Thoughts on the BCS systems

I am getting ready to pull the trigger on converting my current single tier system in a BCS controlled system. Does anyone here have any thoughts or opinions on the BCS?

Pisses me off how they think they control college football. Who made them the pope of football?

Well liked, effective, reliable, reasonably powerful. Can you be more specific?

Well priced - especially when you consider a 460 replaces 4 PIDs and includes 8 DIN/DOUTs. Times are part of the standard web interface. Fully expandable - add additional DIN/DOUT. Plus you can can automate your brew day, while chronically managing other items, such as fermenters, keezers, etc. Additional control over the HMI let's you customize the appearance of your brewery. HEck, add a bridge router and you could brew from your phone from say . . . Kansas. I haven't even begun to tap the potential, but it's a pretty clever approach. The bigger question as voiced by MalFet is what are you looking to do with such a system?
PLOVE

I think the BCS system needs to be expanded to a 16 team playoff... otherwise it might as well be the same as the pre-BCS era bowl system!

What?
Wrong BCS?
Ooooh sorry.

I use a BCS-462 to control mash temps and times on a HERMS system, plus controlling heating and cooling for fermentations. Other than price/value, the main selling points of this solution to me were:

1) Automatic data logging. The BCS has a screen that displays temperature and time data in graph format and also has the ability to save CSV files to a PC which can be loaded to a spreadsheet.

2) Saving and loading configurations. I already save recipes and brewing sessions in ProMash, so it is a natural extension to save BCS processes too. For a given batch of beer I will run mash, sparge, fermenter heating and fermenter cooling processes. By saving these processes on my PC for each recipe and rerunning them the next time I brew the same recipe I hope to improve consistency between batches.

Ok wise-acres. I am talking about the Embedded Control Concepts temp controller. I am mainly looking for feedback on how hard it is to wire up, reliability, support, etc.

Yes, I live in the South and recognize that there is another hallowed institution that uses the same acronym, but I would assume you would know the difference.

I too am looking at using a BCS-460 to automate my brewery in the near future. I would like to know how others install there probes. I would like to install mine similar to the electric brewery (1.5" or 2" probes installed in Stainless "T" fitting on vessel discharges). I can't seem to find probes in this length. Any help?

I bought my probes and compression fittings directly from ECC and use the 4" one in a stainless T on my kettle valve. ECC sells the compression fittings I use too but seems to be out of stock at the moment.

http://www.embeddedcc.com/index.php/products/temperature-probes.html?SID=v9v6ijo6iogpj25psvi65difn0

I now have my control panel up and running. I am using manual mode and all is working great. My question is how do I create a processes that will allow me to control the boil with a PWM. I want to use web buttons to move up and down in 5% increments. How do I create a process to make this happen?

I love mine, I ve used the same BCS for several incarnations of my system over the last 5 years. I even managed to fry the power management chip set on time (Grounding issue), and sent it back for repairs, $20 and three weeks later had it back.

PM me with your email address and I will send you a copy of my process for boil with up/down controlled by either web buttons or one-shot switch contacts.