underspecified wrote:Great setup, Ryan!
My CT1 is arriving next week, and I can't wait to try it out.
Could you tell me where you got the mirror you use for pulling shots?
Thanks!

Congrats on the new machine! This is the mirror I use -

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Z67CMK

Thank you both for the mirror suggestions! I ended up going with a 3 1/2 inch version of the one Ryan uses.

Anybody have their own system of reliably finding temp settings? I like to change beans a lot and try different temperatures. So I've made little indicator marks around the dial to give myself a guideline based on how I set my thermostat. It's very helpful and I'm more quickly and consistently getting the temp I want, but I do wish I had a more precise way of setting it. I guess the only answer would be a PID?

Perhaps could try this plug 'n play PID...very small unit.

https://www.amazon.com/Inkbird-Temperat ... g+and+play

Hmm... I wonder if there's any reason that Inkbird wouldn't work. For the price I'm wanting to try it out.

I found a manual on it and it does look to be a legit PID cycle controller (I've see others on Amazon that are just "turn on at X and off at Y): Manual PDF

I compare it to the most similar offering from Auber here and the Inkbird seems straight better in accuracy, resolution, power limits, and price. Just looks a bit more annoying to mount in my personal setup and might be less standard on probes. Think I'm gonna give it a shot.

EDIT: Went ahead and ordered one. I'll report back with how it turns out!

Inkbird came in today!

Working great so far. After letting it run an autotune cycle it's keeping it within +/-.5f of 198.0 once it stabilizes.

Unfortunately can't just turn the thermostat up super high to let the PID control the heatup since it kicks off the boil safety switch if you do, so the thermostat does still kick on during the warmup and stop the PID from heating. Still, I do have the thermostat set high enough to not kick on at all and give the PID full control once it's up to temperature.

Right now it's kind of a hodgepodge since the cord I ordered to run to it hasn't come in yet, so I'm repurposing a power strip that's very much not oriented for this thing for now. But once I have it mounted in a way that doesn't look terrible I'll take some pictures! And of course post any changes in impressions as I use it more.

And here it is set up!



Strong points so far:

• Holds temperature pretty close to where I want it, enough stability there's no waiting for a heating or cooling cycle to hit where I want to pull
• Is small and unobtrusive
• Good interface for use and easy to set up
• Probe fits in well through the hole in the boiler lid
• Has a timer so machine can auto shut off after set time, a nice comfort that I can never forget to flip it off

Weak points so far:

• Seems like it takes a little longer to get fully up to heat
• I with the plug was on the bottom instead of the front so I could have it mounted higher up and not on a power strip

Overall, it's a nice addition I wish I got sooner! It's not my ideal PID (which would hold it within .1f, be silent, have different cycles for heating and holding heat, autotune itself perfectly, and not be any larger), but I think it's about as close as is going to exist any time soon. Thanks to Ryan for pointing me to it!

CwD wrote:And here it is set up!

CwD, would you mind posting an image of the sensor placement please?

Thank you.

Sure thing! Took a bit to get a photo where you could actually see it. It does sit slightly differently with the lid on, but close enough.



I also talked to Wouter a bit about the PID.

It is recommended to make sure the thermostat still kicks on during the warmup process, as heating in one cycle causes the temperature at the elements to exceed 165c causing stress to them and the back of the group. As long as it still cycles heating up, it should work fine once at temperature.

Of course a third party item like this is entirely at the risk of the user.

anyone found an elegant way to pid a strietman? (not plug and play)