Temperature Probes

[fishy8082]

Hey guys, I am working on a kickstarter project that I won't name, but I am interested in the type of probe that most people use for home brewing. One of my backers said that K type probes are the ones to support. Just wondering if most of you guys use K types as well.

Thanks

PS this is a repost from Beginners Beer Brewing Forum

 

[Squeeky]

I have used several different probes here are my experiences Remember I am not an electrician.

Type J - Was used with old Omega PID, wasn't the accuracy I was looking for but I was able to get extension cable at Lowes. Just twist the ends and solder and you have a probe.

Type K / pt100 - Used with SYL-2532? PID. I liked these because stainless water tight probes were readily available for cheap on Ebay.

1-Wire Temp probes - will be used with my Brewtroller automation. These are little more fragile, but you can daisy chain. I can run more then I will ever need off one input. Just have them in hand so no actual use. Still in design/build mode.

 

[fishy8082]

So I am supporting the 1 wire (ds18b20) ones currently. They seem to be much less of a hassle to deal with in comparison to K type. Im worried about directly putting the 1 wire probes in beer. I encapsulated a bunch but I was worried about putting epoxies in something that a human will drink. I saw the K types that come in 12 inch rods and thought they were awesome. Do you know if 1 wires come in a long probe as well? Looked around and couldnt find much.

A bunch of people are set on K types and I was wondering if anyone knew any advantages over the 1 wires? Seems to me that the K type is less accurate.

 

[Hullguy]

Open Source Control has them premade
http://www.oscsys.com/11.81-1-Wire-Temperature-Probe-with-M12-Male-Connector.html

 

[fishy8082]

Oh awesome! Thats exactly what I was looking for. Thanks

 

[jpalarchio]

www.brewershardware.com too for additional probe options

 

[carlisle_bob]

Hi

Probe wise K type's are cheap and rugged. PT100 RTD's are more accurate and more expensive. Once you have the front end to support a K type, it's likely just a code patch to do J's. PT100 will take a little more work to integrate into the same hardware.

The one wire stuff is simply a digital i/o line for the interface, so no real front end is required. On the controller end, that makes the one wire's the clear winner cost wise.

Cabling will be easier with a one wire or a PT100 than it is with a K or a J. A lot of people miss that point in setting things up and loose accuracy as a result.

The only other sensor you see used are the 10K ohm thermistors. The problem there is curve matching. That tends to make them a "married to this controller" sort of thing instead of a general purpose sensor. Cheap to buy and easy to cable and pretty simple analog front end though (single resistor and an A/D port on a micro normally).

Bob