Samovar can hold the temperature in a fermentation vessel.
Any selected sensor can be used - the boiler temperature sensor is recommended.
To use it, select the "Fermentation" («Брожение») line in the program list and set the temperature.
You can leave the time at 0 - then Samovar holds this temperature indefinitely, until you stop the program yourself or move to the next line.
If you set a time (in minutes, no more than 43200 - that is 30 days), Samovar moves to the next line by itself when it expires. This lets you build a program of several "Fermentation" lines with decreasing temperature, for example: 4320 minutes (3 days) at 20°, then 10080 minutes (7 days) at 18°, then a line with a temperature of 4° and time 0 - keep it cold until you come back. The time of a "Fermentation" line counts from the moment of switching to it; a manual pause is not counted. If a line with a time is the last one, the program finishes when it ends and the power is switched off - to prevent this, leave the time of the last line at 0.
In the text field, a program line starts with the character:
F (ferment) - fermenting, hold the set temperature until the program line changes.
The program runs without regard to time, so the line can be changed or the run stopped only manually.
The time in the line must be 0, and the devices (stirrer, pump) must be off:
0^0^0^0. Otherwise the program will not be accepted (see
Mashing Program).
Samovar 7.00: the width of the dead zone around the setpoint is not set on the "Temperature" («Температура») tab but is fixed in the firmware: BEER_TEMP_HYSTERESIS 0.3 (file beer.h). During fermentation the cooling pump is used together with the valve.
How it works, by example:
Given: the temperature must be held at 26°С, +/- 0.3° (the tolerance is the sensor's "Setpoint deviation" («Вылет за уставку») of the line, see
Mashing Program).
In text form the line looks like this : F;26;0;0^0^0^0;0
Suppose the temperature in the vessel is 28°С. Samovar turns off heating, opens the water valve and turns the cooling pump on at full power. Cooling works until the temperature drops to 26.3°.
If the temperature rises above 26.3° again, the valve and pump turn on again.
In the range from 25.7 to 26.3 the system stays idle: heating is off, the valve is closed.
When the temperature drops below 25.7°, the heating element is switched on through the PID controller, with the maximum voltage limited to the value from the "Regulator voltage/power in temperature holding mode" («Напр./мощность регулятора в режиме поддержания темп.») field (
Settings - Beer). The lower the temperature falls, the more power is applied to the heating element. The boost heating element is not switched on during fermentation.
The "Pause" («Пауза») button on the main window turns off heating, cooling, the stirrer and the pump until you press "Resume" («Продолжить»).
During operation a log is kept, temperatures are sent to Blynk, and charts are plotted.
Samovar 7.00: protections work on the "Fermentation" line: if the maximum water or TCA temperature is exceeded, if the boiler temperature is above BOILING_TEMP + 5°, or if there is no water flow (when a flow sensor is installed), heating is shut off in an emergency with the message "Emergency shutdown!…" («Аварийное отключение!…»).
Warning!
Once every 12-18 hours heating may be shut off because of a communication error with the regulator. In that case, clear the "Use regulator connection check" («Использовать проверку подключения регулятора») checkbox on the Settings - Other tab.
Note.
Samovar 7.00: the log line recording period is no longer configurable (it is fixed at 4 seconds). The advice to increase the log recording interval for long fermentation does not apply to 7.00.
Tip.
As a rule, the mash needs close monitoring during the first 1-2 days after pitching, to avoid killing the yeast through self-heating of the wash or a significant slowdown of fermentation from strong cooling. Later, when the temperature has settled (you can see this on the chart), you can connect Samovar only at night in cold weather, or during the day in warm weather, to even out the mash temperature.
