Questions for electric herms guys.....

[wildwest450]

What temp do you keep your hlt at? And do you occasionally stir the mash or let it be? My first brew for some reason took a big temp jump, to 160f! after the pump ran for the first time. Which makes no sense, so I was continually stirring it in a panic for the rest of the hour.

This setup is driving me bonkers. Maybe a ranco in a thermowell isn't responding quick enough? I know it's spot on accuracy wise.

 

[Walker]

I don't know what temp my HLT is at, because I monitor the wort temp as it comes back into the MLT. I don't stir anything.

My mash hits the set temp pretty much dead on (within 1*F) and holds steady.

 

[wildwest450]

I don't know what temp my HLT is at, because I monitor the wort temp as it comes back into the MLT. I don't stir anything.

My mash hits the set temp pretty much dead on (within 1*F) and holds steady.

Do you constantly recirculate? How do you not know your hlt temp? What's your wort temp as it returns?

 

[flananuts]

Do you put your coil in the HTL and recirc through that? I have a thermo well reading the temp of the wort as it returns back to the mash. The sensor then either heats the HLT water accordingly. In my set up I recirculate the mash water until the mash water is a few degrees above my strike temp. After I mash in the grain temp is lower but recovers quickly. I use a separate thermometer that I will insert in different parts of the mash and test until my mash temp is uniform. That's when I start my timers. I don't rely on timers to know when my mash is done, I use an iodine test. My mash is always recirculating to maintain consistent temps the whole time, as well as end up with clear beautiful wort.

 

[wildwest450]

Do you put your coil in the HTL and recirc through that?

Yes.

 

[Walker]

wildwest...

I have my temp probe for the PID mounted in a little chamber at the output of the coil. I directly monitor the temp of the wort as it returns to the MLT this way. If the PID sees the temp falling, it bumps the heat on the HLT.

The temp of the work coming out of the coil is always within 0.1*F of my set-point.

I constantly circulate the wort.

Let me see if I can get a pic of the coil and temp probe....

 

[Walker]

here it is.

pump pushes wort into the left side of the coil, flows through the coil which is sitting in the HLT water, and comes back out on the right side of the coil. It flows right around the probe before headed out the hose to return to the MLT.

 

[wildwest450]

Well, la de da mr. fancy pants. We all don't have such extravagant setups.

I guess I need to do a water only run again, and try to see why the temp spiked like it did.

 

[Ranger9913]

I have a regular analog temp probe in my MLT and I also have a K type temp probe hooked up to my BCS-460. Both probes are mounted in my MLT and I've been having trouble getting them to both read the same. I find that I have to stir while recirculating for about 15 mins to get everything to equalize. I find I have to have my HLT at 163-165 to maintain a 154-156 mash temp.

 

[JKoravos]

I keep my HLT a half a degree above mash mash temp, continuously recirculate the wort. HLT is continuously stirred. I control my HLT temp.

 

[Bixter1]

I watch the mlt, wort returning in and hlt. I recirculate my hlt all the time. I spike my hlt to get a rapid rise in temp and then set it 1 degree above what I want in the mlt. I have nice heavy pots and a uContoller which monitors and does all the heat work for me. It's spot on. I never stir my mash.

 

[wildwest450]

Looks like there's many different ways to do this. It would help if Blichmann didn't put their stupid thermometer's an inch from the top of the pot.

I do believe i'll have to drill a lower hole so I have two measuring points.

 

[Ranger9913]

Looks like there's many different ways to do this. It would help if Blichmann didn't put their stupid thermometer's an inch from the top of the pot.

I do believe i'll have to drill a lower hole so I have two measuring points.

All the pics of the Blichmann pots I've seen show the thermometer in the lower half, or right about the valve.

 

[wildwest450]

All the pics of the Blichmann pots I've seen show the thermometer in the lower half, or right about the valve.

It may look like it. Of course i'm doing 6 gallon batches in a 15 gallon pot. But it takes 6.5 gallons to cover the probe.

 

[Ranger9913]

Ah, I thought you meant the actual top of the top. You mean top of the grain bed, that I can see.

 

[wildwest450]

Ah, I thought you meant the actual top of the top. You mean top of the grain bed, that I can see.

A poor attempt at sarcasm.

 

[rianrt]

i have the same problem making 6 gallons in a 15 gal blichmann. what i did in the hlt was add more water (at least 7 gallons). that makes the therm usable. as far as the mash i measure at the output of the herms coil.

 

[Budzu]

I have had your problem happen to me as well (wort coming out of the hex at too high temp). And I think I know why.

Didn't you mention in another thread at some point that your HLT is not being continuously agitated or stirred? Forgive me if I'm wrong.
But the heating convection currents are not enough to even out the temp in the HLT. It is quite possible there is a hot spot on the HEX coil at certain times.
When I did not recirculate my HLT, I experienced similar things.

Also: Once I started monitoring the temp of my mash with a probe stuck right in the mash bed, I realized that my HLT needed to sit 3 degrees higher than my desired mash temp. The wort coming out of the HEX is usually right with the HLT temp (maybe 1 degree lower), but there is some heat loss going on.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I set my HLT to [desired rest temp+3]ºF. I constantly agitate the HLT water to reduce temp stratification and circulate the mash wort. I find that with my setup I need to stir three times during a 60 minute mash to consistently get 97% conversion (my target). I am really not sure why I need to stir so much, I never used to. But then again I never used to keep as detailed notes as I do now, so maybe I just didn't know...

