RIMS Setup questions

[mongoose33]

Implementing a RIMS system for mashing. A few questions for those doing this:

1. I see some with very long silicone hoses. Is that just a situation where the brewer accepts a certain amount of liquid loss in the hoses, and accounts for it?

2. What's the best way to orient the RIMS tube? I know some are horizontal, some vertical, and maybe the reason brewers pick one or the other is physical constraints of the setup. But is there a best way if one has no such constraints?

3. I did a test of the system and after pulling all the liquid out of the mash tun, I then drained the RIMS tube and tubing, ended up with about 12-13 ounces of liquid. I could, I suppose, just drain the wort into a cup and add to the boil...

Couple of pics attached showing where I'm at; the setup is a proof-of-concept setup, not permanent, so I can orient these things any way I want. Using a false bottom in the mash tun and a Locline return manifold.

Thanks for any insight you can provide as to your choices and why you did what you did.

 

[mabrungard]

1. Silicone hose is good for discharge lines, but may not be rigid enough for suction lines. I use the reinforced vinyl lines for suction since they are more rigid. I preboil that vinyl hose material prior to its first use to help get the volatiles out of the plastic.

2. Best orientation? Probably vertical, but I run mine mostly horizontal with a slight uphill slant to the discharge end. That fits my brewing space better.

3. Yep, I have a plastic pitcher that I collect the wort out of the lines. Its then poured into the kettle. I doubt I lose more than a couple ounces due to the lines.

 

[BrunDog]

I believe that vertical is better, but it is a function of how much heat you pump into it. Several reasons come to mind, but number one, by far, is that in a zero flow situation, the heat from the element will rise, warm the probe, and trip the PID to turn off the heat. This will probably not occur in a horizontal orientation.

Edit: You can mount the tube directly to the side of the kettle if you like, too.

 

[brewbama]

I think your setup is fine.

I run my RIMS vertical because that’s where it’s convenient to mount it. The top of the tube is about the same height as the liquid in the mash tun would be. My thought is that if the flow stops for whatever reason, the element would not be dry firing. It may scorch the wort (that hasn’t happened yet — knock on wood) but the element would be submerged.

 

[augiedoggy]

I set my manifold/rims up so theres no waste.. pumps are inline and at the end of sparging theres only extra sparge water in the rims and all the short hoses and rims.

you should be able to push the last bit out of yours with extra water, stopping when youve reached your preboil right?

 

[Gameface]

I set my manifold/rims up so theres no waste.. pumps are inline and at the end of sparging theres only extra sparge water in the rims and all the short hoses and rims.

you should be able to push the last bit out of yours with extra water, stopping when youve reached your preboil right?

That's what I was thinking as well. You're not wasting wort if it's just sparge water in there. I'll be fly sparging, so it's easy enough to just sparge with a little extra water to account for any losses before the BK.

 

[mongoose33]

I hadn't thought of that--but the reason is that I do a single infusion type of approach for LODO purposes.

In other words, it's a sort of cross between BIAB and LODO, in that I'll use all the strike water necessary in the mash tun to get what I need--as if it were BIAB. In my case, probably 8.25 gallons. So there's no actual sparge water--though I could add some just to push the rest of the wort through. It would mix in the RIMS tube so I'd have to monitor the color somehow.

The pic above is more or less how I'll set it up today. Previously I had my cooler mash tun elevated on a couple of milk crates and simply drained/racked it into the boil kettle. Since I'll be recirculating, I figured I'd simply fill the BK up through the bottom valve, swapping the line from the return manifold to the mash tun to the ball valve on the BK.

Since I've been using the new setup I've been overbuilding the recipe by about 10 percent to account for losses. But now since I will use a softer boil, with less boiloff, I can reduce the amount of strike water, probably by a quart to start.

It's all an empirical game at the start to see what I actually end up with.

 

[FunkedOut]

RIMS orientation is about getting rid of air for me.
My tube is a lot like yours, horizontal with inlet on the bottom and the outlet on top.
When filling it initially or when switching from recirculation to sparge, I have to rock it towards vertical to get those last few bubbles out.
Vertically, those bubbles would collect above that outlet and require similar rocking towards horizontal.

I’m thinking that swapping the outlet with the probe positions and going vertical should eliminate any rocking.
Need to order a shorter probe.

My thoughts on LODO are that sparging will not introduce any more O2 into your mash than recirculation will.
Keep the return manifold submerged and chase the wort out of the RIMS tube with sparge water.

 

[mabrungard]

Having a little air bubble in the RIMS tube should be no big deal. If the element and temp probe are immersed, there is no need to make sure that there is no air in there.

 

[Wizard_of_Frobozz]

I like vertical on the RIMS tube for a couple of reasons:
1. It's self draining (my heating element runs top to bottom, with the fluid inlet at the bottom - the top has a custom fitting that eliminates the airspace)
2. You have to go up anyway from the bottom of the mash tun to the recirc port at the top. Keeps the hose length to a minimum. I like that mainly for thermal reasons: less tubing means less temperature loss.
3. Bubbles go up - if you do get some localized boiling in the RIMS tube, they move away from the heating element faster.

For pump suction tubing, I use thermoplastic tubing. Cheaper than silicone and more rigid. You can't see through it, so silicone is usually used for the pump discharge tubing so people can see what's moving inside.

Eventually, you do have some losses in the tubing, piping, etc. How much depends on your setup, but it's usually not enough to get to worked up about.

 

[Gameface]

Are you guys talking about concerns using silicone tubing on the inlet side of a standard brewing pump? Because if you are I can assure you MANY of us have been using it there for many years without any issues.

 

[brewbama]

I use silicone tubing throughout my brewery plumbed thru a Chugger pump with no problem.