Dedicated Rims Guide, Problems & Solution Thread

[razz]

The thick walled silicone hose should be okay, but the opening through the copper will really be no different to the fittings on the silicone hose. It's more likely some air trapped in the plumbing.

 

[Crusty]

Crusty - I actually get my Water into the MT, set my pump on, then turn the PID on to get up to temp. I tend to aim 4-5 degrees above my target Mash Temp. Let this run for 5mins or so then when up to temp, turn PID off. Continue to run pump so it strips excess heat from RIMS tube. Then I turn pump off, and pour all grain into MT. Stir and mix well. Verlouf, however start by doing this VERY slowly, don't open the pump outlet straight away, I only open my pump outlet valve slightly then creep it up slowly to around 50% open. LEt this run for a little while then flick PID back on and adjust temp down to target mash temp.

Grist ratio for me is 2.5 - 3L per kg of grain approx.

I run a 1mm gap on MM2.

You can also add in rice gulls for bigger mash sizes.

Thanks Rav.
I will open the mill up slightly to 1mm. I never got any flow from the start & hit the wall from the get go. I have some old grain lying around & I am going to do a dummy brew just to get it sorted. I don't have the grain to actually make a proper one so will just pretend it's the real deal. I will try your advice & see how I go.
Cheers mate.

 

[Crusty]

The thick walled silicone hose should be okay, but the opening through the copper will really be no different to the fittings on the silicone hose. It's more likely some air trapped in the plumbing.

I'm clutching at straws at the moment. You're probably right, it won't make any difference.

 

[raven19]

You can use mains pressure to prime the pump and hoses too if that helps. Works a treat for me.

Simple to plumb into your system too mate.

 

[Crusty]

You can use mains pressure to prime the pump and hoses too if that helps. Works a treat for me.

Simple to plumb into your system too mate.

View attachment 52870

Nice.
I don't think it's the prime really. When I primed the pump via the HLT, no problems whatsoever. Fully primed & flowing great. The problem occurred when I underlett the grain bed, turned off the pump outlet, let sit for about 5mins & just opened the pump outlet very slightly. I couldn't get hardly any flow from the pump, almost completely stuck except for a trickle.

 

[husky]

Did you try stirring the grain with the pump valve open slightly?(stirring all the way to the bottom) This should tell you if its a compacted grain bed or a plumbing issue. If youre getting flow while stirring then you could say its a grain bed issue. If not, look at the plumbing.
My only brew using RIMS had a 0.9mm gap set on crankandstein mill and a similar liquor ratio to yours, with no issues. False bottom was a 350mm perforated cone. With such a high liquor to grain ratio you wouldn't think it was a compacted grain bed.

 

[Crusty]

Did you try stirring the grain with the pump valve open slightly?(stirring all the way to the bottom) This should tell you if its a compacted grain bed or a plumbing issue. If youre getting flow while stirring then you could say its a grain bed issue. If not, look at the plumbing.
My only brew using RIMS had a 0.9mm gap set on crankandstein mill and a similar liquor ratio to yours, with no issues. False bottom was a 350mm perforated cone. With such a high liquor to grain ratio you wouldn't think it was a compacted grain bed.

Definitely a compacted grain bed. I turned off the element of the PID & stirred the mash & the flow went as normal but when I let it be, it compacted again & slowed to a trickle.

 

[husky]

Got some pics of your setup without any water or grain in use?

 

[redbeard]

Crusty,

try to reduce the flour in the crush, slow the pump recirc, and/or some rice gulls. What is your false bottom mesh like ?

 

[Crusty]

Round two this morning with a dummy run. Mashed in @3L/kg & opened up my mill crush to 1mm.
FREAKIN AWESOME!
55deg protein rest for 10mins, 66deg sacc rest for 60mins & a 78deg mash out for 10mins. I am running the pump at around 50% open, maybe a touch less & no problems at all. Temps are spot on, wort is crystal clear. Just too much flour & too fine a crush yesterday. I may have had my barley crusher on 0.8mm so that was something I failed to look at before yesterdays brew. Looking forward to batch no:2 next week.

 

[husky]

Nice work! what are you using to adjust the gap on your mill? feeler gague?

 

[hsb]

I've had similar sounding stuck mashes of late with a HERMS setup - March Pump recirculating from false bottom. I think mine were twofold, first I was using the 'dregs' from precrushed store grain, where all the flour had fallen to the bottom of the bag meaning I had a fair bit of flour in the Tun. I also had some problems priming. Good to hear your problems are nearly sorted crusty.
Interested in how to measure a 1mm gap too - I have a new Monster Mill but feeler gauges I've seen on eBay only go up to about 0.8mm - is it the old 'credit card' 1mm setting?

