3v Herms Brew Day Procedure.

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Based on your previously stated efficiencies, i will be doing a single batch sparge just like you explained. I have always been reluctant to disturb rhe grain bed when sparging, but now that i have efficient recirc I am going to give it a whirl. Ta

It does seem a bit counter productive when you recirculate for the mash duration & achieve a crystal clear wort & stir it up again doing a batch sparge. After my mash out, I drain the mash tun completely & batch sparge. With the sparge, I stir it all up, recirculate till reasonably clear, maybe just a couple of minutes & fully drain again to the boil kettle. The sparge runoff is not as clear as the sacc rest recirculation but even if bottling which I have been doing, after just a week in the bottle, it's crystal clear. Let us know how you get on.
 
TP, I am certainly no expert...
For a 5kg grist I generally mash and sparge 28 litres out and boil it back to around 23litres.

Grain to mash water is generally about 1:3, After absorption i usually sparge with around 18 litres of water and just split it into 3 x 6 litre batch sparges.

I do not drain my grain bed completely. As soon as it starts to slow i stop and add my next batch sparge which normally brings the level back just above the grain level.
In the past it has worked great for me 75-80% efficiency. I have just installed HERMs and have lost some efficiency which i am now looking into so perhaps I am doing it all wrong??

Muscovy,
I manage (depending on the grain bill) to get around 90% mash eff by mashing thin as you do at 3.00 litres/kilogram & recirculating with the March for the entire temp stepping process. Two batch sparges (completely covering the mash & drained to kettle each time) should see you achieving maxium eff for your set-up.
After adding each lot of sparge liquor a quick surface stir to mix in any still uncovered (floating) grain will see you ready to sparge via recirculation without disturbing the majority of the grain bed.
Hope this helps?

TP
 
I go even thinner, around 3.5 > 1 and just do the one sparge. Laziness/time constraints are a factor there perhaps.
So you don't stir the sparge water in Pete? I didn't then I did now I don't again.
It seems to me if there's grain in there not getting washed with pushing 2 hours of recirculation then you would have to have a serious channelling problem going on.

The point made earlier in the thread about keeping a consistent process is a good one. Try and find a process and stick to it. If you're constantly tinkering here and there you never really get the consistency of brews that is the whole purpose. I've definitely been guilty of that as I've got to know my setup better and looked for 'improvements'.

Also, the massive 34 plus page thread already created about HERMS might be a better spot for these questions??? ;)
 
I go even thinner, around 3.5 > 1 and just do the one sparge. Laziness/time constraints are a factor there perhaps.
So you don't stir the sparge water in Pete? I didn't then I did now I don't again.
It seems to me if there's grain in there not getting washed with pushing 2 hours of recirculation then you would have to have a serious channelling problem going on.

The point made earlier in the thread about keeping a consistent process is a good one. Try and find a process and stick to it. If you're constantly tinkering here and there you never really get the consistency of brews that is the whole purpose. I've definitely been guilty of that as I've got to know my setup better and looked for 'improvements'.

Also, the massive 34 plus page thread already created about HERMS might be a better spot for these questions??? ;)

I find underletting works fine in my system. No doughballs & a quick stir to ensure all the grain is throughly wetted before turning on the HEX for the first temp rise is the only time I go near the bottom of the MT. I've gone thinner in the past but happy to stick with 3.00 litres/kilogram as it works out well with my preboil volume for single & double batches in a 70 litre pot.
Agree with you re the link above.

TP
 
I set the HLT and HERMS to the same strike temp and recirc the heating water through the herms and back to HLT. Helps speed up the heating process and means the HERMS is the right temp when the mash begins. Pumping the strike water through a cold HERMs to the MT can quite quickly drop your temp down.

I generally have the close the recirc valve a bit to make sure the grain bed doesn't compact too much, but do open it up fully and give the bed a stir if the mash temp drops off a bit more and during the ramp. I make sure to restrict the flow and leave it for 10mins at mash out before slowly draining to the kettle.

I try to get a 3L/kg ratio, but sometimes have to go a bit thicker for the bigger beers.
 
I set the HLT and HERMS to the same strike temp and recirc the heating water through the herms and back to HLT. Helps speed up the heating process and means the HERMS is the right temp when the mash begins. Pumping the strike water through a cold HERMs to the MT can quite quickly drop your temp down.

I generally have the close the recirc valve a bit to make sure the grain bed doesn't compact too much, but do open it up fully and give the bed a stir if the mash temp drops off a bit more and during the ramp. I make sure to restrict the flow and leave it for 10mins at mash out before slowly draining to the kettle.

I try to get a 3L/kg ratio, but sometimes have to go a bit thicker for the bigger beers.


My HEX is in my HLT. I do my heat steps as part of my HLT heating up. On mash out i run my sparge water through my HEX which gives it a good rinse out as well....works a treat!
 
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