Options Form

The Options Form fine tunes the acquisition and burner control parameters.

Scan Interval - adjusts how often the measurements are taken. I currently scan once every two seconds.

Probe Resistance - sets the decision value that determines when the wort is in contact with the high and low level probes.

Proportional Heat Groups allow you to adjust the individual burners for the desired performance. For example, if you simply turn off the mash tun heat when it reaches 150 degrees you will find the temperature will continue to rise a few more degrees. Bad news for mashing! Lets take a closer look at the mash heat parameters. All units are in seconds except the resistance.

Mash Proportional Heat Group

• Band - if the measured temperature is lower than the desired (set point) by the 'band' (3 degrees) the heat will be on 100% of the time. In this example when it is 1.5 degrees low the flame will turn on 50% of the 'Reset' time or 7.5 seconds.
• Min On Time - this sets the minimum amount of time the burner will be on. This keeps the burner from cycling before the flame reaches maximum intensity.
• Reset Time - is the period of time between calculations. If the reset is fifteen seconds and the burner turned on for ten seconds the soonest the burner could fire again will be in another five seconds.
• Offset - adds a fixed amount of time to the calculated burn time. I have not needed use it. It might be useful if you lose a lot of heat from your mash tun.
• On Time - shows you the calculated burn time for the current cycle. This is also displayed on the status bar of the main form.

The boiler uses a much simpler on/off approach. The heat turns off when the desired temperature is reached and doesn't turn on again until the temperature drops two degrees.