 

[QldKev]

Round two this morning with a dummy run. Mashed in @3L/kg & opened up my mill crush to 1mm.
FREAKIN AWESOME!
55deg protein rest for 10mins, 66deg sacc rest for 60mins & a 78deg mash out for 10mins. I am running the pump at around 50% open, maybe a touch less & no problems at all. Temps are spot on, wort is crystal clear. Just too much flour & too fine a crush yesterday. I may have had my barley crusher on 0.8mm so that was something I failed to look at before yesterdays brew. Looking forward to batch no:2 next week.

Did your brewhouse efficiency change from the mill adjustment?

I've only done 2 brews so far on my new 3V with an internal RIMS, both have suffered from the flour getting stuck to the heating element.



As soon as it gets like this the elements boil dry protection is continuously cutting it out, making mashouts above 72 virtually impossible.

I always commence the recirc for a minute before switching on the RIMS controller, and I can run the March Pump at full flow without getting a stuck mash, so plenty of flow. I'm using about 3.5L/kg so plenty of water in there. I'm currently crushing at 0.889mm so thinking of trying 1mm to see if it reduces the flour on the element.

QldKev

 

[QldKev]

I've had similar sounding stuck mashes of late with a HERMS setup - March Pump recirculating from false bottom. I think mine were twofold, first I was using the 'dregs' from precrushed store grain, where all the flour had fallen to the bottom of the bag meaning I had a fair bit of flour in the Tun. I also had some problems priming. Good to hear your problems are nearly sorted crusty.
Interested in how to measure a 1mm gap too - I have a new Monster Mill but feeler gauges I've seen on eBay only go up to about 0.8mm - is it the old 'credit card' 1mm setting?

You can use a 0.6 and a 0.4mm together to get the 1mm

 

[hsb]

Thanks, didn't realise you could jam two of them together like that :blink: , off to eBay.

 

[Crusty]

Nice work! what are you using to adjust the gap on your mill? feeler gague?

Yeah. Feeler gauge. 1mm now & all good.

Did your brewhouse efficiency change from the mill adjustment?

I've only done 2 brews so far on my new 3V with an internal RIMS, both have suffered from the flour getting stuck to the heating element.

View attachment 52879

As soon as it gets like this the elements boil dry protection is continuously cutting it out, making mashouts above 72 virtually impossible.

I always commence the recirc for a minute before switching on the RIMS controller, and I can run the March Pump at full flow without getting a stuck mash, so plenty of flow. I'm using about 3.5L/kg so plenty of water in there. I'm currently crushing at 0.889mm so thinking of trying 1mm to see if it reduces the flour on the element.

QldKev

The crush was the culprit. My brewhause efficiency suffered yesterday from the stuck sparge & mash overshoot. No such problems today though. I went into BTP & entered my numbers & I'm pretty chuffed.
Collected [email protected] temp corrected instead of 34.04L @1.035, this gives me an efficiency of 88% instead of my planned 80%. I will have to add 4.57L water to get to my starting pre-boil gravity of 1.035. Instead of boiling 34.04L @1.035, I will be boiling 36.5L & should end up with 27L into the fermenter @1.047 instead of expected 25L. Pretty happy with that. :beerbang:

 

[razz]

That's the end of my brew day, I barely got started and there was a flash of light and a puff of smoke that came out of the end of my KK 2200 watt element in the RIMS tube. She no worky now. Back to KK on Wednesday, only used it once before today.

Okay, good to go for tomorrow's brew day. Heater swapped over by Keg King and did a test run with the mash water, I used the RIMS to heat the water in 45 mins to 67 degrees.
I'm still not 100% on the power cord in the back of the heater though, design doesn't look any different, I guess I need to treat it with kid gloves and not move it around to much when cleaning. I'm looking forward to the American stout in tomorrow's brew day.

 

[MaltyHops]

That's the end of my brew day, I barely got started and there was a flash
of light and a puff of smoke that came out of the end of my KK 2200 watt
element in the RIMS tube. She no worky now. Back to KK on Wednesday,
only used it once before today.

I feel your pain Husky. On closer inspection of my heater the power cord
insulation has come back about 5-8mm from the heater fitting, so I guess
one of the connectors has shorted out.

Is it too late to get a photo of this posted?

Nope, have the cable section cabletied to a stainless bar so theres absolutly no
movment or flex at the joint

I've done something like this - as my kettle's smallish (21L) and the element
is mounted below one of the kettle handles, I've just cable tied the cord to the
handle. Can just see this on top-right of the following pix:

 

[Crusty]

Took a gravity reading today of my maiden brew with the Rims set up & temp corrected, it has come down to 1.009 from 1.043, still giving me 4.44% ABV, not too shabby. Although this beer was mashed too high, I will bottle as normal in a week or so & see how it pans out. Had a taste sample from the fermenter & it actually tastes really good, so I may have salvaged this one.

 

[user 17974]

Hi Guys,

I've created a blog about my RIMS brewery here.

My system is controlled by a PC using software I have written which interfaces with the brewery using a USB interface controller.