Electric conversion

I am contemplating switching to electric due to crap weather this year and inabiluity to brew at all. I have seen the setups some people have like the electric brewery, but honestly I cant shell out that amount of money. Can one PID control 2 SSR's at different times (switched). I am no electronic genious, I dont design circuits for a living but I can assemble them easily.

Absolutely. You can put together a fairly simple system that can work very well for you.

Here is an example:
(Click on the image for a full scale diagram)

I have been studying your drawing. One question I have is how do you get the thermocouple feedback to control the temperature?

The temp probe (RTD) wiring is shown on the PID diagram layout. That probe gets placed in the HLT to sense and regulate the temperature..

Wouldnt you want the BK regulated as well? Im not sure ai want a BK going full out with a 5500 W element in it an d no control. Is it possible to have 2 probes and use a switch?

Tuzlo said:

Wouldnt you want the BK regulated as well? Im not sure ai want a BK going full out with a 5500 W element in it an d no control. Is it possible to have 2 probes and use a switch?

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Good question. The particular PID (in the drawing) that I recommend is the Auber Instruments SYL-2352. It has 2 modes that are commonly used for brewing. The first controls the element heating to reach and maintain a set temperature. The second is manual mode where it delivers a percent of power from 0 to 100%. This mode allows you to control the rate of boil. You cannot control the boil rate by temperature. 212°F is a simmer boil and 120°F is also a raging boil. The difference is the amount of power delivered.

BTW, you can use 2 temp probes and switch them. It is really not necessary for the boil kettle - unless you're chilling the wort using an immersion chiller. If you decide to go this route, it is a must that you choose the RTD temp probes - IMHO.

Type K probes do not work well with switches or when their signal lines are spliced to a different wire type. Every splice or connection becomes a new temperature measuring junction. Auber Instruments carries special connectors and extension cable for the type K probes.

Hope this helps.

Replacing the K Type with 2 RTD isnt cheap, about the same price s another PID. Makes me think about revisiting the Bakatronics PWM system, hell it's manual but if I have to babysit it might as well not throw money away.

Why would you need a second temp probe?
There is a way you can swap a single probe if need be. Or just use type K probes. I can explain how.

How else can yuo control the BK if you have no temp feedback

Tuzlo said:

How else can yuo control the BK if you have no temp feedback

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The boil kettle is controlled by the PID in manual mode. The PID would be hooked up to the same probe that lives in the HLT (It just needs to be connected to the PID but the PID doesn't use it in manual mode) Manual mode allows you to set the power delivered to the element from off to 100% power. You just touch the up & down arrows to change the %.

Maybe I should look at another way to do this. I would like to know temps of both kettles, one for mashing and the other for controlling the Boil. Not sure whether im getting too complex with this or not.

Use the type K temp probes then.
I still do not understand why you think you need a seperate temp probe in the BK to control the boil. Please explain.

My understanding is the thermocouple is a feedback to the pid for temp control. If so you can set temp on pid and it will control power to the ssr accordingly. Correct or not?

This PID allows two different kinds of control. The first is based on a set temp setting. Use it that way for your HLT. When you're ready to boil, switch power over to your BK element and switch the PID to manual mode. The probe can stay in the HLT because in manual mode the PID will control the BK element by adjusting it's power based on percentage. It won't really use the temperature feedback from your HLT probe when in manual mode. The probe just needs to be hooked up so it'll function, but it will be adjusting the BK element based on the percentage it's set to. Set it to 100 percent until you get it boiling, then adjust down as necessary-say 60 percent depending on how it works for you. Just use a regular thermometer if you want to keep track of your BK temps while your coming up to a boil and adjust power as needed.

Tuzlo said:

My understanding is the thermocouple is a feedback to the pid for temp control. If so you can set temp on pid and it will control power to the ssr accordingly. Correct or not?

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That is absolutely correct. However: When you are in the boil process the temperature is not a factor. 212°F is 212°F - a simmer and a rageng boil are both 212°F. This is why you need a PID with manual mode so that the percent of power can be regulated.

So doyou need a thermocouple on the BK or not? If you are setting percentage of power on the PID I don't see a reason to have a BK thermocouple. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Tuzlo said:

So doyou need a thermocouple on the BK or not? If you are setting percentage of power on the PID I don't see a reason to have a BK thermocouple. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

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No, you don't need a thermocouple on the BK.