False Bottom for Herms system in Concord Stainless Kettle?

[luckybeagle]

Today is snow day, so I'm passing the time while the white stuff comes down by designing a Herms system for my natural gas brew setup.

I was planning to pick up a second and third Concord Stainless kettle (15 gallon) for the Hot Liquor tank and Mash Tun (currently using 10g Home Depot cooler with braided stainless toilet supply line). In the mash tun I was thinking of using this screen:

I'm curious if this would be appropriate for a HERMS system, or if I should be looking at some other false bottom. I like brewing high gravity ales and have run out of space in my mash tun to do my desired 10 gallon batches, hence the HERMS upgrade.

Also, do folks have issues keeping temperature a constant when mashing a 20+ lb grain bill through herms coils sitting in 12-15 gallons of HLT water? Or should that be enough volume to keep it stable enough? I'm brewing on natural gas so I also fear overheating the water if it starts to dip since I don't have the precise control of an electric heating element w/panel.

Thoughts?

 

[wilserbrewer]

My thoughts are that a 20+ lb grain bill will be very temp stable in a 15 gallon kettle, so much so you don’t need the HERMS, but hey it’s your money to play with.

For piece of mind you could wrap your MT w insulation jmo

 

[luckybeagle]

My thoughts are that a 20+ lb grain bill will be very temp stable in a 15 gallon kettle, so much so you don’t need the HERMS, but hey it’s your money to play with.

For piece of mind you could wrap your MT w insulation jmo

Interesting and makes sense given the mass of ~8 gallons water + 25 lbs grain. And that is a good idea to wrap it with insulation, sleeping bag trick, etc. Hmm... I think I'll give that a go. I'd much rather spend the $$ on improving other aspects of my brew if a HERMS is not necessary. Thanks

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'd much rather spend the $$ on improving other aspects of my brew

Since you’d rather spend money elsewhere? I’d suggest foregoing the 3rd kettle HLT and trying a room temp sparge step...most report it works very well with the only downside being that it takes a little longer to reach boil since your adding cooler water to your batch...not a deal breaker given the ease of execution imo.

 

[sicktght311]

I have it in my 3 vessel herms. Works perfectly.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

My suggestion would be instead of a 15 gallon get a 20 gallon Concord pot and do BIAB. I do 10 gallon batches and with a 25# grain bill the temp stays stable.

Word on the street is conversion is done in 5 to 10 minutes. In that short time frame temps are stable enough in the pot where recirculation isnt needed. I've never recirculated and always hit my numbers. Simple works