I really appreciate all the sharing of knowledge and pictorial guides from all the JBK members. I'm sure some of us (me anyway) would never even have thought of this stuff had we not seen it on here.
HERMS at last!
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mysterio
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buzzrtbi
that is great thanks. confirmed what I thought. what is that mesh bag in your bewday post in the mash tun?edit1now wrote:Buzzrtbi - have a look at my Brewday post.
The first picture shows the mash tun on the left, with the mash liquor coming out of the ballvalve at the bottom and down to the March pump. The pump sends it into the bottom of the heat exchanger coil, which is heated by a kettle element in a couple of litres of water, then the liquor passes back up a hose and into the 22mm copper spout or U-tube, and back onto the top of the mash as seen in the second picture.
As I tried to explain in the Brewday post, I know I could do a straightforward 60 degree mash with just a well-insulated container and a supply of hot water, but...
a. I like making things and tinkering
b. Using the HERMS gives me absolute control over the temperatures so I can mess around with the malt, trying to get different characteristics like more body, less alcohol; or more maltiness and a less dry mouthfeel.
c. I'm hoping to scale-up this system to a larger-capacity one with shiny vessels, so I've invested in some reasonably good peripherals which I hope will just move across to the big one eventually. (OK that last bit wasn't relevant to your question:)
Does this help at all?
The mesh bag is my grain bag. I always do a pretty runny mash, like 3 1/2 kg of grain in 16 or 18 litres of water, so the grain bag keeps all the bigger lumps off the false bottom and away from the bottom outlet. The last time I tried to mash without a grain bag it all went horribly wrong.
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buzzrtbi
E1N wrote:
Mash schedule:
½ hour @ 40 ̊C beta glucanase/ phytase rest/ debranching
½ hour @ 50 ̊C protease/ peptidase rest
½ hour @ 60 ̊C beta amylase rest
(pH about 4.5 at this point using uncalibrated pH meter, but it read pH7.5 with de-ionised water)
½ hour @ 70 ̊C alpha amylase rest
heated to about 80 ̊C for sugar solubility before sparging with 78 ̊C water down to 2̊ Brix
so you are mashing for 2 hours (recirculating for 90 mins) and then heating up to 80 (is this by an internal mash tun element or by recirculating through the heat exchanger?) and then opening up straight into the boiler and sparging by way of HLT.
you then have a picture showing the wort being pumped back to the boiler - is this boiled wort being recirculated or put in another vessel?
Mash schedule:
½ hour @ 40 ̊C beta glucanase/ phytase rest/ debranching
½ hour @ 50 ̊C protease/ peptidase rest
½ hour @ 60 ̊C beta amylase rest
(pH about 4.5 at this point using uncalibrated pH meter, but it read pH7.5 with de-ionised water)
½ hour @ 70 ̊C alpha amylase rest
heated to about 80 ̊C for sugar solubility before sparging with 78 ̊C water down to 2̊ Brix
so you are mashing for 2 hours (recirculating for 90 mins) and then heating up to 80 (is this by an internal mash tun element or by recirculating through the heat exchanger?) and then opening up straight into the boiler and sparging by way of HLT.
you then have a picture showing the wort being pumped back to the boiler - is this boiled wort being recirculated or put in another vessel?
Actually the total mash time was about 2 3/4 hours if you include raising the temperature between steps.
I have two Electrim boilers, both now running off digital controllers instead of the original simmerstats. I use the element in the first one to pre-heat the mash liquor, then I move the kettle lead from that boiler to the heat exchanger element. The second boiler is only used for sparging unless I wind up with too much wort to boil safely in one, in which case I boil in two boilers.
Dough-in (shove the grains in the boiler I mean Mash Tun, stir like mad, and then open the ballvalve and let the liquor run down to the pump. Turn the pump on, and turn on the PID to heat the heat exchanger and control the temperature of the circulating liquor. Set a little timer and go and have a cup of tea.
Timer goes beep, turn up the PID to the next temperature step, hang around while it gets up there (10 mins or so for 10 ̊C) and set the timer again. Give the mash a bit of a stir from time to time, though the liquor running down onto the mash does help.
When the mash schedule is finished, I turn off the pump and the PID, disconnect the hose from the ballvalve and run the wort out into a brewing bin - I mean Receiving Vessel (also fitted with a ballvalve) - on the floor. I have to empty the hoses otherwise valuable wort goes on the floor.
I then sparge, and the sparging also flows into the bin on the floor. When the sparge has finished, I remove the grain bag with the spent grain from the boiler, and put it in a bucket to go on the compost heap later.
Next I connect the inlet side of the pump to the bin's ballvalve and the outlet side directly to the copper spout or U-tube. I then pump the wort back up to the boiler, and when it runs out I tip the last of it out by hand, also emptying the hoses for the second and final time.
Now I move the kettle lead back from the heat exchanger to the boiler element, and set the PID to boil the wort. I chuck in the first bag of hops when it's boiling enthusiastically, and set a timer...
Too much detail?
I have two Electrim boilers, both now running off digital controllers instead of the original simmerstats. I use the element in the first one to pre-heat the mash liquor, then I move the kettle lead from that boiler to the heat exchanger element. The second boiler is only used for sparging unless I wind up with too much wort to boil safely in one, in which case I boil in two boilers.
Dough-in (shove the grains in the boiler I mean Mash Tun, stir like mad, and then open the ballvalve and let the liquor run down to the pump. Turn the pump on, and turn on the PID to heat the heat exchanger and control the temperature of the circulating liquor. Set a little timer and go and have a cup of tea.
Timer goes beep, turn up the PID to the next temperature step, hang around while it gets up there (10 mins or so for 10 ̊C) and set the timer again. Give the mash a bit of a stir from time to time, though the liquor running down onto the mash does help.
When the mash schedule is finished, I turn off the pump and the PID, disconnect the hose from the ballvalve and run the wort out into a brewing bin - I mean Receiving Vessel (also fitted with a ballvalve) - on the floor. I have to empty the hoses otherwise valuable wort goes on the floor.
I then sparge, and the sparging also flows into the bin on the floor. When the sparge has finished, I remove the grain bag with the spent grain from the boiler, and put it in a bucket to go on the compost heap later.
Next I connect the inlet side of the pump to the bin's ballvalve and the outlet side directly to the copper spout or U-tube. I then pump the wort back up to the boiler, and when it runs out I tip the last of it out by hand, also emptying the hoses for the second and final time.
Now I move the kettle lead back from the heat exchanger to the boiler element, and set the PID to boil the wort. I chuck in the first bag of hops when it's boiling enthusiastically, and set a timer...
Too much detail?
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buzzrtbi