I bought the SS RIMS tube from Brewers Hardware
Trying to decide how to mount it on my new rig.
How are you guys mounting this?
I used U bolts for mine.....however you mount it, make sure you can take it off easily because you may need to drain it.
The triclamps are so cool. I'd like to maybe find a similar mounting solution.
Something with a strap or clamp, or something, to lock it in place for operational, and 'break loose' for cleaning,
Why? Isn't that why Derrin has the triclovers on the end, so you can easily remove them and drain the tube?
Sure...all depends on orientation. My rims is horizontal with a horizontal inlet and very outlet. Because of the pipe contour there may be fluid left. So it depends on the build.
Any ideas how the RIMS tube can be mounted to a TopTier? I have the RIMS tube but I don't know what size the slots are on the TopTier. I am trying to put together a whole new system while my house is being built (currently in an apartment) but until then I don't want to order the stand because I don't have anywhere to put it.
~J
I have half of a RIMS Tube from Derrin. My buddy bought one, and after finding the heating element we both wanted, realized he only needed half of the tube. I took the other half and ordered the rest of the parts I needed to make it functional from Derrin. Here is the route I was thinking about going.
http://www.mcmaster.com/#strut-channel-clamps/=a270b2
Are the slots on the TopTier the same as the 8020 stuff? Will the strut channel adapters for the push close clamps work with the slots on the TopTier?
BTW here is the element. It has no exposed wires, all stainless, a light to tell you when it is on, and it's three wire so I don't need a grounding nut.
http://www.shopwiki.com/_Columbia+S...,+1500+Watt+without+Dial?o=358450114&s=290689
~J
Wow, that is $50 more than I paid for my element.
Thanks for the tip on that Heating Element.
Wow, that is $50 more than I paid for my element.
I wonder if the element in that device is replaceable? It also says it has 1" NPT threads. And as said, pretty slick enclosure.
I like it.
Even if somehow the tube were to run dry the probe is mounted 4" away from the element so the controller would shut it off once the inside of the tube reached the set temp and that will never be above 168F.
A PID doesn't work like that. You are thinking of a hysteresis/digital control.
PV>Set Point + dead band = turn off
The PID is calibrated to inject a continuous amount of heat at a given flow rate to maintain a temp. If you choke the flow completely off you are putting a lot of heat into a small volume of water. So the acceleration of the temperature is VERY rapid. When you auto tune a PID for a hex like this (at least in my experience) the derivative factor is very insubstantial. So with a weak derivative the predictive factor of the PID doesn't have much of an affect. If you will, the "Oh crap, I haven't hit my set point but I am going to overshoot," compensation.
The P variable will tell the PID to back off immediately but only a fixed (P)roportion of the error.
The I is a proportion of the error summed over time. So when you over shoot the I starts backing off more aggressively as more time goes by. It also increases the output over time if it isn't up to temp. Once you hit your temp the I value doesn't change because there is no error.
Here is an example of why you don't want the PID to turn off as soon as it gets to the set point. You need X amount of heat put into the mash to maintain a constant temp. If you turn it off right at the set point the temp will quickly start to fall. You want to be able to back off enough power to cause the temp to drop with out letting it crash. So you will still introduce some heat when past the set point.
So back to the small volume with lots of heat problem. Once the temp in the HEX starts to cool the PID will turn on again and cause the water to boil in about an instant, it maintains the heat injection profile based at the gpm it was tuned at. So it will continue to boil the liquid in the HEX until it reaches 0% output. Then the whole process will start over. A couple cycles of this will start to burn things up.
Thats why I was so surprised. If he doesn't have a flow switch or if he doesn't catch it........one stuck sparge and it's another $50.
Okay Guy. I can see how there is still some danger of runaway. The only thing I can do about that is pay attention to the High Temp alarm the controller came with. If it goes off I'll shut down the controller and investigate. Beyond that I am starting to think I may have been better off using a Love controller. Can you lead me to a thread that talks more about how to protect a setup like mine (PID controller and RIMS tube) from this kind of damage? Is there a thread out there that talks about a brewer that this has happened to?
Thanks again and cheers,
-J
Based on your graph I think you run more of risk of damge due to a dry fire that a stuck sparge.
Thanks Ed. That graph looks like what my intuition had led me to believe would happen in the case of a stuck mash. Not trivial as far as your batch of beer goes, but not bad enough to ruin equipment either. Maybe the old paint strainer bag trick would help protect against a stuck mash and a potentially ruined beer. Then again the amount of wort in the tube would be so small it may have very little effect on the beer. Thanks again for your time. That is really cool stuff.
Cheers,
-J
I'm thinking of including a flow-sensor at the input of my RIMS tube to disable the heater in the event of a stopage. I was looking at this one (probably with a .5 gpm setpoint):
http://www.mcmaster.com/#4960k6/=a35qan
What do you all think?
You might watch ebay.
I bought 2 Stainless, Adjustable switches a couple weeks ago.
The ones I got are manufactured by Gems I think.
Ed
I've seen one SS Gems on ebay at only a slightly ridiculous price, but it had a 1 GPM setpoint which I was afraid would be too high...
No reason that your re-circulation rate has to equal your sparge or lauter rate.
So, you could circulate at 1GPM to maintain temps, then slow down the flow for sparge which would disable the heater.
Ed
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