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Old 02-09-2010, 01:30 AM   #1
McCuckerson
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Hi everybody,

Yesterday I completed the inaugural brew on my new HERMS. The brew went great; no-cill, no-sparge American Amber @ 70% eff. I really cannot complain about that. I did notice a few things that fellow HERMS users could help me out with:

1.) I noticed that the spent grains were piled up against 1 side of the keggle. I was unaware that nozzle/difuzer design was an issue with HERMS as I just had the outlet hose suspended in the mash. Can this lower efficiency or does the recirculating mash mix all of that up?

2.) My 2000w electric element mounted in a cooler is starting to rust after a test run and one brew session. Is this typical? I was thinking of using the HEX water to sparge with but I cannot if it has rust in it. Is this normal?

Thanks everybody!
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:42 AM   #2
The Pol
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I never had the grain pile up on one side of the MLT, does your recirc come out with a lot of force? Is it not gently flowing into the pool of water above the mash?

As for the rust, that is typical. This is why water heaters have annodes.
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:48 AM   #3
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I never had the grain pile up on one side of the MLT, does your recirc come out with a lot of force? Is it not gently flowing into the pool of water above the mash?

As for the rust, that is typical. This is why water heaters have annodes.
I had my valve wide open, I was in awe of the March's power..... Should I not have done that?
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:50 AM   #4
The Pol
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I had my valve wide open, I was in awe of the March's power..... Should I not have done that?
If it isnt hurting your eff. it really doesnt matter. Glad you like the March, I have a couple LGs now and will see how they work next week on a wet run.
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:53 AM   #5
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If it isnt hurting your eff. it really doesnt matter. Glad you like the March, I have a couple LGs now and will see how they work next week on a wet run.
March worked well. I mounted it low (thanks for sharing your early priming problems) and had no problems priming at all. It was really nice to not have to stand over a cooler and watch the thermometer to see if I needed to add hot or cold water!!!! HERMS is awesome!
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:55 AM   #6
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March worked well. I mounted it low (thanks for sharing your early priming problems) and had no problems priming at all. It was really nice to not have to stand over a cooler and watch the thermometer to see if I needed to add hot or cold water!!!! HERMS is awesome!
HERMS is awesome... makes brewing easy doesnt it?

Glad the pump worked well.
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Old 02-09-2010, 02:02 AM   #7
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HERMS is awesome... makes brewing easy doesnt it?

Glad the pump worked well.
I just looked at you gallery to see what you are up to. You dog!!!!!! They are beautiful!!!!!! There you go putting ideas in my head again..... expensive ideas......
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Old 02-09-2010, 02:10 AM   #8
The Pol
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I just looked at you gallery to see what you are up to. You dog!!!!!! They are beautiful!!!!!! There you go putting ideas in my head again..... expensive ideas......
It is a beast of a build... it will be my greatest creation yet. Once rhe brew rigs wireless bridge arrives, it will be finished... Mounted pumps today etc...
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Old 02-09-2010, 01:56 PM   #9
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If you are just running the hose into the top of the grainbed, you are probably creating some channeling. You will make out a lot better using a diffuser

this work very well. you can lay it on top of the level grainbed
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Old 02-09-2010, 02:17 PM   #10
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You don't need to run the pump balls out during recirculation and it's actually not a good idea. You can really compact the grainbed into a solid block of "concrete" doing that.
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