HERMS sparge question

[OneHoppyGuy]

I need help understanding the sparge portion of a HERMS setup.

If the wort is being kept at temperature with a coil in the HLT, when it's time to sparge, where does the 180 degree rinse water come from?

What am I missing

 

[aludwig]

Usually at the end of the mash I raise the HLT temp to 175 for sparge while still recirculating. This starts denaturing the enzymes while the sparge water is getting ready. It usually only takes my system 10 min to raise from mash to sparge anyway.

 

[OneHoppyGuy]

That's what I assumed... ok, now I know

 

[luhrks]

+1

I ramp up the MT and HLT to mashout temp while doing a full recirc.

Once Mash out temp is hit, I continue recirc for 5-10 minutes, then I stop the recirc pump, and route the MT output from recirc pump in, to the BK in. Also I run a line from the HLT out to the recirc pump in.

I then flush the pump and HEX with sparge water from the HLT into the MT in.

Total sparge time is usually 10-15minutes. Efficiency 90%+

 

[JuanMoore]

I usually batch sparge and simply use the water in the HLT at whatever temp it's at (usually 2F hotter than my target mash temp). When batch sparging, mashing out and/or using hotter sparge water is a complete waste of time and energy IMO. It takes longer to denature the enzymes than it does for me to sparge, and the sparge runnings are being added to the first runnings that are already well over denaturing temps since I fire my BK burner as soon as there's liquid present. Sparge water temp also has no effect on efficiency for batch sparging, since the sugars are being brought into solution via agitation.

For fly sparging, you can wait until the sacc rest is over and then crank up the HLT burner/element to mash out, or a faster mash-out you can stop the recirc towards the end of the mash, and pre-heat the HLT during the last few minutes of the rest.

 

[audger]

FWIW 172 is the temperature where you start to extract tannins from the grain. you should keep your sparge water and mashout temps below that, ideally 169-170 max.

 

[Snafu]

I need help understanding the sparge portion of a HERMS setup.

If the wort is being kept at temperature with a coil in the HLT, when it's time to sparge, where does the 180 degree rinse water come from?

What am I missing

What I did this week-end (first time HERMS user) I raised the temp in the HLT to 170 for a mash out (because I fly sparge). Did the mash out for 15 mins and let the water in the HLT cool to 168 and reconfigured my hoses so I ran water from the HLT through the HERMS coil, then through sparge arm into MLT. This also rinsed the coil of any wort so nothing was wasted.