The Pol
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2007
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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.
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.