Before you attempt to use the system on regular PID mode, you'll want to calibrate your temp probe and probably do an auto-tuning cycle of the PID parameters so that you have good control of temps.
Before you attempt to use the system on regular PID mode, you'll want to calibrate your temp probe and probably do an auto-tuning cycle of the PID parameters so that you have good control of temps.
Thanks for the tips walker. I didn't see anything about clibrating the probe in the manual. I will have to dig in again and look.
Just curious, is the probe calibrating crucial to running a manual mode test?
If you just want to test that you can heat and boil water, then the probe error is somewhat irrelevant, but if you intend to heat to a specific temp, then you'll want to find out what the error is and account for it in the PID programming.
It would be nice to have it reading the right temp so when I heat strike water it can be pretty darn close.
Thanks for the input - I will definitely callibrate the probe - looks very easy to do once I get some ice water in it.
Walker - any personal experience with the auto-tuning? What are the advantages of using it?
don't over-think this.
sweet. now put a fan in the box and put the lid back on!
congrats, man...
Will do!
Shot the heat sink with a temp laser and the hottest it got with no fan was 190F. That said, the 5500w element is perfect for a 10 gallon batch, but it is not a ripper of a boil, which is actually good. However this set up would not be ideal for a 15G batch (you would probably need more power). I ran a 90 minute boil with 14G start volume and it gave a nice boil, as you see in the pictures.
Instead of having to adjust with the percentage in manual mode, I need to keep the element at 100% for the full boil. It will be interesting to see how the element fairs for its life cycle.
All said I am VERY happy with it.
I'm not sure where you are located, but I think you might benefit from getting the kettle off the ground. I know you have a piece of wood under it, but it just seems that the blacktop could be acting as a massive heat sink.
Ed
Ed and onthekeg jumped in before I could, but I am surprised at the comments you made on boil strength, too. I just made a 10 gallon batch Friday night and I've got 5500W in my kettle. I had no problem boiling over 13 gallons of liquid (3 times in fact), and I wasn't running the element at 100%.
It might have to do with the shape of your kettle. I use a converted sanke keg, so my kettle is taller and narrower than that short fat kettle you have. You have more surface area through which to lose heat.
Some insulation around the outside of the pot will probably help considerably.
I'm wondering if your PID is actually letting it go 100% or if its around 90% when its wide open. My element will totally explode the wort out of the kettle if I leave it at 100%
The insulation ("reflectix") states that the max temp is 180*F, but I use it on my kettle and it seems to work fine. It doesn't melt or anything.I bet that you are right on insulating the kettle. The top is very wide, and I lose about a gallon of water to vapor off per 30 minutes of boil.
Is that metallic bubble wrap from home depot heat safe at high temps? If not, maybe I could scrap an old towel and then wrap the pot in that insulator.
I don't know how the unit would run at 90%, I mean based on my readings I should be getting 238V at max draw.
Yes, because the interval of time over which the cycling happens is very small. Like 2 seconds or something.So at 75% your load is 100% - hm, I misunderstood that. With the cycling on and off like that you are able to maintain a consistent boil?
I put that piece of plywood under the pot for a test run - will come up with something more permanent later. However the plywood should have been an excellent insulator from the driveway.
It was like a fall day temp when I brewed - so jean and sweatshirt temps.
Are you saying you think the element should be performing better than it is?
I wouldn't consider wood an excellent insulator.
If you're in a sweatshirt, the ground is probably still pretty cool. I could see it sucking the heat out of your kettle, just like the heatsink you put on your SSR. Next test, you might just get it off the ground a bit even if you just sat it on a couple strips of wood. I also agree with Walker that some insulation should help.
Perhaps excellent is stretching it a bit. However it is a "good" or average insulator (better than black top ).
Just the same - point taken. The entire system could benefit from some insulation of some sort, all the way around. Especially since I have such a fat boy stumpy pot. Not sure what your boil off rates are, but I think a gallon an hour seems higher than the keggle users (or more narrow styled pots).
The next project in line is our brew stand, but I can come up with a better temporary place for the boil pot for the next round -
thanks for the tips
oop - i meant a gallon per half hour - so i am .5 gallon plus on keggle users.
I'm about where Ed is.. 1.5gal per hour. I just did a 5 gallon batch on Sat and have it at I think 65% during the boil - which is quite vigorous. I haven't tried a 10 gallon batch yet, so not sure how it'll do but given how quickly/easily it brings 7.25 gallons (for a 5 gallon batch) to a boil I'm sure it can do it easily. Takes 20 minutes to get to a boil, I turn the boil on as I'm drawing off my 1st batch sparge and it's boiling about the time I finish the second sparge. I setup my BCS to do that part automagically, I have a boil process that I just click when i want it to start ramping up. Starts at 100% and monitors the boil kettle temp til it hits 206 or something like that and then switches to duty cycle.
So I am not that far off you guys. I usually shoot for 11g batches, start boil volume of 13g. After I chill the wort I let it sit for a couple minutes to let the trub settle down a bit, I try to leave the tale end hop matter in the BK.
It is scary how repeatable my boil off has been. But repeatability is what I am shooting for!
Thanks for the system comparisons guys.
from my perspective, I am glad it works as is for now. Knowing I can optimize the performance with some changes is very encouraging. It would be nice to lessen the electricity usage.
How do you guys clean your element? noticed mine had some caked on hard to get off stuff on it. Any suggestions?
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