No experience here. Just inspired to pose a question after viewing kickflip's cool pics. Would you have room for the tri-clover fitting in the bottom of the keg, between the side-wall and element? I'm assuming that accessing the bottom fitting is the tight spot.
I don't think there will really be much room to do much at all that requires any kind of dexterity. In fact, to do the welding, the though was to cut off the top and bottom, remove some of the middle to make the height/volume smaller and then weld the coil in. This would allow accessing the inside and out. Then, the top and bottoms would be welded back on.
One idea I saw that I didn't think of was a drain to remove the chamber fluid. I'll have to try to incorporate that into the design.
This is an issue that I have thought about a lot. Why are you wanting to use a small heat exchanger as opposed to the coil in you HLT? I currently am using a small exchanger and went that way in the hopes of ramping temps quickly. I've found that even a small exchanger doesn't really allow you to step mash, so is there another reason you want to do this?
I'm actually in the process of going the other way, incorporating my coil in a HLT and getting rid of the small exchanger. One reason was that it was poorly built in the first place and wanted to put something in that is better constructed.
This is an issue that I have thought about a lot. Why are you wanting to use a small heat exchanger as opposed to the coil in you HLT? I currently am using a small exchanger and went that way in the hopes of ramping temps quickly. I've found that even a small exchanger doesn't really allow you to step mash, so is there another reason you want to do this?
I'm actually in the process of going the other way, incorporating my coil in a HLT and getting rid of the small exchanger. One reason was that it was poorly built in the first place and wanted to put something in that is better constructed.
I have a HLT HEX right now that is propane fired. I want the control of electric and the ability to be able to change the liquid temp faster, thus the smaller volume. Why can you not step mash with your setup? Do you stir in the chamber?
As long as the flow rate is the same and the exit temp is maxed, how is 25' of coil in a smaller container not as good as in a larger container?
I am a newbe, but have read a lot about the idea of step mashing with a HERMS. It appears that you really can't get much more than 1 degree a minute raise, so if you are stepping up from 130 to 152, potentially a bunch of the conversion has happened before you ever get there.
I was getting rid of my small HEX so that I could use a larger amount of water and double it as my sparge water? Just seemed a little more efficient / simple since I have given up on the idea of "Step Mashing" on a HERMS.
I haven't cut into the HLT yet, and am running my ideas by everyone to see if I've missed something.
Note: I do use the HERMS to ramp up to 168 for Mash out
I am a newbe, but have read a lot about the idea of step mashing with a HERMS. It appears that you really can't get much more than 1 degree a minute raise, so if you are stepping up from 130 to 152, potentially a bunch of the conversion has happened before you ever get there.
I was getting rid of my small HEX so that I could use a larger amount of water and double it as my sparge water? Just seemed a little more efficient / simple since I have given up on the idea of "Step Mashing" on a HERMS.
I haven't cut into the HLT yet, and am running my ideas by everyone to see if I've missed something.
Note: I do use the HERMS to ramp up to 168 for Mash out
Off Topic:
I do step mashes with my current setup just fine. If you don't use a HERMS/RIMS for step mashing, are you just using it to maintain temp? At the risk of starting up the HERMS vs. RIMS or any enzyme denaturation wars again, you have to have your setpoint higher than your target to get the faster step times and then tune it back once you get close.
Return to topic:
So are you getting rid of your small chamber then?
I think I am going to get rid of the small chamber. I may try turning off the pump, jacking up the temp, and then start recirculating.
Like mentioned before, I don't want to get into the denaturing discussion either. Just trying to identify the pros and cons of big HEX vs small HEX.
The pros of the big would be a bigger thermal mass that would take longer to change (drop) and one less chamber to have since you could use your HLT. The pros of the small would be that you COULD change the temp faster to raise the chamber temp to higher more quickly.
Think about if you had a big or a small chamber set to 122 and you wanted to go to 155. It would take longer in a larger tank.
Now, while you are recirculating, the coil would be cooling the chamber down. The larger tank would have more heat to give up. Since you are providing more heat via an element or burner, this isn't a big deal. This is why I like the idea of a smaller chamber for the response time.
There is a really good site out there where somebody breaks it down better but I can't seem to find it right now. I'd say if you don't like the small chamber, you probably won't like the large either.
So out of curriosity, why are you doing a coil of ss? I mean if your going to weld the tubing in place why not just do verticle tubes with u joints linking them in a chain?
So i wish i went with something smaller for example a paint can size or a little larger.. its not to hard for my to drop the temp. i have a small 1/4 ball valve on the bottom for the drain, i just drain about a half gallon out and dump cold water in... i can drop about 10 degrees.. did it today with no problem.
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