Pages: 1
My completed HERMS system
Well, after a long summer of slowly putting my brew rig together I'm finally done. I decided on a HERMS because I wanted to have a way to regulate and maintain mash temps. The frame is standard stud 2x4s held together with 3" lag bolts. I used 175lbs casters on the legs to help with mobility. I've got a march pump for liquid transfer; 1/2" ID braided hosing will be the conduit. Basically, everything is homemade including the counter-flow wort chiller, false bottom, sparge arm, the brewing vessels (except the kettle which I acquired from a homebrewing friend), hop filter for the kettle, mash paddle. The MLT is insulated with a hot water heater insulation blanket and reinforced with duct tape. The kettle and the HLT are supported by 1/2" rebar, which is extremely cheap and holds up remarkably well under the weight of a full vessel and extended heat from the burners (no bowing whatsoever).
All the bulkheads for the MLT and HLT were attached by brazing them on with silver brazing alloy. I must say that I'm a huge fan of the brazing method now after trying it myself. It seems super strong as I torqued on the ball valves and thermometers with out any motion in the connections; everything is water tight and sanitary. Brazing is similar to soldering copper with tin alloy, but the silver alloy used in brazing has a much higher flow temp and hardens off extremely strong. Also, brazing is much much cheaper than welding and can be used to connect dissimilar metals (i.e. brass to stainless steel). I bought the silver brazing alloy and flux kit for about $35 and I was able to attach 5 fittings to the kegs and I still have enough silver alloy for probably 20 more.
So, I finally get to brew this coming weekend after a summer long hiatus! Looks like I'll have to host another MA brewday soon to show off the new toy! Anyway, enough of the descriptions here are the pictures:
The whole system:
Flame on the kettle:
HERMS mash recirculator (25' of 3/8" soft copper tubing):
pump and chiller:
False bottom:
Sparge arm:
Mash recirculator return:
I love this, looks great, and it's exactly what you wanted because you built. I'm slowly gathering pieces to make my dream RIMS system. I have the kegs, the pump, and the chiller, the only thing holding the works up is the right support for all of it. I think you did a great job on solving this problem for me. All this time i've been waiting for a stainless steel table, or a support made of metal, but wood solves the problem nicely. Great Job.
sexy sexy sexy
Nice job 1n1m3g! Lets see some cherry poppin' pics when you get to it.
Just saw this thread from the link off of another thread on building your own system.
First off, awesome system! And like others, I have been tinkering with the idea of building a stand myself.
Have you had any trouble with the wood 2x4's as your frame? Any burning from the heat coming off the side of the burners or kettles?
I love the idea for the 1/2" rebar for the kettle supports, but I also am curious if they burn or charr the wood when they get heated up?
Thanks for any feedback, and from input from anyone else using a wood frame stand. Wood seems like a great option as far as cost and ease to work with, Just wondering if their are any drawbacks from the heat.
osky777 wrote:
Have you had any trouble with the wood 2x4's as your frame? Any burning from the heat coming off the side of the burners or kettles?
I did get a bit of charring on the 2x4s between the rebar where the wood is closest to the burners after a full brew session. I was able to alleviate this by wrapping some aluminum flashing somewhat loosely around the wood at these points. This basically acts as a heat shield/displacer and haven't had any problems since the installation. I'll try to get pictures of this some time soon.
osky777 wrote:
I love the idea for the 1/2" rebar for the kettle supports, but I also am curious if they burn or charr the wood when they get heated up?
Yeah man, rebar is super cheap! I was a bit worried at first, thinking that the rebar might bend under the weight of a full keg of wort when heated by a full flame, but this stuff is super strong and hasn't budged even after 7 or so full brew sessions. The rebar does get hot to the touch but not hot enough to scorch the wood where it is in contact.
Hope this helps. Cheer!
thanks for the info.
may be time to break out the old wood working tools...
