I'm hoping some of you folks more familiar with the electric side of brewing can help me out.
In January I built a new system that incorporated a RIMS tube controlled by a PID and a thermocouple installed in the MLT. The first few batches went very well. And then on the third batch, I started getting random temp readings. It would suddenly drop ten or twenty degrees (instantly), but if I moved or even just touched the thermocouple wire it would go back to the accurate reading.
I assumed I'd messed up the wire by twisting it too much when removing it for cleaning, so instead of tracking down the issue, I bought a whole new thermocouple. Same thing, worked the first time, then started getting all wonky. Since I still had to unscrew the thermocouple from the MLT to dump it out, I assumed I'd done the same thing.
So...I replaced the whole thing again, this time with a disconnect for the Thermocouple wire so i would never have to worry about twisting the wire again. The very first brew, and I had the same issues.
Am I looking at a bad PID? Or is there some other issue I'm just clueless about?
I'm very close to insulating the MLT (should do that anyway) and scrapping the RIMS set-up.
In January I built a new system that incorporated a RIMS tube controlled by a PID and a thermocouple installed in the MLT. The first few batches went very well. And then on the third batch, I started getting random temp readings. It would suddenly drop ten or twenty degrees (instantly), but if I moved or even just touched the thermocouple wire it would go back to the accurate reading.
I assumed I'd messed up the wire by twisting it too much when removing it for cleaning, so instead of tracking down the issue, I bought a whole new thermocouple. Same thing, worked the first time, then started getting all wonky. Since I still had to unscrew the thermocouple from the MLT to dump it out, I assumed I'd done the same thing.
So...I replaced the whole thing again, this time with a disconnect for the Thermocouple wire so i would never have to worry about twisting the wire again. The very first brew, and I had the same issues.
Am I looking at a bad PID? Or is there some other issue I'm just clueless about?
I'm very close to insulating the MLT (should do that anyway) and scrapping the RIMS set-up.