RIMS or HERMS?

I'm sure this gets debated quite a bit on here but I am about to begin building my stand and am not sure about which way to go. I have three keggles three burners and a welder. I know I will need to buy a couple of pumps and much much more, but not sure to go with a rims system or herms. At first I thought rims would be the way but now after looking at some herms designs on here it just looks easier to me..... Where can I educate myself on this subject?

RIMS is electric, Herms is elec or gas. Do you like wiring? What are you looking for in a system?

RIMS can be gas if you want but the biggest difference between the two is you need a heat source (i.e. burner or water heater element) in/under the MLT with a RIMS. With a herms the HLT is your heat source for your MLT. If I was building a single tier setup Id probably go herms cause I have an old Immersion chiller ect.. laying around

onthekeg said:

RIMS is electric, Herms is elec or gas. Do you like wiring? What are you looking for in a system?

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I haven't done any wiring yet...... But then again I haven't done any welding either. I haven't done all grain yet so I am not sure about the pros and cons of either system.

jphebbie2 said:

RIMS can be gas if you want but the biggest difference between the two is you need a heat source (i.e. burner or water heater element) in/under the MLT with a RIMS. With a herms the HLT is your heat source for your MLT. If I was building a single tier setup Id probably go herms cause I have an old Immersion chiller ect.. laying around

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So I have a third burner that I was going to put my MLT on.... Is this essentially all I need to set this up as a rims system in addition to a pump/sparing mechanism?

Tom,
I would recommend just batch sparging with a cooler before you start deciding what you want. I don't have either of these systems and may never will. You can make pretty much any beer you would care to just by infusion mashing.

I have an electric system. RIMS is a no-brainer for me.

Besides the myriad threads on this forum (i.e., search RIMS vs. HERMS), there is the homebrewing wiki:

Recirculating mash systems - Home Brewing Wiki

Actually,
There's

• Batch Sparge
• Direct Fired Mash
• RIMS
• HERMS
• and at least 20 variations of each

HERMS can also be done using a counter flow chiller (CFC)
Using a cooler and batch sparging is the least expensive and most energy efficient.
HERMS is the most expensive and least energy efficient.
Each design has it's challenges, pros and cons. And each has it's religious zealots.
That is why BrewSteel doesn't box their customers in.
I've tried all but the electric RIMS and we are currently building one for a customer using a BrewersHardware RIMS tube.

OneHoppyGuy said:

HERMS can also be done using a counter flow chiller (CFC)

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Interesting. I never thought about doing that, but that would be a really easy addition to my new setup. A couple more tees/valves and I'm set. Thanks for the idea.

KCBrewer said:

Interesting. I never thought about doing that, but that would be a really easy addition to my new setup. A couple more tees/valves and I'm set. Thanks for the idea.

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In all my searches on the internet, I've only found a handful of home brewers doing it. It's simple and effective. You'll want to monitor the temperature in 3 places: the mash tun, the hot water inlet and the wort outlet. Like any of the designs it takes a little time to dial in and it requires 2 pumps running. Having used equipment sitting around, I have the advantage of trying out different methods.

Thanks for the tips. The way I designed my new setup, this would not require me adding much and would also give me step mashing abilities. Really glad I came across this.

So gentlemen, I have three burners already purchased. How can I make use of my third burner with these thoughts in mind? I always assumed that I could put my mlt on low heat (from the burner) and recirculate via a pump and fly sparge. Am I wrong in this thought? Will this be innefective?

Tomtanner said:

So gentlemen, I have three burners already purchased. How can I make use of my third burner with these thoughts in mind? I always assumed that I could put my mlt on low heat (from the burner) and recirculate via a pump and fly sparge. Am I wrong in this thought? Will this be innefective?

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You can do exactly as you're thinking. It's called direct fired RIMS. It's what I do and works very well. As long as the burner is on low like you said, it will work fine.

JonW said:

You can do exactly as you're thinking. It's called direct fired RIMS. It's what I do and works very well. As long as the burner is on low like you said, it will work fine.

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That's great news! I am currently building modified keggles for exactly this. Any tips or lessons learned?

OneHoppyGuy said:

HERMS is the ... least energy efficient.

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HERMS isn't actually all that inefficient if you use the mash-heating water for sparging.

emjay said:

HERMS isn't actually all that inefficient if you use the mash-heating water for sparging.

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I was speaking in relative terms.