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Bubba Barrel Element/Thermostat in RIMS

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  • Bubba Barrel Element/Thermostat in RIMS

    Wondering if anyone has any experience with these elements with built in thermostats (http://www.bubbasbarrels.com/6-kw-im...r-w-thermostat)
    Im curious if they are accurate enough to use in a RIMS tube to maintain mash temp on a 3bbl system.

    Any feedback or experience with the accuracy of these units would be helpful.

  • #2
    Originally posted by Gnarles View Post
    Wondering if anyone has any experience with these elements with built in thermostats (http://www.bubbasbarrels.com/6-kw-im...r-w-thermostat)
    Im curious if they are accurate enough to use in a RIMS tube to maintain mash temp on a 3bbl system.

    Any feedback or experience with the accuracy of these units would be helpful.
    Highly doubtful that the thermostat will work for a RIMS tube. That type of T-stat is an On/Off control (on when below setpoint, off when above), so there's going to be a deadband of at least a few degrees, and you don't have any way of controlling the power, so when it's "on", you'll probably get major boiling in the tube. If you used one without the thermostat, and wired it to an SSR with a PID controller, you might be able to use the heater itself for RIMS. You'll need to tune the duty cycle time along with the P, I and D parameters. It's tricky, but you can at least do it, which is not possible with a "bang-bang" type of control like a thermostat.

    Also, you'll get better results if you measure the temperature farther away from the heater itself, to allow the temperature of the wort to equalize. That particular heater has a thermowell built into it, but it's really close to the heating elements. This is common in a tank heater, but I don't think it will work in RIMS.

    Regards,
    Mike Sharp

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