Thermowell placement

[Hammer]

Hey all.

I am rebuilding my brewery and was curious about where people install thier thermowells and what results do they get. In the past I have installed it midway up the sanke keg that I use as a mash tun. I have heard of people placing them in a tee that monitors the out flow from a valve on the other leg of a the tee. I plan on using a pump to allow step mashes with either a heat exchanger, or heating element. Lastly I will be setting up two auber PID controls for the mash and HLT.

Any ideas for most accurate thermo couple placement?

PFC Hammer

[dresselbrew]

I use a long thermocouple that goes in my cooler just above the ball valve and is bent down inside. I figure it will sit in the middle of everything this way. Probably doesn't help you since mine is longer than yours, but I thought I'd chime in. I'm a little curious about where to stick it while doing step mashes through a herms.

[SacoDeToro]

Most brewing systems I've seen, mine included, have their thermal probes about 1/3 of the way between the bottom of the grainbed and the top of the mash tun. This seems to be common for pro systems as well. That way you're still able to get decent readings on shallow grainbeds. With good mixing, most grainbeds will become relatively isothermic in a short period of time.

[Hammer]

Most brewing systems I've seen, mine included, have their thermal probes about 1/3 of the way between the bottom of the grainbed and the top of the mash tun. This seems to be common for pro systems as well. That way you're still able to get decent readings on shallow grainbeds. With good mixing, most grainbeds will become relatively isothermic in a short period of time.

Thanks, I have decided to place them at about 1/3 from the bottom of my mash tun. I am also going to place some at the exit of the herms loop and at the run off port of the mash tun. Until I get used to the new system I want to keep a sharp eye on things.

[Chimone]

Typical brutus placement. I get the temp of the runnings as soon as it comes out of the tun.

[Hammer]

Nice., where did you get the thermowell? Or did you make it?

[missing_link]

Thermowell placement is very dependant on type of system.

On a gas fired mash tun, a thermowell at the exit works well because your pulling your liquid just past your heating device. This same type of placement on a system with a heat exchanger caused me all kinds of grief, here is why.

Let's say I set up everything to mash at 152, got my pump started recirculating and my mash is cruising at 152. When the output of the mash tun drops to 151, the love control signals for more heat and turns on the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger I use can get about a 20 degree differential with recirculation. so if I'm at 151, it heats the wort to about 171 and it is then pumped on top of the mash. By the time the wort heated to 171 gets to the output to signal that enough heat has been applied, the body of the mash has had so much heat added that it continues to climb even with the heat off. In my case it stopped climbing at 168 but that was after adding some ice and opening the lid. Kind of ruined that beer.

I now use a thermowell at the output of the heat exchanger. This works great for single temp mash's. I still monitor the output of the mash like a brutus just to see how I do and it is usually within 1 degree of my set temp. For a step mash, I will adjust the love up to about 170 for 10 minutes which begins to raise the temp of the mash with 170 degree wort, but I end up adding some boiling water to help.

Linc

[Chimone]

Nice., where did you get the thermowell? Or did you make it?

Thats a B3 thermowell. I had to cut off about 3" and crimp and weld the end shut afterwards. No big deal, its just that the ones they sell are way too long.