½” threaded inlet and outlet ports. They’re BSP thread, not NPT, so you should be additional cautious when tightening on any NPT fittings to ensure you don’t strip out any threads or find yourself with leaks. The solenoid inside has a fail-safe such that if you happen to lose energy for some cause, the solenoid stays closed and prevents water from flowing. The unit comes with a 24V energy provide plug to run the on/off solenoid, in addition to the LCD backlit digital display. The display shows the present move price (in gallons/minute or liters/minute), your goal water quantity, and the way a lot water has flowed previous it because you turned it on. You may choose for the show to be in items of US Gallons, or in Liters. You even have the choice to show language in English or Chinese language (if you happen to’re within the temper). It’s also possible to tweak the flowmeter calibration fixed to enhance the accuracy to your given setup or if you happen to’re going to measure in US gallons (adjustment wanted, as defined in my arms on overview part).
Test Present Value & Availability, Overview Continues Under:
Fill-O-Meter – Water Measuring Move Meter System BE671 – at MoreBeer
The Fill-O-Meter can function as a easy digital meter to show move price and whole quantity delivered. However the principle mode is the place you program in a goal worth. As soon as that’s entered, you hit the beginning button, the solenoid valve opens and flows the goal quantity of water, after which shuts off. You don’t must learn quantity markings on something or fear about getting distracted and forgetting to show off the water. Its rated accuracy is +/- 5%, however if you happen to run it at a constant inlet strain and a decrease move price, the repeatability is a lot better than that. You may take it one step additional by tweaking the calibration fixed and dialing it in to match measurements in a container you could have confidence in.
The meter is designed solely to deal with water temperatures as much as 104F (40C), so don’t attempt to hook it as much as switch your mash wort. The digital display exhibits a temperature show, however there isn’t really a sensor. That half isn’t populated contained in the board as it might drive up the price however not likely be of worth to the brewer.
Palms on Overview
For my brewing I exploit metropolis faucet water, which has a very good style, and I’ve mapped out the mineral content material after the 3-pass filter utilizing the LaMotte BrewLab Plus dwelling testing package. I put in the Fill-O-Meter on the output of my 3-pass filter, after which related a ingesting water hose from the output of the Fill-O-Meter to run over to my brew kettles. I usually brew with a 3-Vessel setup, so I measure strike water going into my mash tun, in addition to sparge water into an electrical brew rig. I’ve two mash tuns I alternate between, one among which has etched quantity markings, and the opposite has none. So the Fill-O-Meter was going to make life simpler when utilizing the mash tun with out markings.
Earlier than I might ever get began, although, I obtained set off on a wild journey of water fittings. I noticed that a number of years in the past once I arrange my 3-pass filter system, though I did analysis and made certain to purchase drinking-water-safe hoses with licensed lead-free fittings, I didn’t apply the identical diligence to my fittings between the hose and the filter meeting. And the default becoming kind with a Backyard Hose Thread is brass, which generally isn’t lead-free. They do make lead-free brass, nevertheless it must be known as out as that. In any other case, most backyard hoses are simply watering flowers and lawns, which you don’t want to fret concerning the lead content material. I finally discovered all the fitting kinds of fittings in both lead-free brass, or stainless-steel, and I used to be in enterprise hooking every thing up.
I anticipated my subsequent problem can be the BSP threads on this Australian-designed meter. I had run into challenges with this on a chrome steel wort chiller, the place I needed to get a bit aggressive with additional wraps of Teflon tape. However to my delight, I didn’t have any points. I assume that’s as a result of the wort chiller was operating at hotter temperatures, which made thread mismatch between 1/2″ BSP and 1/2″ NPT extra of a problem. At faucet water temperatures I’ve skilled no leaks in my a number of months of operating it via a number of brew days.
Subsequent up I obtained a bizarre tip about having to tune the calibration fixed once I modified from Liters to Gallons for measurement. Apparently, the logic on the circuit board did a division operation when it ought to’ve been multiplying, and the outcome was you’ll be WAY off on the quantity with the default settings. In fact I attempted it anyway, and certainly confirmed the meter was studying “1 gallon” when my marked pitcher confirmed it had solely allotted about 1/4 of a gallon.
I downloaded the Fill-O-Meter’s handbook and used the Calibration directions whereas doing the steps beneath (handbook hyperlink beneath). I programmed in 1.0 gallon fill, then set my hose into the pitcher I made a decision can be my “gold commonplace” for a gallon of water. If it was above or beneath the extent mark, I adopted the calibration instructions, adjusted the Ok-factor quantity, and repeated the cycle till I used to be glad. The adjustment course of was a bit tedious, however I used to be impressed with the repeatability of the unit. I don’t have any measurable/goal knowledge on this, however as soon as I discovered my last k-factor worth, it was spot on each time. If I adjusted the water strain going to the Fill-O-Meter, it did create a slight variation (roughly 0.05 gallons), so I like to recommend going via this tuning course of and leaving your provide strain the identical. To get you began with a very good quantity, my tuning ended up with a Ok-factor fixed of 35.75.
KL14694 – Fill-O-Meter Instruction Handbook
One fascinating factor I found after I had the quantity dialed in was that the stamped quantity markings on my all-in-one unit was off by about 0.3 gallons. As soon as I double checked it towards varied volume-marked issues I had within the brewery and confirmed it was certainly this all-in-one unit that was off. Not the top of the world, in fact, however with the consistency of the Fill-O-Meter supplying the water for each strike and mash, I had confidence that irrespective of which vessel I used to be utilizing, my water quantity was the identical.
I used the Fill-O-Meter on a number of brew days, and it charmed its method into my coronary heart. My Brewfather recipes spit out a ridiculously particular quantity for water volumes (like 4.43 gallons of strike within the mash and 4.74 gallons of sparge water). This was no downside, as I might simply enter that worth into the meter, grasp the hose over the facet of the vessel and hit go. The solenoid clicked open, water flowed in, and it saved tabs on issues to close it off exactly on the finish. It’s a small pleasure, to make sure, nevertheless it was good to make that a part of prep much less tedious as I’d set it to filling the kettle after which go and begin weighing out brewing salt additions.
Conclusions
Now you can rightly argue that you just don’t want quantity measurements to be so correct, or so repeatable to brew a very good beer. However the comfort issue is sweet with simply punching within the precise quantity out of your recipe, and the power to fill a vessel unattended. If you happen to use a sluggish move price on account of water filter set-up, the set & overlook facet in all probability is a good greater comfort than the ~8-10-minute fills I did. Its repeatability and accuracy (when you tune the calibration fixed) had been phenomenal, which once more could also be extra essential for you relying on the way you’re utilizing your water. As with all issues in brewing, ensure you have a particular objective in thoughts earlier than pulling the set off. However when you have a necessity for one thing like this, it does stand out as distinctive out there.
Test Present Value & Availability:
Fill-O-Meter – Water Measuring Move Meter System BE671 – at MoreBeer
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By Brad Probert. Take a look at Brad’s web site – beersnobby.com
Particular Because of Kegland and MoreBeer for offering the unit used for analysis on this overview.
Value, promotions and availability can change shortly. Test the product web page for present worth, description and availability.
Make certain the parts you utilize are appropriate and rated to your supposed software. Contact producer with questions on suitability or a particular software. At all times learn and comply with producer instructions. overview:klfomtr tag:tpr
