Electric brewing -controller

[jakeneal25]

I have just purchased a 6000 watt heating element to put in my kettle.
I'm trying to work out the best way to proceed with the controller. A pid controller makes sense to get the water to mash temp though for the boil I'm starting to think I might need to regulate the voltage.

Any advice on whether you think a pid will suffice or some sort of voltage regulator is needed to manage the boil ( bring to boil quickly and then most likely back it off ). Can I have both?
Thanks

 

[SwagBiker]

6000W is a very big element. At 25A you'll be needing a dedicated feed and some cooling for your PID SSR.
What size is your kettle? Do you need that much heat energy? If you're worried about the boil stage being too vigorous then maybe a smaller element would be best.
Otherwise, if you want to continue with the 6kW element then a voltage regulator is not going to be easy. As it would need to be rated to 25A that's going to be a very big variable transformer which will be big, heavy and expensive.
There are PWM options available, but the PID pretty much does the same thing anyway. So perhaps the easiest would be to just set the PID to 105*C and let it regulate the boil. Just experiment with what temp set point provides the desired result.

 

[jakeneal25]

Thanks for your response. Yes I might have overdone it on element. It's 15 gallon kettle so wanted to be able to so 5 gallon and 10 gallon batches and bring to boil quickly. It seems people use 5500 so I thought 6000 wasn't to crazy.

Iv decided to get a ez boil dspr120. That' regulates voltage so I can easily turn it down and manage boil issues.

I was hoping just a heat sink for the ssr would be Ok? Do u think think I will need fan also?. Iv already got a switch in garage that can handle 25 amp. What else do you think I will need ?

Thanks again

 

[MHB]

I cant speak to the quality but you can get a 10kW SCR on eBay for under $20, might be worth investing in a better quality one but pretty reasonable prices these days.
Mark

 

[Moad]

BCS462

 

[H@wkeye!]

I recommend the DSPR that does mashes too. I've got one, forget which model it is specifically. Otherwise you'll have trouble keeping mash temps.

6Kw is a lot, but will make for fast boil and temp increase. My 17 odd G pots have 4.4Kw (2x2200w). They increase temp fairly quickly - although not tried it in winter yet..

 

[Crusty]

I have just purchased a 6000 watt heating element to put in my kettle.
I'm trying to work out the best way to proceed with the controller. A pid controller makes sense to get the water to mash temp though for the boil I'm starting to think I might need to regulate the voltage.

Any advice on whether you think a pid will suffice or some sort of voltage regulator is needed to manage the boil ( bring to boil quickly and then most likely back it off ). Can I have both?
Thanks

I highly recommend these
https://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=3

When you want to boil, set it to manual & adjust your power percentage to the element.
In your case, that might be 65-80%.
I'll be running 5500w elements off mine.