Dave's Herms Build

[chappo1970]

Na2S2O5

Damn it Sodium metabisulfite... I was rather hoping you were using something else

I'm extremely allergic to sulfites.

 

[cooraf]

here's some more pics of my rig, still have a fwe things to finish off

 

[Asher]

Assuming:
HLT - Top Left
Mash Tun - Top Middle
Heat Excange - Lower Middle
Kettle - Bottom Right

Whats Electric & Whats Gas?

 

[hefevice]

Damn it Sodium metabisulfite... I was rather hoping you were using something else

I'm extremely allergic to sulfites.

Even the tiny amount required to treat mash water (half a tablet in 30L)?

Other alternatives could be Cinnamon (apparently Charlie Papazian uses this, and it does not contribute to flavour), or Ascorbic acid.

I'm also sensitive to Sulphites (especially in wine, where large amounts are used to kill natural yeasts), however I use Sodium Met in small amounts as above to ensure that the Chloramines in Brisbane water are completely removed (with the added benefit of preventing possible HSA). No ill effects as yet.

 

[Gout]

i wont breath right for days if i get near sod. met - hate the stuff so sadly its banned from my brewery

strange as i have never had issues breathing but that stuff seems to really get in to my throat

 

[cooraf]

Assuming:
HLT - Top Left
Mash Tun - Top Middle
Heat Excange - Lower Middle
Kettle - Bottom Right

Whats Electric & Whats Gas?

yea asher thats right

HLT has a 2200W element
MashTun - none
Heat Excahanger - $10 kettle element
Kettle - 2 x 2200W elements that will be able to be turned on seperately but also having the gas burner mounted underneath if i really want to get the boil going or put another pot on the burner for some reason...

 

[Jerry]

you should avoid splashing whenever the wort is hot. In the mash, from the mash to the kettle, everywhere its hot.

TB

Sorry cooraf for taking it a little :icon_offtopic:



Thirsty Boy,

How hot is hot?

At what temperature does HSA cease to be a potential problem?

Cheers

Scott

 

[Jerry]

Oh and cooraf,

Great looking shiney set up there.

Well done!

Cheers

Scott :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

well, its not a trigger point, its just something that increases with temperature, the hotter the liquid, the faster chemical reactions go. HSA is known as mash/boil oxidation and I would be taking care at any temperature that could be considered in the "mashing" range.. so say above 35C. Once again... I am not so cautious as to freak out about it, and I rarely bother with antioxidants in the mash (although I have done so in the past) - I just try not to splash and designed my system to eliminate built in splashing. But if something goes awry and I have to pour wort into the kettle from a height or something like that... then I just do it and don't worry.

Anyway... back to Dave's Herms

Most impressive looking!! If it were me... I'd be filling the kettle it via the kettle valve from the bottom. No splashing and no tube needed. Everything else is higher than the highest point of the kettle... so it should fill from the bottom via gravity or pump without an issue

TB

 

[cooraf]

ok everyone one more question. The mash tun inlet. Now after the whole discussion about HSA i want to try to avoid it. So my inlet plan at the moment is a copper ring mounted at the top. Now the plan was to have the ring slotted on the inside and therefore would splash about. Now should i either make the ring adjustable (would require a bit of planning)? Or should i slot the outside bottom of the ring and therefore make the wort run down the side of the mash tun? How would this affect the grain bed? And would it avoid splashing?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I really like the Beerbelly wort return dish idea - enough so I bought a BB mash tun and the retrun dish was one of the primary reasons.

Otherwise I like the idea of a silicon tube with a float.. so the tube simply floats on the surface of the wort returning the wort evenly with the surface - which kind of spins around to avoid channeling. I think screwy posted a pic earlier in this thread or maybe the dedicated HERMS thread.

I find the BB return dish does this too - the wort gets a nice current going which means everything is being evenly spread out.

http://www.beerbelly.com.au/

can see an example on the front page and also on the Modified vessel page.

 

[Jerry]

well, its not a trigger point, its just something that increases with temperature, the hotter the liquid, the faster chemical reactions go. HSA is known as mash/boil oxidation and I would be taking care at any temperature that could be considered in the "mashing" range.. so say above 35C. Once again... I am not so cautious as to freak out about it, and I rarely bother with antioxidants in the mash (although I have done so in the past) - I just try not to splash and designed my system to eliminate built in splashing. But if something goes awry and I have to pour wort into the kettle from a height or something like that... then I just do it and don't worry.

TB

Thanks TB

Scott :icon_cheers: