2 vessel herms type system?

[Jbrew]

So, I apologize if this has been asked before? Or made before.

So Im considering going electric. I also want to combine everything into 2 kettles. Here's what I'm thinking:
2 brew kettles, with a herms coil in each.
I want one kettle to act as a mash tun.
The other will double as a boil kettle and HLT and have an electric heating element in it.
My plan is to only run fresh water thru the herms coils.
When mashing, I would heat water in the BK/HLT and circulate it through the mash tun herms coil using an electric controller to maintain mash temps. Then after mashing, transfer to now empty BK/HLT. Do the boil, and then use the herms coil in the BK as a chiller.
I already have 2 kettles, and then I can get rid of my mash tun and immersion chiller.
Does this sound reasonable? Or no? Or has this been done a million times over and I'm the one who hasnt read about it?
I apologize if my terms are a little screwed up, I've been brewing for about 2 years only doing BIAB and more recently the traditional mash tun brew kettle setup. Ive only started exploring herms options more recently.
Thank you all

 

[Jbrew]

After giving some more thought, I could actually just go with one coil in the HLT and just run my wort thru the herms coil during mashing like a normal herms system would. Then the herms coil would get flushed out at the end of the boil during chilling.

I guess the only real question here is:
Can I use the HLT as a boil kettle as well? Will the coil cause problems if i want to whirlpool?

 

[mongoose33]

After giving some more thought, I could actually just go with one coil in the HLT and just run my wort thru the herms coil during mashing like a normal herms system would. Then the herms coil would get flushed out at the end of the boil during chilling.

I guess the only real question here is:
Can I use the HLT as a boil kettle as well? Will the coil cause problems if i want to whirlpool?

Two things you should think about:

1. If the HERMS coil has no space between the coils, you're not going to get much of a whirlpool effect.

2. How easy will it be to clean those coils?

 

[Jbrew]

Since i plan to use the herms coil for double duty, ie a herms coil for mashing and then a chiller after boil, I was hoping pumping fresh water thru it while chilling would be sufficient to clean the wort out of it. As for cleaning the exterior, i wouldn't think it would be much different then cleaning an immersion chiller, but yes it would be dependent upon the spacing of the coils.
Another thought was to make the herms coil more like an immersion chiller, where bother the inlet and outlet of the coil came up to the very top of the kettle, just below the rim and having it quick disconnected in, so I could take it out after chilling and then finish my whirlpool.

I dont know, maybe I'm just over complicating things by trying to combine a 3 vessel system to 2 kettles, but I really would like to automate the mash process a bit more with an electric system, without doing BIAB, and I'd like to have it all contained in the 2 brew kettles, so all I'd have to pull out is the 2 kettles, And only have to store the 2 kettles.
Thanks for the input.

 

[Smellyglove]

Have you looked into a compact herms? I can post pictures of my setup after It's cleaned.

*You could use Triclamps for the coil in the boil kettle, through the wall, so the thing is sturdy.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

this is a larger one but could be made smaller similar to what you want, take a look

 

[Jbrew]

Sounds like what I'm looking for. If you could, yes please do post pictures.

 

[mongoose33]

Have you looked into a compact herms? I can post pictures of my setup after It's cleaned.

*You could use Triclamps for the coil in the boil kettle, through the wall, so the thing is sturdy.

Please do that. I've been looking at the idea of a HERMS system, but I'm not there yet. A compact one might be just the ticket.

 

[Jbrew]

Ive decided to give this a try. I've already begun planning out all the little bits. I've got a 10 gallon anvil kettle that im going to turn into my BK/HLT. I'm going to add an electric heating element, with a temp controller. My mash tun will be a new 15 gallon anvil kettle with a false bottom. Will take me a few months to piece together. Ill provide a small build thread when going together if anyone shows interest.

 

[Smellyglove]

I use one pump and two hoses which I reconfigure. In the pic it's set up for mashing. When I move the wort to the boil I move the outlet from the input of the HERMS to the bottom port of the BK. When I'm done draining I reorient so output of BK goes in to the pump and output of the pump goes into the WP on the BK.

Herms is a 3500W @ 240V element and a coil from gryphon brewing.

 

[Smellyglove]

I forgot the panel.

Left is EZboil which is controlling the herms with a probe connected right at the output of the herms, right is a Sestos PId I just use for monitoring temps. During mash I have the cable from the sestos attached to the probe in the mash tun, during boil/chilling I move the cable to the probe in the BK.