All-in-one HERMS coil & wort chiller

Hi there - I've been looking to upgrade my current 5gal cooler MT setup to a HERMS system. Looking at HERMS coils, I see they're all designed to be run through the sides of the HLT, rather than have both input and output at the top, as with a wort chiller.

Is the reason for this that to pump the wort out the top of the HLT would be beyond the capability of most homebrewers' pumps? Obviously I'd love to save money by having only one, removable coil, functioning as both HERMS and wort chiller.

Thanks for any advice!
Iz

 

Having only 1 coil works perfectly. A standard chugger pump has enough power for the setup you propose. Dont waste your money with a second coil.

 

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=6853698&postcount=5

I have been kicking around the idea as well. Right now it's a money thing, and my cooler mash tun is working perfectly well before I go dropping more money, making it hard to justify.

 

Thank's guys! With that knowledge, I'm not sure I can really see any advantage to the built in HERMS coil...just more holes in pots.

 

Its the bling factor really. Well that, neatness and being able to leave the lid on the HLT while using the herms which makes it respond quicker to temp changes. the build you linked still has all those features.

even the $18 12v and 24v tan food grade pumps I use pump that high as well as 2 ft higher (5 ft up) into the tops of my conicals from my plate chiller mounted under my table... you wont have an issue with flow. I do recomment you find a way to keep the water in the HLT moving and mixing..I had nothing but incosistent results due to this untill I made a stirrer to keep the water evenly mixed.. the herms coil acts as a cooling coil sucking the heat from the water around it if you dont... I went rims eventually but the herms does work if done right.

 

No problem doing that with a chugger or similar pump. I did it for a while before I upgrade my HLT and built in the coil.

I used cam locks on my hoses. Male ends on the coil and female on the hoses. I added a female end to the water supply and exit side to make the switch over fast and easy and to keep things wort/water tight.

 

Good to know it'll work even with cheap pumps. I was planning on something like this (http://www.angelhomebrew.co.uk/en/pumps/120-12v-homebrew-pump-type-1.html), only thing I'm not sure on is if 10litre/min is too slow when it comes to pumping wort from one vessel to another. But they sell a 17litre/min model for a bit more money.

I'd been planning to recirculate the HLT and place the temp probe in the plumbing, but I like the sound of your stirrer, since it'll cut down on a pump + plumbing and fittings, and presumably minimise temp loss. I'll give it a google, unless you have any pics of how you made yours?

 

I have one of those pumps, I no longer use it. The tan p38I pumps are designed for food grade use with encapsulated magnets, those are not.
They were meant for solar water heating applications. They work ok but only pump about 2/3 as much as the 24v tan pumps. they also dont work well with pwm speed controllers if you ever want to use one vs a ball valve to control flow. this is because they have mppt chips built in to make them run more efficiently directly off of solar panels (again intended for water heating)

Yes I used an old 24v motor from a printer and attached an $8 stirrer like they sell on ebay. I used aluminum l channel for the base so I can set it on any kettle but for HLT use its easiest to mount to the lid.

theres pics in my build thread below somewhere..

one of the nice things about making a lot of this stuff for dc power is its much safer around liquid use.

 

My HERMS coil is in the lid, so I can just take it from one place to another. I haven't completely started all-grain yet, but right now, I use it as an immersion chiller. I run water through it, and recirculate the boil kettle wort with a pump into a whirpool arm I got. It cools 5 gallons pretty quickly.

 

Nice setup frodus! Saw something similar the other day and reckon that's what I'll go for. Not sure if the pots I'm ordering come with lids so might have to improvise there.

Also with that setup i reckon it'd be easy to put a stirrer thru the middle of the lid, and have it paddling away in the middle of the coil.