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Just finished my first brew day on my new electric rig. I have both a temp probe in my MLT (about 3" from bottom of my Keggle) and a temp probe at the return of the HERMs into my MLT. I noticed that the two temps were consistently off from 1* to 2.5*. I would think the MLT probe is the true...

What is your intended batch size and what are the capacities of HLT/MLT/BK? Typically the vessels are equally sized. If you heated full volume of your HLT to strike, you should still have excess liquid (approx 1/2) left after moving to your MLT. Recirc your mash liquid via HERMs while any...

Sorry. Busy day yesterday. Moving a little too fast. Holes are spaced .250" apart. Hole size is somewhere between 1/8 (.1250") and 5/32 (.1563"). Been a while since we fabricated it and can't recall exactly. Don't have the ring with me to measure. .250" holes would be awfully large...

Hope to post positive results on Monday on my pick up ring. I think I'll be OK, but if not then some form of sock/screen will be applied. There are 70+ .250" holes on the bottom perimeter. My "sanitize coil" state starts with 7 min left in the boil. The boil action should still be moving the...

Yes, understood. I'm at 250' elevation. I should be close to 211 as well for boil.

It's at the same height as my element at about 30*. During the pre-heat and hold states the wort will be circulating as it will enter through the tangential whirlpool port from sparging. During "bring to boil" state I'll have to stir as you suggest. I'm of the foam skimming type (more so out...

As Brundog explained, in BCS terms "direct" refers to either 100% on or off. My plan is to pre-heat wort in the BK while sparge finishes with element set at 100% (Direct "on") to 206*, hold at 206* in PID mode until sparge has completed, then step to 210* in PID mode , and finally transition...

Appreciate all the feedback. Mine is a ripple element and reading through the posts here I plan to pre-heat in direct mode to 206 -> PID to 210 -> Duty at 70% for boil. I'll see how that goes and will adjust accordingly. I assume I can programmatically adjust up/down on the fly mid process if...

Thanks for the quick reply. What is the wattage of your element? LWD or ULWD?

Curious what others are using for a duty cycle percentage for their element during the boil. I have a 5500 ULWD element in a keggle. Hoping to lean on other's experiences in preparation of my first brew day on a new rig.

A custom coil such as you describe will be expensive to fabricate. It might be easier and cheaper to add another 1/2 NPT fitting where you need it for a coil already commercially available and repurpose the left over original fitting for your temp probe/gauge, float switch, or just plug it.

3-way valves are nice in that it reduces total number of valves and ensuing clutter. Downside is you cannot throttle a 3-way and it's easy to get tripped up on flow direction. I recommend doing a water only run before adding valves everywhere. Determine where and when you really need to shut...

For efficiency-sake .38 to .40 is ideal. If you have not already done so, I would try: 1) thinner mash: water-to-grain ratio of no less than 1.5qt/lb. I shoot for 1.75qt/lb 2) Rice hulls: 1/2 lb for 5 gal batch, 1 lb for 10 gal 3) If you dough-in before recirculating your mash, slowly...

@dcbc, my answer to your question is "it depends". In my set up I have two pumps and fabricated "supply" (feeding pump "in") and "return" (pump "out") manifolds. Without valves at the supply and return manifold ports there is some liquid that does get pushed up the unintended tubing, even if...

Stick with the flat gasket or modify a ribbed one as stated before. The O-rings are a real PITA to seat correctly and are easily squeezed off the sanke neck. What are connecting to the sanke neck?

I use 2" silicone sanitary gaskets, but I remove the rib off one side with a utility blade. This now flat side I use on the sanke side.

Quick update on the coating performance. At near full boil temp I can hold my hand on the outside of the keggle for 10 seconds. Definitely a great product to avoid accidental burns from rubbing up against kettles full of boiling liquid. My only concern is how difficult it will be to clean...

Sorry golfindia, looks like I'll be keeping it. Low amp TIG and a little stainless rod appears to have done the trick. Looks like I'll finally be able to break in the new rig soon. Checked resistance and it's still at 11.1 to 11.2 Ohms whether checked at the brackets or on the posts. The...

Thanks for the suggestions and advice everyone. I decided to give my welder a crack at it tomorrow when I see him. augiedoggy, I agree that plastic would melt before solder. My only concern with the solder is it can get brittle. If I were to go that route ideally I would braze the post to the...

I am concerned about silver solder as well. Soft solder (silver solder) has relatively low melting point. I'll take it to my welder. If he can't fix it I'll just buy a new element. $40 far cheaper than spot welder or trip to hospital after playing with car batteries, wire and nails;)