So for the novice / intermediate level folks (me), this is a great picture to put the process together in my head. If you could explain each piece and purpose in a sentence or two it would be helpful. I assume the top right shiny keg is heating water and then is somehow pumped into the HLT, the HLT maintains it's heat since it is insulated and is then slowly pumped to the mash tun keg middle center (?) via sparge arm (copper piece pictured below) and the wort is pumped to the boil pot in the keg on the left, then finally to the wort cooler you have set up. I think I've described one too many kegs...maybe you use the HLT for both heating and holding? Thought maybe the insulation would burn so no burner under it.
Some parts must be gravity fed, and other's pumped. Am I close to right here? I am going to begin piecing one of these bad boys together myself soon. Right now I use a good 'ol 7gal SS pot, wort cooler, carboy for fermenting and siphon off to corny....
Hey no prob, edgerelease.
The top right keg is the HLT. It holds the hot water and has a copper coil in it that the wort runs through to heat the mash while I'm recirculating. After a 1 hr rest at 150F or whatever temp you convert at, I then pump the mash liquor through the copper coil in the HLT to get the mash up to the 170F mashout temp. The middle white vessel is the mash tun, which is also a keg wrapped in a water heater insulation blanket. As you pointed out, this vessel does not receive direct heat. To hit my mash temps, I heat the mash liquor in the HLT and them pump into the MT. I dump the crushed grain into the MT after the water temp has come down to the appropriate temp such that the final temp of the mash hits the temp I want to rest at during starch conversion. The insulated MT will hold the mash at this temp for the 1 hr conversion rest. After bringing the mash to 170F, I then switch a few hoses around and sparge the grain by pumping the hot water from the HLT into the MT. At the same time I drain the MT by gravity into the kettle, which is in the far left. The rest is history. Cheers!
@ Edgerelease.
1n1m3g didn't cover this so I'll mention it. You had almost guessed all the right parts, but there is one extra keg in the picture that is confusing to someone trying to figure it out without having seen it in person.
There is one keg that appears to sit below the upper tier just to the right of the MT (wrapped in insulation). That keg is just an empty keg that 1n1m3g was storing in that location. Its not part of the brewing process.
So moving right to left: HLT (with HERMS coiling inside), Mash tun wrapped insulation. Then the kettle on the lower teir at the far left.
I hope that clears it up for you.
Thanks, brewchez! Yeah, I guess that extra keg does confuse the situation. At some point, I need to figure out what to do with this thing... Perhaps a nice large fermentor like I used before. Cheers!
Very functional setup 1n1m3g. Have you changed it over the course of the last year? One of the nice things about your system is it's functionality should you decide to make changes. I'm also curious about everybody else's setups for those of you that do have a complete system setup like this. Do you mind reposting pictures for the generation of ideas for me, along with the general good of the order.
For Brewchez and anyone else interested in the plumbing I used for the LP on this rig.
Here's how the propane tank is plumbed into the system. I have a 10 PSI regulator on some flex hose that came with a previous Bayou Classic burner of mine. This connects to 1/2" black iron pipe via a brass step-up.
The burners are each controlled by their own needle valve, which you can get through Bayous Classic. They connect to the 1/2" iron pipe through a series of brass reducers. I don't actually remember the sizes of the threads in these reducers, but the largest reducer obviously starts as 1/2" NPT and goes from there. I just took the valve and the burner jet into Lowes and stared at their brass fitting collection until I was able to fit everything together. The most important part is that burner jet between the last brass fitting and the burner (silver pipe piece). Without this you will only get big orange flames. If you have any other questions, Brewchez, let me know. Cheers!
Crabnut wrote:
Very functional setup 1n1m3g. Have you changed it over the course of the last year? One of the nice things about your system is it's functionality should you decide to make changes. I'm also curious about everybody else's setups for those of you that do have a complete system setup like this. Do you mind reposting pictures for the generation of ideas for me, along with the general good of the order.
Sorry for the late response, Crabnut. There have been no other modifications to this rig since its completion. It runs like a charm. I actually got 86% extraction efficiency out of it the last time I brewed, though I do notice that this efficiency decreases as the expected OG of the brew increases. Must have something to do with the dimensions of the converted keg mash tun. Cheers!
Kick Ass Wade, Kick Ass.
Thanks much.
Pages: 1
Search Home Brewing Knowledge Base
Custom Search
|