RIMS Recirc vs Sparge PID Settings

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thegreyghost

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Little background - I have a SS Brewtech 1V controller and matching 20 gallon boil kettle with an SS Brewtech RIMS heater. I'm using PID control on the 1V and I set this with autotune based on my recirc pump speed during my mash. Problem I'm having is that my sparge pump speed is much slower that my recirc speed and I'm overheating my sparge water as a result. Full disclosure, I only ever brewed two batches of all grain with this or any setup so far. My first one, I ran the sparge way too fast (~15min) and got a mash efficiency of 74.5%. Second batch was better, slowed the sparge down considerably (~40min) and got an efficiency of 85.8%. Problem was that I had to run autotune again on the controller at the start of the sparge because I was overshooting my setpoint by quite a few degrees.

Question - Is there a preferred method for managing this ? Should I be running my recirc at the same speed as my sparge ? It seems like at the speed I'm running the recirc, it still takes approx 30-40 minutes until the wort gets crystal clear. Not sure I would get that if I ran the pump slower.

Advice appreciated.

TGG.
 
74.5% mash efficiency is pretty damned good! Other than that it sounds like you need to tweak some of the settings in your auto tune function...
 
That's actually the video I used to setup my controller. And it worked perfectly at the recirculation rate that I tuned it for. Once I dropped that rate for the sparge is when I ran into trouble.

I think I may have a solution though. I'm going to try controlling my sparge temp with the HLT temperature controller and just leave the RIMS off during sparge.

Sorry for the ignorance. I honestly wasn't sure what efficiency is good or bad at this point. I saw an estimate in beersmith of 82% and thought that was what I should be achieving.
 
Many folks happily live with mash efficiencies in the mid to upper 60% range. 80+ is worth bragging about and that's exactly what people do on public forums. I got mine to 72% and am very happy with that. Mash efficiency is not a race or competition so don't let what others claim influence you. The important thing about mash efficiency is that you know what you are getting and that you are getting that result consistently. Whatever that number is for you put it into your Beersmith equipment profile. You will have to adjust it from time to time depending on what you are making (higher gravity grain bills lower your efficiency).

As for you auto tune setup the video does point out that if you make changes you should run auto tune again.
 
Does your controller allow you to read and enter the gains manually? If so, you can run autotune once for each of your two configurations, write down the gains, then enter them manually when you switch from recirc to sparge and back.

--GF
 
Kevin58 said:
Many folks happily live with mash efficiencies in the mid to upper 60% range. 80+ is worth bragging about and that's exactly what people do on public forums. I got mine to 72% and am very happy with that. Mash efficiency is not a race or competition so don't let what others claim influence you. The important thing about mash efficiency is that you know what you are getting and that you are getting that result consistently. Whatever that number is for you put it into your Beersmith equipment profile. You will have to adjust it from time to time depending on what you are making (higher gravity grain bills lower your efficiency).

As for you auto tune setup the video does point out that if you make changes you should run auto tune again.
Click to expand...
Honestly, for the efficiency numbers, I was just trying to follow the "recipe". I'll need a couple more batches yet to determine if I have anything consistent or not yet.
Thanks for the advice.
 
GigaFemto said:
Does your controller allow you to read and enter the gains manually? If so, you can run autotune once for each of your two configurations, write down the gains, then enter them manually when you switch from recirc to sparge and back.

--GF
Click to expand...
That's an interesting idea. I'll have to check and see if I can read the PID parameters that autotune populated. Thank you for the suggestion.
 
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