EskiBrew
Regular.
Phil said:
Out of interest Phil, what flow rate do you achieve without sucking down the grain bed so it sticks?
How I made My HERMS heat exchangers
- Thread starter Vossy1
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Out of interest Phil, what flow rate do you achieve without sucking down the grain bed so it sticks?
Vossy1
Landlord.
I checked the HE coils today for the first time since they were immersed in water in the HE bath on the 07/05, 4 days ago.
A few rust spots have shown up, so I've drained the HE vessel and removed the coil. I thought I'd get away with a fine scouring of the surface but it would appear some of the rust marks are due to imperfections in the steel which are impossible to remove with light scouring. I'll try to grind them out with my dremmel when I have time, and I'll take it from there. Pics will follow.
I've also looked at the perspex lid of the old HE vessel, and it has definately warped and clouded, with age and heat.
The life span of the new HE vessel may be short lived.
A few rust spots have shown up, so I've drained the HE vessel and removed the coil. I thought I'd get away with a fine scouring of the surface but it would appear some of the rust marks are due to imperfections in the steel which are impossible to remove with light scouring. I'll try to grind them out with my dremmel when I have time, and I'll take it from there. Pics will follow.
I've also looked at the perspex lid of the old HE vessel, and it has definately warped and clouded, with age and heat.
The life span of the new HE vessel may be short lived.
Screwy
Well-Known Member
My reply is based on experience using my system. I found by monitoring the mash temp my beers were not attenuating sufficiently based upon the mash temp. Advice from pro brewers was to monitor wort temp not mash temp and monitor at the hottest part of your system. I now monitor the HE output, as soon as the wort temperature measured there reaches my desired mash temp I start the timer, not interested in the mash temp in the tun or losses. This was the solution to low attenuation in my case using my equipment.
Cheers,
Screwy
Cheers,
Screwy
Vossy1
Landlord.
So was mine S. I personally found that my beers were attenuating to TOO a low FG at first, the beers tasted thin.
I then started looking into mash temp v HE outlet temp and my experiences are based as above.
That really surprises me Phil. Your mash tun has a smaller base surface area than mine, and I use a full coverage FB.
Perhaps I let my initial fb failure scare me, and I need to go higher than 2-3ltr/min :hmm: :P
I'm really only guessing at the flow. I suppose one of these days 'll have to measure it as I get asked that question a lot. I guess the real answer should be that the flow rate is fast enough to allow me to raise the mash temperature to mash out within 10 minutes but not so fast that I get a stuck mash.
/Phil.
/Phil.
![BREWING THERMOMETER STICKERS ACCURATELY MONITOR FERMENTING BEER & WINE LIQUID TEMPERATURES 5PCS HOME BREW SPIRITS WINE LCD ADHESIVE [US]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/311DDjo2X3L._SL500_.jpg)
Screwy
Well-Known Member
Vossy1 said:
Vossy, that's the most important aspect of our comments and important for newbs to remember, findings can be different with different systems. The benefit of a forum such as his is that readers get to know this, there are different ways of doing things :thumb:
Screwy
Vossy1
Landlord.
Wise words indeed S :thumb:
Well, today I was dragged into a shop I would never have gone into in a million years, strangely it was also mentioned to me last week be a catering wholesaler who I'd gone into see about a new ss vessel for my ss coil. Lakeland is the name and homware is their game. I wondered around and came upon a aspargus kettle.
I happened to have a tape measure on me :whistle: and remembered the dimensions of the coil....and I think you can guess what heppened next :lol:
These little pots would make ideal hop backs :hmm: There's a fair bit of room for more coils on the HE. I had to stretch it to fit and reckon if it's needed another 4 or 5 coils could be added, I'll see how I get on with it when I brew.
On a seperate note I ground the rust spots of the coil and left it for a day before immersing it back into the clear HE water bath, result, no more rust :party:
So that's the HE sorted...almost finished :party:
Well, today I was dragged into a shop I would never have gone into in a million years, strangely it was also mentioned to me last week be a catering wholesaler who I'd gone into see about a new ss vessel for my ss coil. Lakeland is the name and homware is their game. I wondered around and came upon a aspargus kettle.
I happened to have a tape measure on me :whistle: and remembered the dimensions of the coil....and I think you can guess what heppened next :lol:
These little pots would make ideal hop backs :hmm: There's a fair bit of room for more coils on the HE. I had to stretch it to fit and reckon if it's needed another 4 or 5 coils could be added, I'll see how I get on with it when I brew.
On a seperate note I ground the rust spots of the coil and left it for a day before immersing it back into the clear HE water bath, result, no more rust :party:
So that's the HE sorted...almost finished :party:
A T
Regular.
Looks great Vossy :thumb: 
EskiBrew
Regular.
That looks smashing :clap:
jamesb
Landlord.
So... you can run hot water through the coil and cook asparagus to perfection?
Looking good mate.
Looking good mate.
Vossy1
Landlord.
:lol:
Vossy1
Landlord.
I use a March May pump for my HERMS.
Totton GP 20/12 pumps are another popular choice, and they are a lot cheaper. Norm of corny fame can supply thse pumps at around half the price of the March pump.
The March has one advantage over the GP 20/12 in that it will happily pump boiling liquids all day long. The totton will do it briefly but it's only rated to 85 deg c and it becomes noisy once it gets hot and the flow rate will drop off considerably.
I used to sanitise my cfc by recircing from the copper for the last 10 minutes of the boil, so for me this was a consideration, it might not be for you :thumb:
There are 12v versions here which Brewzone has used and can recommend.
Vossy1
Landlord.
After meaning to do so for a long time, I finally got round to changing the outlet manifold for my heat exchanger
The PT100 is totally secure now
The PT100 is totally secure now
beer taster
Well-Known Member
excellent work Vossy, What fitting did you use on the bottom of your HE.
I'm looking to change my HE and considering going stainless. Just got a quote from Manu, need to get the OK from the financial advisor
Mark
I'm looking to change my HE and considering going stainless. Just got a quote from Manu, need to get the OK from the financial advisor
Mark
Vossy1
Landlord.
The one which seals the the coil exit pipe is a cable gland, sealed to the pot with jb weld, secured with a backing nut inside the HE.
Good luck :thumb:
BarnsleyBrewer
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Vossy1 said:
So that's the HE sorted...almost finished :party:
Where did you get the SS coil from Vossy1, I've had a quick blast through the thread but can't find a reference to it.
John
BarnsleyBrewer
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Hi,
Would these be good to use, maybe make a square HERM's?? :hmm:
http://www.corneliusukonline.com/siteco ... Coils.aspx
Would these be good to use, maybe make a square HERM's?? :hmm:
http://www.corneliusukonline.com/siteco ... Coils.aspx
Vossy1
Landlord.
Yep, I had thought about using those too. They might be awkward to drain down, but some compressed air would sort that problem, or you could leave them flooded between uses.
Norm of corny fame sells them cheaper if you go that route
