Greetings all - long time reader, first time poster...
So I've set up an electric brewery using RIMS, with a 1" stainless tube containing a 1500W/120V, low density heating element under PID control with the thermocouple in the same tube on the output side.
The issue I'm having is that the heating element is boiling the wort when it's on (i.e. bubbles are coming off the heating element) and I'm having trouble maintaining temp in the RIMS tube. It will turn the heating element on, shoot up to ~165 deg. F, and then drop down as colder wort flows over the element.
I'm not sure if this is an issue others have since I've done research on this forum which indicated a low-watt density element would work OK, but I'm a little worried that boiling the wort during the mash will cause problems with efficiency. I've thought about putting a variac in line to adjust the heating element's output to avoid boiling, but I'm not sure it's necessary. Does anyone have any insight into this issue?
So I've set up an electric brewery using RIMS, with a 1" stainless tube containing a 1500W/120V, low density heating element under PID control with the thermocouple in the same tube on the output side.
The issue I'm having is that the heating element is boiling the wort when it's on (i.e. bubbles are coming off the heating element) and I'm having trouble maintaining temp in the RIMS tube. It will turn the heating element on, shoot up to ~165 deg. F, and then drop down as colder wort flows over the element.
I'm not sure if this is an issue others have since I've done research on this forum which indicated a low-watt density element would work OK, but I'm a little worried that boiling the wort during the mash will cause problems with efficiency. I've thought about putting a variac in line to adjust the heating element's output to avoid boiling, but I'm not sure it's necessary. Does anyone have any insight into this issue?