Lawrence Brewers Guild

I would like to build a re-circulating mash system with an electric heating element as the heat source. I envision drawing mash water from a false bottomed keggle and pumping it through some plumbing that has a heating element and temperature sensor built into it.

The pump would run constant and the 15A element would be controlled by a ranco.
Are there any problems with this (for example; scorching)? Is anyone doing this?
Where can I find a picture of the plumbing?

Thank you for your consideration and replies.
Will L.

Jensen and Clint use a pretty slick electric rims that is pretty much exactly as you described, though I don't know if they run the pump constantly or not.

thank you for that reminder...Dear Jeff, when may I come over to your house to take picture of your plumbing...I'll keep an eye out for the next time you are brewing.

wlockwood wrote:Dear Jeff, when may I come over to your house to take picture of your plumbing...

uh, well, umm, sure, I guess Will (quite the open forum). Is there going to be beer or cocktails first, or are ruffies involved like last time?

Jensen wrote:

wlockwood wrote:Dear Jeff, when may I come over to your house to take picture of your plumbing...

uh, well, umm, sure, I guess Will (quite the open forum). Is there going to be beer or cocktails first, or are ruffies involved like last time?

Maybe he'll buy you breakfast?

I am working on a RIMS system right now. If i could ever figure out how to post pictures i would show you the plumbing and electrical setup. I would not use a Ranco to control the heater element. Instead consider using a PID, thermo coupler and a SSID.

I would also go with 220V and not 110. With 110 volts, it will limit the the size of the heating element you can use (I think about a 2400 or 3200w will be your upper limit) andd make the hot liquor tank very slow to respond to increases in temps. this is not to say you could not use 110 and a ranco, but it brings it own set of issues/limitations to the party.

The SSID can be run on 220v and you will need a 30 amp (at least) breaker. 15 Amp with all the stuff you will run on the system will be cutting it close and again limit the power and efficiency of your hot liquor tank. I would also install a "backup" burner on your hot liquor tank just in case the electrical goes down during the mash...you can just put the fire to it and drive on.

If you run your wort to the hot liquor tank to pick up the heat and then run it back to the mash tun, you have no worries of scorching the wort. the wort will only come into contact with indirect heat form the hot liquor tank. using a by-pass valve, one can very accurately, precisely and rapidly adjust the temperature of the wort. the Wort tank will need a decent false bottom to prevent a stuck sparge.

Jason

In our system, 110 volt is plenty of power. the 1200 watts being pulled by the element (a ~3500w 220v extra long element) is enough to maintain a constant temp for the whole mash cycle. I can even bring up the temp for mash out, but it is slow, less than 1 degree/minute, so a little fire under it helps that along. Even on the most difficult days, with the pump running the whole time, we have never had the slightest hint of scorching on the heater element.
And the wiring is easier, as we can run it on regular household. For the first time we popped a breaker, turns out those 2 coolers(20 and 40 years old) ARE on the same circuit as the power strip where the brew stand and keg washer are plugged in.
Here is a link to the web album of the brewery. I guess we don't have any good pics of the RIMS plumbing together.
http://picasaweb.google.com/twedelc/Bre ... directlink
I will get that resolved next brew session.

Now if you were to want to go with an electric HERMS set up, running coil though your hot liquor tank, you probably would want 220v so ,as Jason mentioned, you could more accurately control your temp. Jeff knows I have dreams of an all electric brewery with big 220v heaters for everything, a solar hot water pre-heater and a geothermal ground-loop wort chiller, and... but for now, fossil fuels and 110v is working well.

Good points. Let me add this and then see what ya’ll think.
Because I have a strong desire to simplify the building of a somewhat automated system and mostly to shorten my brew day I am going to no-sparge (as Palmer describes). I do 5 gallon batches and don’t foresee that changing (ha).
I have an electric strike water tank (keggle) that has a 2K watt element that I run on with a timer and a ranco. It has to come on at around 4:30 AM to allow the whole tank to equilibrate. But this will change soon because I plan to add a pump so I can run pump the water in circles while it heats (Jeff’s idea).
So I plan to take that keggle (has one element mounted through the wall) and make it my mash vessel. It will work like this…mash water in vessel prior PM, timer set to heat and pump water in circles so it is ready in AM. Turn off the trough wall element, add the grain, turn on the inline element and pump circles during mash. I fortunate to have two 20 amp circuits in my garage so while heating the strike water I can run both elements.
But I had envisioned steps and mash-out too. But I’m wonder if just that one element will do it for a 5 gallon batch? I am starting to doubt it. But I think I can live with single temp infusion, maybe.

Thank you for your consideration and replies.

I think that will work fine. Your step mash may be more of a ramp mash, as the element will only do so much. 3.4 BTU's per watt, x2000 watts= 6800 BTU's. If you have 7 gallons of water and 12 pounds of grain... call it 70 pounds, in the mash tun, and you want to raise the temp 15 degrees, say 150-165... that should take 9.25 minutes. Longer of course because you are losing heat thru the wall of your tun, so insulate a lot. Not bad, under 10 minutes to do a 15 degree step, whether step mash or mash out.

An alternative to pumping water while pre-heating it up, make one of those DIY stir plates and put it on the bottom of your keggle to provide the stirring you need.

Ooo, i just realized you will be heating the keggle too, another 30 pounds... so 13.25 minutes for 15 degrees.

Stop that train... specific heat of stainless is only 0.12, so... 9.75 minutes. That is my final answer!

good luck!