Is re-circulation worth it? HERMES upgrade

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mattco353

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I use a well insulated beer keg with copper manifold for my mash tun. I have no problem maintaining temperature during mash (typically lose 1 deg C over an hour). I'm thinking of adding a pump for re-circulation during next upgrade and would appreciate any advice from users of pumped systems on the likely benefits. Thanks
 
I use a pump in my mash tun for a couple of reasons. First, it allows me to maintain and step temperatures in my mash. I have a metal mash tum with an insulator wrap that is fair at holding temps over time. I pump through a coil in my HLT which eliminates my concerns abuot temps dropping over time. I can also step up my mash temp relatively easily by raising the water temp in the HLT and pumping through the coil to raise the mash temp. It helps me by not diluting my mash by needing to add too much water to effectively raise temperatures. Second, it allows me to filter my wort through the grain bed which produces a nice clear wort into the boil resulting in less trub later.

Based on your set up, the benefit is the ability to do easier step mashes and clearer wort into the boil kettle. You may also see a slight rise in efficiency, but you'll need to test that for yourself and determine if you need to adjust your recipes.
 
I have only brewed 6 batches in my HERMS, new this year. I have noticed an improved efficiency about 5% over the single infusion mash i been doing. What kind of sparge are you guys doing?
 
I generally fly sparge. I have a Stout mash tun with their sparge arm. I have a pretty good history on my system's volumes - what the mash tun holds, how much liquid is retained my my grains, etc., and sparge enough water to produce the pre-boil volume I need for any particular batch. I drain virtually all of the available wort (unless I over shoot my sparge, then I just leave that behind). I use a pump to transfer the wort to the boil kettle, so it is a little bit of a game to balance the wort coming out of the mash tun with the sparge water going in to keep the level right in the tun. And then another game to move the rest of the wort out without collapsing the grain bed. But for me, the process is part of the fun in brewing.
 
Thanks for your help. I batch sparge single infusion mashes and all of my brewing to date has been for ale styles but based on your feedback I could expect clearer worts, some improvement in efficiency (typically 75% for the current set up) as well as the flexibility to do more complex mash schedules. I have a coil in the HLT (a copper cylinder for domestic water heating in a former life!) that I can use to add some additional heat so re jigging to incorporate the pump won't be too difficult. One final question, typically what should you aim for regarding circulation rate? is 1-2 L per min adequate or is it style dependent?
 
My recirculation may be a little more than 1 - 2 l per min, but that may be about right. I just close my valve until there's some flow without real stirring of the wort in the mash tun. I haven't actually measured the flow. And I haven't done anything differnet based on style as far as recirculation goes.
 
Yes.

I have now done 3 batches since I started recirculating and I have been better than my preboild estimated OG exactly on each of the three batches (~80% efficiency). I use a really primitive setup where the coil just rests in my HLT with hoses attached to the ends of the coil. Pretty basic, but it might be something to try before you plumb up your HLT and MT.

I got the basic idea from this 2 video series. So thank you to the videographer.

 
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