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I still feel the same way except there is now more evidence than ever that GMO's are not good for us, farmers, or the planet. Don't get me wrong, the idea is super neat-o but the reality is super horrible. I love digging up old posts!

Well something isn't right... The switches can probably be wired either way: always hot or switched. This sounds like do big deal. maybe you could tell me that terminals the switches have or the make and model? As far as the ssr is concerned, who's to say? Is the PID calling for heating? How is...

There is no marking because it doesn't matter. connect one lug to the hot/black/power wire from your ssr and one lug to the neutral/white/common.

The side burner on your grill is probably only rated for 30 lbs or so! You should look for a max weight. Putting 7 gal of boiling water on one of those is asking for trouble if you ask me. If you REALLY know you never plan on making batches bigger than 5 gal then the kettle may be the way to...

Soldering is an option for grounding your RIMS tube but IMO it isn't worth the trouble. I was able to just put the ground wire under a hose clamp and clamp it on, it looks nicer than it sounds. To insulate the heating element wires I got a large pvc pipe cap, drilled a hole in the end so the...

Are you taking the starting temperature of your grain into account?

I agree its marginal. I thought that's what we were discussing. Saving a degree or two an hour sounds marginal to me. I don't bother to insulate my head space just for this reason (plus I have a RIMS). I disagree with your attic analogy BTW, I mean it seems to me insulating your roof would...

I tend to favor run of the mill crimp connectors. I also often use crimp on pig tail connectors (almost like a crimp on wire nut). You can use all sorts of things really. Wire nuts are fine. I would use whatever you are most comfortable with. No worries. One thing I really like to do is after I...

So I guess if you just blocked off your attic vents you wouldn't need insulation in your attic?? By your logic nearly all insulation is useless, why have insulation in your walls when you could just make sure there are no drafts? Headspace isn't the problem, its a piece of the insulation puzzle.

I know the feeling. I now keep a little composition book with little drawings, snippets of code and the like. It makes life way easier. I even standardized things like temp probes so they all have the same plug, etc. It's nice.

Yeah its crazy how cheaply you can put this stuff together huh? What I do is either a: use a thermowell or b: tape the sensor probe to my keg then add insulation over that so that I'm more or less measuring the beer temp rather than the air temp.

It's just more surface area to radiate heat to the environment. It's not a big deal but since people get hung up over a degree or two they want anything that helps.

Head space will have a big effect on heat loss. If you are loosing much heat, trying to reduce your head space would likely help.

Nice. I built something like this but with a heater too. I used a Picaxe and a 40amp SSR instead of an arduino and a relay. I made it have an adjustable offset so there is a 'dead band' in there. That way you can run temps right where you want them sometimes, but other times when its less...

Oh BTW I guess your PID sees 120v on pins 1 and 2 as power in. I don't know anything about PIDs actually! I built my own with a Picaxe micro controller and a LCD screen I had laying around. For what its worth.

You definitely don't need both the LED and a pilot light, but it could help with trouble shooting. It's just more information. You show the LED wired correctly. I like to use a regular outlets because they're cheap, safe, and convenient. That way everything just plugs and unplugs. Simple...

Only one light is needed, either light would only come on when the element was energized. You show the LED wired incorrectly, as shown neither the SSR or the LED would turn on. Look at the way I drew it. 2 wires go from the PID, they also go to the led, you show the LED inline. The SSR needs to...

This is what I did (mostly). Here is a circuit. BTW: I am NOT an electrition and totally and completely knowledgeable about electricity. Use this at your own risk.

I too have great results here but be careful with your temps if you do this, as the fermentation is likely to be hot and heavy.

Look at the picture. If you wire something between the PID and the SSR it needs to be low voltage like an LED. If you use an LED you need a resistor something between 270 - 470 ohms would be fine (I use 330 ohm 1/4 watt resistors) you can buy them by the 100 for a dollar or two on ebay or...