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Originally Posted by: Sparky Scotty, is that a rectafier for your heat control, if so how tight can you dial in your heat? It's not how the still looks, it's how good the still works.
I set the variac back to 90 volts and can controll the drip rate very easily. I am sold on voltage control devices. it is so steady that You can fall asleep waiting for the temperature to change.
I just purchased one of those remote thermometers so i can watch tv or read in a comfortable spot instead of stareing at the temperature waiting for it to rise.
all of the gizmos are because i got the variac un wired and untested from ebay for $40. I built my present system around that.
I think the ideal setup would be internal 240 volt elements with a 240 volt variac but this is my toy for now.
Well at present, i am having a 6X20 ft deck constructed. the main purpose being a place to run the stills and mashing operation.
The deck has 2 direct line recepticles. One is 120 volts and the other is 240 volts
The 2 gadjets you see are designed to work in conjunction and both have a volt and ammeter.
The little box will plug into both the 240 and 120 volt outlets. A switching relay in the box changes the output voltage from 240 to 120 when i reach about 170 degrees. ((IT IS MANUALLY SWITCHED FOR NOW)) maybe at a later date i will wire in the PID control.
The brewhaus still has a 6kw/240 volt element which naturally will run on 120 vots at 1/4 rated wattage.
The variac is a 120 volt device so it is plugged in series with the 120 volt line only.
I have found that when i reach temp. going back to 90 volts seems to work for my rigs. i tweak the voltage a bit as the operation progresses."