HERMS tempratue in mashtun

[brewboy04]

Hi,
i am looking at the possibility of moving to a herms set-up which would use gas to heat the hlt. An ignition switch and solenoid valve would control the hlt temperature therefore the mashtun temp.

i have a few questions aroung herms.

1) does the circulating mash return to the mashtun via the sparge arm?
2) how do you keep the mash tun at a even temperature throughout the container.
3) where is the best place to have the temperature probe?


any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Gameface]

Not sure exactly how yours will be set-up by I'm using a Kal-type system. So I drain from the valve at the bottom of my mash tun and send to the HERMs coil in the HLT then back to the top via my "sparge arm" which is loc-line that I can move to just above the grain bed.

So the mash temp remains consistent because it is constantly circulating through the HERMS coil and back through the grain.

 

[TechyDork]

1 - Yes. I would just pump it back in through the sparge arm.

2 - The act of recirculating the mash through the coil in the HLT and back in to the top of the MLT will keep the mash temp fairly even throughout the mash.

3 - I would recommend putting the probe in a tee fitting on the valve coming out of the MLT. This will give you the most accurate reading.

You will also want to recirculate the water in the HLT to maintain even temps in that vessel as well.

I use an electric HERMS set up, but the same principles should work in a direct fired system as well.

 

[brewboy04]

1 - Yes. I would just pump it back in through the sparge arm.

2 - The act of recirculating the mash through the coil in the HLT and back in to the top of the MLT will keep the mash temp fairly even throughout the mash.

3 - I would recommend putting the probe in a tee fitting on the valve coming out of the MLT. This will give you the most accurate reading.

You will also want to recirculate the water in the HLT to maintain even temps in that vessel as well.

I use an electric HERMS set up, but the same principles should work in a direct fired system as well.

thats great thanks,

 

[brewboy04]

So do you use a separate pump to recirculate the hlt?

 

[TechyDork]

So do you use a separate pump to recirculate the hlt?

Yes. I have two pumps a "water" and a "wort" pump. The water pump only recirculates the water in the HLT during the mash, and then pumps the water from the HLT through my HERMS coil and through the sparge arm for sparging.

The wort pump is used to recirculate the mash and then to pump the wort to the BK during sparge.