Insulate your RIMS tube?

[yinzer2]

Does anyone insulate their RIMS tube? I just got a nice one from the conical-fermenter site. It's pretty big so I'm thinking about insulating it.

Any reasons not too?

 

[Stankonia]

I've seen a few people on here do it. It wouldn't take a lot of effort, so I don't see why not.

Do you mind posting the link for where you got it?

 

[yinzer2]

Anyone have any pics of how they insulated theirs? Shouldn't be too hard. Just looking for ideas.

Sure:

http://conical-fermenter.com/products/mash-tuns/-- scroll down to "RIMS Module"

I was also looking at the lower link, it really was a toss up.
https://www.brewershardware.com/RIMS-Tube/


As you can see only after a few uses (and a mishap) the heating element was a mess. It will be easy to clean the new unit. Also the one that I made leaked some.

Any other questions just ask, but I wont be using it for a few weeks. But you can see why I might want to insulate it.

 

[mabrungard]

I insulated my RIMS with the foam pipe insulation wrap that you can buy from the hardware stores. Since that stuff only goes up to about 1" diameter, I had to splice an extra sector into the wrap so that it would reach around the tube.

I insulate as much of the piping to and from the mash tun too.

Insulation makes sense since you're trying to keep heat in the system and this reduces the losses.

 

[limulus]

I insulated my RIMS with the foam pipe insulation wrap that you can buy from the hardware stores. Since that stuff only goes up to about 1" diameter, I had to splice an extra sector into the wrap so that it would reach around the tube.

I insulate as much of the piping to and from the mash tun too.

Insulation makes sense since you're trying to keep heat in the system and this reduces the losses.

I did the same thing:

 

[yinzer2]

Thanks everyone.

And here's an interesting take. This guy heat-wraps a tube and uses no internal heating source. I wonder if this would help in conjunction with a typical RIMS?

I think that the key to any RIMS or HERMS is to try to eliminate any heat loss anywhere. I have a feeling that it's more important to insulate the hoses and also in my case the grant.


http://www.brews-bros.com/index.php?/topic/44244-swagman-going-to-a-rims/page__st__20

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/117/511/=ey0uf2

 

[TravelingBrewer22]

is the heatloss significant enough to warrant insulating a rims tube/system?

 

[yinzer2]

is the heatloss significant enough to warrant insulating a rims tube/system?

I don't really know at this point, but I don't think that it could hurt to insulate it. The RIMS tube should be able enough to have the exiting wort be at any temperature that you want it to be. It would seem to me that the less heat loss from the exit of the mash tun to the RIMS unit (and including the RIMS shell) would mean that the RIMS element would be on less. And that would be a good thing.

I have four temperature zones with my RIMS, and I think that this would be true with any RIMS or HERMS, but the variance between them would be defined by each set-up. The top of the MT, the mid-to-bottom of the MT, the entrance if the RIMS/Herms and the exit of the RIMS/Herms. I want to try and keep all zones as close as possible.

In my case since I use a grant I'll have more heat loss going into my heat exchanger than others who don't use one. The wort in my grant seems to be 4-6 degrees below that of the grain bed. The RIMS PID has a +4 degree bump and I might need to bump that up. BUT,my last batch (Saison)had wheat malt which slowed the sparge flow which in turn seems to had made the temperature gaps worse. That was my second run, the first was an IPA where I recirculated almost wide open. My system seemed more efficient then.

What does all of this mean towards making good beer? I don't really have a clue. I imagine as long as you don't scorch the wort and get proper conversion that is all good. I know that I have a much more stable and regulate-able (is that a word?) mash bed than when I didn't have the RIMS.

I just want to keep everything as tight as possible. If I'm worried about what I'm doing to the enzymes I could probably and very easily just throw in a handful of base malt every 15 minutes or so.

sorry for the rambling, cheers

 

[mabrungard]

Reducing your heat losses anywhere in your system will improve the system's ability to perform a temperature step. If you just perform single temperature mashes, it may not be a big deal.

The other consideration is that by reducing heat losses, your heating element will be operating at a lower duty cycle or frequency and the potential for scorching or burning the wort will be reduced. It just makes sense to insulate to the degree that you can.