So I've decided to get myself into the basement and out of the kitchen and/or cold outdoors. Electricity is much cheaper in my case and requires no additional ventilation.
Last night I verified that I have two outlets in the basement that are within 15' and each are on their own breaker in the box. One was for a water softener but the current unit doesn't use electricity. The other is dedicated for the washing machine, which I'll unplug during brew day.
My plan is to install a Camco foldback 1500w 120v element (inko lime premium dealio) into my 32qt. kettle and then use another of the same element as a heat-stick as needed...each element on it's own circuit and 20A GFCI outlets in place of the two existing ones.
My thought is that I can heat strike water (usually about 3g. for 5g. batches) in short time while I mill grain and pre-heat my mash tun. Then while I mash I can use my other 32qt. kettle (w/o element installed) and just use the heatstick to heat the sparge water over the course of the mash (since it will take nearly an hour to do so).
Then I can use the BK (the kettle with installed element) and the heatstick to quickly get my ~6g. to a boil.
So far my time calculations show this actually speeding up my brew day over stove top.
My questions concern PWM/PID. I know the very least about wiring...I know enough to have made sure I have GFCI outlets for each element and to use female plugs to supply power to the element so there are no hot spades. I'm leaning towards PID since I believe it's not much more complex than the PWM and provides for more control. So I just need the PID and SSR, plus a SPST switch (120v)?
Oh, since most will ask, I don't have 240v very handy, nor the money to wire one at the current price of copper. Nearest 240 is the dryer, all the way across the basement from where my work space is. I may use that outlet at some point when I get into 10g. batches. Right now I just want a place to brew 5g. batches inside and not in kitchen.
I ordered the two camco elements today.
Last night I verified that I have two outlets in the basement that are within 15' and each are on their own breaker in the box. One was for a water softener but the current unit doesn't use electricity. The other is dedicated for the washing machine, which I'll unplug during brew day.
My plan is to install a Camco foldback 1500w 120v element (inko lime premium dealio) into my 32qt. kettle and then use another of the same element as a heat-stick as needed...each element on it's own circuit and 20A GFCI outlets in place of the two existing ones.
My thought is that I can heat strike water (usually about 3g. for 5g. batches) in short time while I mill grain and pre-heat my mash tun. Then while I mash I can use my other 32qt. kettle (w/o element installed) and just use the heatstick to heat the sparge water over the course of the mash (since it will take nearly an hour to do so).
Then I can use the BK (the kettle with installed element) and the heatstick to quickly get my ~6g. to a boil.
So far my time calculations show this actually speeding up my brew day over stove top.
My questions concern PWM/PID. I know the very least about wiring...I know enough to have made sure I have GFCI outlets for each element and to use female plugs to supply power to the element so there are no hot spades. I'm leaning towards PID since I believe it's not much more complex than the PWM and provides for more control. So I just need the PID and SSR, plus a SPST switch (120v)?
Oh, since most will ask, I don't have 240v very handy, nor the money to wire one at the current price of copper. Nearest 240 is the dryer, all the way across the basement from where my work space is. I may use that outlet at some point when I get into 10g. batches. Right now I just want a place to brew 5g. batches inside and not in kitchen.
I ordered the two camco elements today.