will a herms increase my brew length

[shaunsbrew]

will a herms compact my malt cake more and thus giving me more wort after a fly sparge ? :wha:

 

[Wez]

The limiting factor to your brewlength is the capacity of your boiler.

 

[shaunsbrew]

so what give me more wort ? more malt ?

 

[Wez]

More grains will give you more sugar extraction so you can sparge for longer and end up with more sweet wort.

Have a search for using the sugar points system though, that involves only exracting the sugars you need and then liquoring back to your desired pre-boil vol. I've used that method loads of times and love it.

 

[Vossy1]

Everything Wez has said. You don't ever want to compact you malt bed, for various reasons.
There is also another way of increasing your brew length, and that's to make a high gravity beer and dilute post boil. Either way you will either have to, increase the size of your mash tun, and/or your boiler/hlt.