pharmbrewer
Member
Hey all - been lurking the forums for a long time learning from all of your hard work - borrowing and building away all this time. I thought it was long past due to try and contribute as well. So here you go. Nothing fancy, but sometimes those are the best.
A couple of years ago, shortly after converting to HERMS brewing, I became very frustrated with how to return my wort to my MLT. I used just about every method possible, but wasn't getting great efficiencies. I was also getting significant amounts of channeling when i just let it run back in with a piece of tubing. So I set out to find the best way to evenly distribute my wort back on top of my grain bed from my HERMS coil.
There are two types of brewers looking at this right now. The first one isnt even paying attention to the design but is openly mocking my lack of ability to solder copper pipe. The other type is the one who has never sweat to pieces of pipe together in his life but is still openly mocking me because it is true that his first attempt will look much better than this atrocity. But lets move on to the fun details and focus on the brewing strategy instead. Here are a few more images of the design in place and in action so that I can better describe my rationale below.
Ill start with a description and some methods. This is a very basic design manifold that serves the purpose of redirecting wort returning from the HERMS coil to four distinct points resting ideally on top of the grain bed. While cutting and soldering the copper was relatively easy (again see above when referencing my skill level) I was at a bit of a loss when it came to an elegant solution for making the depth of the device variable so that it can rest on a grain bed for a 5 gallon batch of low gravity beer as easily as a high gravity 10 gallon batch. You will notice a black wire in the image (also a yellow wire but that is just for my temperature control). This was my solution. Simple, and certainly not permanent, but its the best I could do and it is honestly growing on me. Simply mash in, then tie off the manifold at any height you need and begin the recirculation. Done. But again, I want to appeal to the logical side of brewers as well, so there are a few design characteristics that I think are important as well that this addresses.
My first stated goal with this design was that it had to operate without any type of screen or filter. Period. I had gone down that road (admittedly unnecessarily but was willing to try anything at the time). But now I was moving past that stage of my life. So I went with 1/2 inch copper pipe. This would eliminate the need for any kind of strainer or filter as the narrowest opening any of the wort would see is the false bottom in my mash tun. Whatever escaped that plus the grain bed compaction was welcome to do so as my larger diameter tubing did not care what came through.
Second, the wort must be returned directly to the top of the grain bed. Therefore, I needed something that would flex in height as I brew both 5 and 10 gallon batches on this setup, and even within the 5 gallon range the level of the grain bed can vary between different gravity beers Im working on.
Finally, it must be something that cleans easily. Copper is a naturally antimicrobial surface and therefore is a great selection for material in this instance. Also, since all contact happens before the hot side of the brewery, a good rinse and light scrubbing and this guy is set between brews. Okay - lots of words for a simple project, but obviously I'm pretty happy with the results.
A couple of years ago, shortly after converting to HERMS brewing, I became very frustrated with how to return my wort to my MLT. I used just about every method possible, but wasn't getting great efficiencies. I was also getting significant amounts of channeling when i just let it run back in with a piece of tubing. So I set out to find the best way to evenly distribute my wort back on top of my grain bed from my HERMS coil.
There are two types of brewers looking at this right now. The first one isnt even paying attention to the design but is openly mocking my lack of ability to solder copper pipe. The other type is the one who has never sweat to pieces of pipe together in his life but is still openly mocking me because it is true that his first attempt will look much better than this atrocity. But lets move on to the fun details and focus on the brewing strategy instead. Here are a few more images of the design in place and in action so that I can better describe my rationale below.
Ill start with a description and some methods. This is a very basic design manifold that serves the purpose of redirecting wort returning from the HERMS coil to four distinct points resting ideally on top of the grain bed. While cutting and soldering the copper was relatively easy (again see above when referencing my skill level) I was at a bit of a loss when it came to an elegant solution for making the depth of the device variable so that it can rest on a grain bed for a 5 gallon batch of low gravity beer as easily as a high gravity 10 gallon batch. You will notice a black wire in the image (also a yellow wire but that is just for my temperature control). This was my solution. Simple, and certainly not permanent, but its the best I could do and it is honestly growing on me. Simply mash in, then tie off the manifold at any height you need and begin the recirculation. Done. But again, I want to appeal to the logical side of brewers as well, so there are a few design characteristics that I think are important as well that this addresses.
My first stated goal with this design was that it had to operate without any type of screen or filter. Period. I had gone down that road (admittedly unnecessarily but was willing to try anything at the time). But now I was moving past that stage of my life. So I went with 1/2 inch copper pipe. This would eliminate the need for any kind of strainer or filter as the narrowest opening any of the wort would see is the false bottom in my mash tun. Whatever escaped that plus the grain bed compaction was welcome to do so as my larger diameter tubing did not care what came through.
Second, the wort must be returned directly to the top of the grain bed. Therefore, I needed something that would flex in height as I brew both 5 and 10 gallon batches on this setup, and even within the 5 gallon range the level of the grain bed can vary between different gravity beers Im working on.
Finally, it must be something that cleans easily. Copper is a naturally antimicrobial surface and therefore is a great selection for material in this instance. Also, since all contact happens before the hot side of the brewery, a good rinse and light scrubbing and this guy is set between brews. Okay - lots of words for a simple project, but obviously I'm pretty happy with the results.
