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HERMS vs RIMS

CR

Grandmaster Brewer
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I was leaning in the direction of a HERMS but after some research I wonder if a RIMS wouldn't be easier, cleaner mechanically with less  stuff needed and I can use the same electronics for everything.

I'm told that RIMs is just a scosh less efficient than fly sparging, which is not a particularly meaningful issue unless the inefficiencies are  leaving starches in the beer.  So a little more grain will compensate for the 5 or so percentage points.  Woo Hoo.  Starch conversion only requires the right temp over an adequate period.  And a RIMs will (I am told)  prevent the Ph of the wort from getting to astringent in the same way that batch sparging does.

Can you think of any reason why you'd prefer one over the other?



 
CR,

We have neither, but like you we have been thinking it over and doing some research.  From what we read, we think you are right about a RIMS setup being a bit easier to pull together. The only draw backs we've read about was scorching of the wort because of an oversized heat element and/or to low a flow due pump limitations or restrictions.  All should be easily overcome. The second was cleaning. We wonder if the cleaning issue was related to the scorching. We read about many very successful systems with none of these problems.

We liked the HERMS systems only because you could set it up to have only one heater running in the HLT and you could use an IC in the HLT for an exchanger. That would save on the electrical set up. In addition, the wort did not come in contact with the heating element eliminating the possibility of scorching and cleaning problems.

What have you finally come up with?


Preston
 
CR,

I forgot to mention BIAB.  This offers a very simple electrical and plumbing solution. There was a post in the HBA database about a proposed BIAB system using just one pot and a stainless basket rather than a bag. BobBrews is a frequent flier on this forum. He uses BIAB and has sent some links in a post.

As we brew small batches indoors, we would like to go electricand BIAB offers some simple solutions.

Just food for thought. What do you think?

Preston
 
I've been pestering Electric brewers with the Scorching or caramelizing  question.  they all swear that it's a non issue.
I haven't found one brewer who will say that his beer became darker when he went electric.

Of course they are mostly all still using the ULWD elements.
A couple less informed brewers  have gone out of their way to get SST elements which In my opinion is a regrettable mistake because the SST will  suffer chromium migration when heated and will subsequently rust and regular black colored elements are made from the super alloy Inconel with will never  rust.

 
CR,

You have been doing homework! I was aware of the ULWD elements and had decided they were probably worth the minor additional cost just to be sure.  I had no idea all standard elements were made with inconel. I thought the black ones were the ULWD elements?  Am I confused??

Preston
 
CR,

Just another dumb question. At what temperature does chromium migration become a problem??  We all use satinless pots and etc. They are heated over and over in the presence of water. Mine hasn't started to rust.  Isn't this a function more of the alloy?  I'm not a materials guy and I've seen rust on satinless so I'm curious!

Preston
 
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