2 Vessel BIAB w/RIMS?

I recently (last week) made an impulse purchase of a RIMS Tube and controller from Craigslist and am now my head is spinning from trying to decide how to use it. I currently have a two tier propane brew cart that has a mast, or boom, to hoist the bag from one vessel to the other. Below is how I use it.

• Fill Kettle 1 on the top tier with the required mash water volume
• Heat Kettle 1 to mash temp and add the grain bag
• Insultate and mash, stirring every 15 minutes
• Fill Kettle 2 on the lower tier to the required sparge volume
• Heat Kettle 2 to 168
• Hoist the bag and transfer to Kettle 2
• "Sparge" for 15 minutes stirring often
• Gravity drain Kettle 1 into Kettle 2
• Boil in Kettle 2

So with the addition of the RIMS tube I was thinking of using this method....

• Fill Kettle 1 on the top tier with the required mash water volume
• Heat Kettle 1 to mash temp and add the grain bag
• Start the pump and maintain the mash temp with the RIMS Tube
• Fill Kettle 2 on the lower tier to the required sparge volume
• Heat Kettle 2 to 168
• Hoist the bag and transfer to Kettle 2
• Move the tubing from Kettle 1 to Kettle 2
• Start the pump and maintain a "continous sparge" temp with the RIMS Tube
• "Sparge" for 15 mnutes
• Gravity drain Kettle 1 into Kettle 2
• Boil in Kettle 2

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Look up the Counter Top Brutus. I'd do it that way with or without the RIMS tube.

The Brutus20 and Blichman BrewEasy are a nice model for 2-vessel brewing. Be very careful not to turn on the RIMS element before your pump is moving liquid through.

I agree with SwimIan on the approach, I would use the RIMS for simplicity on temp.

1. Split the total brew-day water between the two kettles and add minerals.
2. Heat top to strike temp, bottom to Mash temp.
3. Put the bag in the top one and stir well.
4. Attach the output from the bottom kettle to the Pump/RIMS.
5. Run the output from the RIMS onto the top of your grain in the mash kettle.
6. SLOWLY start draining the top kettle into the bottom one.
7. Start the pump.
8. SLOWLY open the output of the RIMS to match the top kettle then set the temp controller to the mash temp.

The goal is to keep the volume in both kettles the same, and use the RIMS to keep the temperature going back into the mash kettle constant. Once you have the flow balanced, you can get a feel for how fast the mash can drain, and how fast the RIMS can run.

9. When it's time to mash-out, just change the RIMS controller to the mash-out temperature and leave everything else the same.
10. When you're done with mash out, turn off the RIMS and drain everything into the boil kettle.

What is the benefit of that vs a full volume mash?

They are both are actually considered full volume mash. The rinse with all the water whether during the mash period or afterwards, isn't really a true sparge. There is something different in a sparge with the diffusion of sugars because the water is clean.

Culln5 said:

What is the benefit of that vs a full volume mash?

Click to expand...

You don't have to fit it all in one giant pot... moving the basket back and forth does exactly the same thing, but I got the impression from your post that you wanted to try something different.

Yeah, I currently mash at 2qts/lb, empty that into a bucket, then "batch sparge" at a mash out temp for 15 minutes with the remaining water. Add the bucket back to the kettle and boil.

I've since acquired another 15 gallon kettle, RIMS tube, and controller so I was looking to incorporate them.

My only real advice would be, don't let everything get too complicated. Every time I make something easier, I enjoy brewing even more.

The RIMS tube will make a nice set it and forget it mash temp control, but it's also one more thing to clean. It might be a good time to spend an hour or two re-planning your brew bench layout. Shorten up the tubing, make sure all the valves face the same way, coiling up and zip-tying the extra cords, planning how you're going to wash everything, run a batch of hot oxyclean just for practice.

Good Luck!