New RIMS setup

I’ve been wanting to get some more consistency in my brewing for a while now, and also wanted to simplify the brewing day a little bit. Like everyone, I’ve had plans for a stand floating around in the back of my head, but one thing I wanted to keep about my current system is the ease of portability. Keeping that in mind, I changed my plans a bit, and decided to start rethinking the system. My primary concerns were:

• Portable
• Consistent
• Ability to run on 240, 120, or propane, depending on where I’m brewing
• Compact
• Sparge water on demand, no more HLT
• Switchable between high and low power for strike/sparge and mashing.

Now some of these won’t be able to be met at all times, but having the ability go from brewing at home with 240 power, no HLT, and constant mash temp from the RIMS tube, to going to a buddy’s house, and plugging in to 120 and heating with propane is worth the trade off to me.

The system isn’t totally done yet. I’ve still got to put an electric element in the boil kettle, and build a nicer stand to set the Mash and Boil on, but it’s close enough I’m ready to share. So enough of the babbling, how about some pics? Warning, there will be a bunch.

First, I started with a bunch of parts.


Next came the layout. I started by covering the Auber project box with masking tape and laying out the parts.



Following that, I center punched and pilot drilled the locations, then followed up with a unibit.




After removing the tape and filing the edges, it was time for a test fit. Due to a screwup on my part, I forgot one light from the order and had to place a second one.


Next came time to design the inside layout. Looking at all of my parts, I was definitely worried about space. I also forgot one relay, so ended up waiting on that too.


While waiting for the forgotten parts to show up, The RIMS tube from Stout Tanks showed up. This thing is a beast!


Time to start wiring. First rule, make a plan, schematics help. Then, to make it easier on yourself, make an actual wiring diagram that looks like your layout. Run through it a couple times in your head. Trace the paths down, keep that magic smoke inside the devices, not out.



It’s alive! Time to cobble stuff together for a test.



First test didn’t go so great, lots of leaks from the PTFE gaskets. I ended up ordering new silicone gaskets, but after a good thorough cleaning, the PTFE gaskets worked the next time. While waiting on the gaskets to show up, my brewing buddy dropped by with the next major parts.


A couple of nights of sketching, and playing around eventually lead to this. I also picked up a new DudaDiesel B23-30 chiller.




Now it’s time for a good test and cleaning.

At the time of this test, I didn’t have my 240 outlet installed yet, so I was only able to run it on 120. Running on 120, it was able to hold the temps well, all while being plugged into a 15 amp GFCI outlet. Since then, I’ve gotten my GFCI spa panel and outlet set up, and tested again on high power. I’m happy to say that the one part I worried about, instant sparge water, has worked out well. All of my calcs I made before going down this path said I should be able to get 1.5 qts of water at 170 degrees per minute. Last night I was able to get almost exactly that using 70 degree water on the input. The only thing I have left for the stand is to add casters, hard plumb some fresh water lines to the filter and chiller, and purchase a cover for the element connections. And that is my new system.

Got everything set up and ran the first batch through it yesterday. Held temps great, raised temps easily, and the instant sparge water worked out great. Also got to use the new plate chiller, and it took the 12 gallons from boil to 60 as fast as it would pump. Really digging the whole setup.

Nice work. Im working on something like this but with a hoist for BIAB.

I especially like the sparge on demand :cheers:

Any reason you didn't mount the control box to the stand too? (Like the tower of power)

Carlscan26 said:

Nice work. Im working on something like this but with a hoist for BIAB.

I especially like the sparge on demand :cheers:

Any reason you didn't mount the control box to the stand too? (Like the tower of power)

Click to expand...

I actually planned to put a small shelf for the control panel, but haven't built it yet.

phreaky said:

I actually planned to put a small shelf for the control panel, but haven't built it yet.

Click to expand...

