Brew Cave Under Constrction

The temperature probes for the Hot Liquor Tank and Mash/Lauter Tun are located in the plumbing at the kettle output while the Boil Kettle probe is installed directly in the kettle wall.

In process control systems such as ours that involve fluid recirculating, temperature monitoring is usually done in the plumbing instead of in the kettle. This helps avoid temperature misreads due to stratification (layering). This is not an issue in the Boil Kettle as the violent boiling action continuously stirs the wort to ensure an even temperature throughout the kettle.

Stratification is most likely to occur in the Mash/Lauter Tun. A temperature probe placed in the grain through the side of the kettle would only be measuring one location. We would not know when the entire grain bed is at the desired target temperature as it heats slowly from top to bottom. By placing the probe at the kettle output we ensure that the entire mash temperature is being monitored. For example, when we increase the Hot Liquor Tank temperature to 168F to perform a mash-out, the water in the Hot Liquor Tank will reach 168F before the grain in the Mash/Lauter Tun. It is only when the Mash/Lauter Tun also reads 168F that we know that the whole grain bed is at 168F. Placing the probe elsewhere would not provide us with this accuracy.

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