Major construction COMPLETE on RIMS system.

WOOT!!

I finally finished the major construction on my RIMS system tonight.

Tomorrow I will hunt down and fix any leaks.

Left to build is the Sparge manifold and some dip tubes in the keggles.

Sunday I will clean everything and Monday I will be popping the cherry on this thing!!!

Here are some pics...

I like the copper plumbing. What's the middle keg covered with?

Looks like that middle keg is one of the rubber coated kegs. Most brewers don't like em because you can't heat in em and the metal is supposedly thinner than on "normal" kegs.

I have one sitting in my garage that'll probably end up a mash tun. I figure the rubber is insulation, right?

TXCurtis said:

Looks like that middle keg is one of the rubber coated kegs. Most brewers don't like em because you can't heat in em and the metal is supposedly thinner than on "normal" kegs.

I have one sitting in my garage that'll probably end up a mash tun. I figure the rubber is insulation, right?

Click to expand...

Look's like OP is using his coated as a MT as well. Great idea.

Will you show your RIMS tube in more detail? All I have seen around is SS ones.

Any drawbacks to having your system hard-plumbed? Maybe there is something that you will have to do without or a configuration you can't do?

I'm really liking the copper.

- Paul

How hard is it to clean?

I love it, very steam punk.
I can almost see Jules Verne and HG Wells brewing up a batch together.

I second the steam punk look. I think this looks like it could fit in on the rec room of the Nautilus. I mean come on even Captain Nemo would need some beer. He exiled himself from civilization not beer!

kklowell said:

I like the copper plumbing. What's the middle keg covered with?

Click to expand...

Actually it is one of those rubber coated kegs. I got it for free so I went with it.
I am hoping that it will act as insulation to help hold the temp in the MT.

I like the copper tubing also! Best part was I was able to scrounge the copper from work for FREE.

Begin2Brew said:

How hard is it to clean?

Click to expand...

My plan it to run PBW thru and thru the system followed by StarSan

Spring_Chicken said:

Will you show your RIMS tube in more detail? All I have seen around is SS ones.

Any drawbacks to having your system hard-plumbed? Maybe there is something that you will have to do without or a configuration you can't do?

I'm really liking the copper.

- Paul

Click to expand...

Here is a pic that shows the RIMS tube better. If that is not close enough I can take another one and post it later today.

There may be a drawback or two with it hard plumbed. I have the valves setup so I can route things pretty much any direction. I also have a couple of valves that are open. They are to purge the system and to allow hooking up a ice bath chiller. (Needed during the summer down here in the south.)

Did you get the plans for the RIMS tube somewhere or did you make it yourself?

Was it cheaper to build than SS?

Spring_Chicken said:

Did you get the plans for the RIMS tube somewhere or did you make it yourself?

Was it cheaper to build than SS?

Click to expand...

I rolled my own on the rims tube. I looked at a friends and read the RIMS for dummies thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/rims-dummies-114997/

It is 1.25 inch copper pipe, some tee fittings and a couple of reducers.

If you can find an old water heater element screw it into the fitting when you sweat it into the copper pipe. Stuff a bunch of paper towels, rags, etc around it to hold it centered in the pipe. You WILL ruin this heating element when you do this. But the end result is that the element will not be touching the side of the copper pipe when you install your good element.

As to cost. of copper vs stainless? I really don't know. I like the copper look, and I got most of the copper for free. I never checked into doing this as stainless.

It will all depend on what you can find at what price.

First batch is done!

I popped the cherry on the new brewrig today. Made a Pale Bock.

I had a few issues, but nothing I can't tweak.

For some reason the RIMS heater would hold a temp in the mash tun. It was unable to raise the temp. I missed my strike temp by a couple a degrees and was not able to get the temp up. Ended up heating some water n the HLT to almost boiling and then transferring it over to the mash tun. Weird. I will have to investigate that one.

Otherwise it was a good brew day. No leaks and the plumbing all worked.

Now to plan my next brew...

You could check to see if the tube is working by using the smallest amount of cold water that you can. I couldn't imagine that there would be so much heat loss that it wouldn't be able to keep up. My insulated keggle system holds temp pretty well over an hour without adding heat. Of course I haven't tried a recirc yet.

Actually I'm trying a test recirc with just water today so I can get some practice before I ruin 12 gallons of beer.

I tried just plan water and it heated just fine. I tested it before I brewed. I also checked it after I brewed while I was washing hot water and then StarSan thru the rig. It will heat plain water.
I am thinking that the mass of the grains is too big for the element I am using. I am going to go thru the wiring and check it with an amp probe to verify that it is working alright.

My choices will probably boil down to using a different element (110V vs a 220 V running at 120V) or rewiring the relays to run off of 220V.

I'm not too stressed over it. I expected to have a few minor issues on a project like this. Overall it did a great job on the beer.

Just to update.

I have now brewed 5 batches on this rig.
The heating element was kicking my butt. I ended up trying a 110V element in the RIMS tube. That didn't do any better. I put a 220V element back in and re-wired the relays to supply 220V to the element. Had to change a few other aspects of the wiring. Added a 220V cord and plug. Then split off one leg to get the 110V I needed for the motor and PID.

Next issue was now I would way overshoot my temps. Silly me never did auto tune on the PID. After that things seem to be doing much better. I have a 2 degree difference between what comes out of the RIMS tube and the temp in the Mash Tun. I can live with that.
Unless there is a way to do an offset on the PID. Will have to look into that.

I also ended up replacing the false bottom I was using. It was from my old 10 gallon Gott cooler and it just wouldn't seat right in the bottom of the keg. I ordered a S.S. false bottom from NB and put it in. Had to cut a couple of notches in the keg opening so it could slide in easily. It fits perfectly in the bottom of the keg. I had almost no grains getting by it after the grain bed set.

Things left to do.
I still need to put in sight glasses on the HLT and the MT. I have the stuff. Just been lazy.
Purchased a couple of BBQ pit ignitors. Want to mount them to light the burners.
WIND SHIELDS!!!!
Now that summer is here I need to make another coil to immerse into an ice bath for wort chilling. My ground water is already up to 70 degrees. Pretty soon the immersion chiller won't be able to cut it anymore.