Filling up HERMS-container with marbles to lower water volume in it?

[Smellyglove]

My herms-container is imo to big, I couldn't coil the copper enough to make it fit into anything else.

I got a tip about filling it up with marbles to displace some of the water so it in some sense gets smaller. I want a faster reaction time from it.

Will this work?

I'm thinking about that the marbles too will want to absorb some of the heat so I'll be back to where I begun.

 

[chickens4life]

the glass the marbles are made from does have a much lower specific heat than water, so it would help. although they may hinder temp distribution in the herms container. So depending on method of stirring in the herms it might cause other problems. I suppose you could give it a shot, and see if it works.

 

[Smellyglove]

the glass the marbles are made from does have a much lower specific heat than water, so it would help. although they may hinder temp distribution in the herms container. So depending on method of stirring in the herms it might cause other problems. I suppose you could give it a shot, and see if it works.

I have a small pump submerged in there to stir the water around.

But if it would work, how much would it work? Enough to even bother doing it?

 

[horseinmay]

This will work. Do it.
recirculating the water within the vessel will be the key to success, since there will be more tendency to stratification with all of those marbles acting to baffle the flow.

 

[edmondsonm]

My herms-container is imo to big, I couldn't coil the copper enough to make it fit into anything else.

I guess I don't understand the problem. My HERMS is in my HLT that's 15 gallons. I raise my MT about 1 degree per minute with 20' of 3/8" tubing.

 

[Smellyglove]

I guess I don't understand the problem. My HERMS is in my HLT that's 15 gallons. I raise my MT about 1 degree per minute with 20' of 3/8" tubing.

How long do your system take from mash to mash-out temp, and how big batch?

I tried with 10 gallons of water the other day from 154F to 172F and it took ages. Everything is insulated.

I have 16' of 3/8 with a flow of 1.6 gallons pr minute heated by a 3kW element. The container is 2.6 gallons.

 

[horseinmay]

How long do your system take from mash to mash-out temp, and how big batch?

I tried with 10 gallons of water the other day from 154F to 172F and it took ages. Everything is insulated.

I have 16' of 3/8 with a flow of 1.6 gallons pr minute heated by a 3kW element. The container is 2.6 gallons.

The difference is the thermal masses. He is able to heat 1F per minute with 15 gallons of hot water. You are trying to heat 10 gallons with 2.6 gallons. It's just not enough mass. Also, 10 gallons is a lot of water. Don't you mash with much less? If you want to continue with those volumes, you are going to have to boil the water in the HERMS.

 

[Smellyglove]

The difference is the thermal masses. He is able to heat 1F per minute with 15 gallons of hot water. You are trying to heat 10 gallons with 2.6 gallons. It's just not enough mass. Also, 10 gallons is a lot of water. Don't you mash with much less? If you want to continue with those volumes, you are going to have to boil the water in the HERMS.

I started the topic before my first brew on the new system. The volumes were just something I tried. After the first brewday I realize they didn't reflect reality much.

The response time was much faster than with pure water. Almost 2F pr minute. But my question still stands, which I guess I've gotten an answer to. I'd still want to have a smaller volume.