E-HERMS Build

[laughingboysbrew]

Doing a test run on my new 20 gal E-HERMS system...sitting in the driveway...havin' a brew...so I thought I'd share my set up. Most of the brew equipment is based off Kal's setup (bought the HEX coil from him) The brew panel runs off BCS and is based on EBrewSupply kits with some tweaks.

Heating up some strike water right now and all is running smoothly. Looking forward to doing some mash outs and step mashes with ease. Maybe even a back to back brew day.

Cheers

 

[aeviaanah]

Nice man congrats on the new system!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flugelizor]

Very nice!
How do you like your chiller? is the wort tube 3/8"?
I have one like that with 1/2" tubing for the wort.
It seems very inefficient to me.
The cold water just barely gets luke warm.

 

[Rockn_M]

Looks good!

 

[2drunk2]

Whoa! That's too cool.

 

[theashman661]

Very nice!
How do you like your chiller? is the wort tube 3/8"?
I have one like that with 1/2" tubing for the wort.
It seems very inefficient to me.
The cold water just barely gets luke warm.

Try slowing down both feed rates. Throttle down both wort and cool water flow. That may make a difference. Just a thought!

 

[laughingboysbrew]

Very nice!
How do you like your chiller? is the wort tube 3/8"?
I have one like that with 1/2" tubing for the wort.
It seems very inefficient to me.
The cold water just barely gets luke warm.

Love it. Yes 3/8" or similar size. I run hose from outside full blast and then adjust ball valve on kettle (gravity) while watching the output temp. From 200F+ to 60F, 10 gallons takes about 30 min

 

[laughingboysbrew]

Try slowing down both feed rates. Throttle down both wort and cool water flow. That may make a difference. Just a thought!

Agree 50%. Slow down wort, but have as much new cold water coming through as possible. Otherwise, slow cold water will heat up as it travels and will transfer less heat out over its distance.

 

[flugelizor]

I agree with laughingboysbrew gushing cold water can only increase the heat transfer.
I slowed wort to a tiny stream, cold water was gushing. Still wort exited in the 90s, and took forever.
I will go back to the folks who sold it to me.
Meanwhile I am switching back to my old DIY chiller with garden hose around 1/4" copper. That one works great.

 

[laughingboysbrew]

I slowed wort to a tiny stream, cold water was gushing. Still wort exited in the 90s, and took forever.

Just out of curiosity, if you continue to slow the wort down to almost nothing, is 90F the coolest it will ever get? Also, do you know the temp of your cold water? Is it ground temp ~50F ? If I slow my flow down to a trickle, it'll get down into the low 60F high 50F range. Even at a perceived "slow" flow, I can still easily be in the mid to upper 80s. It's very touchy. To hit < 70F it takes a solid 30-40 min (12 gallons).

 

[flugelizor]

Well, I didn't want to "threadjack" your awesome E-HERMS build, so I started a new thread here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/convoluted-counterflow-chiller-technique-483915/
I think my issue may be I have air in my wort line.
If you slow it down too much with 1/2" tubing it may just run down the side of the tube without full contact.

I have not measured my groundwater temp, and I haven't tried anything less than about 1 gallon wort per 5 minutes. (I run 10 gallon batches)