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Most people here do this. People probably aren't answering because it only takes a few minutes to read some of the threads here with people controlling their HLTs with a PID. People use their HLTs as heat exchangers and keep the water a steady temp using this method. You can also "set and...

And to answer your actual question... Go ahead and harvest the yeast, and if you don't notice any off flavors, I say use it.

Add a campden tablet before fermentation to prevent the chlorophenols. If you don't your beer will have a bandaid like taste. Might not be an issue if you only had a little bit of water get into it. I would assume that the chiller sprung it's leak while the wort was still near boiling. If...

I have forgotten to purge a few times, and I didn't notice any off flavors. Relax, don't worry

They are probably SS, aluminum kegs a very rare. Most SS kegs won't attract a magnet, including the two I have. I remember reading why, but don't recall. I would definitely turn at least one of them into a BK though. If you don't have a need for the other two you could sell em for at least $40...

If you are looking to get an exact temperature for your sparge water you could setup a temp probe on a fitting where the sparge water comes out. That could be hooked up to your hex PID to boost the temps to whatever you need.

I thought about using a separate and smaller hex with my eHERMS, but decided it was easier to put my hex coil in the HLT. This way the sparge water is already near it's temp and ready to go. This also eliminates the need for another vessel, element, PID, temp probe, more fittings and another...

Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for clearing it up!

If I were only those terminal strips for one phase of the 240v system would the amperage going through still be the total of what I'm using (~24a at %100). I would use two terminal strips, one for each phase, so does that effectively cut the amperage on each phase in half?

I'm looking into this a little bit, although it seems a bit large for my control panel compared to the terminal strips. What are the advantages of these over the strips? I'd like to find them locally and noticed that Radio Shack has them. I think the website said they were 15 amps, probably...

This thread has some simple diagrams for wiring a control panel. It's very basic and should give you a good idea of where to start.

Is it completely out of the question to heat up the element and then bend it? And no I don't mean power it up and bend it! What if you were to hit it with a torch and slowly mold it around a using a hammer or something. These elements are fairly cheap so it might be worth a try.

Ok, I guess I should have read "Control Panel (Part Two)". It mentions what I'm looking for. Looks like they are referred to as "terminal strips". A quick eBay search turned up some really cheap options, and exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully that helps you out, that way I won't feel as...

So I'm finishing my parts buying and ordering for my controller. I looked over Kal's site and didn't see a mention of the power distribution blocks that he uses (maybe they are called something else and I missed it?) I'm used to DC wiring in vehicles and always referred to them as distribution...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000Q6AQKW/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

That won't work with the outlet you describe. You'll need 220v outlets for that burner. I would agree with others about adding a heatstick. If you use the 40 amp breaker you can use a 3000 watt heat stick to supplement. That should give you no trouble getting to a full boil.

That might be a blessing in disguise. You can then use a 5500 watt element for a much quicker brew day. Think of the time you'll save! I went over all of this when planning my setup, and ultimately decided I wanted a dedicated 50amp 240 breaker for my brewing. I always have issues with other...

Yeah that's true. My reason for wanting it is only to see how close to boil I'm getting, and maybe to monitor temps during cooling and whirlpool. Might now be worth the hassle, and extra hole in the Kettle.

Think of a PID as the power regulator (like you use a gas regulator). It's really not that complicated if you read up for awhile (it was pretty foreign to me at the start). There are two ways to control the Auber PIDs, one way monitors the temperature and cycles the heating element to...

Is there any reason you couldn't use two thermocouples and use a switch so I would be able to see temps in both the HLT and BK?