Looks like I'm finally going to try 2 Vessel K-RIMS

[Hwk-I-St8]

It's been my plan for quite some time to ultimately run a 2 vessel kettle RIMS setup, but I've been acquiring equipment over time to spread out the cost. I started by going electric and using my cooler MLT. Then switched to recirculating eBIAB. I picked up a chapman thermobarrel on sale just before the holidays that I plan to use as an MLT. I finally got stuff setup to use it this weekend and have an autosparge on the way (for the return flow regulation).

So now I've got the kettle, controller, MLT, pump, etc for the whole thing. Here's how it should work:

1. Chapman thermobarrel with false bottom for MLT. I'll put the grains in dry and underlet by pumping from the kettle into the outlet port of the thermobarrel. I'll pump full volume to MLT.
2. After underletting, I'll stir and let rest for 10-15 mins.
3. Then I'll vorlauf...gravity draining to a pitcher until I get clear wort.
4. Then I'll run the MLT outlet to the kettle return (Brewbuilt kettle with notched lid, I have a hose with SS float).
5. Run the kettle out to the pump, then pump output back to the thermobarrel return (with autosparge).
6. During recirc, I'll gravity drain from MLT to kettle, using the MLT valve to regulate recirc flow.
7. Kettle will heat wort and circulate back to the MLT via pump/autosparge which will match the flow of the MLT drain
8. Temp for controller will be at the kettle outlet, so temp of wort in kettle should be mash temp (or a degree or two higher if necessary).
9. When I'm done with the mash, I'll turn off the return pump and let MLT drain to kettle
10. Boil as usual when draining is complete.

Any thoughts, advice, critique, etc.? My planned brew day is 3/20, so I've got time to test and tweak. I'm also gonna try brewfather for first time too. I've been using brewer's friend, but thought I'd give brewfather a shot to see if I like it. Nothing like changing everything at once to ensure a smooth brew day!!!!

 

[apache_brew]

Sounds like a good plan. My only advice would be to watch the drain rate to avoid a stuck recirculation. For some reason, I kept getting these when I was playing with a similar setup and ended up switching things up. This guy is big proponent of the kRims setup and has a collection of videos using his system.

 

[Barbarossa]

I have an all-in-one Anvil foundry and I just got a mash tun. I was tired of scorching the kettle everytime I wanted to go between steps. Kinda defeats the purpose of an all in one of you can't heat up the wort... I tried recirculating at full flow, stirring etc... Happens mostly with wheat but when I also got a scorched kettle from pilsner I gave up.

Yesterday I used the pump to transfer. Switched the pump accordingly from mash tun to kettle. I will get a tee this week so that I can connect both and play with the valves instead.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

OK, a bit of a change here. I was going to use my induction burner controlled by CraftBeerPi but my test run showed that the induction burner did not like being cycled off.

So, same concept, but I'm switching to a Spike eKettle with the standard immersed heating element. It was a custom order, should be here in about 2 weeks. I have some cool diagrams I'll try to post showing the process in detail. It's not some new process, but there's not a lot of material on it and I did it to mock up how I'm gong to use the valves/hoses/etc during each step. I wanted to make sure I'm not overlooking anything.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Here are the slides I did showing the process, connections, etc. Green for valves means open, red is closed, yellow is not fully open. The pump has a green line when on, red when off. The hose colors are for me: Green and yellow are the two shorter hoses, orange is the longer one. I thought this might help someone who's thinking of trying K-RIMS.

 

[apache_brew]

Nice diagrams!

What are your batch sizes? Max total water volume? Max grain bill? pot sizes? Temperature probe locations?

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Nice diagrams!

What are your batch sizes? Max total water volume? Max grain bill? pot sizes? Temperature probe locations?

Good questions. I'm doing 5G (to the keg) batch sizes. The MLT is a 15 G chapman thermobarrel and the kettle is a 10G spike. I'm guessing I'll have no problem doing even my huge 13% stout (about 26 lbs of grain), which I've been doing in a 50 qt cooler mash tun using a custom brew bag. For that, I'd probably do it as a pseudo 3 vessel with a batch sparge just for efficiency sake. With the autosparge, I could do a fly sparge using a 5 gallon beverage cooler that I have if I wanted. I've had good luck with batch sparging in the past though.

Temp probe will be on the back of the kettle...my custom spike has a dedicated temp probe port. In the absence of that, I'd measure at the kettle output with a 'T' fitting.

 

[jfowler1]

I believe this is the same process as Blichmann Brew Easy - 2 vessels, gravity feed, single heat source (kettle), 1 pump, constant recirculating. It should work great.

I started investing in 3 vessel, single tier, direct Fire a long time ago, but if I had to start from scratch, I’d seriously consider the Brew Easy concept that you have outlined.

 

[bkboiler]

I started building a similar concept. I got one brew in on it and have already implemented some changes...had stuck pumps, bad installation of dip tubes on my part...and a desire to keep tinkering!

I have a 2 vessel 2 pump system. Upper kettle is heated by gas. Lower kettle is reflectrix insulated.

Pump 1 recirculates mash thru lok-line in lower kettle.

Pump 2 is to recirculate heated service water from upper kettle thru stainless coil dunked in mash.

After 1 hour, I pull out the "coil" and the upper "service" water becomes sparge water that I recirculate a la breweasy.

at this point you may be thinking...gee, if you had a blichman easy sparge you could've avoided that.
you'd be right. But the last homebrew order I placed they were sold out, and the show must go on. Also, when I was heating the upper kettle last brew, it heated pretty aggressively. And I'm a traditionalist as far as mash ratios...

The 2nd pump also comes in handy while chilling. First 10 minutes of whirlpool I chill with groundwater; the last 10 minutes of whirlpool is with ice-water in the mash tun (post cleaning) pumped thru the immersion chiller.

My plan is eventually to tap a PID into the pump that recirculates the "service water"...this is much easier than having a gas burner light-up...I'll just shoot for having the service water stay between 165 and 170F.

 

[mcoratti76]

I started using almost this same setup a few months back. I used it for 3 brews, and suffered from poor efficiency and volumes. I think I finally got the volumes down, but I am still having issues getting good efficiency. I think the next brew, I am going to do what you said and implement a small batch sparge to try to rinse more sugars from the mash. Overall, I like the system, and finally included a RIMS tube to better control mash temp. Good luck! Hope it goes well for you. I'll look forward to some updates! Take a look at this thread that I had a few months ago. I received some really good input. 2 Vessel K-RIMS Gas Setup Question

 

[easttex]

I have moved from a BIAB set up to a two vessel K-RIMS set up myself. I brewed a SMaSH with a friend of mine last year who has a Brew Easy and was so impressed I cobbled my own together. My efficiency isn't great but everybody sure drinks all the beer I brew...