:cheers:

Well, after brewing on it 10-12 times the last few months, I haven't found too much I would change. Added an inline temp probe and inline oxygen stone to it, and they are proving quite handy. If I would hurry up and get the parts for an electric kettle, I would be set.

Very cool build. I'm planning something like this for when I have access to 220.

Nice build, thanks for sharing. I've been planning on adding a RIMS system to my brew rig.

Are you heating cold tap water to sparge temp in one pass through the RIMS tube? When you re-circ in the mash tun do you just have the wort return hose sitting on top of the grain bed?

baulz said:

Are you heating cold tap water to sparge temp in one pass through the RIMS tube? When you re-circ in the mash tun do you just have the wort return hose sitting on top of the grain bed?

Click to expand...

Yes and yes. 5500 watts running water at 1 qt per minute gives me a 100* temp rise. I started with just leaving the hose on the grainbed, but did recently build a sparge arm from a couple pieces of copper and a tee.

I like it...I like it a lot! Any chance you can put together a parts list and maybe (pretty please) a schematic?

I just had to ask.....

phreaky said:

Yes and yes. 5500 watts running water at 1 qt per minute gives me a 100* temp rise. I started with just leaving the hose on the grainbed, but did recently build a sparge arm from a couple pieces of copper and a tee.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

This is really a slick setup. Couple of questions if you don't mind. I only see the one pump, so you gravity feed the BK while pumping your instant sparge water to MLT? Or are you batch sparging?

IPA-Hole said:

I like it...I like it a lot! Any chance you can put together a parts list and maybe (pretty please) a schematic?

I just had to ask.....

Click to expand...

I don't really have a parts list or a schematic, but any of PJs single pid plans will basically be the same. There's a master kill, a pump switch, and a pid that controls an element. The big difference for mine is how I connected to element so it could switch between 120 and 240. I'll try to draw something up that explains it.

kluge9 said:

This is really a slick setup. Couple of questions if you don't mind. I only see the one pump, so you gravity feed the BK while pumping your instant sparge water to MLT? Or are you batch sparging?

Click to expand...

I fly sparge with this setup. I pump out of the mash into the boil, although its usually high enough I could gravity. Sparge water comes from the hose, through the filter, and into the rims tube. House water pressure eliminates one pump.

phreaky said:

I don't really have a parts list or a schematic, but any of PJs single pid plans will basically be the same. There's a master kill, a pump switch, and a pid that controls an element. The big difference for mine is how I connected to element so it could switch between 120 and 240. I'll try to draw something up that explains it.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what I wanted to see - I already built my controller with the help of PJ and others (HBT's been a treasure trove of info).

I'm just blown away with the ingenuity of clever design here. Nice!

Beer necessity is the mother of brew invention. :rockin:

phreaky said:

I don't really have a parts list or a schematic, but any of PJs single pid plans will basically be the same. There's a master kill, a pump switch, and a pid that controls an element. The big difference for mine is how I connected to element so it could switch between 120 and 240. I'll try to draw something up that explains it.

I fly sparge with this setup. I pump out of the mash into the boil, although its usually high enough I could gravity. Sparge water comes from the hose, through the filter, and into the rims tube. House water pressure eliminates one pump.

Click to expand...

I should have figured that out, as there's no HLT pump from. Disregard my lapse of thought and keep on designing! Time for a beer so I can think straight.

OK, here's a portion of my design that shows how the element changes between voltages. First off, If you don't understand electricity, don't mess with it. This is only how I did it, and your mileage may vary.

The simplest solution would have been to find a spdt switch that could handle 30 amps. I wasn't finding any that would match my other switches, and the ones I could find were all ridiculously priced. I also had a plan to use a 30 amp spdt relay that would switch automatically for me, but they too were outrageously priced. This lead me to use a smaller switch and two relays to accomplish the same thing.

The just of it is that on one side of the element, you are taking your power from the ssr, and on the other side, you are either connecting it to the second hot leg for 240, or the neutral for 120. The switch drives the relays in such a way that you CAN NOT power both at the same time. If some how you were to have both relays powered at once, you will have a dead short across 120 and it will let the smoke out.

