Steam Injected Mash System

I'm thinking that will probably be the best method as well, but it might mean drilling another hole in my kettle (Sanke) and it would be nice to avoid that.

I'm also thinking now that I can use this to speed up my boil. Easiest method would probably be to make a "hot stick" (high temp hose with a manifold on the end) and just dunk it into the boil. See any issues with that?

EDIT: Instead of a manifold for the "hot stick" how about just a section of SS screen? Maybe in a ball so as to create very small bubbles!

Energy transfer is by latent heat transfer from steam when it condenses not the temperature of the steam, this is why there would not be any color change in the wort as temperature and duration are lower than carmelizing temperatures. If you want to see a industrial steam/ liquid heater unit go to http://www.pickheaters.com/ and look at their equipment and principals of operation to better understand how they work. Having installed and operated pick and similar steam/liquid heaters, it was not to hard to recreate a scaled down version that works well for my purposes. It would be better for the pump if you put the mixing chamber after the pump, and invest in a flow meter that would let you monitor and control the flow through the pump in both wort recirculating and transfer to boil kettle.

Here are the meager beginnings of my corny keg boiler:



From left to right:

Solenoid valve for electronic control via my Mash Monitor software
Ball valve for manual control
Steam inlet via 1/2" tee fitting - coupler will be welded to keg
Gauge stack:
At the top - a pressure sensor for use with the software
Middle - easy to read pressure gauge
Bottom - a coil pipe to be filled with water in order to protect the gauge/sensor
Pressure relief valve (15 psi) for safety

Rube Goldberg would be so proud...

Has anyone used an old wallpaper steamer for this?

Apparently so -- see this article:
http://www.gjwspykman.com/simm/simm.html

Here is another clever alternative:
http://www.bigfoamyhead.com/?page_id=77

I think I've found a great potential solution, what do you guys think?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/art/359800007.html

heh maybe overkill?

Hopleaf said:

I think I've found a great potential solution, what do you guys think?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/art/359800007.html

heh maybe overkill?

Click to expand...

Maybe its a good thing that Yuri doesn't live in Dallas....

Hi Folks,
I am very exited about the possibilities here. Have been building a HERMS, but all that non-stop pumping just seems plain wrong to me.
This seems like a good alternative.
I am in Australia. 240V.
I do 5-6 gallon batches.
Questions:
If I did the Corny Keg thing, what rating should the element be?
If I did the pressure cooker thing, what size would be sufficient for this size batch?

Cheers.

another book mark

Working on incorperating SIMS into my design plans. Exciting to say the least.

Hey,
Long time lurker first time contributor. Any new news on steam? I'm interested.
Thanks,

Jim

DrewsBrews said:

Stirring the mash should alleviate any issues of directing hi temp steam into the mash. A motor operated stirring machine would be best (for consistent churn) but stirring by hand while introducing the steam works too. I've communicated with a handful of people that say the steam has no notable effect on their mash efficiency.

HERMS systems put the runnings through quite a bit of temperature differential as it passes through the tubing and heat exchanger and back into the mash. It seems that gently introducing steam would be less detrimental. Of course, I'm relying on others' experience until I get my system built...

Click to expand...

so how long would one stir the mash for? i read stirring is only good to do as u pour your grains in. So what do u do when youre ready to drain in the bk? wouldnt u want the grain to settle? or will there be a better false bottom than the ones widely used but still getting grain clogs? j/w b?c ive been trying to figure out a steam system but seems more difficult to brew with. i wanted to do stram b/c alot of big breweries use stram so it has to be the way to go.