Where might one buy or build a HERMS?

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Thor

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Oct 14, 2005
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Location
North Texas
I am an extract brewer at present. I've had the chance to see a few HERMS and RIM all-grain systems at work, and want to get a HERMS 10 gallon system by spring. Fortunately or unfortunately, many of the folks in my local brew club are engineers, and look at my funny when I explain that, no, I do not have the skills to design and build my own. I am handy with tools, but have zero knowledge of electrical engineering, circuits, etc, and modest experience with plumbing.

Therefore, I have two options:
1) buy a HERMS system
2) build one using VERY specific instructions, including some guidance as to where to find carts, pumps, etc.

So, does anyone know of vendors or regular folk who sell such systems (I am in Texas, if that matters)? Alternatively, are there places one can get a SPECIFIC, step-by-step how-to-build-your-own guide?

FYI, when I say specific, I mean "put tab A into slot B," not "build your cart, then attach the control panel you designed...."

The engineering-impaired thank you :)
 
Check out morebeer.com They have all kinds of those fancy systems.

Of course, spending thousands on a system when you could spend hundreds will probably delay the day when your brewing breaks even cost-wise. But I realize there are some folks who just like a complex answer to a simple problem, and in that spirit, morebeer's systems look awesome.

Cheers :D
 
I have the More Beer catalogue, and I indeed have drooled over their sculptures. However, up to $5000 or more for a brew setup is WELL above my means and willingness to spend.

What I hope to do is get a good set of plans suitable for a non-engineer and build my own, or buy a used sculpture or system from someone.
 
I do like their design of the stand. I've never seen that type of setup. Nice and low profile. Wonder how tall it is? I'm guessing about 6'? With a HLT that'd be really tall! Still trying to think up the best frame for my metal working brew assistant to spec out for me...

2480.jpg
 
desertBrew said:
I do like their design of the stand. I've never seen that type of setup. Nice and low profile. Wonder how tall it is? I'm guessing about 6'? With a HLT that'd be really tall! Still trying to think up the best frame for my metal working brew assistant to spec out for me...

2480.jpg

BYO had a recent article wth plans for a stand like that using exhaust piping. It looked really nice. I'm trying to get pieces together to do it so XtrmXJ can weld it up for me before he leaves. :D
 
ORRELSE said:
BYO had a recent article wth plans for a stand like that using exhaust piping. It looked really nice. I'm trying to get pieces together to do it so XtrmXJ can weld it up for me before he leaves. :D


Ive also been thinking of different ideas to, Ive got the wheels turning for one..

I could probably have one of those cut and welded up in about 2 hours, and brewing... Using exhust pipe would take longer for the shear fact that I would have to fishmouth the pipes and bend everything compared to using angle iron.. The angle iron I would just measure, cut, weld, drink beer
 
XTrmXJ said:
Ive also been thinking of different ideas to, Ive got the wheels turning for one..

I could probably have one of those cut and welded up in about 2 hours, and brewing... Using exhust pipe would take longer for the shear fact that I would have to fishmouth the pipes and bend everything compared to using angle iron.. The angle iron I would just measure, cut, weld, drink beer

Let's do it then. Let me know what angle iron to buy, and we can get the ball rolling. I can probably get a discount on angle iron at my Mother-in-law's work...she is the book-keeper at Islander hardware in Poquoson....

I want something very similar to the one pictured in this thread--but I'm open to ideas. Even thinking about getting a march pump and doing a 2 tier set-up instead of 3.
 
ORRELSE said:
Let's do it then. Let me know what angle iron to buy, and we can get the ball rolling. I can probably get a discount on angle iron at my Mother-in-law's work...she is the book-keeper at Islander hardware in Poquoson....

I want something very similar to the one pictured in this thread--but I'm open to ideas. Even thinking about getting a march pump and doing a 2 tier set-up instead of 3.

I agree, this should be something to spec out for the "do it your selfers" to create with parts list, instructions etc at a fraction of the cost. Take that MoreBeer.com :p

Hey, I live in my own little world too. What street are you on? ;)

Oh, sorry about hijacking your HERMS thread Thor!
 
2480.jpg


Well what it looks like: the main Trunk looks to be 2x2 or even 2.5x2.5, and the rest is 1.5x1.5 .086 wall, it can always be beefed up to .120..

How much weight will it be holding?

per holding container if only 5 gal, would be roughly 35lbs so with 3 it would be 105lbs total

at 8 gal for each container 54lbs, 3 tanks total 162lbs....


Still not bad, but you have to remember the small mounting and stability so gusseting would be involved..

I also like to keep things low COG if I will be using a single trunk, incase it may get bumped

No comes the time to figure how tall you want it with measurments..

