New 10 Gallon Herms! Pics!

The Pol · 08-18-2008, 01:55 AM

Alright, so there may be a few of you on this board that have kept up with all of my changes to my brewing system over the past couple years. Here is the NEW setup that I just completed tonight with the help of McMaster Carr and the oodles of ideas that I have found here! I will show pics and give the best descriptions that I can... I would appreciate any questions or comments on the system! Thanks yall!

Here she is, as my wife calls her "The Beast". 10 Gallons of sweet wort producing perfection!

The heart of my HERMS, an electrically heated HLT that 1. Heats strike water, 2. heats my HERMS coil and 3. contains my sparge water. This tank contains a 120V 1500W element that works fine for heating the volumes of water that I deal with. I built a thermowell for the A419 out of a #5 drilled stopper and a SS corny dip tube. All of the connections are made with brass QD's from McMaster. Under the little round cap on the lid, lies the motor for the water stirer. The HERMS coil is 25' of 1/2" copper tubing from MB, it is sold as a "prechiller" for cooling wort.

Here is my HERMS return line/sparge line. I purchased this 1/2" dia. coolant tubing from McMaster and it works awesome! I can pump at a rate of about 7 gallons per minute with all of the 1/2" tubing and fittings. Easily adjustable, and it holds it form during the process.

Here is the new March pump placement. I used to have the pump bolted to the bottom of the stand, the flow rates were horrible and it was a PAIN to prime. It is completely hands off to prime in this location, and as stated earlier, I am getting a 7 gallon per minute flow rate through the HERMS coil. Ball valves all around for precise control. The pump was also mounted with rubber mounts to alleviate any vibration or noise...

Simple, clean, and fully insulated... holding temps should not be an issue! During the HERMS recirculating, the 1500W element is capable of raising the HLT water temp at a rate of 2 deg F per minute for mashout.

**beerthirty** · 08-18-2008, 02:45 AM

Nice job. 2 thoughts, if you placed the pump near the top of a leg you could get the outlet pointed up preventing any chance of airlocking and prime problems( I know you said priming is not an issue, but if you fill your boil kettle from the bottom port it could become one). The valve on the inlet of the pump isn't needed because you have one on the mash tun( it is better to close the outlet of a pump then the inlet, closing the inlet can cause cavitation which will allow the pump to run without lubrication). I could be wrong, I am having a hard time following fluid flow through your pictures. I do like the simplicity and innovation of your system.

The Pol · 08-18-2008, 03:07 AM

1. the pump will not be utilized to fill the boil kettle, this will me gravity only.
2. the valve on the inlet to the pump will not be to control flow, for the reason that you stated, but will help in swapping hoses (closed it will help keep the fluid in the hose). The valve on the outlet to the pump will be used for flow control as it was in my previous setup.
3. the pump used to be located at the bottom of the brew stand and was mounted so that the inlet was at the bottom, outlet at the top, and it was a PAIN to prime. In its current config, and with the 1/2" ID hoses it pumps like a champ, with no priming. The larger hoses and fittings may help, it is easy to flood it, the 3/8" plumbing sucked.

Thanks for the comments! It is really simple, should operate pretty efficiently.

**BigKahuna** · 08-18-2008, 03:08 AM

I don't understand it....BUT That is Bad ASS!

The Pol · 08-18-2008, 03:11 AM

The fluid flow is as such...

Pump INLET is in the left of the pump, OUTlet is on the right. The hoses are HARD plumbed to the ball valves in the pump, with QDs in either end. There is the short "jumper" that goes across the top from the HERMS coil to the return line in the MLT. Also, another hose with QDs in either end to run from the MLT to the BOIL kettle during the sparge. Hope that helps!

billtzk · 08-18-2008, 03:37 AM

That's clear. The HLT with HERMS coil is on the left, the MLT on the right. You pump out of the mash and into the HERMS coil inlet at the top of the HLT, then back out the top of the HLT via the other end of the coil and into the top of the MLT to the blue knobby hose return. You use gravity to drain the MLT into the BK.

What does the QD on the MLT to BK transfer hose attach to on the BK side?

The Pol · 08-18-2008, 03:49 AM

It attaches to the ball valve on the bottom of the BK, which has a QD nipple on it.

Yorg · 08-18-2008, 03:52 AM

So, to get this straight before I modify my system AGAIN:
You used to have your pump mounted horizontally (compared to now, which I'm referring to as vertically) and you used to have the inlet side down -right?
And just mounting it vertically like this has made all the difference to ease of priming and to flow?

**Lil' Sparky** · 08-18-2008, 03:58 AM

Great setup!

1/2" ID hoses really do make a world of difference, don't they! Anyone thinking about QD's, fittings, and pump hoses really ought to go this route vs 3/8".

The Pol · 08-18-2008, 04:04 AM

YES, the flow rate is INCREDIBLE! When I was using 3/8", the flow was a trickle, and the pump could never seem to belch out all of the air... NOW, within seconds the air is purged out and like I said, I can throttle it up to 5 gallons/min! McMaster Carr is also phenominal, order by like 6pm, and it is delivered to my home NEXT DAY using simple ground shipping.