4th vessel independent HERMS

[TidalPete]

[SIZE=medium]Pump speed is a major factor when recirculating via Nev’s (or any other coil in a HERMS or similar) as is the volume of the HEX. Two & smidgen litres in my case.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]In my setup I’m limited to double batches of around 6.5% max.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Ramp-up temp when doing singles is +\- 2 deg c\minute & a little lower for double batches using a March 815 which is a good 5 litres\minute or so faster circulation-wise than the 809.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Best part of having a ss HEX is when your entire system is stainless & so can be properly cleaned with caustic whenever you feel the need.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]I’ve posted before about the difference a caustic clean makes as opposed to a clean with PBW.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=medium]You would be amazed![/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]TTBOMK you cannot do this too often with a Braumiester, GrainFather, yadda, yadda because of the brass, copper fittings, etc. enclosed within. Those fittings will eventually be eaten away by the caustic if you do it too often.[/SIZE]

 

[Adr_0]

And you will have move flexibility to set your pump flow if you have a shorter coil. You may be limited by your mash geometry/manifold, but you should try for as much flow as you can.

Same for RIMS...

 

[mr_wibble]

I made a HX out of these HERMS coils too.

Found a stainless steel pot that matches, cheap kettle element from aliexpress.com.
I had the local metalshop weld the pot lid around the coil posts. It's not a difficult build.

The surround could easily be made out of PVC water pipe too, but it's not as pretty.

 

[klangers]

Another with hermit coil. $9 kettle and a pid on the return to the mlt

I'm about to set up the $9 kettle method. To date I've just thrown the coil into my kettle with full manual control which has worked well enough, albeit requiring extra attention.

I'm surprised no crazy 200L batch AHB'er is talking about steam injection or jacketed vessels for the mash - that's how it's done on a large scale. Sometimes industrial kettles have external boilers too with recirc... anyhow I digress.

 

[droid]

I also have the kk rims setup and have made one batch. I won't be using it again until the element is hooked up to a power controller.

 

[themonkeysback]

The herm-it from online brewing supplies. https://onlinebrewingsupplies.com/herm-it-r-coil

Although the website is not particularly user friendly and doesn't seem to have the coils/controller on there at the moment.

Should be some old threads around AHB with more detail on it. Nev from OBS used to post quite a bit (before being banned?)

Just to add to this I do use the hermit coil. I just have it in a kettle from kmart with the lid ripped off. I run it with the hermit controller. Doesn't get much use now I have a braumeister but it always worked well.

 

[Kingy]

I Remember looking at the 5star herms a few years ago and it was around $700. Bloody expensive but I own some gear from 5 star and it is top notch.
I have the full herms unit and do 46litre batches regulary and it's a ripper powered by laels controller it sits right on the desired temp and steps up in good time. I use it to make 92litre batches every now and then but I don't step mash that size batch as it takes a long time. A 3600watt element is on the cards sometime down the track along with everything I want/need haha.

 

[malt junkie]

I have nev's coil, still sitting in a cupboard with the old kitchen kettle, someday soon I'll start building the 3V. Just a little perplexed with the batch sizes I want out of it. I know most of us are happy to knock out one size batch some even 2, but I want single, double and triple batches out of the one system. At this point I'm thinking 2 58L keggles and one of the 100L pots I have, 58L mash tun, and switch up HLT and BK dependent on batch size.

Just something else on the project list.

 

[mr_wibble]

I have nev's coil, still sitting in a cupboard with the old kitchen kettle, someday soon I'll start building the 3V. Just a little perplexed with the batch sizes I want out of it. I know most of us are happy to knock out one size batch some even 2, but I want single, double and triple batches out of the one system. At this point I'm thinking 2 58L keggles and one of the 100L pots I have, 58L mash tun, and switch up HLT and BK dependent on batch size.

I used KK 185 litre pots for my system. I do not want to ever have to upgrade (the 5th time).
It's only been complete[1] for a 4-5 brews, but today I did a first triple batch (~70 litres into [fermenter + 2x cubes] ).

So for a triple-batch, I needed about 90-100 litres from my HLT. (45 litres mash in, 52 litres sparge).
I never want my HLT element above water (saves mishaps), so that's +20 litres too. I also use a few litres for rinsing equipment.

You could buy a bigger pot just for the HLT of course, but I couldn't see a huge saving.

cheers,
-kt

[1] a homebrewer's brewery is never complete.