2 vessel system??

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JonLaw

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I have an idea that I would like some help on.

I have a 10 gal gott cooler and a keggle. I would like to turn this in to an electric system. My idea is that I would only use my cooler and keggle. I'm planning on getting: a pump, RIMS tube, controller, heating element for my keggle.

Would this be a good idea? Also what controller to get?

I make 5 gal batches and I rarely make 10 gal batches.

I would also like to be able use 110v and have the option to use 220v
 
DIY will be the cheapest controller, if that is important.

As far as two vessel, you are going to be doing no sparge or a brutus 20 hybrid. I personally would add another cooler or cheap pot to serve as an lauter tun. Doesnt need to be heated, just a place to collect wort while you sparge from your BK. After sparge, transfer to your BK. Or, you could use it like an HLT to hold your sparge water heated in your BK, or you could add an element and heat it directly. So many options!
 
I've been using a 2-vessel system for a while now. 11 gallon kettle, 10 gallon cooler with a false bottom. Brutus 20ish, except I use a two-tier setup with a single pump and I have an autosparge in the cooler to regulate the levels. Conventional mash, then I heat up the sparge water in the kettle to mashout, then recirculate everything for ~15 minutes until the gravity is equal in both vessels, cut the pump and slowly drain the mash tun into the kettle. I get right at 69% brewhouse every time.

That being said, I just bought another 10 gallon cooler to use as a HLT because I want to give both batch sparging and fly sparging a shot.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

My next idea is to do a modified HERMS. By putting the coil in the MLT and pumping water through it, and recirculating wort.
 
I do a 2 vessel system. 15g electric brewpot with 4100w element (5500 @ 208v = 4100). Basically use the brewpot for everything heating related, and a 10g false bottom cooler mashing. Only catch is that I heat up sparge water in the kettle then store it in a couple of large stock pots that I had from the stovetop days. BTW I don't miss those days at all.

If you don't happen to have a couple stock pots to hold sparge water no big deal. You could just as easily use a brew bucket to hold the hot water for a bit. Heat in kettle while the mash is near finishing, transfer to bucket / pots and go. Worst case use tap water for sparging. I usually get around 80% on this setup and just turned out a Centennial Blonde at 85%.

Transfer from tun to the kettle, sparge, transfer again. Then get your boil on! Part that I really like is being able to start heating the wort as soon as it covers the element, instead of waiting for it to finish then going to the stovetop. I'm usually around 75-80 degrees C before the tun is completely drained and spent.

I don't have a pump quite yet so all my transfers are gravity based with a healthy dose of lifting. Only lift that really stinks is the kettle from floor to working height with 10g in it. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

I built my setup as being 10g capable right from the beginning because I've been burned in the past of the "Yeah, this will be good enough for me" mentality only to upgrade later. Was intending for mostly 5g brewing but the effort:result ratio really kicked in with the 10g brew days. Might be something worth considering.
 
Zepth said:
I do a 2 vessel system. 15g electric brewpot with 4100w element (5500 @ 208v = 4100). Basically use the brewpot for everything heating related, and a 10g false bottom cooler mashing. Only catch is that I heat up sparge water in the kettle then store it in a couple of large stock pots that I had from the stovetop days. BTW I don't miss those days at all.

If you don't happen to have a couple stock pots to hold sparge water no big deal. You could just as easily use a brew bucket to hold the hot water for a bit. Heat in kettle while the mash is near finishing, transfer to bucket / pots and go. Worst case use tap water for sparging. I usually get around 80% on this setup and just turned out a Centennial Blonde at 85%.

Transfer from tun to the kettle, sparge, transfer again. Then get your boil on! Part that I really like is being able to start heating the wort as soon as it covers the element, instead of waiting for it to finish then going to the stovetop. I'm usually around 75-80 degrees C before the tun is completely drained and spent.

