1bbl - HERMS, RIMS, or direct

[jas0420]

Hi all... Starting to plan an upgrade from 10 gallons (hybrid propane and electric) to 1 bbl electric...

What are your thoughts on mash temp control at this scale? My old system was HERMS (that was the electric portion of the "hybrid") and worked great at 10 gallons.... Just seems like there is going to be a lot more lag in a bigger batch.... But I may be over thinking it.

Thanks for any insight!

 

[MadGus]

My $0.02, having just built a 1/2bbl electric brewstand, would be to go 50A and run two 4500w elements in HLT and two in BK.

I use one 5500w in each right now, and the ramp time on 24 gallons from 67 to 155 is a little over an hour.

 

[Jipper]

Hey Jas,

I have always preferred HERMS myself, but it's a good point that the larger batch size might benefit by going RIMS. I haven't brewed using RIMS in a 1BBL batch before, but have done HERMS and it worked pretty well. There are a lot of larger scale breweries out there that have the HLT come with a built in HERMS coil, so I have to imagine it works fairly well on even larger (3BBL / 5BBL) equipment.

Great question though! I'm interested to see what others have to say...

 

[jas0420]

Thank you both!

Gus, 50 or 60amps are in my future and definitely planning on two elements in the hlt and bk with either 4500's or 5500's... I guess part of the answer to my own question is the ability to quickly heat the HLT while it is in HERMS mode...

 

[MadGus]

My $0.02, having just built a 1/2bbl electric brewstand, would be to go 50A and run two 4500w elements in HLT and two in BK.

I use one 5500w in each right now, and the ramp time on 24 gallons from 67 to 155 is a little over an hour.

After some reflection, you probably want to find an online calculator for ramp times and run numbers through that. You may want to go 60A+, but that will put you into non-standardized parts, which will mean >$$$

 

[Monster Mash]

I use a HERMS in mine and it takes about 30 minutes to go from 155 to 168 in my HLT with a 4500w element. Using a stir motor in the HLT helps a lot to keep the mash temp rising at the same rate as the HLT while the HERMS is in use.

I have spa timers to turn on the brewery before I wake up so I don't have to wait for the MT or HLT to get up to brewing temps, I only have to wait for mash out temps.