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BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 5:58 am
by Mach79
Recent upgrades to our control panel now allows us to control temps on two fermentors. I am a comfortable with the wiring and use of SSR's. My question is with writing the Process/States. So far, all of our States have ended with just one Exit Condition. But, there are 4 Exit Conditions listed. Does this mean up to 4 Exit conditions can be entered and adhered to by the BCS?

Example- Exit Conditions
1. Temp Probe 1 > X, then glycol pump turns on
2. Temp Probe 1 <X, then heat turns on

Of course, if either condition is met there would be a new State to follow which would end back at the original State. Hope that makes sense.

As always, replies are appreciated.

Re: BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Thu May 21, 2020 5:26 am
by Mach79
Update + Another Question....

After experimenting with the State Exit Conditions we were able to determine multiple Exit Conditions work for heating or cooling our fermentors. As of now, we have the States as follow:

State0
Exit Condition Temp Probe >= 68.5 exit to State1
Exit Condition Temp Probe <= 66.5 exit to State2

State1
Output Control to Cool (enabled)
Temp Probe <= 67.5 exit to State0

State2
Output Control to Heat (enabled)
Temp Probe >=67.5 exit to State0

We are continuing to experiment with the States and monitoring closely. Any suggestions for improving our fermentation control? Best practices?

At present considering rewiring our BCS-482 to switch 2 of our pumps (Wort & Water) with our heating and cooling pumps in order to utilize Hysteresis in order to minimize swings in temps. Only concern with that approach is we have 4 outputs for 2 fermentors (Heat & Cooling for both) and only 2 BCS outputs which could be utilized for Hysteresis if we switched out the 2 pumps. The remaining outputs are needed for HLT & BOIL heating elements.

Replies are much appreciated....

Re: BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 12:37 pm
by Mach79
Is this site still active....

Re: BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Fri May 22, 2020 10:16 pm
by JonW
Of course it's still active....

Why are you doing exits to two different states for a temperature setpoint? Why not just set your setpoint with a swing value? Also, you don't need your pump on a temperature controlled output. You can either wire it to the same output as the glycol chiller if it is always a 1:1 relationship, or you can use ladder logic to control the pump whenever the chiller output is on. (Thinking that might be a way for you to save a temp controlled output).

Just my personal opinion, but wwinging from chilling to heating on a 2 degree differential is not going to affect your fermentation profile, but will likely cause your temps to be erratic as the thermal lag will likely cause this to ping-pong from heat to chill often.

Re: BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Sat May 23, 2020 10:43 am
by Mach79
Thanks Jon for the reply... wasn't sure if all of the world's craziness had impacted this site. Glad to see there is still some normalcy left in this world.

As always, I'm sure there are many ways to skin this cat, but good point on the glycol output & temperature output being same. In our case, our glycol is always on and feeds a loop to our tap lines which keeps our taps at 32 degrees from first pour to last drop. Our two fermentors are each set up on four outputs- Cool & Heat. This was done so we can monitor and adjust for crash cooling, lagering, diacetyl rest. All this can be done remotely through a dedicated VPN. We have insulated fermentors. The heat & cool options was just to adjust accordingly up or down. The set points for heating & cooling are set for minimal overshoots....the Data Log is helping with that.

As for Ladder Logic- I suck @ it. Not something that I have dove into & fully grasped. I need to but....

Re: BCS-482 Fermentation Question

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:47 pm
by BREWMASON
Mach79, I have mine setup the same. Two states. Always was more helpful especially when adding a heating loop. For use with the BCS PIDS, I add Hysteresis to the cooling STATE1. The hysteresis is set within Output Control(Configurable). On the PIDS it displays in green the Exit temp and adds to the PID -visual character. With the second state I also use some indicator lights on the control panel.