Temp control for turkey fryer

[Kaiser]

If only it would be precise enough for mashing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sentry-Temperature-Control-Valve-for-Turkey-Deep-Fryer_W0QQitemZ270067179130QQihZ017QQcategoryZ20724QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Kai

 

[digdan]

About time! I'm tired of using my mind as a feedback system

 

[autoferret]

It may work better on your HLT if your doing a reciculating mash. I'm working on stepping up to doing all grain myself. And i know that i'm not ready to apply dirrect heat to the mash.

nick

 

[the_bird]

I wonder how precise it is, though - wondering if it could still be useful to get sparge water up to temp (and not accidentally bringing it to a boil).

Could be useful when you're rockin' 210k BTUs like me.... :rockin:

 

[Hopfan]

I think this would be great for sparge water. Just watch what you bid, I saw it for $32 shipped from Turkey-Fryers-online.com

If you're looking for a mash controller, you could just use a temp regulator & probe. wire the regulator output to a relay for controlling the gas solenoid and an igniter (similar to forced hot air heating system, or hot water heater, that uses pilotless ignition). Voila, an automatic mash temp regulator. Just be sure that the regulator you get has adjustment for thermal swings.

I'm sure Yuri could whip this up in a few minutes with his shop setup.

 

[DrewsBrews]

Don't do it! I bought one of these when I purchased my turkey fryer. I had the same idea... it should work for boiling the wort, too, right? Well, it works great for about the first half hour. Open the valve on the propane tank wide, set the temp, and sit down and enjoy one of your previous brews. All is good.

Then things start to go south. It seems that as the thing gets warm (from heat cast by the burner) it very slowly starts to clamp down the internal "throttle". No matter how high you turn the temp control knob it just keeps letting less and less gas through. It got so bad the second time I used it that I could hardly keep a boil going. This is with a high pressure burner making between 150 and 185k btus that sounds like a jet engine.

I called the manufacturer and got some BS story about how it's not designed to work in a water based boil and the valve would only be accurate for oil. I explained to them that it worked great, for a while. I had a stem thermometer in there to verify temps and it was within about 10 degrees of the setting on the knob. No no... won't work cause it's not oil. Okay you dumb bastard, I'll try it in oil. A week later I fried a turkey with it. Same scenario. I had that sucker turned up to 400 degrees and it wouldn't keep the oil over 250. I had to turn the whole thing off, disconnect the valve, and go straight to the burner to get it up to temp. Also ended up cooking the turkey about 15 mins too long and dried it out. Thanks, jerk wad.

They wouldn't replace mine because they claimed I was just doing it wrong. Told them to bite my arse.