First brew with eHERMS

[BigJay13]

Finally got around to doing my first brew with my eHERMS system. Since November I had been converting my propane blichmann tower of power system over to an electric one. Ive got a 50A 3 vessel system similar to the electric brewery. Ive got a few challenges that came up:

1) People who use a steam condenser how do you avoid a boil over? I overfilled the BK so the level of the wort was touching the nut holding the bulkhead to the lid. This caused it to boil over so I had to drain about a gallon off.
2) when it was time to sanitize the plate chiller I had to crack the lid as I ran the boiling wort through it. I’m thinking it will be easier to install a whirlpool arm instead.
3) What do people do to CIP their BK and MT? I am hooking up a sink next to the brew table which will allow me to rinse the BK and pump into the sink. But today I was draining into a few buckets and ultimately carried both vessels outside to hose off.

All in all it was awesome compared to propane. I can’t wait to do it again.

 

[Golddiggie]

I use fermcap to prevent the foam-over during the boil.
I got all my kettles from Spike, so the BK came with the whirlpool fittings. Zero issues with that, provided you also use something to keep the hops out of your plate chiller. I'm using a Brewers Hardware wort strainer to do that (works great). I also run Starsan through the plate chiller while sanitizing my conical fermenter. Then simply drain it and connect a length of sanitized tubing to bridge the two wort ports. IF I decide I want to sanitize the plate chiller with hot wort, I simply run the hot wort through for a few seconds before adding the chill water feed. Then control the wort out flow (post oxygenation stone) to get it to the desired temperature in a single pass. I can get 195F+ wort to about 65F in about five minutes this way (about 7-1/2 to 8 gallons). Oxygenated and into the fermenter ready for yeast. Depending on your plate chiller size (and chill water temp) you could get the same, or close to it.

The panel I bought from Electric Brewing Supply came with the controls for the SCL pump. Makes things a LOT easier when it's in the panel.

The SCL won't seal tight enough to use a CIP ball with it. Which is a bit sad, but no biggie. I've just mixed up a batch of PBW in the BK, using the leftover water from the HLT (usually at least 6 gallons) and circulate that through the BK, plate chiller, and wort pump. This helps to clean the BK element a lot easier than if you remove it.

I don't use PBW in the MT. Simply remove the grain (I trade for eggs), rinse out well, then clean additionally if needed. I try to do that while the BK is getting up to temp.

BTW, a constant recirculation in the MT (through the HERMS coil) will increase your mash efficiency. At least it has in every batch I've done that. I need to remember to also do that during the sparge to get the best results. First batch I did that with I hit 90% efficiency for the recipe.

I also swapped over from propane burners to electric (this year). Still using my brew stand since I don't have room for a table. Post move (whenever that ends up happening), I plan to get a table to set everything up on and mount the control panel to a wall (via VESA mount/arm). Right now, everything goes on the stand, including the panel.

Overall my brew days are shorter with the electric setup. Plus less of a hassle to get to the temperatures I want. I'm also able to maintain my mash temp within a single degree (F) for the duration. THAT, alone, more than makes it worth the switch. All the other parts that are easier are bonuses. With the SCL I can now brew inside and not need to setup a canopy and such to brew in the driveway. Which means it no longer matters what the weather is outside, for a brew day. Only impact is running the hose for cleanup (faucet is at the back of the house, hose on the side). I run my chill water (and brew water) from a cold water faucet in the furnace room (I run it through a single filter to get any particles out since I'm on a well).

 

[doug293cz]

Finally got around to doing my first brew with my eHERMS system. Since November I had been converting my propane blichmann tower of power system over to an electric one. Ive got a 50A 3 vessel system similar to the electric brewery. Ive got a few challenges that came up:

1) People who use a steam condenser how do you avoid a boil over? I overfilled the BK so the level of the wort was touching the nut holding the bulkhead to the lid. This caused it to boil over so I had to drain about a gallon off.
2) when it was time to sanitize the plate chiller I had to crack the lid as I ran the boiling wort through it. I’m thinking it will be easier to install a whirlpool arm instead.
3) What do people do to CIP their BK and MT? I am hooking up a sink next to the brew table which will allow me to rinse the BK and pump into the sink. But today I was draining into a few buckets and ultimately carried both vessels outside to hose off.

All in all it was awesome compared to propane. I can’t wait to do it again.View attachment 736752

Why is everything lit up with the power switch in the "off" position?

Brew on

 

[Golddiggie]

Why is everything lit up with the power switch in the "off" position?

Brew on

Didn't notice that until you pointed it out.
IIRC, everything should be off when the key is in the 'off' position. At least it is on the panel I have.

 

[Bobby_M]

What power level were you trying to run the boil on? You should be down around 28-30%

 

[BigJay13]

Originally I had the power too high but landed around 30% once I dialed it in. The key switch is just turned 90*. When it is off it’s pointed at on. That actually pointed at 4 o’clock not 10 o’clock.