Bucket water heater hooked to a digital temp. controller to control mash temp?

Hi,

I just bought a water bucket heater, and I already have a digital temperature controller (thermostat - http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/johnson-controls-a419-digital-temp-controller.html)

Has anyone used them in combination to control mash temperature? Is this an overkill?

Are you talking adding the water bucket heater directly to the mash?I would think this is a bad ideas the heat would be very localized to the element and you would need constant stirring to distribute.

A better way would be to heat the water with the bucket heater in a separate container, and use a pump to move the water through a coil in the mash tun...but this is alot of plumbing.

Anyway you do it, its overkill as cooler mashtun seem to hold temp pretty well all on their own. Its all what you are comparing it to.

Yeah just use a converted cooler for a tun. I made mine for cheap and it maybe loses 1 degree over the course of a 60 minute mash. That 1 degree temperature is most likely from me opening it every 20 minutes to stir it and check the temp, but there is no significant loss that is making me question how i maintain temps.

The only benefit would be if you missed your mash temp, but that is what spare boiling water is for.