Hermes

[pb unleaded]

What is hermes (h.e.r.m.e.s)? What does it stand for?
I know its some sort of an AG brewing set up where mash is circulated through coils, etc... Tried serching this forum & google for an answer to no avail.

Someone, ...please explain.

arthur

 

[AndrewQLD]

heat exchanged recirculating mash system

Google herms brewing and you will have a years reading at your finger tips.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[pb unleaded]

Thanks Andrew

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

"Sweet Lion of Zion" :lol:

 

[Linz]

The diff tween HERMS and RIMS is...

the HERMS uses an external 'H'eat 'E'xchanger and 'R'ecirculates the 'M'ash liquor.

The RIMS(recic infusion mash system) is a single vessel that has a heater element in the mash tun(usually under a false bottom) and 'R'ecirculates the liquor over this to 'I'nfuse the heat into the liquid and then drops it over the top of the 'M'ash via a pump.....

Thats both 'S'ystems


Hope that helps

heres mine....

 

[Millet Man]

Hermes - Messenger of the gods and the god of wealth, luck, sleep and roads and conductor of souls to Hades.

Getting a HERMS will bring you wealth and luck but while you sleep your soul will be on a highway to hell? :blink:

Cheers, Andrew.

 

[Trough Lolly]

Just use plenty of hops, Millet Man, and that should keep Lucifer's minions at bay!!
HERMS rock - they're yet another great reason to have a March Pump!!
Cheers,
TL

 

[T.D.]

I have never really looked into HERMS too much - I've always been a standard old infusion masher in an insulated MLT.

The way I see it, HERMS simply stabalises the mash temp by recirculating the wort through a coil in the HLT (and hence also minimises cold and hot spots in the MLT). I guess that means you can more easily do step mashes. Also it means you have your sparge water pretty much ready to roll when the mash is done. Have I missed any other benefits of HERMS? I'm not trying to bag the system out (it clearly has advantages over the more basic AG methods), but it seems like a lot of extra money and complication just to achieve more control over the mash temp. That's why I am wondering if I have missed some of the other advantages.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't knock back a HERMS system if somebody offered it to me, I'm just trying to get my head around it all.

 

[lunanick]

Hi Linz, any idea how much your set-up cost?

 

[PostModern]

Have I missed any other benefits of HERMS?

[post="129564"][/post]​

Incredibly clear run-off. As the mash liquor is recirculating, it compacts the grain bed so there is no need to vorlauf to obtain crystal clear run-off into the kettle.

I also hear it increases efficiency. The circulation aids in access to all the starches in the grain.

??

 

[T.D.]

Thanks PoMo, I have also heard it increases efficiency, but couldn't figure out how. Although, it makes sense that as the mash temps become more accurate and controlled, you would get the most out of the mash.

 

[thunderleg]

Is the breed of dog critical to this type of setup? Hehehe.

The diff tween HERMS and RIMS is...

the HERMS uses an external 'H'eat 'E'xchanger and 'R'ecirculates the 'M'ash liquor.

The RIMS(recic infusion mash system) is a single vessel that has a heater element in the mash tun(usually under a false bottom) and 'R'ecirculates the liquor over this to 'I'nfuse the heat into the liquid and then drops it over the top of the 'M'ash via a pump.....

Thats both 'S'ystems


Hope that helps

heres mine....View attachment 7412

[post="129536"][/post]​

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[jayse]

herms limitations

Thats one of my fave home brewer written articles about herms and why its not really any good for step mashing and what it is actually good for.



Jayse

 

[nifty]

I've used my herms for the last 6 brews and have had mash efficiencies of 85 to 87 %.

Mine is a separate system, similar to the 1 in Jayse's link. In fact, that's where I got my inspiration from.

It was relatively cheap to build, I had the copper tube coil lying around from an old cfwc pre-chiller, a cheap electric kettle element, a $7 11 litre ss stockpot and lid from the Warehouse, an old fermenter cut down to size and some expanda foam for insulation.

Used with the temperature controller from Dreamboats bulk buy and a march pump with plumbing that looks like Frankenstein's monster and off it goes.

It's not pretty but it works a treat.

 

[Tony]

Grear article jayse and very true.

I have been toying with how to set mine up as i plumb it in.

I an going to have 2 temperature controllers. One for the HLT and one for the Mash.

The one on the HLT will hold the HLT at mash temperature so as not to over heat the returning wort.
The second controller will be looking at the temperature of the wort to switch the solenoids on the side of the HERMS from heat to bypass ect automaticly.

I wasnt sure of weather to read the temperature of the wort comming out of the mash or the return wort to the mash.

From reading that article i will monitor the wort comming out the bottom of the ton. That way if it needs to be haeted it will go through the coil in the HLT and it its at temperature it will bypass it automaticly.

Does anyone have any sugestions of what temp to set the HLT at?

Should it be at mash temperature or a little bit above.

cheers

 

[mika]

Hey Tony, by no means an expert on this subject... hell, I haven't even gone AG yet !!
But the way you're talking about doing it, I would run the HLT at the temp needed for strike (80deg ish). That way if the temp of the wort is cool, it get's heated quickly and if it doesn't need it, simply bypass.
You'll lose some heat out of the wort as you pump it around, so by the time the wort is back at the Mash Tun, it should be close to mash temp and I wouldn't think it would affect the conversion of the malts that much.
If you ran the HLT @ mash temp, once you'd finished the mash, you'd need to wait to pick up the temp in the HLT before sparging.
Just my thinking anyway.

 

[Linz]

herms limitations

Thats one of my fave home brewer written articles about herms and why its not really any good for step mashing and what it is actually good for.



Jayse

[post="129586"][/post]​

Notice that "step mashing" is not in there. That is because, in my opinion,

and some mathematics........

but I have taken some things to try for myself



And he went a built a HERMS anyway!!


mmm solid info there.... :super:

 

[Tony]

Hey Tony, by no means an expert on this subject... hell, I haven't even gone AG yet !!
But the way you're talking about doing it, I would run the HLT at the temp needed for strike (80deg ish). That way if the temp of the wort is cool, it get's heated quickly and if it doesn't need it, simply bypass.
You'll lose some heat out of the wort as you pump it around, so by the time the wort is back at the Mash Tun, it should be close to mash temp and I wouldn't think it would affect the conversion of the malts that much.
If you ran the HLT @ mash temp, once you'd finished the mash, you'd need to wait to pick up the temp in the HLT before sparging.
Just my thinking anyway.

[post="129662"][/post]​

True but if the temp is being read from the outlet of the mashton and the HLT is heating the wort up to say 75 deg with the HLT set at 80 deg, then the whole mash will be overheated before the bypass will kick in.

I think it will monitor the return form the herms as well and set it up acordingly.

I think it will be a case of experimtation and "suck it and see" brewing.

Oh.... HLT has a 3600W element in it and will heat 40 liters of sparge water from 66 to 76 in 10 min so its not a problem.

cheers

 

[mika]

Yeah..well..3600W is pretty darn serious

 

[vlbaby]

tony,
my herms system uses the temp reading of the mash and the temperature of the exiting wort to decide whether or not to heat. Works like a charm. The mash temperature is regulated to less than 0.5 DegC.

My herms is a seperate unit to the HLT also. I originally had a HLT mounted setup with a bypass, but I became paranoid about enzyme denaturing of the wort inside the coil when the bypass was active. For that reason I switched to a seperate electric element system with no bypass.

vl.