My E-HERMS Build - LOTS OF PICS

Hello All -

PJ probably doesn't remember, but he talked me into a HERMS (rather than RIMS)

Just wanted to start a thread to post my progress...

starting with some random pics....more to come


metal for stand



cut inner control panel - this is aluminum that will go inside my control box using custom standoffs



control panel with components mock installed



new TC port on my brew kettle - for electric element


great weld...crappy picture

more pics


element adapter from Brewer's hardware


view inside...element comes close, but does not touch my pickup


blurry pic of both of my elements and adapters


HLT with new HERMS ports


these tigs are perfect


view from inside


herms coil waiting to be installed


HLT and BK next to each other

Nice!

Mmmmmmm stainless! Looking good! How did you did you make the coil and what size tubing is it?

very nice! this forum (you included) are just trying to make me jealous! I look forward to seeing your progress.

Nice!!

Some have reported rusting from the element. Did you do anything to prevent that?

Why did you opt for tri clamp vs weldless?

TheFlyingBeer said:

Mmmmmmm stainless! Looking good! How did you did you make the coil and what size tubing is it?

Click to expand...

it's 50 feet of 1/2". I didn't want to mess with making it, so I bought the one below....figured it was worth $30 or so extra and not have to mess with bending, etc.

Stainless Steel Immersion Wort Chiller w/Garden Hose Fittings 50 ft

Malric said:

Some have reported rusting from the element. Did you do anything to prevent that?

Why did you opt for tri clamp vs weldless?

Click to expand...

haven't done anything yet...but I have heard some people put high temp silicone on the base of the element (where the rust usually occurs)

I'll probably test it out first, and decide at that point.

i really liked the idea of the element adapter, and I also have alot of 1.5" TC in my brewery. It's well built, affordable, and I don't have to worry about leaks or building an enclosure, etc.

Doh! You must have bought the last one of those chillers! I ordered one for the same purpose a few days ago because they still had it as being in stock and they just called yesterday to say that they were actually out and will be out of stock 'for a month or so' so I just decided to go with copper.

Really beautiful build BTW. Are those new kegs?

canyonbrewer said:

it's 50 feet of 1/2". I didn't want to mess with making it, so I bought the one below....figured it was worth $30 or so extra and not have to mess with bending, etc.

Stainless Steel Immersion Wort Chiller w/Garden Hose Fittings 50 ft

Click to expand...

Awesome, that is the exact coil I am planning to buy. I hope it works out for you.

My buddy welds for Joe Gibbs Racing...so we built my brew stand up there this past weekend.

My truck next to all their "junk" cars....you should see the showroom where the nice cars are kept.



one more of the cars



horizontal band saw and rolling supports...made for easy cutting



this table is used to build race cars...perfectly flat and level - you can see some differentials and suspension parts in the background



fitting the top cross members



nice fit



all finished back at the house - took 2 of us about 10 hours to build



seeing how the keggles will sit

Nice MIG welds on the kegs! If anyone can MIG weld, it's a roundy round car builder!

Edit: Wait, I just noticed you said that they are TIG welds. Are you sure? Not that it matters, just curious!

kevink said:

Nice MIG welds on the kegs! If anyone can MIG weld, it's a roundy round car builder!

Edit: Wait, I just noticed you said that they are TIG welds. Are you sure? Not that it matters, just curious!

Click to expand...

kegs are TIG...stand is all MIG...

very nice!

Cool. Im looking forward to seeing progress pics.

Very sexy. I'm jealous of people that can weld. The weldless bulkheads on my pots work fine, but there's just something aesthetically appealing about welded ones to me. Especially with triclover bling all over them.

Ok, time to real my tongue back in.

Holy Crap this is going to be one amazing set up!

I wanna see the herms coil installed, do the herms coil fittings protrude into the keggle? How are you connecting it? Stainless Threaded compression fittings?

Also are you going to power coat or paint the stand to prevent rust?

Beautiful welds on the kettles!

