Manually controlled HERMS

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McCuckerson

McCuckerson

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One Question: Can (not is it the best option, but CAN IT BE DONE!) you control a HERMS or RIMS system manually? I would think that HERMS may be easier because to control manually because the water will act as a buffer. I ask because I would like to build a manual HERMS system now and later add controls, but I don't know if it even makes sense to do without the control component.
 
I built a herms coil that is plumbed to allow a mixture of circulating wort to go thru the coil to add heat, or by pass the coil all together. To use it you need a burner that has pretty good control. In other words, you end up adjusting the water temp in your HLT with a regulator and adjusting the valves all while trying to hit and hold a temp in the MT. You can do it, but you won't set it and forget it for 60 minutes...

Ed
 
Ohio-Ed said:
I built a herms coil that is plumbed to allow a mixture of circulating wort to go thru the coil to add heat, or by pass the coil all together. To use it you need a burner that has pretty good control. In other words, you end up adjusting the water temp in your HLT with a regulator and adjusting the valves all while trying to hit and hold a temp in the MT. You can do it, but you won't set it and forget it for 60 minutes...

Ed
Click to expand...
That's ok, brewing is my quite time in the garage, LOL. Seriously, I like the thought of constant recirculation, but I am not ready to make the leap towards automation yet. Do you have any pictures or diagrams of your setup?
 
I am in the same boat as you right now - building a manual HERMS. Until I automate, my plan is to constantly recirculate with no bypass. I am making a coil with the turns spaced a bit that I will place into the heated sparge water tank and control temperature by how much of the coil I submerge.
 
Bearcat Brewmeister said:
I am in the same boat as you right now - building a manual HERMS. Until I automate, my plan is to constantly recirculate with no bypass. I am making a coil with the turns spaced a bit that I will place into the heated sparge water tank and control temperature by how much of the coil I submerge.
Click to expand...
Now that is a new twist;). How will you control the depth?
 
kcinpdx said:
This is my plan - doing a recirculation in the MLT with direct heat, with me as the control.
Click to expand...

You be the throttle man, gas on gas off or in between.
For a small sum with temp probes take a look into a BCS 460 control
unit. Great to download to your computer a sucessful brewing session
result, save and repeat these times and temps back into the brew stand
control unit for exactly the same results with the next brew session.
Don't cut yourself short on your build, think ahead about expanding
as it's cheaper to build a great brew system once vs twice or many times. JMO.
 
McCuckerson said:
That's ok, brewing is my quite time in the garage, LOL. Seriously, I like the thought of constant recirculation, but I am not ready to make the leap towards automation yet. Do you have any pictures or diagrams of your setup?
Click to expand...

I will see if I can get a picture up this weekend. Depending on how you heat your HLT, it can be difficult to maintain a constant temp in the HLT. Which means you will also be tweaking herms valves. I have a friend that has a direct fired HLT with a herms coil... He is very successful because he has a burner that allows him good control over the HLT. A turkey fryer is tough.

Ed
 
BrewBeemer said:
You be the throttle man, gas on gas off or in between.
For a small sum with temp probes take a look into a BCS 460 control
unit. Great to download to your computer a sucessful brewing session
result, save and repeat these times and temps back into the brew stand
control unit for exactly the same results with the next brew session.
Don't cut yourself short on your build, think ahead about expanding
as it's cheaper to build a great brew system once vs twice or many times. JMO.
Click to expand...

This is very true.
If you are going electric, it is VERY cheap to add automation to a HERMS and very EASY. IMO gas may be more involved with solenoid valves and standing pilots or ignition systems... but if you are going electric, Id take the sage advice above.
 
I just spent 2 hrs piecing together a PID/SSR system.... For get the infinite switch, this is the most practical, cost effective, no nonsense, simple minded way to go. Hey Pol, I realized what you mean about AC vs DC controller and SSR. You have to determine if the controller puts out ac or dc, then purchase a SSR that is either DC to AC or AC to AC, right?
 
Ohio-Ed said:
I will see if I can get a picture up this weekend. Depending on how you heat your HLT, it can be difficult to maintain a constant temp in the HLT. Which means you will also be tweaking herms valves. I have a friend that has a direct fired HLT with a herms coil... He is very successful because he has a burner that allows him good control over the HLT. A turkey fryer is tough.

Ed
Click to expand...
A Furkey Tryer???:drunk:
 
I pieced together a bare bones manual HERMS but it was a PITA! I had to constantly reprime, shut the pump off, turn it on, kick, swear, and jump around like Clark W. Griswold when he received the membership to the Jelly of the Month Club as his Christmas Bonus. I am planning to rebuild my manual HERMS with a **** ton more ball valves, SS pipe tees, silicon tubing, and clamps. I'll post pics of the build if I can control my temper!!!
 
My setup is a manual herms and love it. But yes definitely not a set and go setup but keeps you involved during the whole brew.

ForumRunner_20131212_195003.jpg


ForumRunner_20131212_195021.jpg
 
Mine is manually controlled with a bypass valve also. The heat exchange coil is in the direct fired hlt. I love it. It's not very pretty but it works well. Would like to automate someday, but really am not in a hurry.

image-4262429136.jpg


image-3207309076.jpg


image-2259210787.jpg
 
LutzBrauerei said:
Here is a shot of the Manual HERMS design. Please let me know if I have missed something....



View attachment 166894
Click to expand...

From the diagram i don't see how you would sparge. It doesnt look like you can pump the sparge water from the hlt to the mash tun and pump the wort from the mash tun to the boil kettle simultaneously. Unless your mash tun gravity feeds to the boil kettle like my setup.
 
luhrks said:
Then don't hard plumb anything. K.I.S.S (Keep it Simple Silly)

You'll want to do a RIMS with a single pump. HERMS is hard to do without a recirc on the HLT to prevent stratification.
Click to expand...

Or a hand mixer motor to stir the hlt water
 
luhrks said:
Then don't hard plumb anything. K.I.S.S (Keep it Simple Silly)



You'll want to do a RIMS with a single pump. HERMS is hard to do without a recirc on the HLT to prevent stratification.
Click to expand...


I hadn't thought about stratification within the HLT itself. Is this a issue that others have encountered? If so I may start my system off by manually stirring the HLT, with a view to possibly getting a small external stirring motor at some point, or investing in a cheap solar pump to recirculate the HLT water.....but that'll be down the road a bit.
 
I use a Johnson Controls temp controller to run my mash tun pump and then I use it to control fermentation temps. I keep it busy and it is well worth the money.
 

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