Ag Temp Control Help Please

[chefo112233]

Hi guys, I brought some AG stuff awhile ago and its been sitting there - Ive got a bit of time now and would like to get underway with my first ag brew. I have 2 50L kegs (hlt, kettle) and a esky for a mash tun. Ive got a gas burner for the hlt which im happy with but for the kettle Ive got an electric element, actually 2, both 2400w.

Ive searched the threads and read alot about it, but it seems really technical to me and im having trouble understanding how to connect my element to a PID (??) to control the temperature of the kettle (For sparge and strike water temp etc). Im not electrically minded or anything but what i basically want is to be able to heat my kettle up to about 68 deg, then later refill it and have it heated to approx 74deg.

So thats basically what I want Im justing having trouble interpreting the lingo and the diagrams that have been posted, if someone can dumb it down for me, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks guys,

Shaun.

 

[unrealeous]

PID - Proportional Integral Differential controller.

The temperature is the input - power to the element is the output. Or another way, you'll connect a thermometer to a PID controller - which will control the amount of power outputted to a heater element.

You are probably best finding someone who has done it who doesn't live too far away - and blatantly copy their design/system/wiring etc.

There are heaps of different PID's on the market - you should probably get something that's easy to wire up.

 

[schooey]

If you think in simple terms, the PID is the brains behind the whole thing, or like a calculator on roids that runs this big algorithm. Basically, you tell it a range where you want it to be, it measures how far it is from it and then sets about the best way to get there without exceeding the other parameters you have set (i.e. overshoot, pulses yada yada)

Unless you want to spend a shitload of money, you won't buy a PID that will directly control an element. The most common method is to have the PID control a SSR (Solid State Relay), which is the muscles part of the equation; it does all the switching work of the element load.

If all this is very foreign to you, I would strongly suggest finding a sparky to do it for you.

Also I think you may need to read up on the AG process a little more and ask a few more questions. Usually... strike water is either heated in a HLT (Hot Liquor Tank) or the MLT (Mash Liquor Tun), not the kettle. The kettle is where the wort created in the MLT is boiled, after the sparge etc...

 

[mxd]

as schooey said (re HLT and Kettle) plus you don't a pid to start out with, you can just use a thermometer and your finger on the power point.