Black Island Brewer
An Ode to Beer
First, I apologize if this is an obvious question. I have been poking around the webs, but it gets way over my head really fast.
I already have a propane direct fire insulated keggle mash tun, with male camlocks on the out and in ports. I use a chugger pump to recirculate when I am step mashing, but I don't use it to control resting mash temps. In moderate weather, my temps measured with a fixed 3 inch probe mounted about 8 inches from the bottom drops a degree in an hour, more if it's colder. But I know that the space beneath the false bottom cools considerably, resulting in an uneven mash temp throughout the mash.
What I'm considering doing is adding a RIMS tube with a PID controller. In my head I'm seeing the tube being connected directly to the out port with a female camlock, hanging down then connecting with a short tube to the chugger pump, then returning to the in port. The connection to the heating element would be at the top of the tube, the thermocouple at the bottom. I wouldn't turn on the power to the PID until I was already recirculating.
Does this make sense to do it this way? Or is there a concern that the pump could suck the RIMS tube dry and fry the element? Ands if that's the case, could I mount the RIMS rube to the male camlock of the return port?
I'd like to get Bobby M's RIMS tube: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/rims12_cam.htm
but I have no idea what PID to get.
TIA!
I already have a propane direct fire insulated keggle mash tun, with male camlocks on the out and in ports. I use a chugger pump to recirculate when I am step mashing, but I don't use it to control resting mash temps. In moderate weather, my temps measured with a fixed 3 inch probe mounted about 8 inches from the bottom drops a degree in an hour, more if it's colder. But I know that the space beneath the false bottom cools considerably, resulting in an uneven mash temp throughout the mash.
What I'm considering doing is adding a RIMS tube with a PID controller. In my head I'm seeing the tube being connected directly to the out port with a female camlock, hanging down then connecting with a short tube to the chugger pump, then returning to the in port. The connection to the heating element would be at the top of the tube, the thermocouple at the bottom. I wouldn't turn on the power to the PID until I was already recirculating.
Does this make sense to do it this way? Or is there a concern that the pump could suck the RIMS tube dry and fry the element? Ands if that's the case, could I mount the RIMS rube to the male camlock of the return port?
I'd like to get Bobby M's RIMS tube: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/rims12_cam.htm
but I have no idea what PID to get.
TIA!
