Gas fired recirculating mash worth the effort

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thelastleroy

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Hello all,

It's been a while, and I'm in the mood for an upgrade.

I'm toying with the idea of setting up another kettle as a gas-fired HLT/RIMS. This would recirculate wort duing the mash in my cooler tun, with a pump actuated by an stc1000 unit. Temps in the cooler via thermowell to the stc. The wort will be pumped through a HERMS type coil in the HLT. I will manually adjust the HLT propane burner to maintain higher-than-mash temperatures for the HLT water. The controller will take care of the recirculation times as required.

Currently I'm running only one keggle as heating strike/sparge water, as well as boiling in the same kettle. The new setup would save me from transferring the sparge water into another pot while I take first runnings out of the mash tun as a side benefit.

I'd just like some feedback into this idea from those who have jumped into RIMS from simple infusion mash techniques. Is the cost, extra cleaning and setup worth the effort? How much more efficient or predictable is a recirculated mash vs a basic batch infusion?
 
I did my herms system myself with a coil and gas burner. No automation. Used for the first time a month ago. Going to use it again today.
I think it helps win the temp, as the water coming back to the MLT is at the right temp, but I just need to improve the sparging distribution as the temps weren't homogeneous in the mash.

I have a couple of concerns with your propositions.
If you have a cooler, do you really need an HERMS? Is it really loosing temp?
I wouldn't set the temp controller to control the pump. As it would take a lot of time to change the temp of the whole mash once it got cooler. Just recirculate all the time.
If you are in the mood of automating something, do it with the temp of the HERMS water. Although it would be more complicated as it is a gas burner. I don't know what devices you need for that. If you do it let me know as I'd love to not worry about constantly adjusting that.
 
I did my herms system myself with a coil and gas burner. No automation. Used for the first time a month ago. Going to use it again today.
I think it helps win the temp, as the water coming back to the MLT is at the right temp, but I just need to improve the sparging distribution as the temps weren't homogeneous in the mash.

I have a couple of concerns with your propositions.
If you have a cooler, do you really need an HERMS? Is it really loosing temp?
I wouldn't set the temp controller to control the pump. As it would take a lot of time to change the temp of the whole mash once it got cooler. Just recirculate all the time.
If you are in the mood of automating something, do it with the temp of the HERMS water. Although it would be more complicated as it is a gas burner. I don't know what devices you need for that. If you do it let me know as I'd love to not worry about constantly adjusting that.
 
I built our gas-fired HERMS,as well. Manual control. Have put about 30 10 gal batches through it. Easy to control manually. But, we are considering converting to electric, to make winter brewing easier. That will make automation easier.
I agree with not using automated pump for temp control. For the same reason stated.

Mike
 
I built our gas-fired HERMS,as well. Manual control. Have put about 30 10 gal batches through it. Easy to control manually. But, we are considering converting to electric, to make winter brewing easier. That will make automation easier.
I agree with not using automated pump for temp control. For the same reason stated.

Mike

I'm curious to see your setup. I'm looking to do a gas herms setup in two phases 1) manual control, 2) automated with electric valves and ardunio PID controller to old cell phone.
 
View attachment 352480

I just happen to be brewing now! (Our SWLABR Cream Ale).

To the right is the HLT with HERMS coil, middle is the MLT (upside down keg, for bottom draining.) And the left is the brew kettle. All keggle based. 2 chugged pumps. 2 cheap burners.

Mike

How do you go about the manual control?
 
I have a digital thermometer at the point were recirculating enters the MLT. I watch it. And I change the flame in the HLT, to control the temp.
 
What are your tolerances for maintaining the temp this way ? +/- 1 degF?
 
