Mash Rigs And Protein Haze

[Tony]

oops didnt read some of the posts..... Wont be direct heating the mash ton. have a pump ready for the coil in the HLT to hold temperature. I am going to have a PT100 temperature probe in the mash and the HLT with Omron temperature controllers hooked up to them. Have them sitting there waiting.
Will be using two solanoids that will be switched by the temperature controller that will either run the wort through the coil in the HLT, that will be controlled to 76 deg for the sparge, to hold mash temperature or bypass it directly back to the mash ton when the temp is at setpoint.
Will be making a 2400W RIMS system to help if i want to do a quick temp step.

Will also be adding to the return tube in the mash ton so it doesnt splash as much.

cheers
Thanks for the advice people.

 

[dicko]

Hi Tony,

Your set up looks good.
I have a question about the PT 100 temp probes.
I used a temp controller out of a baine marie food warmer to control the mash temp by switching the pump on if the temp of the mash dropped below 65deg and it worked fine except that it had a temp differential of 5deg c and when the pump recirculated the the wort it got it too hot before it switched off.
What I want to know is that, what is the temp differential of those controllers you are using and where can you get them?

Hi Darren,

Excuse my ignorance but what is PVPP?

Cheers

 

[tdh]

Pretty Volatile Particle Precipitator

 

[Justin]

Dicko, you can usually set the differential on digital temp controllers (half a degree is common, often called hysterisis). US ebay is a good place to pick them up (there are always dozens to choose from), often you'll find them for about $50-$60AUS delivered, sometimes less-just make sure they don't ship with UPS or you will get stung with shipping costs double the price of the controller.

Make sure they will ship USPS, as these controllers only weight 1-2lbs and are quite small-so shippin should be around $10US. I'm currently looking for one myself but in no rush. I have passed up quite a few that would have landed at my door for $40AUD. Just make sure that you know the model, that it will take 240V (most will) and that the type of input (thermocouple/Pt100/mV etc) will suit you and the probe you can get. Most people would use a solid state relay if you are driving elements as the relays on the controllers themselves are usually only about 3Amps, but they would drive a pump no worries.

Hope it helps.

Cheers, JD

 

[Darren]

Hi Darren,

Excuse my ignorance but what is PVPP?

Cheers

Hey Dicko,
PVPP is Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone (now you see why its called PVPP) Another name for it is Polyclar.
Works well except thet you have to dump the first pint or so from a keg or else you get a glass of "plastic" along with the dropped stuff.
cheers
Darren

 

[dicko]

LOL Thomas, :lol: Professional term eh!

Darren, where do you get this stuff and is it expensive?

Justin, thanks for that info. I will look out for something along those lines.

I thought I was on a winner with that thermostat so it should work really well with one of those digital jobs.

Cheers

 

[Justin]

These are another option I've heard about BBB. They are by Kirby, off memory a price of between $80-$100 (plus probe) comes to mind but don't quote me (not too bad if you only need one). Might be worth getting in touch with Kirby in person and see what they can do. The report I heard was it was a good set up, provides all the nice doobalies without the extra non essential stuff like PID control.

http://www.kirbyjn.com.au/pdf/dixel_prime.pdf

There may be other items if you go to their home page, I didn't look. I was only looking for these ones. But once again I have no personal experience with these.

Cheers, justin

Oh, also, you'd have to check that they are suitable for heating and not just cooling too. But the fact that they have a temp range of between -50C and 150C suggests they would do both, but worth checking.

 

[wessmith]

The Dixell XR10C is a good unit - about $90 odd from Kirby in Silverwater. We have just used one on the Macquarie Hotel Brewery control panel for the glycol cooling on the CLT. They come with a thermistor probe from memeory, but you can program the unit to accept thermocouple or PT100 (RTD)

Wes

 

[dicko]

Justin,

I just checked that site and those units look like exactly what I am after.
I will give 'em a call when I get time during the day.

If they are that price Wes, they would be good for a lot of temp control duties in a persons home brewery.
My mind is now racing with thoughts.

Sorry about the thread hi-jack too.

Cheers,

 

[Tony]

The omron temp controllers retail for between 200 and 400 dollars australian depending on the options you get.
Mine arte relay output but you can get PID output which i wish i had...... man what i could do with that
I get them from work.
We use the alarm relays and the control relays on heat tracing systems and some units had the alarm elays burn out, which renders them useless for work but perfect for home once the offending alarm relat has been removed fron the PCB.

I have 3 of them h34r:

They are good for 0.1 deg temp differential.

I use one to control either an electric blanket for heating or a fan for cooling.

If you can get one cheaper BBB do it. They are great.

Just a bit of info.

Thermocouples measure temperature by variences in a very small voltave recieved back fron the probe. this in usually in millivolts and tends to be non-liniear, which equates to inacuracies.
A PT100 of Resistance Temperature Device (RTD has a changing resistance depending on temperature.
They are much more acurate and the prefered method of temp monitering in industry.

I will post some pics of my temp controller and PT100 i use in my firmenters.

 

[Tony]

in side the controller

 

[Tony]

I put plug in sockets from dick smiths in to make it easy to remove the pribe and firmenter without having to take the controller.

That way the probe stays in the beer and there is less chance of exposing to beer recking bugs............ bloody things. :angry: