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The Relay controller is a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device manufactured by J-Works in California. It has the following features:
I had J-Works customize the unit. Typically, they provide a unit that has 10amp solid state relays onboard, however, the relays are designed for 110Vac use only. As I am an Australian, working in the USA, I wanted to be able to ship my snazzy brew setup back down under. We use 240Vac in Australia, so I wanted it flexible. So I spoke with their sales people and they told me they could customize the unit to output the Darlington to ground setup, which worked fine for me! I chose solid state relays by Continental that could handle upto 280Vac at 25Amps. I could take my choice of using 240Vac water heating elements or 110Vac water heating elements. I paid about $15 each for these! I also bought heat sinks to make sure that they did not fry, also for about $15 each. A note about water heater element densities. In order to prevent your precious wort from being burnt or scorched whilst passing over the water heater element, it is essential to use a low density heater element. The basics of this are, the higher the watt rating of the element and the shorter the element, the higher the density. Alternatively, the lower the watt rating and the longer the element, the lower the density. All of this said, I am going to try a low density, 4500Watt, 240V model, which I will run using 110V in the RIMS. Using OHMS law, I figure it will produce less than 1000W on 110V, which should be super low density and no risk of scorching my precious wort!
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McKenzie Brewing is operated by John Fraser, this site should be used as a reference only! Electricity and water do not mix well and may take your life. Use at your own risk! Visitors as of 9th July 2009
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