Modified HERMS System

[Kbar]

Has anyone simply pumped Hot Liquid into a heat exchanger inside the Mash Tun in lieu of moving wort to a heat source as in RIMS and HERMS systems?

I am getting tired of compacting the mash and getting stuck sparges in my RIMS system, so I thought, why not move hot water into the mash tun (an immersion coil for instance inside the MLT) from the hot liquor tank and control the temperature of the hot liquor tank to required mash temps or slightly above to compensate for heat loss.

One issue is the pressure drop in 25-50' of tubing length.

I always find I do not get stuck sparges when I allow the mash to simply rest and then fly or batch sparge. This would allow the mash to rest while maintaining repeatable mash temps like RIMS and HERMS systems

Thanks!

[codewritinfool]

Sounds like a mess to clean up.

What type of mash tun are you using, with dimensions?
What kind of false bottom are you using?
Does this happen every time?
How fine is your crush?
Have you restricted the output of your pump to reduce pressure on the bottom of the grain bed?
Have you investigated a lauter grant?

[Kbar]

You are correct. I pump too fast, thus compaction. My rectangular cooler does not suffer from this as much. The 15 Gallon Minibrew does. It has a perforated stainless false bottom, but the height to diameter ratio makes it more susceptible to compaction.

My biggest fear is to run the RIMS tube dry, and the way I have the carts setup now, the tube can drain during a stuck sparge scenario. I have lost one element already but that was due to cleaning and shutting off the 3-way prematurely.

Crush has always been done at the LHBS I go to. Seems all 3 of the LHBS have the same effect, thus rulling out the crush.

Thanks Code.

[Quin]

I would think you would still need to recirculate the mash even with an internal heat exchanger to distribute the heat.

I'm using a pressure cooker to direct inject steam for step mashing. I can get up to 8°F difference between where the steam is added and the wort return.

[Kbar]

Yes. Stirring alone may not be adequate enough. Differentials will exist. Thanks!

[Grizz]

Sorry that I am a few days behind. Kbar I am using a herms system and had the same problem in the past with collapsing grain beds. I solved the problem by adding a bypass to my pump with a ball valve to control the rate of the flow. This upgrade stopped almost all of my problems. Well other than lager adjunct amounts in a brew.

My bypass was just two tees and a ball valve. The tees are installed on the inflow and out flow of the pump and the ball valve connected between the tees. This will take a lot of stress off your pump when mashing and also lets you control how fast you recalculate your wort. This was one of the best changes I made to my system!

[krizwit]

Four things will help with compact mashes.

Making sure you are not pumping too fast - Use a ball valve on the OUTPUT side of the pump to slow the pump flow down
Use a higher water to grain ratio - 1.5qt of water/# of grain or higher
Use rice hulls
Make sure you don’t compact your mash while stirring

I didn’t have an issue with my system until I started doing some high gravity beers using around 1qt/#. From now on I am just going to use my second mashtun when I want to do a large high gravity batch. Of course I will probably end up getting a larger mashtun some day so that I don’t have to use two….

[TastyMcD]

You are correct. I pump too fast, thus compaction.

You could use a grant like the pros do. I used to use one on my RIMS but found that rice hulls works well enough.

Tasty