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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => EQUIPMENT - Making Cheese => Topic started by: GlennK on November 13, 2013, 11:22:18 PM

Title: DorkFood temp controller may not be the answer to my water bath
Post by: GlennK on November 13, 2013, 11:22:18 PM
I'm planning a Colby and I need to come up with a water bath to hold the curds at 90F.  In the past I tried the "kitchen sink" method - adding/subtracting water to keep the temp up, but that seemed to not be too precise.  So I thought a temperature controlled would work so I bought the DorkFood DSV. http://www.amazon.com/DorkFood-DSV-Temperature-Controller-Sous-vide/dp/B0088OTON4/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t (http://www.amazon.com/DorkFood-DSV-Temperature-Controller-Sous-vide/dp/B0088OTON4/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t)  In tests tonight it (confirmed with an analog thermometer) I set the unit for 90F..it heated it to 96F.  Plus the temperature varies as much as 5 degrees either way; i.e. it heats it to temp, overshoots the mark, unit shuts off and it drops 4 degrees.  This doesn't seem to be what I need.  Has anyone used this?

P.S. I tried uploading pics, but that failed.  0/2  tonight. ;D
Title: Re: DorkFood temp controller may not be the answer to my water bath
Post by: peter8365 on November 14, 2013, 05:54:26 AM
I haven't used that one in particicular but a similar one, SousVideMagic, found here: http://freshmealssolutions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=100086 (http://freshmealssolutions.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=73&Itemid=100086)

My controller overshoots about 0,3 C at the most, I can probably tune it to do better, but for cheesemaking it's perfectly fine.

Have you tried tuning the controller at all? The SVM has an autotune feature which is neat, but there's lots of information about tuning PID devices, just google PID tuning. There's a guide on the fresh meals solutions website as well.
Title: Re: DorkFood temp controller may not be the answer to my water bath
Post by: GlennK on November 14, 2013, 10:34:21 AM
Have you tried tuning the controller at all? The SVM has an autotune feature which is neat, but there's lots of information about tuning PID devices, just google PID tuning.

I don't know this one can be tuned.  I've contacted the company to see if they can help me.