Herms Question

[LastChair]

I am considering switching from cooler to kettle/herms. From what I have read wort is recirculated from the mash tun through a heat source via a coil and returned. I am considering leaving the wort in the mash tun and recirculating heated water through a coil placed in the mash tun instead. Interested in thoughts from herms experienced brewers.
Thanks in advance.

 

[RPh_Guy]

I believe the heat won't properly disperse through the mash unless you circulate it.

 

[AknotOtoads]

Sounds like a mess to clean up! The coil in the hot liquor tank is just surrounded by water, no sweet sugars to invite bugs in between the coils.

 

[IslandLizard]

I believe the heat won't properly disperse through the mash unless you circulate it.

Or stir that mash continuously.

 

[AknotOtoads]

Here are some pictures of my HLT with HERMS coil

 

[IslandLizard]

You may want to look into using a small eHERMS, that would be my preferred way. Wort goes through a short wort coil (say 6') inside a relatively small, 1 gallon pot that's filled with water. That water in turn is heated by a simple 4500W electric water heater coil element. It's very fast and very responsive.

You do need to recirculate your wort from your mash tun, and integrate some temp sensor/feedback control to turn on the heater when there's demand. Often a PID is used there, but there are alternative ways.

 

[LastChair]

Thank for all your responses.