I was thinking the same thing…Makes better sense.
But, the diagram gives me a far better starting point than I had.
Any chance someone can chime in & tell me where the thermocouple gets wired in?
IIRC, you mount the SSR directly to the heatsink between a little thermal paste, like a computer CPU.
Sorry, Phil…That’s not quite what I was asking.
But…Thanks for taking a stab at it.
The thermocouple is the temperature probe…
Need to know how that gets wired into the circuit.
Here’s the manual on what I think he used:
http://auberins.com/images/Manual/Manual%20version%203.4.pdf
The thermocouple goes on terminals #4 and #5 with the negative ( red lead) on #5.
Sweet!
Thanks…I neglected to see that there was a manual & diagram.
Excellent!
Kit,
How are you going to control the wort flow in the herms coil. I my RIMS, I have the RTD probe in the wort flow as it RETURNS to the top of the mash tun. The temp will overshoot a little, then go under, but stabilizes after about 5 minutes. The wort moves all the time using a small march pump. No worries about having the probe sticking out into the mash tun. Having the probe positioned after the heat source prevents overheating the wort as the controller will turn off the heat source when the wort hits the setpoint and the residual heat in the kettle will keep things going. If you put the probe in the center of the mash tun, the cycle time will probably be 4-5 minutes to affect the mash temp so the wort in the herms coil and the water in the kettle, will get WAY overheated and your mash temp will never really stabilize.
PID controllers really can’t deal with 4 minute lag times.
Hmm…Have some thinking to do, there.
I’ve never actually done this, but I would think you’d have to sense heat directly in the wort flow for there to be any real tight temperature control. .
I tried putting the probe on the inflow (cold) side with just water in the tun and made the PID autoconfigure. It kind of worked with just water but once the grist loaded, it takes 3-4 minutes for temperature change at the top of the mash to get to the bottom.
That makes sense to me. I think it has to be in the out flow.
I wonder whether a motorized mixing paddle would change that & help even out the temps, faster.
Absolutely, but good luck doing so in a rectangular cooler or finding something strong enough to move the mash.
I’ll be using a converted keg, so I don’t need to worry about that aspect.
That’s actually why I’ll need a HERMS coil…Little to no insulation on my mash tun.
I have a 1 rpm motor that I’ll use to stir the mash (as long as it has enough torque to stir it).
I don’t need a paddle, per se…Just stainless steel fingers to circulate the liquid into the grain bed.
If you get that working, please post some pictures. I think stirring the mash could really help with efficiency.
In my experience (50+ batches with this gear) you don’t need to stir it, just recirculate the wort with a false bottom and in a hour you will have crystal clear wort. I did need to increase my mash ratio to 1.5 qt/lb to keep things flowing well though. Also a couple of layers of Reflectix around the tun will give you all the insulation you need. How soon are you going to have this in operation? Have you already cut the kegs? I’m working on a new HLT and MLT design that you may be interested in.
I have the kegs & they are cut.
I have a lot of the plumbing put together & am nearly ready to drill for connections & the element.
I’m working on it very slowly, but I hope to have it operational before the new year.
I’d love to see what you’re working on.