dyqik
Well-Known Member
On my 4352 I set the cycle time to 1 sec which is no problem for an ssr and raise SV till I get a good boil which for me is 213. Why not let the PID do the calculations?
Because the PID isn't doing and can't do the calculations when the liquid it's controlling is going through a phase transition. As the liquid it's controlling the temperature of passes through boiling point, there's no change in temperature as you add more heat. The feedback loop the PID is operating fails at boiling point.
By setting the SV to 213, assuming your boiling point is in the typical 211 to 212.5 range seen at sea level (it varies with the air pressure and wort composition), you've really just set your element to be on full power, except when the convection of the wort causes temperature fluctuations at the sensor. This doesn't achieve the aim of reducing the power supplied to the wort to maintain a steady boil. Now, you may be lucky in that the fluctuations at the sensor caused by convection do a reasonable job of controlling your boil, but that's going to be very variable, based on the wort type and anything that causes variations in bubble formation during boiling. Change something in your kettle, and you will likely get a very different average power supplied to the wort and different boil-off rate.