More or less valves?

[Ramdough]

So, I am laying out my electric brewery. I have it set up so that the lower hoses from the MLT and BK are never moved during brewing and my exit from my rims tube moves from the MLT and BK up high. My HLT connects and disconnects from the MLT. I hope that makes sense.

So, I have determined that with two three way valves and one extra hose, I could get by with never moving a hose.

Is it worth doing that? I would would have to disconnect the keggles to clean them anyway.


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[jpalarchio]

A diagram would help along with a brief description of your process.

Only you can answer if it's "worth it" but the above information might help someone tell you if they know of a more optimal way to accomplish what you want.

 

[heckels]

Diagram would be nice. I've got a HERMs setup and had to purchase 5 3-way valves to not move a hose.

While it's nice not scalding yourself, it can be a pain to assemble/disassemble and clean.


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[Ramdough]

So this is a rough sketch. There are four 3-way valves. One is in either side of the pump. One is on the rims output and one is on the MLT.

Sorry the sketch is rough. All hoses are pretty short.


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[jpalarchio]

Can you provide a brief summary of your process?

Is your HLT heated?

Are you planning on using T or L style valves?

 

[Ramdough]

So, the HLT, the Bk, and the RIMS tube have heaters. The HLT is elevated and provides hot water to start the mash and later for sparge water. The pump can recirculate water in the MLT, pump wort to the BK, or pump to the chiller.

The three way valves select between drawing from the BK and MLT that are feeding the pump. The output of the pump hits a three way valve were on branch goes to the chiller and the other branch goes to the RIMS tube. From the rims tube, a three way valve connects the rims tub to the BK or another three way valve at the MLT input. The three way at the MLT selects between fluid coming from the pump or the HLT.

What do you think?


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[jpalarchio]

I'm sure what you have will work, here are some thoughts I had if it were my system:

Why even put the HLT on a valve if it only gravity drains to the mash tun? You should just drape the hose or have a second connection into the mash tun and it's one less valve to turn.

Do you want to pump through your RIMS tube when going to the kettle? Unless you need some heat for some reason, I would put the valve before the RIMS tube and then go straight from this RIMS tube to the mash tun.

This would allow two things:

1. You could take the RIMS tube out of the loop and start cleaning it during your sparge (time saver).

2. The valve used by the hose going into the kettle could be shared with the chiller. So there would be one hose swap at the end of the process but it saves you a valve (money saver).

 

[Ramdough]

I'm sure what you have will work, here are some thoughts I had if it were my system:



Why even put the HLT on a valve if it only gravity drains to the mash tun? You should just drape the hose or have a second connection into the mash tun and it's one less valve to turn.



Do you want to pump through your RIMS tube when going to the kettle? Unless you need some heat for some reason, I would put the valve before the RIMS tube and then go straight from this RIMS tube to the mash tun.



This would allow two things:



1. You could take the RIMS tube out of the loop and start cleaning it during your sparge (time saver).



2. The valve used by the hose going into the kettle could be shared with the chiller. So there would be one hose swap at the end of the process but it saves you a valve (money saver).

I like your idea of dedicated lines and no valve on the mash tun. I think the extra fittings and hose (long hose laying on grain bed similar to Kal's setup) may cost almost as much as the valve. I will have to think about it a bit.

The reason I am going through the rims tube is that it will be flushed a little when I sparge and I don't plan on cleaning that part of the system until boil.

I am hoping to be able to do some of my cleaning by flushing boiling water and cleaner through my lines, valves, and keggles without disconnecting hoses. I can also sanitize that way before I start brewing.


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[Bensiff]

Oh man, that drawing is classic...not being a CAD user I had about a hundred of those as I designed my system, you will eventually evolve to standardizing symbols for the various parts...ah memories. Anyway, dealing with hot metal and liquids suck, I will probably at some point invest in a few 3-way valves to minimize hose changes. As another poster said, cleaning everything is a pain so when I get around to modding my hose layout my focus will be on only moving hoses that are above the liquid level.

 

[Ramdough]

Ok, so I have never used a rims tube before. I have only used a cooler.

Joe hard are they to clean. Basically, pulling the element is the only way to scrub in there. I was hoping to flush with boiling water and cleaner as my primary cleaning method.

I had an alternate idea. I could use my rims tube to heat glycol and use my counter flow chiller as a herms coil. If I minimize the heated volume of glycol, I could maybe just turn some valves and switch to my chilled glycol reservoir to cool my wort later in the process.

Does that sound any better? That would eliminate one valve.


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