I've been using a 20 gallon HERMS rig at the brewing laboratory of my school for the past year. I've found the step times (I use a lot of unmalted grains and like dry beers) for protein, beta-glucan, and amylase rests are unreasonable. I also don't like that I can't actually clean out the copper tubing well which is what all the wort is in contact with, admittedly though before the boil. I leaned toward HERMS in my research but after running about ~40 brews on one I wouldn't go that route myself. It also seems inefficient use of energy to keep a pot of water above pasteurization temps for an entire mash, anything to reduce my runs to refill propane, CO2, and O2 tanks the better in my book.

If I were to upgrade I would definitely go with a 2" tri-clover RIMS tube. Step up times are half or shorter between stages of the mash, it doesnt require running a burner for the mash (just the strike temp in HLT and the the boil) and it is an investment toward electric if you are transitioning that way (about 250 dollars if you have the pump and an electric temp controller).

It took years for me to fork up the money (well even to save it) for an electric system and it's great being able to brew in my kitchen in the winter and outside only on beautiful days. Not a necessity but it is a luxury I don't and won't take for granted. If I were to add anything else, I would recommend welding (or finding someone to) triclover ferrules to your steel. Cleanup and set up is quick as opposed to putzing with weldless bulkheads and sticky wrenches. Best part of my investment, even over electric!
 
What are your tolerances for maintaining the temp this way ? +/- 1 degF?


We have no problem at all keeping our mash temp within +/- 0.5 deg F. When it is cooler than 60F outside, we wrap the MLT in reflectix.

Mike
 
I have been using a Propane/Gas 10Gal RIMMS for about a year now with a good 10 batches down. I love it

I went with the route of the Blichman Controller (Gas)
and built my own Recirc with a Rotometer (flow) (tower of power copy)

I just upgraded my 1.2 Megapot 10G MLT w Norcal False Bottom
to a V3 20G Spike MLT with (siteglass) manometer

Hoping to get the first batch on the 20 in the next week,

next upgrade is my boil to a 20Gallon with Triclamp, and whirlpool


If I was to do an indoor system I will get the 20 or 50L Braumister
 
Lots of great help guys, thanks. So if currently I have no temp control/step mash capability, would you say a rims setup is a good investment?

I'm kind of expecting the need to build or buy a kettle with a false bottom to use with this setup. I don't think my cooler bazooka will keep up with the constant flow demands of the pump. Or will it?
 
Lots of great help guys, thanks. So if currently I have no temp control/step mash capability, would you say a rims setup is a good investment?

I'm kind of expecting the need to build or buy a kettle with a false bottom to use with this setup. I don't think my cooler bazooka will keep up with the constant flow demands of the pump. Or will it?

I don't know about temp contol,but my chugger pump had no problem recirculating my cooler mash tun with a bazooka screen
 
Lots of great help guys, thanks. So if currently I have no temp control/step mash capability, would you say a rims setup is a good investment?

I'm kind of expecting the need to build or buy a kettle with a false bottom to use with this setup. I don't think my cooler bazooka will keep up with the constant flow demands of the pump. Or will it?

I waited a couple years until I could spend the money for a recirc system. It entirely depends on you and the brews you like to make. I like beers with lots of adjuncts and so require good step mashing practices. If you like pales, IPAs, so forth single infusion mashes are perfectly good and won't need complicated equipment. It's tempting to go for the flashy items but I would recommending keeping your goals in line with your actual preferences to prevent unnecessary costs in time, finances, and materials.

If you invest in a RIMS set up I would just keep using the cooler until you are ready to upgrade to another vessel. You will need to create a recirculation port of some kind (lifted lid, punched hole, whatever). I wouldn't sink money into upgrading a cooler, save it for the steel that works best for you down the road, just my opinion.
 
Lots of great help guys, thanks. So if currently I have no temp control/step mash capability, would you say a rims setup is a good investment?

If I could start over I would have bought the Braumeister 50L for Indoors use before the Rimms (But Im in WI, if I were down South it would be different)

Braumeister can do 1.065 all grain and you can get it higher with DME and LME or Dextrose


But Love my Rimms, just splurged for the Blichmann Top Tier Stand and a 3rd Burner :tank:
 
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