Need help with Electric Herms build

[ApolloSpeed]

We are looking to build our own HERMS 1bbl electric system, I'm aware of the prebuilt system from Blichmann, Spike, HG, Stout, ...but we are curious if we can save some money by building it ourselves.

One of us is pretty good with electronics, so after looking at this...

https://skrilnetz.net/how-to-build-a-brewing-control-panel-herms-240v-30-amp/

He said no problem building the controller.

There is some much info and so many places to buy kettles, pumps, plumbing, and fittings for the rest of the build. Can you guys recommend me some links for the rest of this build? Maybe a parts list. etc.etc.

1bbl setup. All electric. Fairly easy to control, accurate, and good quality.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BeardedBrews]

This might be the right place for you to start:
http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/


Or you could buy a system already built:
https://www.blichmannengineeringproseries.com/product-p/ahoriz-elec-tk-1bbl.htm

https://spikebrewing.com/collections/spike-systems/products/spike-system-50-gallon

https://conical-fermenter.com/1-bbl-system-legs-electric.html?cat=11

 

[ApolloSpeed]

Yeah, I've looked that those pre-built systems....just curious if we could save some money building it ourselves. We are pretty good with tools and mainly.... we have more time than money lol.

*edited OP to clarify

 

[baer19d]

Are you sure you even need a HERMS? A well insulated 1bbl mash tun will hold temps very well making the HERMS unnecessary. I built a 1/2bbl HERMS and after only a few brews I realized I would be better off insulating the mash tun. It took way to long to raise temps with the HERMS so if you mashed in too low by accident or wanted to do a step mash raising the temp took a while. And forget about doing a mash out. It takes forever to raise the temp that much. BTW, unless you're doing a very thick mash (about 1qt/lb or less) or using a lot of adjuncts, mash out isn't necessary. Just my 2 cents.

 

[don_bran321]

So this is a cheap control panel that you can build 240v 30A. You can use a 3 barel system with this you just have to switch the power cables and tempurature sensors manually (not a big deal)
https://www.auberinc.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=58_59&products_id=678

Check Amazon for a herms coil. I got a used 50' Jockey box coil for like 60 bucks. Looked like new.

Good luck!

 

[SoCal-Doug]

To the O/P question... Hell yes! If you can weld, fabricate and are electrically capable, you can save a lot of money building yourself. You can also shop smarter on the components and save more money.

 

[don_bran321]

Even easier! You don't have to weld. If your pots are stainless steel you can use silver solder. It's super easy to do and very strong.
Brewhardware.com has a little kit

 

[SleepyCreekBrews]

I’m pretty sure you’re gonna need more than 30 amps for 1 bbl

 

[BeardedBrews]

Yeah, I've looked that those pre-built systems....just curious if we could save some money building it ourselves. We are pretty good with tools and mainly.... we have more time than money lol.

Building a 50-amp 4-element system with 40 gallon concord kettles and budget components should be possible at $1,000-1,500 if we're just talking about the brew stand. Budget another $500 for "extras" and you're still saving 2,000-3,000

Your original post is probably too vague to get any useful information on the "next steps". You're asking about a parts list, but we don't know the type of system you're trying to build, if you want to use gravity or single-tier, rims/herms/insulation, etc.

I linked TheElectricBrewery because that is one place that has a very thorough explanation of the electrical components, but also of the support pieces like pumps and chillers, grain mills, etc. The basic configuration that Kal is describing would work for any size kettle, and he also includes a section for stepping up to 30-40 gallons from an electrical standpoint.

 

[ApolloSpeed]

Sry, we are thinking about going single tier HERMS with pumps, thanks for that Electric Brewery link, tons of info in there.

 

[BeardedBrews]

Sry, we are thinking about going single tier HERMS with pumps, thanks for that Electric Brewery link, tons of info in there.

Not a problem, I'd say you will probably find everything you need for a parts list on Kal's site. If you're building from scratch you should consider your fermentation and clean-in-place system as well. Adding conicals and temperature control can get expensive fairly quickly in this size range. Cleaning can also become a hassle, you may want to look at a larger submersible pump to drive spray balls making clean-up easier.

 

[TexasWine]

We are looking to build our own HERMS 1bbl electric system, I'm aware of the prebuilt system from Blichmann, Spike, HG, Stout, ...but we are curious if we can save some money by building it ourselves.

One of us is pretty good with electronics, so after looking at this...

https://skrilnetz.net/how-to-build-a-brewing-control-panel-herms-240v-30-amp/

He said no problem building the controller.

There is some much info and so many places to buy kettles, pumps, plumbing, and fittings for the rest of the build. Can you guys recommend me some links for the rest of this build? Maybe a parts list. etc.etc.

1bbl setup. All electric. Fairly easy to control, accurate, and good quality.

Thanks in advance.

I did research and priced out a 1 bbl system earlier this year and weighed out pretty much every option I could from turnkey systems to those that involved a little DIY. I'm not comfortable doing a controller completely DIY from scratch, so I was looking at pre-built or semi pre-built ones like the DIY kits that are out there. I also looked at DIY kettles that required all the holes to be punched and pre-built kettles with valves and other things included.

What I found was that the Blichmann 55 gallon kettles combined with the Hosehead X4BL 100 amp controller (only $775!) was the best value (https://brewtronix.com/hosehead). The kettles even have the ability to be expanded to 110 gallon with a simple extension they sell.

But, keep in mind I was limited on the controller front due to my aversion to electrical work.

The kettles, false bottom and the controller will run you less than $4k total. Then of course you gotta get everything else.

Also, I wouldn't go traditional HERMs for the reasons mentioned above. I'd either go counterflow HERMs, using an external exchanger in conjunction with a HLT (water on one side and wort on the other), or I would go the route of using an uber-long cartrige heater like @augiedoggy is planning for his upcoming 3 bbl system. With counterflow HERMs I have found that I get great ramp times even with a small heat input, partly because you can run much less water in the HLT than with traditional coils and partly because heat exchangers are much better at transferring heat than plain-jane coils submerged in water. It's why pipe-in-pipe, plate and shell and tube exchangers perform much better at chilling than immersion chillers. Augiedoggy is using something like a 36" long cartridge heater at a fairly low wattage and getting outstanding results as well.