Not enough power?

[don.fief@comcast.net]

I fired up my new RIMS system for the first time today, and I am disapointed. The 5 gallons of water in the mash tun never got above about 75 degrees. I used a 3800 watt 220 volt element on 110 volts, switched with my BCS and a 110 volt pigtail I bought from BCS. My brother says I should run it at 220 to get the immediate heat I need to raise the temp. I plan to heat the water to strike temp in the HLT, and then put it into the mash tun, but when I go from the firtst set point to the next, I don't want to have to wait 30 minutes for it to raise 10 or 20 degrees. I used the RIMS tube from Brewers Hardware, and a March pump. I was able to raise the temp by slowing the flow rate accross the element, but that seems counter productive, and I had to REALLY slow it down. I would like to brew Friday, (2 days from now), so that I can meet a competition deadline... HELP!

Don

[clearwaterbrewer]

You have a BCS, Use it!

You can Use 220V on it all the time, and set a max duty cycle in each process, when you are doing just water, have it at 100%, when doing wort, maybe 50%, but it does not really matter if you have flow and have probe placement right after and above the element(to aid in not over-heating if flow is lost), set it for 154 or 168 or whatever and let the PID function of the BCS take care of the power output...

I have a 4500W and use 30-50% depending upon the mash thickness..

[ksl177]

In car terms, You let 3/4 of the air out of the tires and are complaining it doesn't handle the way you want.