I have a RIMS system I built with knowledge gained from amazing people in the forum (pics below)! I absolutely love my system and I've probably brewed 15 or so batches using the system. My efficiency went from the high 60's to high 80's low 90's which is what I was after.
The issue I seem to have is in the sparging. When I'm heating sparge water inline with the RIMS tube the temp is all over the place. If I set the PID 172*, the temp will climb past 172* and then I can see the element is turned off and as soon as the temp drops below 172 the element will come back on but the cool water coming from the tap (~72*) will have already passed the element while it was off so the temp drops to ~130* before climbing back up passed 172* and the process is repeated. This gives me an average sparge water temp around 160*. Raising set temp will fluctuate between boiling and 140*.
If I put the PID in manual mode the sparge water will eventually reach boiling temps which a quick increase of water flow will mitigate momentarily before climbing back to boiling.
When I'm sparging the 5500w element is running at 240V. If I run the element at 120V (quarter power) it is unable to heat the water to 172* at the sparge flow rate.
I'm able to mange this by watching closing but it's definitely not set it and forget it - which is what I'm trying to achieve.
Are any of you with RIMS systems able to set the sparge temp you want and leave it?
Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!
The issue I seem to have is in the sparging. When I'm heating sparge water inline with the RIMS tube the temp is all over the place. If I set the PID 172*, the temp will climb past 172* and then I can see the element is turned off and as soon as the temp drops below 172 the element will come back on but the cool water coming from the tap (~72*) will have already passed the element while it was off so the temp drops to ~130* before climbing back up passed 172* and the process is repeated. This gives me an average sparge water temp around 160*. Raising set temp will fluctuate between boiling and 140*.
If I put the PID in manual mode the sparge water will eventually reach boiling temps which a quick increase of water flow will mitigate momentarily before climbing back to boiling.
When I'm sparging the 5500w element is running at 240V. If I run the element at 120V (quarter power) it is unable to heat the water to 172* at the sparge flow rate.
I'm able to mange this by watching closing but it's definitely not set it and forget it - which is what I'm trying to achieve.
Are any of you with RIMS systems able to set the sparge temp you want and leave it?
Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated!