Counterflow cooler HERMS system

[Andy]

Just to clarify - Phil is referring to the "www" icon underneath his posts - on the same line as the Profile PM and Email icons


This icon

[Andy]

Oh and nice work on the site Phil, great resource!

[Vossy1]

Thanks Andy/Phil

EDIT

Excellent site in the making Phil

[Frothy]

that was some rapid web production.
I'm intrigued by the idea of using the cooler as the heat exchanger as I'd need little additional equipment, the counterflow cooler I've got is the Blikman Engineering stainless job the only problem for me is that the system would use 2 pumps and I'm not buying another at the moment. I've yet to do a single infusion however so walking before running.


Matt

[Seveneer]

Matt,

If you already have the counterflow chiller I say give it a go. So long as the thing's sterilised the worst that can happen is that the wort isn't cooled as planned. Do let us know how you get on though.

Why not try it with boiling water first?

/Phil.

[FlippinMental]

That's a really neat set-up 7. Pardon my ignorance but what is a PID controller

[Seveneer]

Thanks

Take a look at my page and click on the Heat Exchanger button on the left. At the bottom of the page is a brief description of what a PID controller is.

/Phil.

[FlippinMental]

cheers, phil. read that... pardon my ignorance but whats a PIC controller.

[Seveneer]

Have I missed something? Have I typed PIC rather than PID somwhere in a drunken stupor ?

A PID controller is a device that, in this application, compares the measured temperature to a value you set by buttons on the unit itself. PID stands for Proportional Integral Differential which are 3 mathematical functions used in the algorithm. The proportional part measure the difference between the temperature and the set value. The integral part looks historically at how the well the temperature has been controlled over a recent time period. The diferential part looks at the rate of change of the temperature.

This all seems quite involved and I have to say that I haven't done the maths involved since university. That doesn't matter though as the PID controller will self-tune if asked

I hope this helps.

/Phil.

[bod]

a pic controller is a micro chip, programmed to do a specific job, in this case, switching on pumps and reading temps i would imagine. its like a small computer in some ways.

[FlippinMental]

no, 7eer, that would be me who is drunken stupid . thanks to you and bod for the explanation. I consider myself marginally enlightened. looks a clever piece of kit, used in all kinds of control applications. Is yours off the self or something you put together yourself?

[Seveneer]

Off the shelf. PID controllers can be bought cheaply on ebay. You can also pay a lot for them if you want lots of different inputs and features. For our use a basic one does the job fine.

/Phil.

[Zebra]

Seveneer, on the subject of your heat exchanger... I have an idea that I could build something similar and then wind the 8mm copper within a mash tun thus allowing me to increase the temperature of the mash if I want to do stepped mash temperatures. With your experience of yours, do you think the heat exchanger would be effiecient enough to do this? Hope that makes sense!

[Seveneer]

Hi Zebra,

I have no experience of putting the coil in the mash tun but from what I've read this doesn't work well. Something to do with the thermal mass of the mash meaning that the mash doesn't pick up the heat very well. Much better to recirculate the wort through an external heat exchanger either like mine or a coil in your HLT.

/Phil.

[Zebra]

I agree that wouldn't work if you were trying to go from cold. For instance; I need to have a initial heat of say 50 C for 20mins then increase the mash temp to 67 C for a 90mins. What I'd do is get the mash up to 50 C in the usual manner by the addition of hot liquor at strike heat. Then when I need to increase the mash temperature I would 'switch on' the heat exchanger thus making the coils in the tun hot. At this point I would be able to stir the mash so hopefully transferring the heat through it.,