MyPIN Autotune

[Blackfish]

I messed up the settings on my MYPin controller and need to re-autotune. What temp should I autoune at? 170° roughly strike and sparge temps or 212° boil temp?

Thanks

 

[-CHRIS-]

I really don't think it matters. I would not suggest doing it at boiling temp since it cannot calculate temperature rise when the temp of the water cannot rise.

Chris

 

[shoo]

Auto tune around your mash/strike/sparge temps. If what you meant was probe calibration, calibrate your probes preferably at mash temps against an already well-calibrated thermometer, but boiling is more convenient (and just fine) for that purpose.

Why not autotune at boiling? Well, you can't, really. Consider what auto tune does, and what boiling means. Auto tune turns on your element, and sees how long it takes to rise above some temperature and fall below another one, so it knows how hard to pulse the element to reach and maintain temps. The problem is that water will never rise above boiling, because it becomes steam and goes away. You therefore effectively can't auto tune at boiling.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

My auto tune never worked from day one and would overshoot temps. I gave up. Now I just kill the power to the element at mash temp and let it ride. I get around a 5 deg drop starting at around 30 minutes. Most likely after conversion is done anyway. Hasn't made a single difference in my beer.

I did read once that the only/best way to auto tune and have it work is after a brew session save the spent grain and add it to the pot and THEN do the autotune at say 154 with the grain in the pot...makes sense as that's what we're trying to achieve

 

[golfindia]

Auto tune at mash temp and at the flow rate you usually use. I've found that the key to getting a good result is getting the whole system to the temp you want to tune to. If you start high or low it either takes forever or doesnt get it right. The lower the temp fluctuation in the system the better. I hook my RIMS tube up to an igloo cooler for sous vide occasionally. It will tune itself in 2-3 minutes usually. Using just water has always worked fine as long as I back the flow rate off some to simulate a real mash characteristics.

 

[Blackfish]

Thanks for the help. I am using the PID just to heat water and do the boil. No heated mash tun, yet.

Should I also calibrate the temp probe to ice water to see how far off the PID's temperature is? I think you then enter that difference as the PVF value to correct the temperature reading. Do I have that right?

 

[shoo]

Thanks for the help. I am using the PID just to heat water and do the boil. No heated mash tun, yet.

Should I also calibrate the temp probe to ice water to see how far off the PID's temperature is? I think you then enter that difference as the PVF value to correct the temperature reading. Do I have that right?

Yes, you should definitely calibrate your probes, but I would probably do your calibration with boiling water, not ice water, for two reasons: 1) this is closer to the temps you actually care about, and calibrating close to those temps improves accuracy, and 2) there are likely to be larger differences in temperature within an ice bath than in rolling boil. Rolling boils keep the water in motion and mixing around, so the temps are more consistently the same throughout, and there is no risk of touching an ice cube or something which may have much different temperatures than the water.