Building A Herms With Cfwc?

[Rex]

I'm in the final stage of building a single tier all grain HERMS setup.

Last thing to sort out is whether to use a copper coil in the HLT or pump hot water from the HLT through the counter flow wort chiller.

I already have the pumps and CWFC, so that's not an issue. One advantage I see is that it will keep that water moving in the HLT, so not need to have a stirrer or anything.

Has anyone tried use a CFWC for this purpose? Any thoughts on what disadvantages there may be with this appoach?

Thanks

 

[jayse]

I have seen it done before, search for a guy under the name of deer hunter brewery or something like that on the net.

Anyway I'd personally go with the heat exhanger being a vessel full of hot water with the coil in it. Would be much easier but don't let me put you off doing the CFC idea if thats what you have your heart set on, i'am sure it would work swimmingly.

Traveling riverside blues
Jayse

 

[vlbaby]

rex,
the one huge advantage of a traditional herms system is that because the wort is constantly circulated, the wort will have a uniform temperature right throughout the entire mash.
I dont think you will benifit from this if you are using the system in the way you are thinking.
how does this copper coil become your cfwc? do you immerse it in a vessel of cold water? if so your better of leaving it in the hlt permanantly. That way after your finished using it a HLT, you tip out the remaining hot water and fill it with fresh cold tap water to turn it into your chiller.

vlbaby.

 

[Batz]

Sounds like a fair idea Rex , one I have never considered.

It should work quite well , of course you will need two pumps , one for the wort and one for the water from the HLT.
You will still have the problem of raising the water temperture to sparging rate without over heating the mash.

I have found a separate vessel for the coil to be great improvement to my system.

Cheers
Batz

 

[dicko]

Hi Rex,
In theory the idea is good, however, the successful units that i have seen actually use steam through the copper pipe in the mash tun to achieve the desired temp changes.
You will still have to constantly stir the mash.
For my money Batz is spot on!
A herms coil in a separate heated tank is the way to go.
I have mine at present in the HLT and while it works ok, there is a lot of fiddling with the water temp of the HLT to achieve all the desired results.
In my system the HLT temp needs to be 10 deg c hotter than the temp I need to achieve in the mash tun.
This results in a mash out temp of 76 deg c means that my sparge water is 86 deg c.
To get around this I then infuse cold water into the HLT for the sparge.
All in all it is a lot of stuffing around to do stepped mashhes or achieve mash out temps.
I hope this helps
Cheers

 

[Rex]

Hey Jayse,

Oh yeah, it's been done before... couldn't find your deer hunter one, but this is where I got the idea -> http://www.evan.com/brewery/gallery/

I'd never considered anything but the usual coil in HLT until now, but I don't have my heart set on any specific way.

You say that it would be easier to put a coil in the HLT would be easier, but I don't have to buy and coil it without stuffing up, where as I have already have a funky CFWC here ready to use.

I'm no closer to making a decision, might have to toss a coin

 

[Rex]

You will still have the problem of raising the water temperture to sparging rate without over heating the mash.

[post="99817"][/post]​

I've got one of those 23 Jet mongolian LPG burners from Grain and Grape. Controlled with a solenoid valve and Ranco ETC. From my test runs it can raise 60L of water about 1degC per minute.

If it's too hot for sparging, I guess it's not hard to top up with cold tap water as my HLT is pretty big.

 

[Rex]

You will still have to constantly stir the mash.

[post="99824"][/post]​

Hey dicko,

I think you and vlbaby might have got the wrong idea. I'm not proposing to put any pipes in the mash tun. I'm taking about using a Counter Flow Wort Chiller to heat the mash by circulating the wort via the inner rube/coil and circulating water from the HLT in the outter tube/coil.

All this does is avoid having the copper coil/heat exchanger sitting inside the HLT, but rather has it sitting outside.


Cheers

 

[vlbaby]

sorry rex, i incorrectly assumed that you must be using a cfwc in the style of a coil in bucket, not a coil in a coil. I understand what your trying to acheive now.
Sounds like it would work ok to me, might just lose a little of the waters temperature in the hlt by pumping it around, but this could be easily compensated i guess.

BTW i have mongolian myself and was thinking of doing the same as you, ie hooking up a solenoid and controller. Does this sytem work ok?

vl.

 

[dicko]

You will still have to constantly stir the mash.

[post="99824"][/post]​

Hey dicko,

I think you and vlbaby might have got the wrong idea. I'm not proposing to put any pipes in the mash tun. I'm taking about using a Counter Flow Wort Chiller to heat the mash by circulating the wort via the inner rube/coil and circulating water from the HLT in the outter tube/coil.

All this does is avoid having the copper coil/heat exchanger sitting inside the HLT, but rather has it sitting outside.


Cheers

[post="99918"][/post]​

Sorry Rex,
Now i've got what you mean.
Sounds OK, give it a go and let us all know how it goes.
Good luck and cheers

 

[Darren]

Hey Rex,
I think it will work. You will lose quite a bit of heat from the outside coil. A small insulated box around the coil would make it more efficient.
cheers
Darren

 

[Rex]

BTW i have mongolian myself and was thinking of doing the same as you, ie hooking up a solenoid and controller. Does this sytem work ok?

[post="99921"][/post]​

Haven't used it to do a brew yet, but I've tested it a couple of times and it works really well.

The pilot burner on the mongolian does soot a little, but it's only a small flame. With a pot on top, all the jet light at one, no probs.

My only concern is that due to me using quite a large pot, it may overshoot the target temp. I'm sure this can be easily overcome with a sirrer or using the CFWC and the pump to keep the water moving.