HERMS, RIMS... why?

[Monstar]

Is it for the tinkering? The hell of it? Does it really make better beer?

With my cooler set up, I will maybe lose 1 degree in an hour mash. I can do a protein rest/mash out by just adding boiling water.

Step mashes and constant temperatures seem to be the only real reason to make one of these wonders of engineering, or am I missing something?

I really hope I don't come off as trying to trivialize these systems, I think you guys are true badasses and your systems look friggin amazing. I would love the time/money/know-how to be able to make one. I make really great beer with my ghetto 3 tier, 1 brew stick setup... but would it be that much better with a HERMS/RIMS system?

I gotta know! Keep making these things, I could drool over em all day :rockin:

 

[MalFet]

Step mashes and constant temperatures seem to be the only real reason to make one of these wonders of engineering, or am I missing something?

Those seem like good enough reasons to me.

..and, they're really not so complicated as all that. I've got a $100 pump (that I use for other purposes anyway) and maybe $20 in hoses and fittings. Plus, since I use my brew kettle as a mash tun, I don't need to own and store a separate mash tun. The thing I like about my direct fire 1 vessel rims is its utter simplicity.

 

[Monstar]

Ha. Yes, those are great reasons indeed! Im just wondering why they choose this route instead of more practical ones. Besides it being totally awesome, of course.

 

[MalFet]

Ha. Yes, those are great reasons indeed! Im just wondering why they choose this route instead of more practical ones. Besides it being totally awesome, of course.

But that's what I'm saying: What's impractical about a simple RIMS setup? You'd be surprised by how easy it is.

If what you've got is working for you, don't let me talk you out of it. But, at the same time, if it seems appealing it's really not quite so dramatic as all that.

 

[slakwhere]

if you can hold temps and don't need steps then you don't need it. my HERMS system was necessitated by my keggle MLT not being able to hold temps in December in the snow. it started as direct fire HLT and is moving to hybrid/electric to hit mash temps perfectly all the time, no matter what.

i do get jealous of my buddy's cooler based MLT because it doesn't need as much fuss... but i solved my problem and now life is good.

 

[hatfieldenator]

I think the appeal of the HERMs system I use is that I can just set the temp, turn on the pump and sit back and relax while I mash. No need to calculate anything, just turn on the controller and pick a temperature to mash at. Plus, I really enjoy building things like this so part of it is just the fun of building a system

There are a lot of other good reasons to use a HERMs/RIMs set up, but I didn't need much convincing. I am a bit of a control freak as well and I like knowing that my mash will be constant and I will have a very clear wort since I'm constantly recirculating.

I think one can acheive just as good of results on non-HERMs/RIMs systems though, its just whatever your preference is for brewdays.

 

[wedge421]

Yeah while I still use a 10 gallon cooler with my all electric system otherwise, I think the appeal of the RIMS is just set it and forget it and get consistent results. I would love to use a RIMS setup but I just dont have the know how to build one.

 

[jtkratzer]

I was going to go simple with a recirculating e-BIAB system, but got a steal of a price on a Sabco Brew Magic that had been sitting for a while and I'm probably going to be able to get it converted over from a direct-fired NG system with a RIMS tube to all electric HERMS cheaper than starting from scratch.

I had to start from the ground up since I didn't have the equipment to do all-grain or 10 gallon batches - two of the main things I wanted to get to.

 

[Monstar]

That's awesome, thanks for the great responses. I guess different tools to get the same job done.

I had not thought about keggles in the winter either!

Anyway, keep building them. Every time I see a new build I get a half boner.

 

[MalFet]

Anyway, keep building them. Every time I see a new build I get a half boner.

/me quietly takes down brewrig pics from hbt.

 

[Monstar]

Ha! Still plenty to look at.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

My system started with a cooler MT. I had some bad luck with the coolers and ended up with 2 warped/cracked and ruined. At that point I decided I wanted something more robust so I went with a stainless keggle MT. Long story short, without the insulation of the cooler, I needed to maintain mash temps. Because I like to tinker, I built my system capable of both RIMS and HERMS.

 

[Yooper]

Ha. Yes, those are great reasons indeed! Im just wondering why they choose this route instead of more practical ones. Besides it being totally awesome, of course.

More practical? Let's see..............my HLT is heating water for my sparge anyway, so the only thing I added was a HEX coil (my old immersion chiller) and some fittings. I can mash out in 7 minutes simply by raising the temperature to 170 on my controller. The wort is crystal clear, as I continuously recirculate, and the temp is always exact throughout the mash. I can step mash easily without having a too-thin mash at the end.

That said, for some smaller (5 gallon) single infusion batches, I don't bother with the HERMS. I have a cooler MLT, which holds the temperature fine so it's not strictly needed for that. For larger batches, the HERMS is awesome.

 

[Monstar]

Very cool. That rules.