Hermit Coil Heat Exchange Build

[Truman42]

Anyone else have problems with their coil fitting properly in the pipe? My coil ends come out of the holes in the lid on an angle instead of straight and I seem to have all sorts of problems trying to get my lid to screw on correctly.

I positioned the coil on top of the lid as central as I could get it before marking and drilling the holes.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Anyone else have problems with their coil fitting properly in the pipe? My coil ends come out of the holes in the lid on an angle instead of straight and I seem to have all sorts of problems trying to get my lid to screw on correctly.

I positioned the coil on top of the lid as central as I could get it before marking and drilling the holes.

Drill the holes bigger or let it heat up and the holes will loosen. They all start out tight.

Nev

 

[Truman42]

Drill the holes bigger or let it heat up and the holes will loosen. They all start out tight.

Nev

They certainly do Nev..they certainly do....

My holes arent that tight but will make them a bit bigger and see how I go..Cheers.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

They certainly do Nev..they certainly do....

My holes arent that tight but will make them a bit bigger and see how I go..Cheers.

If that doesnt work get a new wife I mean lid and start again.They are cheap.
Nev

 

[AndrewQLD]

I am going to give fly sparging a go. I have found that since going to HERMS I have added an extra hour onto my brewday and alot of this time is spent recirculating my 2 sparges to get it clear again.

Hit 90% (64L into cubes) today using the coil in the $8 abode kettle. Obviously the increase was due to multiple things I've changed. But I wouldn't mind losing a few% eff to get a bit of time back.
Looks like I'll need another pump to fly sparge though?

Cheers

Why are you sparging twice Brad? I dough in with half my total water volume + the loss to grain absorption and the remainder is sparge water, effectively I am draining equal amounts of wort and my efficiency is 80%.

Andrew

 

[bradsbrew]

Why are you sparging twice Brad? I dough in with half my total water volume + the loss to grain absorption and the remainder is sparge water, effectively I am draining equal amounts of wort and my efficiency is 80%.

Andrew

I found I got better eff doing a double sparge with the triple cube batches. But now with the herms I may not need too?

Cheers

 

[AndrewQLD]

I found I got better eff doing a double sparge with the triple cube batches. But now with the herms I may not need too?

Cheers

Only one way to find out so long as you have enough mash tun room I can't see why you'd have a problem.

 

[argon]

I found I got better eff doing a double sparge with the triple cube batches. But now with the herms I may not need too?

Cheers

Ot... Yeah you may not need to if you're getting a good bump in efficiency. It's just a pay off of time effort and result.

For a rundown on double sparging have a read here and the associated braukaiser link within. Basic rundown is, double is significantly more efficient than single, triple is only slightly more efficient than double... So the effort vs reward ratio is best with a double sparge.

In saying that, now I have the Herms coil setup and 2 pumps, I'll be startIng fly sparging as it fits with my brewday timing.

 

[Parks]

Not that I have read everyone's posts on the matter but wondering if you guys pump through your HX to your kettle and have your HX set to full bore on the way? Probably not going to get much heat increase depending on your pump speed...

 

[Fourstar]

Not that I have read everyone's posts on the matter but wondering if you guys pump through your HX to your kettle and have your HX set to full bore on the way? Probably not going to get much heat increase depending on your pump speed...

In my case, mash tin open full bore and egress the pump to hermit I have it open just enough to keep up with gravity on the way down into the top of the tun a speed akin to what I batch sparge at. Estimate 15-20 seconds/l

The slower you flow the faster the hermit gets to temp.

 

[Parks]

In my case, mash tin open full bore and egress the pump to hermit I have it open just enough to keep up with gravity on the way down into the top of the tun a speed akin to what I batch sparge at. Estimate 15-20 seconds/l

The slower you flow the faster the hermit gets to temp.

Sure, but the question I meant was do you use your HERMIT to add heat to your runnings (is it worth the effort)?

 

[bradsbrew]

Sure, but the question I meant was do you use your HERMIT to add heat to your runnings (is it worth the effort)?

Parks, I run mine through the Hex but have already raised to mash out temp and recirced before swapping balve valves to send it to the kettle. I turn the rambo to low just before starting to send to kettle as well. I normally have 80L of wort boiling by the time the 2nd sparge is finished.

 

[booargy]

Sure, but the question I meant was do you use your HERMIT to add heat to your runnings (is it worth the effort)?

It is probably better to run your sparge water through it. I reckon there are 2 advantges to this, it adjusts your sparge water temp and flushes the unit with clean water. I don't know for sure as I have a rims unit.

 

[Parks]

It is probably better to run your sparge water through it. I reckon there are 2 advantges to this, it adjusts your sparge water temp and flushes the unit with clean water. I don't know for sure as I have a rims unit.

I like that idea but I am planning on using my coil for chilling aswell so it's not really an advantage to cleaning. I don't think the sparge water temp needs to be any more precise than my crown urn temp dial (surely?)

 

[Parks]

Parks, I run mine through the Hex but have already raised to mash out temp and recirced before swapping balve valves to send it to the kettle. I turn the rambo to low just before starting to send to kettle as well. I normally have 80L of wort boiling by the time the 2nd sparge is finished.

Yeah, my NASA has it up to temp pretty damn quick too - it was really just a thought.

 

[Fourstar]

Parks, I run mine through the Hex but have already raised to mash out temp and recirced before swapping balve valves to send it to the kettle.

pretty much follow the same process. i simply take the outlet hose sitting on top of the mash during recirc into the kettle and continue to run via the HE. Any benefits i would get from the HE to the kettle would be insignificant i would think.

 

[QldKev]

In my case, mash tin open full bore and egress the pump to hermit I have it open just enough to keep up with gravity on the way down into the top of the tun a speed akin to what I batch sparge at. Estimate 15-20 seconds/l

The slower you flow the faster the hermit gets to temp.

But the slower the flow more your mash bed lags behind. Wouldn't a faster flow be better to heat the bed more uniform and allow the enzymes a chance to work at all temps on the way to mash out temps?

 

[dent]

Yeah, you want as fast flow as possible really.

 

[Fourstar]

not from what ive seen, if you're reading 64 deg constant egress of the HE wouldn't you expect the entire mash to be within 1-2 deg of your set temp?

Once i hit my desired temp, any area i read the mash from (given its still from the top) it is within 1 deg of what the PID is reading.

Next mash i do i will start slow, get to my desired temp and then hold for 5 mins. Once stable i will then open it to flow a lot faster (not fully as i will drive a hole the size of Texas into my mash with the high flow march pump i have) and see if the PID begins cycling more frequently due to potential temperature differentials.

As you are doing a constant recirc, wouldn't you expect all enzymes in suspension to effectively reach the ramp temperature ranges all the way to mash out anyway?

 

[dent]

If the mash and recirculated wort temperatures are pretty much the same, then your flow is sufficient.

If the flow becomes too restricted then you lose heat faster than it can be added by the recirculated wort - which can still only be around your set temperature, not any hotter.

More flow is always good, so long as your manifold/grain bed will allow it - more flow will reduce the temperature difference between your mash and the output of the heat exchanger.

Sounds like your setup is flowing enough to be good.