I don't have a pump quite yet so all my transfers are gravity based with a healthy dose of lifting. Only lift that really stinks is the kettle from floor to working height with 10g in it. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

I built my setup as being 10g capable right from the beginning because I've been burned in the past of the "Yeah, this will be good enough for me" mentality only to upgrade later. Was intending for mostly 5g brewing but the effort:result ratio really kicked in with the 10g brew days. Might be something worth considering.
Click to expand...

I am also going for a 10gal system. Because I don't want to have to upgrade later. Would a gott cooler be able to handle an element to use as a HLT?
 
JonLaw said:
I am also going for a 10gal system. Because I don't want to have to upgrade later. Would a gott cooler be able to handle an element to use as a HLT?
Click to expand...

Not too sure. With the thick walls on it you'd have some serious problems mounting the element, then could risk the plastic melting. Even deforming enough could seriously ruin your day. Only thing I've seen a cooler used for is the mash tun.

As I said I use my kettle to heat then transfer to either the mash tun for strike water or to temporary storage for sparge water. That said I suppose I could have been simpler in saying that "My heating vessel serves as both a HLT and Kettle."
 
JonLaw said:
I am also going for a 10gal system. Because I don't want to have to upgrade later. Would a gott cooler be able to handle an element to use as a HLT?
Click to expand...

Yes it can, and it will work extremely well. I assure you.
 
This system has been copied many times over, so if you search for 10 gallon cooler HERMS, you will probably find a few hits on Google too. There are photos of mine there, plus on YouTube there is a cheesy video set that I did to explain the system back in like '08. The handle on YouTube is Circle City Brewing.
 
JoshuaW said:
I personally would add another cooler or cheap pot to serve as an lauter tun. Doesnt need to be heated, just a place to collect wort while you sparge from your BK. After sparge, transfer to your BK. Or, you could use it like an HLT to hold your sparge water heated in your BK, or you could add an element and heat it directly. So many options!
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I do. I have a 15.5 gal Bayou Classic eKettle and a 15 gal Igloo Ice Cube cooler. During the mash, I heat up the sparge water in the BK, drain the wort into a cheap pot, transfer the sparge water from BK to MT and dump the wort into BK. I brew 10 gal batches, having a pump, makes brew day much easier on my back.

I built a controller using PJ's BIAB diagrams (single PID). Between the controller, element and element housing, it was under $300.

Controller (still need to add labels):
IMG_0044.jpg

Start of 90 min boil on a SNCA clone brewed last week (13.6 gal of sweet wort):
IMG_0103.jpg
 
My dual 10 gallon cooler HERMS was probably the best brewing system I've had to date. Not the shiniest, but by far the most efficient at producing wort.

The HLT was a mere 1500W. It utilized a very user friendly A419 controller that was plug and play. One pump. 5500W kettle that would reach a boil in 8 gallons in a mere 14 minutes.

Between the two insulated vessels for the mash, temp control was very precise, and relatively cheap to build. I'd let the HLT heat during breakfast, and since it was on a controller, I'd mash in when I was ready.

I would build my own water, so the PH would be spot on. Condition my malt and mill it myself. Efficiencies of 85% were easy to obtain, and it was very repeatable. Again, with insulated vessels, ambient temps have no real effect on your brew day.
 
So this is what I came up with.

Going to use a 10gal cooler for my mash tun, 5gal cooler for Hlt, and my keggle for my boil pot.

The 5gal Hlt will have a element, and my keggle will also have a element.

I need help with the wiring. I would like them to go something like this:
A 240v system. HLT on a PID, and the keggle on a rotating switch.

What I already have electric wise: a 4500w 240v element (camco 02582), and L14-30P, 30A-125/250V L14-30
 
I'm in the process of piecing together a 2 vessel electric "Kettle-RIMS" system thanks to a lot of ideas from this thread and others. It's going to very closely mimic the Blichmann Breweasy with a single pump and their autosparge. Only difference is I've managed to put it all together for about 1/3 the cost of a E-Breweasy. We will see how it comes out and will post pics once completed.
 

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