Fat Bastard
Brew Cvlt Doom
- Joined
- 11/8/11
- Messages
- 914
- Reaction score
- 226
G'day.
We finished the controller today during some quiet time at work. The controller contains a PID and switch for the element and a speed control and powersupply for a little brown pump. It all seems to work correctly, and tomorrow I'll attempt to calibrate the PT100 to the PID with a heat source and the whacky-do thermal imaging camera we use at work. I'm pretty excited about the first brew but have some questions for the folks that already use a recirculated mash system.
My kettle is a 36 litre stockpot fitted with a bag rest and 2400w element. The space under the bag rest equates to approximately 7 litres. I have the fittings to plumb the PT100 into the outlet of the recirculation system, which seems to be regarded as the best location for it in a recirculating system.
I don't have a sightglass in the MLT/Kettle. I was planning to use the pump speed control to maintain a constant level of wort over the mash. Am I asking for a burned out element doing this?
In my solid sided BIAB system, I usually sparge with between 7 and 14 litres of 75c water, corrected for pH. Should I also recirculate the sparge, or just continue with what I have been doing and just gravity feed from my little Aldi urn?
The wort return I have made is an 'over the side' type with the outlet angled to provide a whirlpool effect. It's only a prototype in 1/2" copper at the moment, but I've trialled it using tap pressure, and it seems to work well enough with tea-leaves and rice. I can make a reducer to fit over the end to increase velocity of the return. What is most important here, the volume of the wort return or the velocity? I probably could do some hard sums and work this out for myself, but I'm lazy and being a toolmaker first and then engineer, prefer practical knowledge to theory anyday.
When doing the whirlpool, should I run it through the plate chiller before returning it to the kettle to leave the cold break behind? I'm also assuming that this would help forming a compact trub cone.
I'll do a grist-less run tomorrow night and provide some pictures to show off my handiwork.
Cheers,
FB.
We finished the controller today during some quiet time at work. The controller contains a PID and switch for the element and a speed control and powersupply for a little brown pump. It all seems to work correctly, and tomorrow I'll attempt to calibrate the PT100 to the PID with a heat source and the whacky-do thermal imaging camera we use at work. I'm pretty excited about the first brew but have some questions for the folks that already use a recirculated mash system.
My kettle is a 36 litre stockpot fitted with a bag rest and 2400w element. The space under the bag rest equates to approximately 7 litres. I have the fittings to plumb the PT100 into the outlet of the recirculation system, which seems to be regarded as the best location for it in a recirculating system.
I don't have a sightglass in the MLT/Kettle. I was planning to use the pump speed control to maintain a constant level of wort over the mash. Am I asking for a burned out element doing this?
In my solid sided BIAB system, I usually sparge with between 7 and 14 litres of 75c water, corrected for pH. Should I also recirculate the sparge, or just continue with what I have been doing and just gravity feed from my little Aldi urn?
The wort return I have made is an 'over the side' type with the outlet angled to provide a whirlpool effect. It's only a prototype in 1/2" copper at the moment, but I've trialled it using tap pressure, and it seems to work well enough with tea-leaves and rice. I can make a reducer to fit over the end to increase velocity of the return. What is most important here, the volume of the wort return or the velocity? I probably could do some hard sums and work this out for myself, but I'm lazy and being a toolmaker first and then engineer, prefer practical knowledge to theory anyday.
When doing the whirlpool, should I run it through the plate chiller before returning it to the kettle to leave the cold break behind? I'm also assuming that this would help forming a compact trub cone.
I'll do a grist-less run tomorrow night and provide some pictures to show off my handiwork.
Cheers,
FB.