We can rebuild it, we can make it better – eHERMS

We can rebuild it, we can make it better – eHERMS
So not too long ago, I left Sunny San Diego and sold my old keggle / cooler, single pump, propane brew setup to my brew partner. It worked great and helped me make some delicious beer, but it wasn’t going to make the cross-country trip with me.



Now I’m in Maryland and it’s time to rebuild. I don’t have a lot of room in the garage, so that’s out (not to mention – it gets COLD here… who knew). I do have a lot of room in the unfinished portion of the basement, which happens to be very near the electrical service panel. The combination of not wanting to kill myself with CO, and the easy access to electrical makes this the perfect opportunity for an electric build. And if I’m going to be rebuilding my brew house, why not go all out?

Here’s the plan, and a link to each of the individual build threads as they become available (this is a work in progress so I may not have them all up yet).
BK – 15gal Keggle with 4500w ULWD Ripple element
HLT – 13.2gal Keggle with 5500w ULWD ripple element and StainlessBrewing 50’, ½” HERMS coil.
MLT – 10gal Rubbermaid cooler
Two Chugger pumps with in-line SS heads
½” SS CamLocks and Silicone hoses
Lumber brew table
Simple but elegant control panel

I’ll update this thread as the system comes together and answer any questions I can. As an engineer and passionate tinkerer, I may get a little long winded about the details, but I am happy to do what I can to ‘pay it forward’ in any way possible!
-Kevin

Looking forward to your build!

Your build is almost exactly like mine!

The control panel is complete with the exception of final mounting. That drama has been updated in the build thread linked to the first post. What a pain in the butt getting all the wiring run correctly and troubleshooting my small issues to get it to run right. With a 5500w element in the HLT I pushed 11 gallons of water from just under 60* to 156* in 32minutes without the HERMS pump running. After reaching temperatures I turned on the pump and heated 4 gallons from my MLT through the HEX in the HLT to around 150* in an impressively small amount of time, about 15 minutes. For a first trial run, I am very impressed with how quickly and easily it all works out.

Last steps are to mount the final item (heating element) in the boil kettle, post my write up on making them all, and then build an exhaust hood.

Oh yeah, then brew. Because, you know, building all this stuff is fun and all... but brewing is really what I'd rather be doing!

I seem to be into fabricating nearly as much as I like brewing. After nearly every session I have a new idea for some sort of improvement.

my homebrew system is ridiculous, but it makes great beer and it's fun tinkering with something you enjoy... less like work than actual work right?

Agreed! Any opportunity to bust out the welder or some wood working tools or wrenches, I'm all for it.

i actually might like fabricating MORE than i like brewing... but don't tell anyone.

anymore updates? this one has cool promise!

I finished it. I posted the final photos at the control-panel link shown above, as it was getting more activity than this one. If you have any questions on how things went / how it works, I'm happy to answer.

-Kevin

Nice panel! You should post those pics from the other thread here )