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All Grain system question
I am thinking about building an all grain system and I had a question about the difference between HERMS and RIMS. Am I not understanding something or are both options pumping wort, heating it in some way, and then returning it to the mash tun?
If so why don't we pump hot water and circulate through a copper coil in the mash tun to raise the temp? is there some risk of burning or something else that I don't understand?
Seems that it would be better for the pump to just be pumping hot water. Wouldn't there be some risk of clogging the lines if some grains got stuck somewhere?
Thanks
ID
The difference between the 2 systems, is a HERMS runs the wort through a coil which is surrounded by hot water, the wort never touches anything but tubing. A RIMS has the wort pass through a heating element for the temp change. Very similar, although I believe a HERMS to be very easy and clean operation.
Your idea of putting a heat exchanger in the mash itself would work- IF you had a way to constantly recirculaye the mash. You do not want hot spots.
My HERMS setup is REALLY simple. I have a line coming off the tun (very important to have a good false bottom or manifold to avoid grain slippage) which goes to my pump, then to an old IC chiller copper coil in my keggle which is holding water 5 degrees hotter than my desired mash temp. (and is also the exact volume I will need to sparge with later) The return line from the coil goes back to the tun through the top, and gets dispersed with a PVC pipe with holes, to sprinkle it back onto the mash. I have an in-line thermo set just before the tun, so I know what the return temp is exactly. If I am of a couple degrees +/- then I simply adjust the water temp in the keggle. Best part is now when I am done recirculating at my mashout temp, I hook the line from the tun up to my keggle, and pump a gallon or so of water directly from the keggle through the coil, and this cleans all my lines. Now all I have to do is disconnect the coil and ready for the next session! Now I have my water already preheated for my sparge.
Yeah, I have to agree with Thirsty that a HERMS is much simpler to build than a RIMS system. With a HERMS there is no extra electrical stuff other that a pump and all you need is a copper coil in your hot liquor tank to adjust the mash temp. I built me setup so that the sparge water heats the circulating mash and then I just run hot water through everything to clean the copper coils just before I begin my sparge. Very simple and the temp ramps up quite quickly. I usually heat the sparge water to between 180-185F and that gets my mash out temp of around 170F in 15 min or so depending on where my mash temp is. I think that a RIMS might have a faster temp ramp rate, but is definitely more difficult to build.
Check out my post on the HERMS I built if you haven't already seen it. Cheers!
Thanks guys for the advice. is there a danger of compacting the grain bed,and getting a stuck sparge, pulling that much wort through it for 15 minutes? or do you just get nice clean wort once you start sparging? And 1n1m3g i did see that post when you put it up looks awesome, just about what I am attempting to build over the next couple of months.
As far as the HLT are most people using a large pot with some sort of insulation wrapped around it? And then direct firing it? It would be nice to add an electric heating element. You could use the gas to get it up to temp and then use the heating element with an electronic sensor to get the exact temp steps that you'd need and to maintain the correct temp. Hmmm sound like I might need to get my father-in-law the master tinkerer involved.
Anyone out there using the Blichman pots? I like them because they already have the thermometers, sight glasses, ports, and most importantly they look awesome, but are they worth the price? I am interested in buying equipment that I'm not going to have to replace later.
Do most of the burners work on propane and NG? I was thinking also about plumbing the gas up to the house. No more tanks to buy ,don't have to wonder if you have enough gas to make it to the end of the boil.
Thanks again for all the help
ID
I've never had a stuck sparge. I think that pumping relatively slowly prevents the grain bed from compacting too tightly and raising the temp to 170F reduces the viscosity of the wort, though I have no idea how this would work if your grist were 50% or more malted wheat. Rice hulls are always a good preventative for a stuck mash in this situation.
As far as the vessels, my MT is a keg that I wrapped a water heater insulation blanket around. It does not receive direct heat. My HLT is also a keg and this does receive direct heat from a burner. If you can find old used kegs and you're good with tools and such, kegs are the way to go if you are trying to brew on a tight budget. These things will last as long as any expensive brew pot if properly built.
Also, you can find both NG and LP burners out there; mine are LP. If you have the ability to plump your brew rig into the gas system from your house, then that would definitely be one less thing you have to worry about while brewing. Although, if you do this then the rig will have to be stationary.
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