BeerBorg

This started off when I bought a wort pump to use with my immersion chiller so I wouldn't have to stir the wort while chilling. I then got the idea of taking it one step further and building a simple HERMS and use the wort pump to really help me out on brew day. I already had most of everything I needed for this build all I had to do was buy a couple fittings and some silicone hose along with the wort pump. I built my brew cart years ago, I recently upgraded my cooler mashtun and picked me up a 6 gal pot for sparge water. I also never got rid of my original wort chiller when I bought a new one last year. The old one is 20 or 25 ft of 3/8 copper and I was able to turn that into a heat exchanger to sit in the HLT which would become my sparge water. I borrowed my Johnson controller and thermowell for the probe to make this all work. So like I said, going into this build I had everything I needed.

I did a test run last week and all went well, made a few tweaks and got a feel for the setup.



Johnson controller to cycle the pump on and off as needed.


New wort pump $69 from Williams Brewing.


New sparge pot. I got tired of using 2-3 smaller pots for sparge water. Now holds the heat exchanger.


Old wort chiller has a new life as the heat exchanger sitting in what will be my sparge water.


Returning the flow back into the mashtun. I have a 16" SS thermowell with the temp probe in it which will sit right in the mash.

Yesterday I brewed and English Bitter and I put the new setup to the test. Once my strike water was heated I pumped my strike water into the mashtun as I added my grain and stirred the mash all at the same time. That was pretty nice. Had my HLT heating on the stove at the same time so I could have it ready for circulating the mash. Did a quick vorlauf so I can hook up the pump to circulate. Initial mash temp was a little low on purpose so I could bring it up to the 153* I was aiming for. Only took a couple mins to do that. Part 1...Perfect.

I kept my HLT at about 160* keeping the burner on a low flame during most of the mash and the pump was on more than it was off. I wanted to keep a mash temp around 153* so I set the controller for 152* because of the differential, the pump kicked on at 152* and kicked off at 154*...never seen temps below 152* for the whole 60 min. Part 2...Perfect.

As I got to the end of the mash I wanted to ramp my mash temp up to 168* just because and to see how the system would handle that. I needed my actual sparge water to be at 185* or so anyway so that's the temp I ran my HLT up to by kicking up the burner. I was at 168* within minutes and the pump kicked off. Swaped out the HLT for my kettle on the burner and I pumped my first runnings from the mashtun into the kettle. Started heating the first runnings while I pumped my sparge water through the heat exchanger and tubing into the mashtun. Now the heat exchanger was clean...sweet. Part 3...Perfect.

Then when it came time for cooling I put my wort chiller in the kettle at 15 mins like usual and set up the pump for the kettle. I pumped hot wort through it for about 10 min to sanitize everything. Boil was over and I set up to start chilling. I did a 25 min hop stand after the boil once I cooled to 180* and let the pump run a whirlpool with that. Then I turned the water back on to the chiller and finished chilling to 64* while I never stirred once...that part also perfect.

All went really well, it didnt' save me any time really and I wasn't expecting that but it did make things easier on me and made for a very smooth brew day. It was cool to sit back and watch it all do it's thing. I don't plan to take it any further or get all fancy with more automation but this was a nice upgrade.

I ran a thinner than usual mash at 1.75 qts/lb compared to my 1.25. But with recirculating I wanted to have enough liquid in there. I think anything over 1.5 qts/lb would be fine. I also used a full pound of rice hulls, for one it gives me more thermo mass to help maintain temps but I also need a very good filter while recirculating the mash. Using a false bottom, the rice hulls are cheap insurance. It worked so well, I was able to open both the valve on the mashtun and the pump wide open. No problem.

Just thought I would share what I have been busy with. Next batch is going to be a Kolsch. I could even do step mashes now with no water additions. Might give it a try.

Great description and review. Thanks for sharing.

Green with envy and a great review.

Very interesting. Glad that everything worked out so well for you.

It seems that everyone gets to a certain point and says they are not going to add anymore to there brewing equipment. Lol. You will!!!

RayF wrote:It seems that everyone gets to a certain point and says they are not going to add anymore to there brewing equipment. Lol. You will!!!

Well, I'm sure I will add something.
Seems like with the start of another brewing year I make a few upgrades. Right now I think I'm pretty good. I really just wanted the pump to circulate my wort while I'm using the immersion chiller. But now I have something I can use when needed.

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a simple way to get a HERMS system. Most likely less expensive than something custom made.

Nothing is more rewarding than being able to reconfigure existing brewing gear into an advanced system, nice job! A nice system like you have built may not shorten your brewday but it will relieve you of having to deal with many manual steps, and that will allow you to focus more on brewing. The other major advantage of brewing on a system like yours is the consistency and repeatably it will provide you. I have a feeling you may find yourself brewing more often now and enjoying yourself on brewdays too.

Are you just cycling the pump on and off to maintain temps rather than having your HLT at a preset temp and continuously recirculating?

RayF wrote:Are you just cycling the pump on and off to maintain temps rather than having your HLT at a preset temp and continuously recirculating?

Yes. I am using the heat of the sparge water (at any temp higher than my mash temp) to maintain my mash temps. I dont have to worry too much about the temp of the HLT. The temp controller cycles the pump as needed to run the mash wort through the heat exchanger. It usually runs more than it is off so it gets plenty of reciculation throughout the mash. It was cool to ramp it up to mashout at 168*. Doing that my sparge water was at 185* and I was ready to batch sparge with it.

The pump has been nice to emilinate having to lift hot pots of water to do any transfers. It will pump like 5 gals a min.

Very cool, Kenny. We use this method where I work to maintain temps on a tank of coagulant solution for our rubber glove dipping process. I originally was planning on setting up my eherms this way but this is not the method my controller is set for.