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Plug-in temperature controller on an appliance

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An appliance plugged into an external controller so a probe, rather than the appliance's own dial, decides when it heats or cools.

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Illustration of Plug-in temperature controller on an appliance.

Overview

A plug-in controller adds closed-loop control to a heater, dehydrator, heating mat or refrigerator. A probe, rather than the appliance's own dial, decides when the appliance heats or cools.

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Documented uses

Nordic Food Lab ran underfloor heating in insulated boxes from a PID controller (Auber), and later a heating mat in a switched-off fridge.

Fermentation Culture switched a dehydrator and an immersion heater from an INKBIRD ITC-1000, with the probe in the koji.

New England Cheesemaking Supply sells a refrigerator thermostat set to 52 to 55 °F for a cheese fridge.

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Limits

An appliance whose electronics stay off after a power cut will not respond, so the appliance must restart when power returns.

Thermal lag and overshoot remain. Fermentation Culture's koji run had 3 to 4 °C of overshoot.

Never bypass an appliance's own thermal protection (reasoned rule).

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Measuring

Unplug and replug the set-up before use. Log the probe position and the food temperature.

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History

The uses are documented in a food-science blog, a koji producer's guide and a cheesemaking supplier's FAQ. The sources do not date the first use of a plug-in controller for these foods.

Site

SettingA workshop or kitchen: an appliance (a heating mat, a dehydrator, an immersion heater, or a refrigerator) plugged into an external controller, with a probe in the food.
ClimateHeld at the controller's setpoint. The appliance heats or cools; the probe decides when.
NotesController models named in the sources are Auber PID and INKBIRD ITC-1000. Other controllers are not covered.

A build is made where it stands: moving it means building it again.

How it is built

Risks and precautions · Standard risk
Improvised heating wire

An improvised heating wire melted in Fermentation Culture's first box.

Hazard source

Use enclosed, ready-made controls rather than an improvised heating element.

Control source

Never bypass an appliance's own thermal protection.

Materials

  • 1 Plug-in temperature controller — Plugged into the wall. Its rating must match the appliance's load.
  • 1 Appliance — Plugged into the controller's output. A heating mat, dehydrator, immersion heater or refrigerator.
  • 1 Probe — In the food or a reference container.
  • Refrigerator thermostat — For a cheese fridge, set cold so the controller governs.
  1. Plug the controller into the wall, and plug the appliance into the controller's output.
  2. Place the probe in the food or in a reference container.
  3. For a refrigerator, set its own thermostat cold, so that the controller governs.
  4. Unplug and replug the setup before use, and check that it restarts.
  5. Log the probe position and the food temperature.

Places

Documented for international use, with no single place of origin assigned.

Related

Equipment

  • Plug-in temperature controller

    A plug-in controller reads a wired probe and switches compatible heating or cooling appliances around a setpoint. It adds feedback; it is not itself a heater, cooler or validated food process.

Used for

  • Barley koji

    Steamed pearled barley grown into a white koji cake with Aspergillus oryzae over about 36 hours in a 30 °C chamber, turned three times under a damp cloth.

  • Rice koji

    Rice koji is steamed white rice through which koji mold has grown. It carries the enzymes that turn rice starch into sugar, and it is the starting point of sake, sweet miso, amazake and shio koji.

Read more

Modern era

  • 'Nduja di Spilinga

    Soft, spreadable Calabrian pork sausage made with a great deal of red chilli and fatty pork, stuffed into natural casings, sometimes smoked and matured while staying soft.

  • A measured dehydrator retrofit

    A way to add independent temperature logging to an existing food dehydrator without changing its built-in controls or protections. It is a monitoring method, not a rewiring plan.

  • Abalone mushroom

    Pleurotus cystidiosus is the abalone mushroom, a cultivated oyster-type fungus with dark brown caps that grows more slowly and is more demanding than other Pleurotus species.

  • Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP

    A dark, balanced vinegar from Emilia-Romagna made by combining cooked or concentrated grape must with wine vinegar, then acetifying and refining it in wood under a protected specification.

  • Active sour-cream starter

    A living dairy inoculum that starts controlled cream fermentation, developing acidity and aroma before sour cream or cultured butter is finished.

  • Adjustable yogurt-maker

    A small electric incubator holds jars at a selected temperature for yogurt and other documented warm food preparations. Controls, capacity and vessel arrangement vary by model.

  • Adygean salt

    Adygean salt is a seasoned table salt associated with Adygea and the wider North Caucasian culinary tradition. Salt is blended with garlic and a variable selection of herbs and spices; the exact mix depends on the named style and maker.

  • African Caesar-group mushroom

    The African Caesar-group mushroom, Amanita masasiensis, is a wild ectomycorrhizal species of central and southern African woodlands, eaten locally. The genus contains deadly poisonous species, so identification needs care.

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