I got into this a little late.. but those "SSVR"'s are just phase control dimmers (like a standard light dimmer, yes) with the ability to hook to a big heat sink, run at 220V (and at higher current due to the heatsinking and slighly better TRIACS internally). The Potentiometer is literally part of the phase control circuit*, so you could sort of say it's powered (ok, it is).. but it isn't isolated like a standard solid state relay which uses optical coupling.. so bear that in mind. It is high impedance at 470K ohms so it's mostly safe anyway...
I am building up a box for boil, and a separate box for mash with a proper PID and SSR. I had all the parts for the second case already.. putting it into two boxes means I can in theory use both at once in two different vessels.. so it wasn't that much more expensive to go that way. It is why many people buy the Auber PID unit that emulates a proper PWM by having the software modified to pulse the element on and off (over a matter of seconds) with a standard SSR in "PWM" mode or "boil" mode.
*The phase control switches the TRIACs on for a portion of each half of the AC cycle.. the amount is controlled by the potentiometer....
Fred