Electric Brewing Setup

[Clinton]

Over the past 2 weeks or so I have been looking at making my system fully electric. My proposed setup is as follows:

3000W Element from Ebay, $22 USD with free shipping. According to my calculations, it comes under the Ultra Low Watt Density designation, so it won't scorch the wort. I have also looked at the Camco 3500W ULWD Element from Amazon, which is what I have seen many other brewers using. However, it is around two times the price of the element on Ebay. I have checked my circuit breakers, and all of the wall socket circuits are rated for 20A, so I should be fine there.

To control the element, I intend to construct a box with a standard 3 pin input, leading to a PID, which will control an SSR that will switch the current going to a male IEC socket. Here are some pictures of something similar:

As you can see, the output used in this box is a female socket, which leaves exposed pins, which is not good.

I have done some reading up on the PIDs, and it seems that the cheap Ebay PIDs are not worth the hassle, as they will have compatibility issues with both the temperature probes I intend to use, and they will not natively control an SSR. Many brewers recommend the 'Auber' brand PIDs. These are more expensive, but seem to have less issues. They also have manual control over output, which means you can control boil intensity. The model I am looking at is the SYL-2352.

 

I think any SSR will do, as long as it is 15A or over and is capable of handling 250V. Is there any downfalls to using a 40A SSR when a 25A SSR would do fine, such as lower efficiency, etc? There are hundreds of SSRs for sale on Ebay, most of them are the same as the one in the picture above. They're only $5 or so, so that's no big deal.

 

I will probably use a PT100 temperature probe, which has three wires coming from it. Could a 3.5mm jack be used for quick swapping of probes?

So, does this seem like a good setup? Anything wrong here?

Lastly, if I do go through with this, I will most likely be ordering an Auber PID. If anyone would like to order one with me, we could split the shipping costs. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Haish]

Yeah that's his description of the box in the picture, and I think he's confusing male and female IEC sockets as well as where power goes in and out of "As you can see, the output used in this box is a female socket, which leaves exposed pins..." Female sockets don't have exposed pins...

I think the wiring colours are backwards rather than the neutral being switched, blue wire goes to active on the 3 pin socket...

[Clinton]

Yea, sorry guys, I've realised that what I initially thought is most likely wrong. And I may well be confusing other things here, but I think the most important thing is that I know what I'm planning to do is safe, i.e. no exposed pins, using connectors rated for that kind of load, etc.

[mattd2]

Hey Sam, since you seem to be wiser than me would you care to comment on the "220V" element question above? Is it just a legacy thing from the US that their power is called 220V even though it is nominal 240V? Are those elements fine to use on a NZ supply?

[Clinton]

I ended up buying the element last night. Under $30, so I wasn't too hesitant to try it out. I will probably buy my cables, plugs, and sockets from Electrical Direct, as they have decent pricing.

[Sam]

Hi Mattd2

I didn't comment on your question before as I haven't dealt with elements much yet. 

Depends on the element, voltage over the rating makes the life of many parts decrease (keep that in mind when you get light bulbs) but depends how sensitive elements are to the difference

A 220v element would draw more current than its meant to and so more power as well. Because current = voltage / resistance (resistance of the hot element)

I would find someone at the wholesaler who knows their stuff and see what they say and what they sell

[Sam]

That's real lucky Guy, if I had that I would have got a nice fat power cable for the 1 metre by now and have some nice powerful elements (as it is I'm planning for just the HLT electric at 2kw).

Yea the bigger and fatter the better. The price of buying flex is ridiculous off the roll, I ended up getting heavy duty 1.5mm flex at about $1.30 a metre at full price by chopping up an extension lead. 

Ideally you don't want anything important like the p.c on the same rcd your using for brewing in case you trip it

[Vesku]

If you only use it for the boil, you really don't need a PID. It would make your system much more compact, if you just use simmerstat or thermostat. It could be housed straight to the kettle in a small box.

I've a double element 2 * 1.5kW on my kettle and just 2 *  3-position switches + 2 diodes to control the power. I was lucky enough that the power settings suit the amounts of wort I need to boil.

Have anyone actually tried simmerstat on a kettle? I might try it out in some stage.

[Clinton]

Thanks for the info. I've had a look on Ebay, and I can get a 4000W regulator for around $10. I may go with that until I decide whether I should get a PID/SSR setup. Also, this will be used for heating up strike and sparge water as well, not just boiling wort.

[Vesku]

In that case you will need some sort of temperature controller...

But the 4000W regulator looks a really nice for boil kettle control. In fact I just ordered one to try it out :)

I think that for the boil control adjustable power control is the best and the only way to go until they invent water that can get over the 100C mark ;)  

[Clinton]

Sweet, I'll be ordering one too. I have a thermometer that I can use to check strike water temp until I build the temperature control unit. I'm thinking I may as well use the regulator in conjunction with the control unit to have that extra control.

[Vesku]

I just got the controller. It does what it promises. They've used BTA41-600B triac. No EMC-filters or anything else to make it a real product. I guess this sort of thing needs a ferrite or two to make it noise free?

[mattd2]

Would it be usable as a speed controller for a universal motor (drill)? Looking for something to drop my drills speed down to the usual 200RPM for milling but anything less than it is now is a good thing.