Herms and sparging questions

I am in the process of building a separate HERMS system (5 litre stainless steel vessel with 2.Kw heater, controlled by a PID),to complement my existing setup (50L stainless steel boiler and 33L Colemans mash tun), and was wondering whether to maintain current sparging practices,(I batch sparge, equal amounts), or to change to fly sparging. I have only done around 12 all grain brews, and as I am still only brewing 20 pint batches to improve my technique, I was wondering what the implications batch sparging may have, after circulating, (what would hopefully be clear wort) via the HEX for 90 mins?

After adding the first batch of sparge water and stirring, would I simply recirculate until the wort was clear, then drain, before adding the second addition of sparge water?
If I have enough space in the cooler to add all of the sparge water, and recirculate until wort is clear, would that effect efficiency?, ie not having equal amounts of wort to the fermentor?
Would changing to fly sparging be beneficial?

Any advice would be very much appreciated,

Best regards,
WM7793

I use the (treated) water in my 8-gallon HERMS water bath (5,500 watt water heater element) as my sparge water. Heat it to the desired temp while draining the first runnings. Then dump the required volume of sparge water into the mash tun, stir, recirculate until clear and drain the second runnings. Your 5l system may not be big enough to do a single sparge. If you prefer to (or must) do two sparges, adjust the volumes as you prefer, stir, recirculate, and drain.

I've read that fly sparging gives a slightly higher efficiency, but my efficiency is adequate and the beer is good using single batch sparges. I've done fly sparges in the past, but I didn't check my efficiency in those days and it was a lot of trouble. Fly sparging is not worth the time and trouble for me.

Thanks durrettd for your reply.

I am intending to only use the 5L HERMS vessel to heat the water within the container itself, this transfers heat to the wort via the coil, which is then returned by pump, to the top of the mash tun, giving the benefit of stable mash temperatures, and hopefully, fast response times to alter mash profiles in the future.

I wasn't sure in my mind about the sparging methods to adopt, following the full mash period of 90 mins.

After running the HERMS system for 90 mins, I will hopefully by then, have clear wort at my disposal.

Now, do I drain this off to the boil kettle before adding the first sparge water? because adding the first batch and stirring will disturb the grain bed and cloud the wort and undo all the hard work. Or do I simply add the first batch of sparge water, stir, allow to settle, then recirculate using the pump until clear, and resume as normal for the second addition of sparge water?

As I mentioned I batch sparge (it works for me, and get acceptable mash efficiency, around 78%).

That said, I am not adverse to change to fly sparging, if there are good reasons why it would be beneficial with the addition of the HERMS set up.

Again, any advice would be very welcome.

Best regards,

WM7793

I drain the first runnings into a 5-gallon pot after mashing is complete, then add the sparge water to the mash tun, stir, recirculate until the sparge runs clear, then drain the second runnings. In my system I use the water bath kettle for a boil kettle, so once the second runnings are drained, I empty the water bath and pour the first and second runnings into the now-empty kettle and proceed with the boil. You should definitely have very clear wort after recirculating for your 90-minute mash. Adding the sparge water and stirring will give you cloudy wort, but it will clear very quickly with recirculation. Not sure how many minutes in a "very quickly", but for me it's about five minutes.

With your 5l water bath, you will probably get faster temperature changes than I get with my 8-gallon bath. Obviously you are using a separate boil kettle, so I assume you'll be draining first and second runnings into your boil kettle and perhaps start heating the first runnings while the sparge is clearing.

My system is basicaly a Denny Brew system (dennybrew.com) with the pump-coil-water bath added. The main reason I like HERMS is that I can set the temp of my water bath and read while the enzymes do what enzymes do. I'm too lazy to do the work to measure and calibrate for an infusion mash. It also lets me do a Hockhurz step mash easilly (I use about 142 for 60 minutes and about 158 for 30 minutes for most of my lagers) or a ferulic acid step mash (10 - 20 minutes at about 111F) for a Bavarian Wheat beer - gives a great clove note if fermented at about 60 - 62F. There are lots of other ways to accomplish the same thing, and finding the way you prefer is part of the fun.

Thank you very much durrettd for your advice. I look forward to completing my control panel and brewing using the HERMS.

I intend to try a Hockhurz mash for another lager for my son in law. My first one was a simple infusion mash and at the moment it is sitting in the temperature controlled fridge lagering, and I have little idea how it is progressing regards chill haze etc etc.

Thanks again for your input.

Best regards,

WM7793