coulple herms questions

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newtonsshed

coulple herms questions

Post by newtonsshed » Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:08 pm

HI all

I'm looking to rebuild my system but on a small shoes string budget, I've got an st1000 temp controller, mainly to be used for fermentin,g that I'm also planning to use instead of a pid until I can afford pid. I plan to use a kettle with a 10mm copper coil inside. I plan to start with do single infusion mash, so heat HLT to strike temp and under let to MT, then recirculate though the h/e the temp control to hopefully keep consistent temp.

My question is will the st1000 work for this or will it too much swing in temp as I understand only looks for temp every few minuets?

Also if I couldn't use the temp control I'm tempted to still recirc anyway to help mash efficiency either way as recirc do you still need to sparge at the end as normal and if so as not got a sparge arm could you batch sparge or do you need to fly in a herms setup. I will have 2 pumps and some left over 10mm and 15mm copper tubing so could make my own arm so not too difficult to set up fly sparging

Thanks
Andy

kev93_10
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Re: coulple herms questions

Post by kev93_10 » Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:13 pm

I built my pid herms controller for £20. The STC isn't right for the job.

Surely you can muster up £20 and do the job right?

K

newtonsshed

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by newtonsshed » Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:45 pm

Ah ok the last LI looked I was looking at around £100 looked at one with bells and whistles like the ramping function and alarms tripping. I need to get up and running first too before worrying about pid lol thanks.

kev93_10
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Re: coulple herms questions

Post by kev93_10 » Tue Jul 08, 2014 9:48 pm

Get a REX C100, enclosure and PT100 for £20.

Done. Dead easy to hook up. Mine doesn't have alarms (it does but I haven't hooked them up) and I produce good beer. Do t get hung up on flashing lights and fancy stuff.

K

gibbiem

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by gibbiem » Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:10 pm

Sorry if this seems daft, but I've been thinking about setting up a HERMS too. Just wondering how this temp control bit works as its always confused me.

As I understand it, you would have your HERMS coil in your HLT with a line going from the MT into the HERMS then from HERMS in to a sparge arm to recirculate the wort? All powered by a pump?

So the temp control side, how does that work? I've got a mango chutney barrel HLT with two kettle elements. As I understand it, I would need to keep an eye on the temp of the HLT water and while recirculating just turn the elements on and off when needed? Would the temp control discussed here automatically turn the elements on/off some how?

I'm happy to do it manually but having some kind of automation would I dont need to stand and watch it for an hour!

Mr. Dripping

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by Mr. Dripping » Wed Jul 09, 2014 5:15 pm

Control is achieved by placing a sensor probe (usually a PT100) on the exit from the HERMS or RIMS. The sensor then switches the element on or off depending on the temperature of the wort exiting through the probe.

gibbiem

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by gibbiem » Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:56 pm

So does the sensor wire in to the element

kev93_10
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Re: coulple herms questions

Post by kev93_10 » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:24 pm

No it wires into the pid.

The element wires into the mains....via a relay controlled by the pid.

K

gibbiem

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by gibbiem » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:26 pm

Ok, so it goes sensor to pid, pid to element, element to mains? This making a bit more sense

kev93_10
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Re: coulple herms questions

Post by kev93_10 » Wed Jul 09, 2014 10:41 pm

Sort of. There's a relay between the element and the pid but that's essentially it.

K

gibbiem

Re: coulple herms questions

Post by gibbiem » Thu Jul 10, 2014 7:56 am

Right I'm with you. And the pid is the rex c100 mentioned above? Is there a chance you could post some pictures of your setup?

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