Hillbilly HERMS

[oddcopter]

I'm going to give this a try this weekend. Hope it works!

 

[petemoss]

So, when mashing I assume you will move the hose from the HLT to the outlet of the mash tun. Then you will recirculate through the coil in the pot with the sous vide circulator. Let us know how this works. As the owner of the exact same sous vide cooker I will be interested to know if it can keep temp by itself or if you have to use the induction cook top.

 

[oddcopter]

So, when mashing I assume you will move the hose from the HLT to the outlet of the mash tun. Then you will recirculate through the coil in the pot with the sous vide circulator. Let us know how this works. As the owner of the exact same sous vide cooker I will be interested to know if it can keep temp by itself or if you have to use the induction cook top.

I ended up brewing this afternoon. Just finished. I did the biermuncher blonde. The sous vide worked great and it maintained a steady wort temp. However, the cheap pump I used struggled to keep the wort flowing. I just ordered an Anvil pump. I think the cheapo one will be good for transferring water, but that's all. So maybe it is a good thing since I won't have to be moving hoses as you correctly pointed out. Ha. I always waste money on cheap stuff, when I should just pay up.

 

[oddcopter]

So, when mashing I assume you will move the hose from the HLT to the outlet of the mash tun. Then you will recirculate through the coil in the pot with the sous vide circulator. Let us know how this works. As the owner of the exact same sous vide cooker I will be interested to know if it can keep temp by itself or if you have to use the induction cook top.

Oh, and the induction cooktop is just for the initial heating or between steps. The sous vide is perfect for maintaing a temp. The induction cooktop was dirt cheap on monoprice. $28.20 shipped

 

[petemoss]

That is awesome. I will have to try it. I will still have to get/make a copper coil. I have a hydra chiller, but I don't think I want to have wort buildup in it. Oh, I guess I need a pump too. Maybe I'll get to it at some point.

Did you set your sous vide to the exact temp you wanted the mash at or did you have to set it to a higher temp?

 

[oddcopter]

The temp on the sous vide has to be higher, but holds the mash constant. When I tested with only water, it was only a 2 degree difference. Since this pump was barely moving the wort, I had to set it 7 degrees higher. I think when I get a reliable pump it will be about 3.

My mash temp was 150, so when I saw it drop to 149, I upped the sous vide a bit and it came back to 150 and stayed there. I was surprised how precise it was and how easy to control, especially with this pump ($24 Amazon pump the size of pill bottle).

I didn't step up to mash out because the pump was failing, so I am interested to see what happens on big step mash changes. That is where I will use the induction cooktop. What I have noticed, testing with water, is that the temp moves up pretty quickly, then I shut off the induction cooktop and it takes a few of minutes for the sous vide to stabilize the temp in the pot. Initially, the temp drops a degree then works its way back up. Overall, I'd say it is pretty precise.

 

[oddcopter]

Also, this is a pretty small system. It's a 5 gallon cooler with a 6 inch bazooka screen. A false bottom might be better. The "HERMS" pot only has 1.5 gallons of water. It has a magnetic bottom, which is needed for the induction cooktop. The coil is a tiny 3/8 inch pre-chiller. I probably should bought some 1/2 inch copper, since all the tubing and connections are 1/2 inch.

 

[petemoss]

Great additional info. Thanks a bunch. I'm glad that it worked out well.

 

[oddcopter]

I had the same problem of a weak flow with a more expensive Anvil pump. Turns out, I should have followed advice I read here saying to throttle back the flow with the ball valve on the mash cooler. Once I did that, everything worked really well. I had about a 3 degree differential between HERMS and mash temps. Held steady as a rock and look at that clear wort!

 

[MVKTR2]

Did this setup work to perform mash steps such as raising temps to a mash out temp?

 

[oddcopter]

Did this setup work to perform mash steps such as raising temps to a mash out temp?

Yes. I did a step from 149 to 158 by turning on the induction cooker. The sous vide holds the temp stable. To mash out I added water from the hlt after pulling first runnings.