HERMS input/ouput?

I'm working on an electric HERMS setup and was wondering if anyone had tested the location of the input and ouput for their HERMS coil. To clarify, I'm looking to determine what the effects are of feeding in through the bottom of the coil versus feeding into the top of the coil.

Thanks!

 

Not to hi-jack this thread but a related question. Is it best to have ball valves on both the in and out (top and bottom) of the herms coil or could you get away with only one for flow control. Which location would be best? I would assume bottom to allow complete drainage.

 

To the OP, I'd second Yooper and say that as long as you're recirculating/stirring the HLT, it shouldn't matter from a heat perspective. You should take into account the pumping setup you'll need to get the recirculation going. With an output from the MLT at the bottom you've got a much better priming site for pumping, and I imagine that most people them pump over to the bottom of the HLT, just so that they can connect the top of the HLT to the top of the MLT. I've not tried it, but depending on the setup you might find its easier to pump from the bottom of the MLT to the top of the HLT, but I'm sure someone else has probably given it a shot.

As for the ball locks, I don't recirculate in my MLT but do in the BK, and while you don't need ball locks on both spots, it certainly makes everything easier. Even if you've got the output above the level of the wort at all times (so stuff doesn't leak out when disconnected), its nice to be able to close everything off just in case. I generally only use one for flow control and leave the other wide open until I'm done pumping.

 

I am doing a dual pump configuration., so recirculation in the HLT will not be an issue. I'll do a cold water test to see how the pumps handle the pressure in each configuration. Thanks

 

As for ball locks, you don't need them. I put 1 on the bottom so that I could close it and not make a huge mess if I took the hose off. But sometimes it's a pain when I forget to open I while trying to recirculate.

 

I'm a little OCD about ball valves, so I opted to go completely over the top. I have ball valves on every pot opening, input/output on both pumps as well as the plate chiller. 16 total.

 

No need to have that many ball valves. As long as you don't restrict the input to the pump you could have 20 valves. Do you have a valve on the input and output of the plate chiller?

 

Yes, I priced out the fittings and ball valves were reasonable, so I put them on every input/output.