Need Help With Brew Rig Plumbing

Hello,

I need help with figuring out part of my plumbing for my rig. The part that I'm stuck on is how I'm going to do the recirculation of the water when it's in the HLT to warm up quicker. Below I have two pictures of what I came up with, but I'm not sure which one would be better.

I'm thinking the first setup is the best, but I do like the idea of the second picture, because I was already planning on recirculating ice cold water in the HLT when cooling the wort. The only concerns I had about the second picture is if there would be an issue of contamination with my brewing water, since it's going through the plate chiller.

One friend mentioned he would be concerned about mineral deposit build up in the plate chiller which could cause issues with my brew water. If this is true, I would think then I would have issues with my entire plumbing. Since I had plan on recirculating the ice cold water in the HLT during the cooling of the wort, which would be pushing contaminated water through all the silicone tubing, but I would think when I do my cleaning process, this would take care of it.

As you can see I have a lot on my mind and if you could give any advice, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

If it's strike water you're heating I don't think it would matter if you go through your plate chiller or not. It's all going to end up in your BK anyway and any bugs would be killed. If you're worried about flavor contamination then I would avoid the plate chiller. Option 1 is a shorter path = less cooling of your water. Option 2 is a longer path = more cooling of your water.

You could always add an electric motor/stirrer to your rig instead of recirculating. I've also heard that an aquarium pump will work so long as the output is near the bottom. Just something to keep the water mixing up in the HLT.

Sorry, I guess I should have specified a little better. I am talking about recirculating the strike water so it heats evenly. I was thinking about the electric motor/stirrer, but since I have two pumps, one dedicated to water and one dedicated to wort, I figure I should use my pumps. Just to give you a little more info about my system, it's all electric and a Kal 50A Back to Back Control Panel.

I think I might go with my first picture, because this way I shouldn't have any risk/issues with my strike water/brewing water with contamination. When I'm done with my brewing process and ready to clean, I'm assuming throwing some OxiClean Free into the HLT and then recirculating it through the HERMs coil, MLT, and BK, should clean up everything and I shouldn't have to worry about any kind of deposits in my hoses.

What do you guys think?