New HERMS first run!!! Pics coming

The Pol · 08-22-2008, 06:08 PM

Fired up my new HERMS today... AWESOME!!! Heated the strike water to 177F while I was heading to the LHBS. When I got home I transferred 3.7 gallons to the MLT and mashed in. Tossed a frozen bottle of water into my HLT to get my HERMS water from 177F to 162F so that I could start the recirc.

I will be posting pics in a short while. Needless to say, it is working perfectly. I have the A419 on my HLT set at 162F with a 1F differential and my mash is recirculating at a comfy range from 157-158F. I have NEVER seen such clear wort in my life! It is a beautiful, crystal copper color (Octoberfest!).

Thanks to all who have built a HERMS and posted information here, thanks to Biermuncher for the inspiration on my OctoberFEAST brew. I will get pics up shortly, I am really just loving that I can sit here and clarify my wort, set up a nice filter bed and maintain my temp within about .5F and not have to lift a finger! (Looks and sounds cool too)

The Pol · 08-22-2008, 08:56 PM

Going into the fermentor now... 4 hours to AG bliss. Pic soon...

eschatz · 08-22-2008, 08:58 PM

nice, cant wait for the pics!!!!

The Pol · 08-23-2008, 02:24 AM

Great brew session, here are the pics.

Grain Bill

Hop Bill

Mashout heating

Stirrer, stirring

The Pol · 08-23-2008, 02:27 AM

Some buffer

Adjusting my HERMS temp... ended up with a 3 degree F differential between the HERMS and the MLT.

Mash temp SPOT ON!

Recirculating

The Pol · 08-23-2008, 02:28 AM

Now that IS clear beer!

Chillin in the fridge at 65F!

The Pol · 08-23-2008, 03:08 AM

A few things about this system.

1. NO LEAKS... really quite phenominal and clean to operate.
2. Heating the strike/HERMS water to strike temp +7 is about where I need to be to preheat my mash tun. (90 mins)
3. Cooling the remaining HERMS water in the HLT (from STRIKE +7 down to MASH +3) is done quite effectively with a 1qt FROZEN water bottle dropped in while running the stirrer.
4. Recirculating is easy, no issue with grain compaction.
5. Cleaning the HERMS coil, associated tubing and pump is a breeze... all of the sparge water is run through the pump and HERMS coil during the sparge to purge all of the sweet wort and clean the pipes.
6. Mashout is done simply by recirculating the mash and turning up the HERMS temp to 173F. After mashout, the HERMS water is used to sparge, and it is already the appropriate temp.
7. Sparge until the HLT runs dry, and the MLT runs dry... brewing software accurately calculates the total water volume required.
8. Boil the clearest wort you have ever seen!

**Saccharomyces** · 08-23-2008, 03:22 AM

Man that is a sweet setup. I love simplicity, and this is as good as it gets. Dualing coolers! Yeah baby

The Pol · 08-23-2008, 03:31 AM

It is just as advanced as say a Brutus 10, as far as the HERMS capability, but it is insulated so well that there is virtually no temp loss... it runs on ONE pump and ONE electric heating element (aside from the boil). I had dreams of building a Brutus 10, but I cannot get away from the economy (both cost and efficiency) of the coolers. This is all the brew stand that I will ever need, and with the electric temp controls, it will have great repeatability as well.
My new neighbor is a SS fabricator and sayes that he has all the SS square tubing that I will need to place this on a SS stand, and will fabricate it for me. He is really impressed with my design and my brews, so he is happy to help out.. he offered!

I WILL be getting together a parts list for this thing, for all three components, the HLT, MLT and BK. Thanks for the comment, I am really pleased with how it turned out!

Ice9 · 08-23-2008, 03:47 AM

This is something I'd definitely consider building. Nice job!!