How to setup an electric HERMS system?

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HomerJ

HomerJ

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I am working on building an all grain system I have been thinking up till now about using propane as I am more familiar with that than I am with electric elements. However it seems the more I search that electric may be a good approach as it is easily automated for simple operations on brewday.

So my question is how would I go about setting up an electric Herms? I would prefer 110v as I do not have access to any 240v right now.

Thanks for any help you may be able to offer.
 
If you only have 110VAC... it will be hard to set up a decent HERMS.

Look at my build thread for my HERMS. My HLT is controlled with a Johnson A419 controller, you could easily get a 1500W - 2000W heating element in a cooler (with 110VAC you will need well insulated HLT and MLTs). Add a small stirrer and a coil and bam, instant E-HERMS.

You wont need a PID or SSR...
You will definately have to boil with gas though.
 
I hate to pop up an old thread... but this one fits my question as well...

At the moment, I am building an electric HLT out of a 48qt square cooler.

I only have access to 110v also. So... I am mounting two 2000w elements in series. An early test told me that wiring them in parallel, blew the breaker after about 2 minutes of running (20A breaker). Series, it never blew the breaker, but took around an hr and a half to get from 70*F to 170*F. Am I correct in thinking that in series, each element is essentially halved in wattage? (cut the voltage in half, but keep the same amperage... it's been awhile since physics lol)

If that is correct, then it could be assumed that 2000w is going into the water.

Next question, would this work for a good heat exchanger? The reason being for two elements, so that the water at the "back" (opposite the spigot) is essentially the same as the "front."

Right now, this will serve my purpose for just an electric HLT, but I do wish to convert it to a heat exchanger when I break down and buy a pump and build an agitator.

Already have a float switch, PID, SSR, and thermocouple on the way to the house. Maybe overkill for 110VAC, but in the future, maybe I will ramp this up to 220 in a new house.
 
Yeah, it would not take long to raise the temp 100F if you had 4000W going in there. Basically, you have two elements giving you a total of 2000W into the tun.

What you have will work as an HLT, when you convert it to the HERMS HEX you will need something to agitate the water.
 
That is good to know. What RPM for a gear motor should I look for?

Here is the rig so far.. doing a heating/leak test.
16266_164077867402_736142402_2722461_835623_n.jpg

Front... No PID or SSR yet.

16266_164078047402_736142402_2722464_2436207_n.jpg

Dual elements, wired in series.
 
You will want a MIN. of 100RPM, Id go for 200RPM if you could.
 
A little lesson in Ohms Law and Series adding. Remember Watts=CurrentxVoltage and Ohms=Voltage/Current. I am not going to show the math but feel free to check me if you like. A 120V 200W heater has a resistance of 7.2 ohms. 2 heaters in series is 14.4 ohms. Power through the heaters is (120V*120V)/14.4 ohms=1000Watts. By putting them in series you half the total power. Better off only using one heater.

ikonis said:
I hate to pop up an old thread... but this one fits my question as well...

At the moment, I am building an electric HLT out of a 48qt square cooler.

I only have access to 110v also. So... I am mounting two 2000w elements in series. An early test told me that wiring them in parallel, blew the breaker after about 2 minutes of running (20A breaker). Series, it never blew the breaker, but took around an hr and a half to get from 70*F to 170*F. Am I correct in thinking that in series, each element is essentially halved in wattage? (cut the voltage in half, but keep the same amperage... it's been awhile since physics lol)

If that is correct, then it could be assumed that 2000w is going into the water.

Next question, would this work for a good heat exchanger? The reason being for two elements, so that the water at the "back" (opposite the spigot) is essentially the same as the "front."

Right now, this will serve my purpose for just an electric HLT, but I do wish to convert it to a heat exchanger when I break down and buy a pump and build an agitator.

Already have a float switch, PID, SSR, and thermocouple on the way to the house. Maybe overkill for 110VAC, but in the future, maybe I will ramp this up to 220 in a new house.
Click to expand...
 

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