Where did you get those purty kegs?

ok all, got the stand powdercoated. Chose standard black with a hammered finish. The powdercoat guy said this was the most durable thing out there. Said they were powdercoating a bunch of construction stuff for IngerSoll Rand in the same color.

cost me $125

Also got the internal pump wiring in place, installed the threaded inserts from McMaster and put on my caster city casters.

enjoy the pics...hopefully I will have the bottom shelf and pumps mounted this weekend. Also going to try and finish the control box - waiting on a hole saw for my panel receptacles though.

stand looks good to me


control box mount - those are the pump wires hanging out


some close ups of the finish







shot showing where my wires are running...only took us 5 minutes to snake the wires...we were smart and drilled nice internal holes before welding



these are some swagelok fittings I got yesterday...gonna use them to mount my herms coil inside my HLT



couple shots of the control box before components are installed and holes are cut. I am going to mount the box so that the lid will open up

nice... will you be running all your wiring through the tubes?

thepirho said:

I wanna see the herms coil installed, do the herms coil fittings protrude into the keggle? How are you connecting it? Stainless Threaded compression fittings?

Also are you going to power coat or paint the stand to prevent rust?

Click to expand...

gonna mount the herms coil next using those swagelok elbow fittings. I chose elbow because I didn't want to have to deal with the 90 deg bend in the coil.

the full couplers in the kegs are mounted flush on the inside....so I have a TC adapter on the outside and will connect the swagelok to the inside.

Only concern I have is that the coil will be too close to the kettle wall... we'll see I guess. I'll post pics when the coil is mounted.

Thanks for casters site mention, that site is sweet. Which model did you go with? The cart is awesome.

jtsims21 said:

nice... will you be running all your wiring through the tubes?

Click to expand...

Just the pump wiring. Elements will be external

mateomtb said:

Thanks for casters site mention, that site is sweet. Which model did you go with? The cart is awesome.

Click to expand...

They are aluminum dual locking 4 inch stem casters. They lock roll and rotation

Great looking build tell your buddy at JGR that they need to give Denny some of your beer when you get this done, made it will help him run better in 2012! Keep up the great work, thanks for sharing...I will be starting my own thread soon as well, amassing parts and pieces now!!!

Those kegs look like Daleks sitting on the stand with the tri-clover fittings on them. :rockin: (any other Dr. Who fans out there???)

This is going to be a good thread, that stand/kegs look awesome so far.

-Steve

hey all -

as promised, here are some more pictures and a video

I finished installing and leak testing the herms coil.


herms coil began it's life as an immersion chiller from midwest brew. here it is after cutting off the excess.



as you can see, the coiling process puts a troublesome oval shape in the tubing



i worked the ends with a pair of channeloks to try and get it more round



after 20 minutes of messing around, I could still only get the nut on about 1 inch. After this, I decided to quit messing around and I drilled out the nut bigger with my step bit. after that it slid right on



here is the coil installed



close up of swagelok connection inside



leak testing



my water-in connection...random off topic, but shows what I do



here is a video of my leak testing the newly installed coil...plan on putting some pressure on it for the next test...maybe with a valve or something

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vWzQCEPPTM]HERMS Coil Leak Test - YouTube[/ame]

used a visio created template to layout the PID holes -worked great in real life too...not just my imagination




control panel is getting primed, painted, and cleared

does anyone else see any pictures? all i get is the video

I had to click on them to see them, but I'm viewing from my phone.

I dont even see any links... maybe its something with my computer, but other threads have pictures?

I see all of them.

not sure why the pics aren't showing for some...posted them the same way as I have in the past

here is a link to the picasa album for anyone that wants to see. no captions though

https://picasaweb.google.com/jasonop/EHERMSBREWERYBUILD?authkey=Gv1sRgCNPRpZmS5NixJg#

Nice work on the Herms coil. I did the same thing as you, I bought a SS chiller and used it for the coil. I saw all the threads about bending your own and said no to doing it that way.

Really nice work.

got alot more done on my rig this week. control box is fully wired. bottom shelf and pumps mounted and wired. just waiting on my GFI breaker and my L14-30 wall receptacle to test everything.

control box



my rats nest...i don't have the patience to make the wiring as nice as some of you all on here



couple more





xlr for temp probe



back side...power in, heat sink, power out. I will manually unplug the HLT and plug in the BK when time to boil. Same PID will control both. 1 PID will just "monitor" mash and not control anything.



bottom shelf doubles as a pump cover/shroud - it's 1/8 alum diamond plate



view from bottom - pumps mounted and wired

few more

This is a work of art. I love the paint on your control enclosure.