Single tier HERMS with tri clovers all around

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Sarrsipius

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So I've decided to upgrade my AG brewery and build a single tier herms system. I'm leaning toward buying BK, MLT, and HLT from www.conical-fermenter.com and use their HLT with HERMS coil. Their vessels come with all tri-clover sanitary fittings and clamps which I think is a big plus.

I'm going to go with two pumps so I can fly sparge.

As I plan this out and look at how my brew day process will work on this setup, it's apparent that I'll be disconnecting hoses and reconecting them to different places to switch from Mash to Sparge and from boil/whilpool to chill and transfer to fermenter. Heres my question:

Is it problematic to have to disconnect and re-connect tri-clovers? Do you have much spilliage when you do?

Quick connects seem like they would be cleaner but I like the idea of the sanitary clamp setup. I haven't bought anything yet so I'm just planning at this point.

Any input is appreciated.
 
I've got clovers all through my system and they are great. They do get hot. They make a little mess when you change them so I put a small bucket underneath when I do this. At finish of brew day I disconnect everything and put all fittings in a bucket of PBw to soak. With a bit of practice they are easy to change over as well. I designed my system so that I only make a few changes all up in a brew. Cleanliness is the main feature as I lost a few batches to a kettle with a ball valve that was not clean. Since changing I haven't lost a batch.
 
I run my HERMS with two kettles. I still don't really understand why everyone uses three kettles. There are a few other people doing what I do too, and it works great. Also, with my setup I only have one pump and no changing of lines, it is all hard plumbed.

What ist he big benefit of the third kettle? And why do you need two pumps?
 
I prefer to fly sparge so a 3rd kettle would be necessary (unless I'm missing something). Batch sparging would allow a 2 kettle set up I think but it seems to me you still need somewhere to heat your sparge water (a 3rd kettle). I guess I don't fully understand how the 2 kettle system works.

I'm looking into hard plumbing as well but I'm having trouble figuring out how to avoid any threaded fittings coming in contact with wort. There is no point in using tri clovers if your going to have threads somewhere in the line.

What kind of connections can provide a smooth bore with no threads througout the system. I've been looking at the Brew Magic system tyring to figure that out and it looks to me like there are some threaded connections in their system which would seem to defeat the purpose of going with sanitary clamps elsewhere in the system.
 
It sounds like he's running a no sparge system similar to the brutus 20. Sparging increases efficiency and it mostly a benefit in higher gravity beers where no sparge systems take the biggest hit.

On the triclover discussion, I really can't see the benefit of them over camlocks. TC's are more expensive and a little more cumbersome to connect/disconnect. Yes, they are the only truly sanitary disconnect method but none of the connections on the brew rig itself need sanitary.
 
I run my HERMS with two kettles. I still don't really understand why everyone uses three kettles. There are a few other people doing what I do too, and it works great. Also, with my setup I only have one pump and no changing of lines, it is all hard plumbed.

What ist he big benefit of the third kettle? And why do you need two pumps?

some people use the third kettle as a mash tun, instead of a cooler. put a fryer under that, and you can do a step-mash easier. with 2 pumps, you can recirc from the mash tun to the hlt to maintain temp, and the other 1 is hooked up to fly sparge from hlt to mash tun on a single-tier system (not needed on a 2- or 3-tier)
 
If I go with the conical-fermenter.com kettles I'll be getting the tri-clamps by default since that's how they are set up and shipped but I guess I could set up the system with QD's at the pumps.

Back to my other question...if I did plumb it so that there is no need to disconnect anything, what type of fittings are usually used for unions and tee's and such? I'm guessing there must be some sort of stainless compression fittings or something like that.
 
I think one way to go from the sanitary fittings on the kettles and/or sanitary ball valves that come with the kettles to the stailness pipe would be to use a sanitary hose barb fitting on a short piece of silicone tubing and then slide the other end of the tube over the SS pipe and use a clamp to hold it on the pipe. Here is how I am imagining the set up would would work (see diagram):

Valve Operation:

For mash: Beginning with all valves closed, heat mash tun water, dough in and heat HLT water. Open Valves 4 and 5 fully and regulate flow rate with valve 6.

For Sparge: open valves 3 and 7 fully. Close valve 5. Regulate sparge rate with valve 2 and 6 so that the water level remains constant in the MLT. At completion of sparge, close valves 2-7.

For Whirlpool: Open valves 1 and 2 fully.

For Chill and transfer to fermenter: Disconnect tube from valve 2 and attach it to the chiller. Open valve 1 fully and regulate temp with valve 8.

Anyone see any issues with this idea?


plumbing1.bmp
 
resslerk, would you explain your process?



https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/brewkart-ditches-countertop-brutus-205427/

You guys are correct, I run a no sparge. I agree, efficiency can take a slight hit when running no sparge, but I have no problem making doppels, imperials, you name it. My latest brew was a 1.083 Doppelbock. I used 22 lbs of grain. Then I tossed in 4 more lbs of fresh grain for a second running and created a nice bitters from that. I am in the 70's for efficiency, but I'll be the first to admit I don't chase extraction efficiency, I chase process repeatability and brewday efficiency.
 
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