Herms System Nearing COMPLETION!!!!

[K3vin24]

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would post some pics of my Herms system. I just finished running all the tubing this evening. I built the electrical panel and everything is wired up and seams to be functioning properly. I have a few more things to tackle before I take her for a spin. I'm thinking of just using cord ends (the yellow style that the cover and plug are two separate pieces) to cover the connections on my heating elements. I'm also already thinking of how I can modify the tubing to make draining and cleanup easier. The only other thing I would like to due is tap into on of my cold water lines (as you can notice the brew room is conveniently also my utility room, so it should be pretty easy to tee off and add a valve and a hose connection). I was also thinking about cutting square pieces of plywood to place under each keg to protect the stand - the plastic stand wasn't my first choice, but it is what it is - it seems durable, but I'm not sure I trust it with a boiling keggle on it.....any other thoughts/comments? I also wanna add a sparge arm - any recommendations? I see alot of people recommend that 'floating' tubing....

I wish I would have documented the build a little more. It probably doesn't look like much in comparison to some of the unbelievable fancy builds on the forum, but I put a lot of work into it.... hopefully it'll churn out some tasty brews once I figure out how I should run it. Cheers!

 

[andrhamm]

nice work! have you figured out your ventilation?


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[K3vin24]

At some point I'm going to tap into my whole house exhaust piping - people usually only ventilate due to smells though, right?

 

[brew_ny]

At some point I'm going to tap into my whole house exhaust piping - people usually only ventilate due to smells though, right?

steam from the boil, looks good

all the best

S_M

 

[Rockn_M]

With that much water and wort steaming it'll get pretty swamppy pretty quickly.

 

[bonebrews]

Yea that bare sheetrock will not be very happy. You probably can get away with 5gal batches though. You're still looking at 1+ gallons of water vapor with 5gal batches.

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[showcow]

At some point I'm going to tap into my whole house exhaust piping - people usually only ventilate due to smells though, right?

You mean vent to the pluming vent?! Dude. unless you want stinky poopy (and legitimately toxic) sewage fumes coming back through the vent every time you use a toilet, drain, or the wind blows across the top of your vent pipe on the roof; don't do that!!!

Please tell me that's not what you meant!

 

[showcow]

Also: kickass build! Love the ss plumbing! Looks awesome

 

[andrhamm]

Check out Kal's ventilation section on theelectricbrewery.com


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[augiedoggy]

have you tested those shelves with the kegs loaded with water?... they seem like they would bend from the weight..

 

[Setesh]

have you tested those shelves with the kegs loaded with water?... they seem like they would bend from the weight..

Those look exactly like the ones I got from HD. If they are mine are all sagging in the middle after being loaded with about 40lbs per shelf. I would think that problem would get much worse with heat. Heat makes plastic much more malleable, so you might want to put a board or something with low thermal conductivity on top to keep the heat off them. If nothing else at least under the boil kettle as it will get very hot on the bottom rim. Very nice work though!

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Build or buy some of these for your heating elements. Your setup is sketchy. It is important for the element wiring to be grounded and in some sort of splash proof enclosure.

 

[Setesh]

Build or buy some of these for your heating elements. Your setup is sketchy. It is important for the element wiring to be grounded and in some sort of splash proof enclosure.

You forgot to include your "these" link.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

Indeed! Here let's try again.

http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/heating-elements?page=1

 

[sandyeggoxj]

I also forgot to mention that your build looks nice. I like the hard plumbing. Nice touch!

 

[Docbruw]

I like the hard plumbing also but the brew stand seems to be a temporary solution. Unless the stand is built to the same shelf spacing the pumps will need to be re-plumbed. I guess building the stand to match the shelf spacing would not be that hard. I would have built the permanent stand first before hard plumbing but the OP might have access to SS tube and tools to bend them in which case this would have been a good test build.

 

[rgauthier20420]

You forgot to include your "these" link.

Use whichever of these fits your setup best. They are much cheaper than the other linked version and just as nice.

 

[Setesh]

Use whichever of these fits your setup best. They are much cheaper than the other linked version and just as nice.

I have the Kal versions they work extremely well, but I can't easily clean the element since I mounted them as close to the bottom as I could and his are not easily removable like these. I have been seriously looking at these as an upgrade for that reason. The one downside I see to these is the cable coming strait out of them. Even without that, I still think they would be deeper than Kal's version. I have mine mounted on the back of my keggles and they can go right up against the wall. With these I would need to turn my keggles a bit to make it work. Would still be OK but the rest of the plumbing wouldn't be as easy to access then.

 

[rgauthier20420]

I have the Kal versions they work extremely well, but I can't easily clean the element since I mounted them as close to the bottom as I could and his are not easily removable like these. I have been seriously looking at these as an upgrade for that reason. The one downside I see to these is the cable coming strait out of them. Even without that, I still think they would be deeper than Kal's version. I have mine mounted on the back of my keggles and they can go right up against the wall. With these I would need to turn my keggles a bit to make it work. Would still be OK but the rest of the plumbing wouldn't be as easy to access then.

You could use these to help with that issue?

 

[K3vin24]

You mean vent to the pluming vent?! Dude. unless you want stinky poopy (and legitimately toxic) sewage fumes coming back through the vent every time you use a toilet, drain, or the wind blows across the top of your vent pipe on the roof; don't do that!!!

Please tell me that's not what you meant!

DEFINITELY NOT!!! Haha - I have a 'whole house' exhaust fan that's located in the utility room. It's for ventilating moisture specifically - not sure where you live but up here around Calgary/the rest Canada it's quite common. They work well in the winter for keeping the humidity from condensing on your windows when your cooking/showering anything that releases hot moisture into the air really.

 

[showcow]

DEFINITELY NOT!!! Haha - I have a 'whole house' exhaust fan that's located in the utility room. It's for ventilating moisture specifically - not sure where you live but up here around Calgary/the rest Canada it's quite common. They work well in the winter for keeping the humidity from condensing on your windows when your cooking/showering anything that releases hot moisture into the air really.

Hshahaha ok. That's hilarious. Yeah I've never heard of that at all - but sounds like that'll work fine. Cheers to no sewer fumes!