HERMS ... Is it worth it ?

[Rushman]

Here is what I was planning, but having second thoughts . . .

Have 3 - 15 gallon keggles, chugger pumpm high pressure burner. . . and start of a stand.

Looking at HERMS with 50 ft 1/2 SS coil in HLT, on a Banjo 14 burner with honeywell.Auber temp contol . . .. Keggle mash tun with false bottom with no direct fire.

My thought was mash in at Brewsmith calculated temp out of HLT, circulate through Herms while the refilled MLT reheats to mash temp and equalizes.

I see the steady mash possibilities, but I lose very little in my large cooler now anyway, and my single batch sparge heats to mash out . . .

With a 14 banjo on low pressure, with 50 ft ss coil . . . will I even be able to raise fast enough for a "step" mash out, or step mashing ? I could see $400+ in investments but gaining little more than fancy lights and pretty fire . . .

What are your experiences ?

 

[mredge73]

It isn't worth $400, especially since you are not having trouble maintaining mash temperatures.
You have a system that seems to work well, why are you considering this?

I did mine for less than $150, in this case it was very much worth it since I was having trouble maintaining mash temperatures.

 

[Ruint]

This is a can of worms just waiting to be opened....It really does end up being your decision...just saying that up front. It does depend on if you want to do more than single temp infusions, using something other than your cooler mash tun. Not that you can't do step adjustments out of your cooler...I'm not implying that. It would be helpful to have another burner...say 1 for boil kettle (non Auber controlled)and 1 for HLT (auber controlled). That way you could start your mash water in the boil kettle, and start warming up your hot liquor at the same time instead of doing a dump of the hot liquor out of the HLT and then having to start heating fresh (cold water) up to your mash temp to be able to maintain it, or step it up. It's nearly impossible to burn your wort via heating it in another vessel with heated liquid. You asked if it is worth it...that is a question that only you can answer...all of us out here can give you a weighted answer or opinion or what works for us. I personally have a herms coil and even though it can be a royal pita at times, I enjoy the possibilities it provides. I use a glorified bango (blichman) burner to heat mine...been looking at putting a little automation (like what you have already) into keeping the hlt at temps other than me constantly fiddling with it...but that is another topic altogether. You could take another route and do a rims too, for about the same kind of monies you mentioned, and still be able to use your insulated cooler mash tun. Are you happy with what you brew and your knowledge of where you are at? If you are then there is really no need to go further...if you want to delve deeper into the rabbit hole and want to strive for methods unknown to you to increase your possibilities/knowledge...then continue...that's the best I can give you friend...you can undertake a little test of your system and see if it is capable of heating the HLT up fast enough just by heating water in the keggle, just like you were going to use it as a herms heating vessel and see if you like how fast it rises... only cost would be the gas used and time spent.
Cheers! and let us know what your decision is...

 

[CanAm]

My three keggle system with RIMS lets me heat strike water for a second batch (as would a HERMS), but when mashing the second batch the RIMS is ready to hold temperature right away and not wait for the HLT to warm up. Uninsulated keggel mash tuns lose heat quickly. This may or may not be a factor for you.

I tested my RIMS full of non-recirculating wert as I was concerned about scorching. After 60 minutes the Auber PID controller maintained the temp within a degree or two of setpoint. Not even close to scorching.

Before I had the electric for my mash tun I put my mash tun on a burner at low flame which worked well to maintain temperature (and step mashed faster than my RIMS) Just had to keep an eye on it as it did not have a controller.

I also like that my RIMS can be disassembled and scrubbed.

 

[calgary222]

I upgraded because I went to 30 gallon pots, if I was to stay around 10 gallon batches, I would totally stay with the cooler- tried and true.

I went RIMS as well for the same reasons as CanAm - fewer things to wash..

 

[eric19312]

I looked at doing RIMS and HERMS and ended up going with direct fire mash tun. I melted the side of my cooler sitting it on my brewstand and that thing was looking pretty ghetto by time I switched to kettle mash tun. I was sure I needed HERMS or RIMS but then saw a commercial system using direct fire and went with that. Did about 20 batches on it just watching the temperature and manually turning it on and off before building a controller and installing a gas solenoid valve.

Is it necessary? No! Is it pretty damn cool? You bet!

As for direct fire mash tun scorching wort I keep the flame low and run my mash tun recirculation at >1GPM and seem to have no issues.

 

[auburntsts]

I went RIMS as well for the same reasons as CanAm - fewer things to wash..

If you fly sparge and push the sparge water from the HLT through the HERMS coil to the MLT, no additional cleaning of the coil is needed. So I don't think there's any RIMS advantage in that regard.

 

[calgary222]

If you fly sparge and push the sparge water from the HLT through the HERMS coil to the MLT, no additional cleaning of the coil is needed. So I don't think there's any RIMS advantage in that regard.

I was thinking more in terms of either you are cleaning the inside of a coil of wort through the HLT or you are cleaning the outside of a coil in the MLT - either way though, not a big deal, they both do the job well enough - cheers!

 

[auburntsts]

I was thinking more in terms of either you are cleaning the inside of a coil of wort through the HLT or you are cleaning the outside of a coil in the MLT - either way though, not a big deal, they both do the job well enough - cheers!

Yeah but the sparge water cleans the HERMS coil--there is no separate "cleaning" step required. Maybe we're just talking past each other.