Like Budzu, I suspect temp strat. in the HLT to be your culprit.

 

[wildwest450]

I guess i'm going to start recirculating. That blows, but not as bad as my mash spiking off the chart. I'm off to drill and wreck an over priced Suckmann lid.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

Just my opinion, but I really think it is better to go through the side wall than through the lid.....

 

[wildwest450]

Just my opinion, but I really think it is better to go through the side wall than through the lid.....

But i'm scared. I figured i'd go through the lid since my coil goes through the lid also. Eventually, i'll hard mount a coil through the walls and do it up right. BTW recirculating does make a big difference with temp control. There's only a one degree difference between the top and the bottom of the hlt now.

 

[KyBeer]

I have a BCS. I pump the wort from the MT through a herms coil in the HLT and back to the MT. I have temp probes in the top of the MT that measures the grain bed temp at the top, the output of the herms coil and the HLT. I use a second pump to recirculate the water in the HLT to avoid uneven heating. When I step mash it takes about five minutes to step 3-4 degrees. the HLT has a 5500 watt element, (25 amp / 240v).
On brews where the preboil volume in 12-13 gallons I have to do two runs. I have the strike water high enough to correct foe the grain temp. I can add water slowly to the HLT and still continually recirc. After the conversion or a period of time I move the wort to the BK, add water to the MT, stir and let rest while adding more water to the HLT. when the HLT in at temp I start the recirc again for s short period then transfer the wort to the BK
I have done this three times for beers with O.G, s of 1.100 or higher making sure the wort S.G. does not drop below the F.G. target.
I have brewed for over 30 years with several brew systems and used a process like this with great results.
My last change to the process was to mill my grains finer, add rice hulls and line my MT with a BIAB liner. Picked up about six points on my O.G.
Good luck brewing.

 

[kevin58]

answering a 12 year old question.

 

[KyBeer]

Stress over brewing puts stress from work in perspective. And yes, I don't alway see the date of a post. The topic is still applicable.

 

[Control Freak]

I set my HLT to [desired rest temp+3]ºF. I constantly agitate the HLT water to reduce temp stratification and circulate the mash wort. I find that with my setup I need to stir three times during a 60 minute mash to consistently get 97% conversion (my target). I am really not sure why I need to stir so much, I never used to. But then again I never used to keep as detailed notes as I do now, so maybe I just didn't know...

Like Budzu, I suspect temp strat. in the HLT to be your culprit.

There is a Temperature Differential between the temp of the HLT and Mash Tun and it varies with each system. In order to get the best control the HLT has to have constant recirculation. The best place to monitor the temps are at points in the circulation loops. As far as stirring the mash, it's recommended that you stir the top 1/3 of the mash which prevents it from becoming overly compacted. In addition once your system is dialed in avoid opening and closing the kettles this accounts for a lot of heat loss.

 

[KyBeer]

I have noticed that the flow rate of the recirculation decreases the difference between the mash Tun temperature and the HERMS coil temperature. When increasing the temperature of the mash, the Hearns coil leads the mash temp by 4 or 5°.
Because I use a 10 gallon water cooler, [big orange], it holds the temperature very well and I do not open until it's time for the second mash.

 

[Blazinlow86]

What temp do you keep your hlt at? And do you occasionally stir the mash or let it be? My first brew for some reason took a big temp jump, to 160f! after the pump ran for the first time. Which makes no sense, so I was continually stirring it in a panic for the rest of the hour.

This setup is driving me bonkers. Maybe a ranco in a thermowell isn't responding quick enough? I know it's spot on accuracy wise.

My hlt is set at the temp I want my mlt to be at.... I dont stir my mash after initial doin. Your overthinking this

 

[TeflonTom]

What temp do you keep your hlt at? And do you occasionally stir the mash or let it be? My first brew for some reason took a big temp jump, to 160f! after the pump ran for the first time. Which makes no sense, so I was continually stirring it in a panic for the rest of the hour.

This setup is driving me bonkers. Maybe a ranco in a thermowell isn't responding quick enough? I know it's spot on accuracy wise.

I typically bring my HLT up to 170f. By that time the strike water that is circulating in my mash tun has hit the strike temp of about 160-157. That's when I mash in and the temp drops to about 153 (depending on how much grain you're using that may differ, but that's typically where it falls with my usual 10-14lbs of grain.) I like to adjust my HLT to about 6 degrees warmer than my mash temp target. I stir my grains about every 10-15 minutes just to make sure I am getting the most out of my grains.

 

[KyBeer]

I use the Mash Calculator from Brewer's Friend.
Constantly recirc mash through a HERMS coil in my HLT.
Constantly recirc HLT.
Temp probes in the HLT, top of the MT and output of the HERMS coil.
The HLT to mash temp difference is a function of flow rate in my system but very controllable and stable.
I find 5-6 degrees between HLT and mash target is about right.
Step mashing responds about one degree per minute for 8-9 gallons mash and 10 gallon in HLT.
( Need to keep the HERMS coil covered to get that quick response. )

I wise old brewer once told me that it is easier to conserve heat than it is to make it.