The stand including the containers on top would be close to 6ft tall for my design maybe even shorter, this is just me sitting in front of my comp doing this in my head with no true measuments.. The one in the Pic looks to be at 6ft just by its self, no containers.. B and I will get together and design this on Fri while we are brewing beer to get more measurments
 
XTrmXJ said:
Well what it looks like: the main Trunk looks to be 2x2 or even 2.5x2.5, and the rest is 1.5x1.5 .086 wall, it can always be beefed up to .120..

How much weight will it be holding?

per holding container if only 5 gal, would be roughly 35lbs so with 3 it would be 105lbs total

at 8 gal for each container 54lbs, 3 tanks total 162lbs....


Still not bad, but you have to remember the small mounting and stability so gusseting would be involved..

I also like to keep things low COG if I will be using a single trunk, incase it may get bumped

No comes the time to figure how tall you want it with measurments..

The stand including the containers on top would be close to 6ft tall for my design maybe even shorter, this is just me sitting in front of my comp doing this in my head with no true measuments.. The one in the Pic looks to be at 6ft just by its self, no containers.. B and I will get together and design this on Fri while we are brewing beer to get more measurments


I like this one too. Looks mighty sturdy.

sculpture_9.jpg


I'd figure 10lbs for the keg and what does a gallon weigh? 8 lbs. or so I think, so hypothetically with a 15 gallon keg full of water/wort (keep in mind possible 10 gallon batches), each rung on the stand would have to hold close to 150 lbs. Right?

A 15.5 gallon kegs dimensions are 2 feet tall, 17 inch diameter.

The COG issue is a good point, and would almost sway me to do a 2 tier system instead. I have some plans on .pdf that I'll print out and see if we can work with those. We could easily put something like that on casters too, and make it much more portable.

My dream idea is something along this design, plenty of opportunity here. You need a pump for it the way this one is designed but that is in the future plans anyway. We could tinker with this design to make it 3 tier as well, but cost would be an issue. I'd like to weld up a few pieces on that back center portion for ladder steps to get access to the HLT.

brewrig.jpg
 
You know, I just never liked the idea of having the HLT way up in the air like that. Seems inherently dangerous. Even if you didn't want a recirculating set-up, you could employ a pump to pump sparge water to the mash tun so that you could eliminate one tier and get the HLT down to a level even with (or below) the mash tun. You could then plumb the system so that you could utilize the pump to vorlauf the mash instead of doing it by hand. No controllers, no electronics, just a pump in the system to eliminate the step ladder and make vorlaufing a bit easier.

Prosit!
 
I'm used industrial shelving (Lowe's) for my setup. It was less than $100 and I have the option of changing the height of the shelves. Since the shelves are wood, I have to use a cookie sheet under the burner for the mash tun. So, far it's working well.
 
ORRELSE said:
I like this one too. Looks mighty sturdy.

sculpture_9.jpg


I'd figure 10lbs for the keg and what does a gallon weigh? 8 lbs. or so I think, so hypothetically with a 15 gallon keg full of water/wort (keep in mind possible 10 gallon batches), each rung on the stand would have to hold close to 150 lbs. Right?

A 15.5 gallon kegs dimensions are 2 feet tall, 17 inch diameter.

The COG issue is a good point, and would almost sway me to do a 2 tier system instead. I have some plans on .pdf that I'll print out and see if we can work with those. We could easily put something like that on casters too, and make it much more portable.

My dream idea is something along this design, plenty of opportunity here. You need a pump for it the way this one is designed but that is in the future plans anyway. We could tinker with this design to make it 3 tier as well, but cost would be an issue. I'd like to weld up a few pieces on that back center portion for ladder steps to get access to the HLT.

brewrig.jpg

Damn, pics are blocked. I'll be getting cable in my room next Saturday.
 
tnlandsailor said:
You know, I just never liked the idea of having the HLT way up in the air like that. Seems inherently dangerous. Even if you didn't want a recirculating set-up, you could employ a pump to pump sparge water to the mash tun so that you could eliminate one tier and get the HLT down to a level even with (or below) the mash tun. You could then plumb the system so that you could utilize the pump to vorlauf the mash instead of doing it by hand. No controllers, no electronics, just a pump in the system to eliminate the step ladder and make vorlaufing a bit easier.

Prosit!

Dennis...

I'm not too worried about the HLT height--we went over these plans this weekend and came up with a low COG stand that has the tp tier at 5 feet off the ground.

Teh main point for me with this stand is portability and the ability fo rit to grow as I do. I'm not prepared financially at this point to go all out with pumps and nor do I have the ability to have a dedicated brewery until we move and buy a house.
Therefore--I'm stuck with the fact I'll have to utilize a gravity system right now. The guy who is welding it is a good buddy so that the parts and labor are cheap. Really cheap. :D

I've looked at stand designs and read your site for all the good info on building a good set up. I think it will be a very usable system (that can be upgraded easily) when all is said and done.
 
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