A little help with PIDs please gents.

I am returning to brewing after a 4 year break. I am looking to upgrade my equipment as I don't like switching my kettle elements on and off, 2 is too brutal.

Anyway I am going to get a 100l SS kettle but not sure what PID to get as I read a few people have issues controlling the boil with an inkbird, auber is only in the US. I just don't want to buy one that is not suitable. PWM controllers were beyond my understanding. What are people using that works?

Does anywhere in the UK supply the 5kw ULDW elements as Google sends me to industrial sites. Wired my garage ready for this.

Thanks, Mike.

This should sort you out:
PIDs help page

I use one of THESE 4KW elements controled by one of THESE Sestos PIDs via a 40A SSR and it works great. Yes the element is cheap and Chinese but I've been using it for a couple of years with no problems.

Another simpler and cheaper option is to use an SSR with a potentiometer as the controller, ie. one of these SSRs with this potentiometer.

EDIT I am no electrician or nor am i qualified to give electrical advice if in doubt pass any thing you make under the nose of a qualified bod before plugging in

pids are great for efficiently heating a volume upto a target temp, ie strike n sparge or maintaining a temp for herms or rims without overshooting the target.

maintaining a steady boil level however isnt what they excel at, think chocolate teapot the temp at which a steady boil sits will change as the wort boils off volume and becomes more concentrated.



to maintan a steady boil folk use scr/pwm controllers, triacs, and my own choice a simple resistance controlled ssr which needs a 500kohm potentiometer (electric guitar knob) to bridge its 2 x control terminals to dial up and down the power allowed through the ssrs load terminals. they are a different animal to the ssrs used by pids which are turnred on/off with a low dc votage over its control terminals.

to use a resistance controlled ssr simply bridge its control terminals (3,4) with a 500k pot (middle pin and 1 x outer pin (no polarity to worry about afaik)
and cut the live (brown) wire feeding your element and attach to the load terminals (1,2) all clearly marked on the SSR.
USE a heatsink..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SSR60VA-A...059637?hash=item2c9f9762f5:g:9JQAAOSwMORW7Xtd
**NOt recommending the seller just the first i found with a clear pic of the terminals..


I also bought an ebay 240v ac volt amp meter for my box to display the output


the heatsink will get hot so if you mount inside a box think fans too...
ps no element plugged into the controller in the pic so 0 load also i had wired the voltage meter to the input side to check the voltage supply up in the brewshed where its used.. if wired to the output side it displays the lower controlled voltage level as well as the output amperage.

Thanks for your help gents. I will consider my options over a few beers.

worth a read

worth a read. @MickDundee's PIDs page

spsmike said:

... auber is only in the US. ...

Click to expand...

Can't let that stand...
I use Auber PIDs, a few years ago they where the only reasonable option, and I did have to purchase them from the USA. But they turned up in about a week and the email support was terrific.

Fil said:

... maintaining a steady boil level however isnt what they excel at, think chocolate teapot the temp at which a steady boil sits will change as the wort boils off volume and becomes more concentrated. ..

Click to expand...

I do use a PID for the boil, as suggested by "The Electric Brewery". I set the PID for 95 degrees which ensures I'm not taken by surprise and have to mop up the resulting boil over. When 95 is reached (and no boil over!) I take the lid off the boiler and set the PID to "manual" - instead of adjusting the temperature I now adjust the "on time" starting at 100% to get the boil going and then perhaps reducing to 90 or 80%.

Is "manual" peculiar to Auber PIDs? Surely not?

peebee said:

Is "manual" peculiar to Auber PIDs? Surely not?

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No it's not, Sestos has a manual function and the Inkbird looks identical. I use it in the same way as you.

strange-steve said:

I use one of THESE 4KW elements controled by one of THESE Sestos PIDs via a 40A SSR and it works great. Yes the element is cheap and Chinese but I've been using it for a couple of years with no problems.

Another simpler and cheaper option is to use an SSR with a potentiometer as the controller, ie. one of these SSRs with this potentiometer.

Click to expand...

Am i right in thinking then you never use it at full power or are you wired for 25A? I just won an Inkbird PID and trying to get my head around it over a few beers.

peebee said:

Can't let that stand...
I use Auber PIDs, a few years ago they where the only reasonable option, and I did have to purchase them from the USA. But they turned up in about a week and the email support was terrific.

Click to expand...

It is The Electric Brewery that I have took inspiration from (I was going to use gas for the kettle). On your recomendation I am going to order the Auber ones from the U.S. and blame you if it takes 6 weeks :). Thanks

BeerCat said:

Am i right in thinking then you never use it at full power or are you wired for 25A? I just won an Inkbird PID and trying to get my head around it over a few beers.

Click to expand...

I do use it on full power to get up to temperature and no I'm not wired for 25a. I'll say no more on that because as an electrician I'll happily do things that I'd never recommended to others.

fwiw a 25a ssr switching 3kw element ( 2 x 1.5 kw) under pid control will generate temps in excess of 60C 2nd vane down on the standard heatsink used..

for larger elements folk tend to use higher rated ssrs to minimise the heat production 40a 60a etc..

the heat is a side effect of the rapid switching afaik. And a higher rated component should generate less heat.

Fil said:

fwiw a 25a ssr switching 3kw element ( 2 x 1.5 kw) under pid control will generate temps in excess of 60C 2nd vane down on the standard heatsink used..

for larger elements folk tend to use higher rated ssrs to minimise the heat production 40a 60a etc..

the heat is a side effect of the rapid switching afaik. And a higher rated component should generate less heat.

Click to expand...

You're right, I use a 40a ssr for my 4kw element and it gets pretty hot.