Food So Has Anyone Brewed Beer Before?

Ran into a homebrewing store earlier to pick up a nylon BIAB bag for making cold brew coffee... and the owner and a local brewery owner were in there wondering how the fuck to do temperature control of a 10KW brewing kettle without buying a few thousand dollar controller.

Now I got a job to do. Throw a PID controller, a couple of relays, an oven terminal block and a fuseholder for the PID inside a wall mount box. Power it off an oven outlet, just have to figure out what connectors are needed for the pair of 5KW heaters in the kettle.
These are very handy - has everything but the relays you would need in one neat package. Controller, cord, box, transformer, fuse holder, master power switch. Has nice rate programming for jobs where you want to heat the item gently. Can easily handle up to 6 SSRs. Seems for heating elements that size you'd want to go with 100A SSRs, using one for each element wherever possible, for some safety against a relay failure that leaves it closed. https://www.ebay.com/itm/233025861414 * I bought this one yesterday, normally a dealer would want about $450, but they come up all the time in this price range. One time I bought an entire small kiln just to steal the brain and bury the body...

But I think you can put one together yourself just as well. The connectors they use in kilns are usually nickle plated steel or stainless. The wire is optimally fiberglass braid covered, nickle plated copper, stranded. Fiberglass gives you an extra 50f. iirc of heat resistance compared to silicone coated.
 
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These are very handy - has everything but the relays you would need in one neat package. Controller, cord, box, transformer, fuse holder, master power switch. Has nice rate programming for jobs where you want to heat the item gently. Can easily handle up to 6 SSRs. Seems for heating elements that size you'd want to go with 100A SSRs, using one for each element wherever possible, for some safety against a relay failure that leaves it closed. https://www.ebay.com/itm/233025861414 * I bought this one yesterday, normally a dealer would want about $450, but they come up all the time in this price range. One time I bought an entire small kiln just to steal the brain and bury the body...

But I think you can put one together yourself just as well. The connectors they use in kilns are usually nickle plated steel or stainless. The wire is optimally fiberglass braid covered, nickle plated copper, stranded. Fiberglass gives you an extra 50f. iirc of heat resistance compared to silicone coated.
I'm going two possible routes:

- big single panel with a PI controller and relays and fusing and everything built into it.
- Separate Inkbird type of controller that provides a switched 120V, and a small panel with a 120V-coil relay built into it that can switch 240V at 50A.

Either will work, it'll be practical considerations that determine how the thing is finally gonna work. Gonna swing by the brewery in a couple days and make a plan.
 
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I'm going two possible routes:

- big single panel with a PI controller and relays and fusing and everything built into it.
- Separate Inkbird type of controller that provides a switched 120V, and a small panel with a 120V-coil relay built into it that can switch 240V at 50A.

Either will work, it'll be practical considerations that determine how the thing is finally gonna work. Gonna swing by the brewery in a couple days and make a plan.
If it's warm in the room don't forget to down-rate any SSRs. And watch for PIDs with low relay outputs if you hope to drive a small cooling fan off that when the relays are activated. Most of the cheaper PIDs only have 40-50ma of relay output, a small computer fan will be 1.5-2X times that and we haven't even counted in the relay's draw.. Here is the how the downrating goes on a 40A, due to temperature. Good luck!relay temps.png