Single Tier HERMS Brewstand Step by Step Build

30Bones said:

I see a lot of conflicting info on the BG-14 burners. These are cheap @ $33 but state up to 100k btus

http://www.agrisupply.com/product.a...1&zmap=64494&gclid=CP2asZTA-bsCFUtgMgod4y4AEA

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I don't believe any BTU ratings either because it's so difficult to actually test correctly and accurately. The agrisupply ones are the ones I got. With a high pressure regulator it will boil a 20 gal batch almost as fast as my Blickmann burner will do 10 gal. So I think it's about 1.75 times more BTU, which would make sense if Blickmann says theirs are 155,000.

At the end of the brew-day it's much more powerful, so much so, I have to turn it way back once I reach a boil, I imagine if I had these on a 10 gal batch it would shoot wort out of the kettle with ease.

fwiw, iirc Blichmann rates their burners closer to 75KBTU, using their 0-10psi regulator...

Cheers!

supercarbuilder said:

I don't believe any BTU ratings either because it's so difficult to actually test correctly and accurately. The agrisupply ones are the ones I got. With a high pressure regulator it will boil a 20 gal batch almost as fast as my Blickmann burner will do 10 gal. So I think it's about 1.75 times more BTU, which would make sense if Blickmann says theirs are 155,000.

At the end of the brew-day it's much more powerful, so much so, I have to turn it way back once I reach a boil, I imagine if I had these on a 10 gal batch it would shoot wort out of the kettle with ease.

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I'm just doing 5 and so entires 10 gallon batches. Maybe I only need a bg12 or just use my bg10's for now

30Bones said:

I'm just doing 5 and so entires 10 gallon batches. Maybe I only need a bg12 or just use my bg10's for now

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I really like the BG-12's, one of the guys at my local brew shop uses one, I've brewed at a demo there and that burner seems to have the power but because it's smaller you can control it better, especially on a 5 gal batch. I like to get a nice boil, not too crazy, and then dial it back to save propane. Also my high pressure bg-14's have been freezing my propane tank and using considerably more fuel than the low pressure ones. Another advantage to the bg-12.

How do you figure your water/wort gallons?

res291que said:

How do you figure your water/wort gallons?

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I use beersmith to calculate all of the volumes that I should need and meet. I have a cheap water meter on my hose to measure mash and sparge water. I measured the kettle to find that .75 in is one gal. so I do the math to find my pre-boil and post-boil volumes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QRLAQ2/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Cool thanks for the info, sight glasses are cool, but love the clean look of your pots without them. Damn always something else to aspire to and purchase.

res291que said:

Cool thanks for the info, sight glasses are cool, but love the clean look of your pots without them. Damn always something else to aspire to and purchase.

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I've never had sight glasses, I always wondered how easy they clean up. The way the system is now, it only takes me 5-10 min to clean it so I was concerned about taking them apart to run a brush down or whatever you have to do. I built this with the thought in mind that using it can be simple, I can teach someone to brew on it after one try, even though it looks complicated.

supercarbuilder said:

I've never had sight glasses, I always wondered how easy they clean up. The way the system is now, it only takes me 5-10 min to clean it so I was concerned about taking them apart to run a brush down or whatever you have to do. I built this with the thought in mind that using it can be simple, I can teach someone to brew on it after one try, even though it looks complicated.

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It actually looks user friendly to me, and I have never brewed on anything nicer than a cooler/turkey fryer setup. I am trying to think of a way to adapt that sparge arm onto a keggle or if I just want to recirculate my MT with the arm that is already on my keggle. Afraid when doing 5 gallon batches it will be too high.

30Bones said:

It actually looks user friendly to me, and I have never brewed on anything nicer than a cooler/turkey fryer setup. I am trying to think of a way to adapt that sparge arm onto a keggle or if I just want to recirculate my MT with the arm that is already on my keggle. Afraid when doing 5 gallon batches it will be too high.

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Can you gravity sparge? I think you can recirc through your boil kettle port but sparging will mess up the grain bed some. I used to do it that way. I used to gravity sparge with this (see below) arm and it produced the nicest grain bed and perfect sparge.

I am doing single tier so no. I was planning to pump from bottom to top during the mash and doing the same when sparging. No idea if this is the proper way, again I am learning via the internet. Joining the local brew club tomorrow to gain more hands on knowledge I hope

30Bones said:

I am doing single tier so no. I was planning to pump from bottom to top during the mash and doing the same when sparging. No idea if this is the proper way, again I am learning via the internet. Joining the local brew club tomorrow to gain more hands on knowledge I hope

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I've also done some research on using a setup like you have, just add 4-5 ft of 1/2 in silicone tubing to your top port and you can use it sort of like a Blickmann auto sparge does. Then your volumes do not matter and you can get a nice slow spiral sparge. This would be cheap to try at least.

How's the stand working out for you?


Duffy & Sons Brewing DuffyBeer.com

What is the need for the burner at the mash tun if you have a herms system?

Shmeffrey said:

What is the need for the burner at the mash tun if you have a germs system?

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There isn't a need. Once I go HERMS I will have wished my MT keggle was bottom drain. If I ever go electric everything will be bottom drain

How many brews can you get out of one tank of propane? I'm interested in building a single tier system but can't decide whether to go propane or electric.

I use a heat stick to heat my strike water and rarely use the HLT burner. Intermittently use the MT burner while recirculating. Then the BK is obviously ran pretty much full tilt for 60-90 minutes. I refilled a 20# bottle and have not used it on the grill and have 2 brews on it and will likely get two more in the next couple weeks. All these are 5 gallon batches. Cost me ~$20 for 20# refill (not an exchange). I bet I can get 4 brews, maybe more. I can update this once I can confirm it.

Electric adds up fast....propane is not that expensive or difficult to operate. I would however love to plumb NG into my garage.

I use propane for all brewing-related heating and boiling. I get about 3-4 batches out of a tank.

well guys...I have since sold this setup and have gone all electric on a restaurant stainless table. And it is great!!!! way better than expected, much faster heat times and much more control also way cheaper. $1.50 per batch instead of $15-20 in propane. I'm heading out to GABF but I'll try and post some pics when I return. Thanks!

Great design and build!

Please share how well the Hop Stopper performed in your BK? So far the biggest complaint I’ve heard has to do with the cold break formed either from an immersion chiller or from a counter-flow chiller if cold wort is recirculated back into the BK. Also did you experience any scorching between the screen and the bottom of the BK?

Dennisusa said:

Great design and build!

Please share how well the Hop Stopper performed in your BK? So far the biggest complaint I’ve heard has to do with the cold break formed either from an immersion chiller or from a counter-flow chiller if cold wort is recirculated back into the BK. Also did you experience any scorching between the screen and the bottom of the BK?

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I really like the hop stopper, It keeps junk like coriander and orange peel out of my pumps and hops out of my fermenter. As for cold break, I have heard of side by side fermentations where all the trub and cold break is left in the kettle and the other batch was simply dumped in the fermenter with no decernable difference except some possible extra bitterness from the hop matter going through fermentation.

I use it with a plate chiller but I run the chiller output to another port in the side of the boil kettle so all the wort chills at once and remains in the kettle. Once it is cooled I then pump it over to the fermenter letting it go through a cold break.

I usually only use the hop stopper with whole cone hops now because when I run the chiller output to the kettle I have an elbow on it to whirlpool and then I pull the wort from the side to leave any hops or break in the kettle.