$400.00 budget Possible?

is it possible to convert from propane to electric with a panel and 2 controllers for 400.00 dollars. I don't need alot of bells and whistles to start with but would like to add them later...(lighted switches, etc..)

tch1980 said:

is it possible to convert from propane to electric with a panel and 2 controllers for 400.00 dollars. I don't need alot of bells and whistles to start with but would like to add them later...(lighted switches, etc..)

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You can do that with a HERMS setup. You only need a single PID controller to do the job. I'm ball parking about $377.69 for a viable system.

Now the HERMS coil will cost you about $25 more - but that depend on if you are using a cooler for the MASH tun or not.

There are a lot of 'depend' involved here.

I have a single tier set up with 2 pumps and a copper heat exchanger in my HLT. I was thinking i would need a controller for the HLT, and MT at least. either way let me know what you think.

This setup could work for you with minimal cost. It uses a single PID and temp probe. The temp probe is placed and remains in the HLT. Use one pump to recirculate the HLT water to prevent stratification within it. Use your copper coil as the heat exchanger and then the second pump to recirculate the mash through it. This will maintain the mash temp throughout.

After transfer to the BOIL kettle, the PID gets used in manual mode to control the boil rate.

As usual - click on the image to see a full size diagram that is printable on Tabloid paper (11" x 17")



Hope this helps you.

Thanks a ton P-J that will put me in the right direction.

I recently put together a RIMS setup for about 400, it's pretty limited to 5ish gallons and relies on two seperate 120v loops from my kitchen, but so far it works well. One loop is PID controlled, the other has two switches and two outlets, one for a pump and one for a secondary element. Not really conventional for what it seems most are looking for (10 gallon batches, etc) but it works REALLY well for my 4 gallon brewing and I can get 8 gallons boiling (though it takes some time). Hopefully adding some insulation to improve heating times soon.

P-J just looked through the suggestions for controller thread your info and diagrams are great man!