Incorporating DIY Sous Vide build into MLT?

cherbhy said:

Before I built my mash tun, I had bought all the materials to build this DIY sous vide machine: link here.

Now, I'm thinking that I might as well find a way to separate the PID, SSR, and other electrical components from the heating coils. This way, I could mount the heaters inside the mash tun while keeping the PID on the exterior and maintain exact temperatures during the mash (or using plain water when cooking sous vide). This could prove useful not only for maintaining temperatures, but also for multi-step mashing.

The sous vide design also makes use of a 79 gph aquarium pump to circulate the water and ensure even heating throughout the vessel. I'm a little unsure of whether this would be useful for mashing. Thoughts?

So here's my question(s): Does anyone foresee problems with using heating coils in a MLT?

Does anyone have advice for mounting the three coils between the walls of the cooler? I'd like them to be removable for cleaning and mashing out/sparging.

Thanks in advance!

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helibrewer said:

Why not use that sous vide rig as a grant and do all the heating there? MLT gravity grains into sous vide (no stuck circulation), mash gets heated and recirculated into MLT.

I do something similar but use a RIMS tube where you would have the sous vide (I use a 2qt grant below my MLT). I did not want elements in the MLT since any grain contact will scortch...you would need the element below a false bottom in the MLT. I believe most folks use either HERMS or RIMS when heating MLT's.

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dyqik said:

I'm building a generic 110V control box with this thought in mind. I intend to use it for heating strike water and sparge water initially via a 1000W heat stick (propane assisted for heating the strike water) and moving it to a RIMS tube at a later date. It would also work with a rice cooker or similar as a small sous vide (although since neither I nor my partner eat much meat, that's not particularly useful). The 25A SSR is adequate for a 1000W-1600W element, but not much more. It will also probably need a heatsink mounted external to the control box.

For what you have, you could move the heating element wires to a connector (I'm using a simple 15A 110V socket), and put a longer wire on the sensor and then you can mount the box beside the sous vide. Get another heating element for the HLT, a RIMS tube or a heat stick, and a brewery specific pump, and switch the control box between the sous vide setup and the MLT/HLT. I'd keep the elements separate, as you want a more powerful ULWD or LWD for wort heating than is required for the sous vide.

One other thing to remember is that you will probably have to retune the PID for different setups.

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cherbhy said:

I would love to see pictures of your final product. Sounds like a great step towards better beer!

Good advice about the heat sink. I actually still need to order one of those.

I'm definitely going to include a GFCI socket/outlet in my final build to connect the heater (and potentially for swapping out heating elements). I'm not ready to spend the dough on a RIMS tube, however. Would a heat stick go into the MLT or are you suggesting I use an independent vessel and essentially use the sous vide PID for a HLT?

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cherbhy said:

Not a bad idea at all. The only problem I anticipate with that is the pump that i'm using. It's a cheapo ebay buy and while it says 79 GPH, it will actually only pump about 3.5 gallons in 8 minutes (~20GPH). I really don't want to buy any other materials for this project.

What's the benefit of a grant? Would I hit the mash with the strike water and then start using the grant during vorlauf or would i circulate/heat it throughout the entire mash process?

Oh, and the heaters are only 300 watts/piece. Think this would still scorch the grain?

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