I used a second 30 amp contactor from Auber for the high side, and a smaller 15 amp relay for the low, since it will only be running at 1375 watts on 120. Add in a 3 way switch, and I got a high-off-low.

So after brewing with the new system for a while now, I've finally gotten around to adding the next stage. First was an electric boil kettle, which got the entire system onto electric.



After that was done, I went for a new mash tun. I started with a keg that I cut the bottom out of. Put in a false bottom, with no dip tube hole, and welded a few fittings on there. At the top is a camlock that feeds a linelock sparge arm inside. Towards the bottom is a thermo and sight glass.


On the very bottom, I used the existing sanke connector and some tri-clamp fittings for the outlet. The sanke is a 2" connection, which has a 1-1/2" to 1" reducer clamped on. From there, a 1" 90* elbow, then a 1" to 1/2" NPT fitting with a valve and male camlock.


I added some unistrut legs with casters on the bottoms, and I now have a self contained mash tun.

I like your pump / plate chiller / rims tube, (yes?), manifold rack.

Nice job. I love the strut holding the keggle. I may have to do that myself.
I want to to a on demand rims tube too. Seems like a time saver

BTW thanks for the link from arfcom.

I'm picking up my insulated keg this weekend that's going to be turned in to a bottom drain MLT. PLEASE put a parts list for the tri-clover fittings that you used to connected it to a 1/2" ball valve!!! I would love to use this method instead of drilling a hole.

I used:

1 - 2" Tri-clamp
1 - 2" Silicon gasket
2 - 1"/1.5" Tri-clamps
2 - 1"/1.5" Silicon gaskets
1 - 2" to 1.5" Reducer
1 - 1" 90* Elbow
1 - 1" Tri-clamp to 1/2" Male NPT
1 - 1/2" Ball valve
1 - 1/2" Camlock F

phreaky said:

I used:

1 - 2" Tri-clamp
1 - 2" Silicon gasket
2 - 1"/1.5" Tri-clamps
2 - 1"/1.5" Silicon gaskets
1 - 2" to 1.5" Reducer
1 - 1" 90* Elbow
1 - 1" Tri-clamp to 1/2" Male NPT
1 - 1/2" Ball valve
1 - 1/2" Camlock F

Click to expand...

Awesome. Thanks! Any reason you didn't just go with the 2" tri-clamp elbow and then the 2" x 1/2" NPT adapter?

Looks great man. Now I know what I'm doing with the keg for sure.

I was trying to cut down on volume under the false bottom. I already have to use extra water for mashing because of the RIMS tube. I usually have to add a half gallon extra to keep the liquid level covering the grain. When doing a 5 gallon batch, that can be quite a bit.

I'm assuming your taking about cutting down on the volume under the false bottom when you weren't using the bottom drain. I'm not sure I understand if you were trying to cut down on the lost volume if the different fittings to make the same connection would make much of a difference. Right?

I may be missing something here though.

The stand you made to hook up your RIMs element, filter and chiller is awesome. What type of material is that? Can you get that sort of thing at a hardware store?

Most people call it T-Slot or 8020. I've never seen it at a hardware store though. Cheapest place I've found it is from a seller on eBay, just do a search for 80/20 or 8020.

Such a zombie thread but I have to bring it back for a few questions.

1. I see you have an outlet for your pump but it doesn't appear that there is a switch to turn it on, do you have constant power to that output and plug the pump in as needed? Or, is power supplied once an element is selected, as a fail safe not to run dry.

2. LEDs: Blue I assume is for pump, Green is power to element, yellow is power to the panel, red is E-stop?

3. Also, since I don't see it in the pictures. I assume you also have two SSRs? Or, just one 30amp. Do you need a 15a for 110v and 30a for 220v?

Thanks