Basic RIMS setup.

Hello,

I am hopefully going to build a RIMS type system. I was looking for some advice specifically on equipment. I currently have a Blichmann 10g MT with the louvered false bottom. I use a Rubbermaid 10g cooler for a HLT and have a 10g polarware kettle for heating up strike water and sparge water that also doubles as my brew kettle. I have a rotating sparge arm and a shirron plate chiller I picked up from NB for fly sparging and wort chilling respectively.

I was initially thinking of getting two pumps. One to pump the wort from the MT through the plate chiller, a inline thermometer, and distributed back over the grain bed via the sparge arm. 2nd pump to pull heated water out of the polarware kettle and pumped through the plate chiller and back to the kettle. When I am done mashing that water goes in the HLT. Suggestions/Issues?

2nd option was purchasing one pump to pump the wort through a copper heat exchanger/wort chiller that was immersed in the polar ware kettle. I would have to purchase the heat exchanger. Suggestions/Issues?

Thanks for the help in advance.

Both options are considered HERMS rather than RIMS, since either way you're using a heat exchanger. I do direct fire RIMS, so I've never tried either method -- but if I were choosing between the two, I'd go with the coil in the HLT.

My concern using the plate chiller for a heat exchanger would be that stray grains would get past the false bottom and lodge themselves in the chiller.

Thanks for the feedback. What do you think of me just pulling from the bottom of the Blichmann MT under direct heat? I think the louvred screen really traps the heat below the grain bed, so this might be a way of distirbuting it directly to the top of the mash.

Yep, I'd start there. What you describe is direct fire RIMS, which is exactly what I do -- and it's a popular setup. Aside from the pump and related plumbing, you won't need any additional equipment. If you decide you'd prefer HERMS down the road, you can always invest in a coil.

I have a related question. Whatever route I take whether RIMS or Herms, do you constantly leave the pump running circulating the wort and just add heat when needed to raise the mash temp, or only cycle the pump when you need to?

I run my pump constantly during the mash.

I use my rims to get the mash run to the dough in temp, turn off the rims and pump, dough in, and then turn the pump and rims back on. When the mash is over, I turn off the rims and pump and then drain the wirt.

If you rims controller is on, then the pump should be on. That guarantees you get good flow across you trump sensor.

Thanks Kwadric. I am right up the road in Cville. Quick question. You still sparge right?

I used to. Now I use a "no sparage" process. I had an electric hlt. So when I built the rims, I already had the controller. The logistics of keeping the sparage water hot just wasn't worth the added efficiency. That being said, cold sparage works, but it was hard to predict the efficiency.

When I did sparage: I drained the mlt, refilled the mlt, stirred, started the pump, and then start the rims.