My electric HERMS build

Hey guys, figured I would start a thread about my electric brew stand build. I have used bits and pieces of ideas from a lot of different threads. The information on here is incredible.

As far as my build...It is/will be a 50a 2 PID system that utilizes 2 pumps and 2 5500watt elements. I used the print posted below that PJ designed (thank you very much...if you read this).

Right now I have the control panel done.

I am making the hot water heater elements, following kals design on his website (thank you very much...if you read this).

I still have a lot of things to finish up...and I hope I can solicit some advice/opinion as I move along.

PJ Diagram

Very cool I will be watching!
How are you mounting those elements.
I think I have the same ones and not sure if I want to use a soldered spud or weldless

I ordered a conduit knockout kit from Harbor freight... ?

I am doing it all weldless. I have a 1" NPS lock nut that will tighten from the inside on the element with a high temp o ring between the nut and the kettle

Do it right the first go and dimple and solder everything. I'm starting my build now and have just finished my boil keg with e-brew parts from Bobby's website. I couldn't be happier with the element triclover kits he sells.

What do you mean do it right the first time? You are recommending not to utilize a weldless setup?

wbarber69 said:

Do it right the first go and dimple and solder everything. I'm starting my build now and have just finished my boil keg with e-brew parts from Bobby's website. I couldn't be happier with the element triclover kits he sells.

Click to expand...

Link please?

This kit. Bobby does have a weldless kit as well. Scroll down.

http://brewhardware.com/rimsherms-parts-93/176-elementparts

Mike

awarner, where did you get the used kegs? I'm looking for some now for my eHerms build.

A friend of mine who owns a bar had a bunch of these kegs which were 'damaged' and the distributor didn't come collect them for whatever reason...so he sold them to me.

But if you are looking....I've actually seen quite a few if then in thrift stores interestingly enough

Weld less is perfectly fine for your build. I also have a three keg two pump herms (mine is 30 amp, but I don't need to run two elements at once. ) mine is all weldless.

milesvdustin said:

Weld less is perfectly fine for your build. I also have a three keg two pump herms (mine is 30 amp, but I don't need to run two elements at once. ) mine is all weldless.

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Yeah...I honestly don't know if I will ever do back to back batches or need to push the 50 amps...but I just figured since I'm doing it...I might just as well go 'big' the first time so I never have to regret it.

I got my temp probes in the mail from Auber...

Liquid Tight RTD Sensor, 2” Probe, Weldless Fitting for the boil kettle
&
Liquid tight RTD sensor, 1.5 inch, 1/2 NPT Thread for the T fitting on the HLT

If anyone is wondering....the "Deluxe Cable" feature is awesome. I also decided to get 12 foot of cable since I am not exactly sure how I will be setting up my control panel in relation to my stand.

Also....looking for advice on the power (orange wires in the above photo) that are going to the heating element. You can see the way I have it...I will not be using a receptacle like a lot of the control panels. I have males and female plugs that I will be essentially making an extension cord....so my question is how far out should I go before I cut the wire....I am thinking fairly short so they aren't just dangling there all the time

awarner322 said:

Also....looking for advice on the power (orange wires in the above photo) that are going to the heating element. You can see the way I have it...I will not be using a receptacle like a lot of the control panels. I have males and female plugs that I will be essentially making an extension cord....so my question is how far out should I go before I cut the wire....I am thinking fairly short so they aren't just dangling there all the time

Click to expand...

Just make sure that the power cords coming out of the panel terminate with a female receptacle, not a male plug which would be live and exposed. The cord attached to the heating element should terminate with a male plug. The length of each section is personal preference, but I agree on short "pigtails" coming out of the control panel.

Similarly, it is critical for safety that your power line feeding the control panel terminates with a female receptacle.

Yup...thanks for the reminder, it was in the plan.

Hey man I'm looking to do exactly what you are building!!! Could you send me a link for instructions?

Also how are you going to measure the temp of your mash if you only have temp probs in your boil and hlt?

On my original setup I had a probe in my boil kettle, but I eventually gave that kettle to a ebiab friend. I built my next kettle with no probe and bought a second 1/2" mip probe that I put inline of my Hermes coil to monitor my mash temp. I also use my Hermes coil as my wort chiller so its especially helpful to monitor my wort chilling temp.

J311gonzo said:

Hey man I'm looking to do exactly what you are building!!! Could you send me a link for instructions?

Also how are you going to measure the temp of your mash if you only have temp probs in your boil and hlt?

Click to expand...

A lot of the design (with a few exceptions) has come from kal's site.

As far as how to monitor my mash temps... The short answer is I don't plan to. My plan is to monitor the temp of water I will be circulating in the HLT. My thought is that the difference in temperature between that water and the wort inside my herms coil will be negligible. If I realize I was horribly wrong...I think I should still be able to account for that by just ramping up water temperature to account for that heat loss. I am sure that this is a horrible strategy and full of problems people will hopefully explain to me, but for now, that is the plan.

Hopefully this brutal Michigan winter will go away soon...so I can thaw everything out and get this thing done.

Awarner322 - could you post a picture of the e stop loop? I want to see how you wired in the resistor. Thanks man! I'm actually planning this exact build.

:fro:

J311gonzo said:

Awarner322 - could you post a picture of the e stop loop? I want to see how you wired in the resistor. Thanks man! I'm actually planning this exact build.

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Should have mentioned it....there is no e stop on my panel. That is the only deviation from the print

awarner322 said:

A lot of the design (with a few exceptions) has come from kal's site.

As far as how to monitor my mash temps... The short answer is I don't plan to. My plan is to monitor the temp of water I will be circulating in the HLT. My thought is that the difference in temperature between that water and the wort inside my herms coil will be negligible. If I realize I was horribly wrong...I think I should still be able to account for that by just ramping up water temperature to account for that heat loss. I am sure that this is a horrible strategy and full of problems people will hopefully explain to me, but for now, that is the plan.

Hopefully this brutal Michigan winter will go away soon...so I can thaw everything out and get this thing done.

Click to expand...

That sounds reasonable to me. Just use a thermometer to take some readings of the mash temp, and adjust your HLT temp if necessary. After a few brew sessions you will likely have it all dialed-in. The New England winter has been quite bold as well.

awarner322 said:

A lot of the design (with a few exceptions) has come from kal's site.

As far as how to monitor my mash temps... The short answer is I don't plan to. My plan is to monitor the temp of water I will be circulating in the HLT. My thought is that the difference in temperature between that water and the wort inside my herms coil will be negligible. If I realize I was horribly wrong...I think I should still be able to account for that by just ramping up water temperature to account for that heat loss. I am sure that this is a horrible strategy and full of problems people will hopefully explain to me, but for now, that is the plan.

Hopefully this brutal Michigan winter will go away soon...so I can thaw everything out and get this thing done.

Click to expand...

this is what I do.
My understanding is this is how a herms system works? I monitor both the temps in the hlt and the wort exiting the bottom of my mashtun... there can be a couple degree offset when its cold in my brewroom but its easily adjusted for.
It does take a good 10 minutes or so for the temp to stabilize though in my setup.