Amateur HERMS

[Ciderhead]

Ok time for me to up the anti and so last week a solar pump arrived



Shiney I hope you spotted Sugru on 12V connections.

An old small 10L 2.2KW burco boiler I had in the attic



A coil of copper wound around a full 2litre bottle, which was an absolute beatch to do
I'm gonna source stainless depending on how I progress with this.



5 Litres of water just enough to cover the coil and coil perched just off the bottom away we go



Coil running on an 30A STC to mess about with, set point 68, (PID in my possession, just waiting for a project box and heat sink for SSR)

open the mash tun a few air bubbles once I had primed the pump, amazing little pump, very efficient, I was getting 2.5 Litres a minute.
I put 20L in picnic cooler (mash tun) and controlled burco on/off with probe in MT.

Hole in the top of my MT and 15mm Qualpex in grid distributed the return and can be pushed down on top of grain bed to prevent hot side aeration.



1st overshoot by 1.5 degrees, damn stc will only switch at 1 degree(I have another another one which will do 0.5), but just wanted to really test heat transfer of the coil and burco to start.
Set temp 68, switched off at 69 but carried on to 69.5, temp dropped to 67 and kicked in again and this time curved at 68.5 and back down to 67 again cycle lasting 10 mins even with circulation on.

Why am I doing this, I brew a lot of pilsners and want to be able to accurately perform Protein Rests, Beta and Alpha conversions, as an aside I am also looking forward to achieving clear wort.

Chugger pump planned in Q4 in the meantime use the little workhorse .

Any tips gratefully received

[Garry]

Looks good  I have a similar idea in my head but I was thinking of using a kettle where you're using a burco.

What size copper are you using for the coil? Looks like 15mm? You did a tasty job of coiling it.

Have you any link for the chugger pump? I'd like to replace my solar pump some time. The solar pump is a great workhorse as you say but I'm not sure how long it's going to last? Does a chugger pump need to be primed?

[barkar]

Stc is only rated to 10a , i'd imagined the kettle is 13a, you are better off with a pid which is 13a or above (depending on ssr used)

[Ciderhead]

Stc is only rated to 10a , i'd imagined the kettle is 13a, you are better off with a pid which is 13a or above (depending on ssr used)

Mines a 30 A great for running 2 kettles similar to this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Temperature-Controller-220V-30A-LCD-Thermostat-Control-Relay-w-Sensor-/350841056022?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item51afc1ab16

[Ciderhead]

Looks good  I have a similar idea in my head but I was thinking of using a kettle where you're using a burco.

What size copper are you using for the coil? Looks like 15mm? You did a tasty job of coiling it.

Have you any link for the chugger pump? I'd like to replace my solar pump some time. The solar pump is a great workhorse as you say but I'm not sure how long it's going to last? Does a chugger pump need to be primed?

10MM around an unopened 2L bottle of sparkling water held in a vice and would be ideal size for a second internal wort chiller.
It was a cow to get the in and return bent even with a pipe spring. The bends render the coil slighly oval but no pinch points.
Unlike our US colleagues who herms in big kegs with massive gas flow, there are loads of guys on uk forums advocating kettles and brewpots in 2-7 litre range on the basis that its easier to ramp the temperature and the critical number, like the braumeister is in excess of a degree a minute for head retention?

Like everything I brew with I carry a spare solar althought they are supposed to run for years, 3 points whilst I was running i heard air bubbles and I stopped and ran again, no problems after that.

I got this from chugger the other day and they do need to be primed.

http://www.chuggerpumps.com/product.php?prodid=237
its their only 230V model and doesn't carry CE marking...yet.

[Ciderhead]

The difference value (i.e. F2) can be set to 0.1 on my STCs, iirc. I'll check later and report back.

just checked mine and yeah you are right so could be an option, as Barkar says though I am wondering would a 10A STC be able to handle all that flicking on and off from a 2.2KW kettle 

[barkar]

Didnt realise they were rated to 30 amp that sounds interesting for heating sparge/ mash water and the like

[Will_D]

Mines a 30 A great for running 2 kettles similar to this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Temperature-Controller-220V-30A-LCD-Thermostat-Control-Relay-w-Sensor-/350841056022?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item51afc1ab16

Unfortunately that site says " No posty parcels to Irelandy"

[barkar]

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-30A-220V-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Thermocouple-40-to-120-/181165898747?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item2a2e543bfb
This one does 

[Ciderhead]

Mines a 30 A great for running 2 kettles similar to this

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Digital-Temperature-Controller-220V-30A-LCD-Thermostat-Control-Relay-w-Sensor-/350841056022?pt=UK_BOI_Industrial_Automation_Control_ET&hash=item51afc1ab16

Unfortunately that site says " No posty parcels to Irelandy"

Ok who on here said they never received it and got a full refund
Parcel Motel if you are interested in one so

[Garry]

What's the reflection on the burco? Looks like Ryan Tubridy

[Ciderhead]

What's the reflection on the burco? Looks like Ryan Tubridy

it has been said in a certain light I bear a resemblance and could be his double Ryan Tubridy x2 that is

[Ciderhead]

Didnt realise they were rated to 30 amp that sounds interesting for heating sparge/ mash water and the like

Always read the small print, some of the STCS are only rated to 5A , some of them only will do a heat or cool cycle not both!
Somebody here got caught out with that last year.

[DEMPSEY]

Hole in the top of my MT and 15mm Qualpex in grid distributed the return and can be pushed down on top of grain bed to prevent hot side aeration.

Aah so grasshopper,this plastic is suitable for potable water but does the wort also travel through it.

[Ciderhead]

Patience young Skywalker, besides I haven't brewed in 3 months Not strictly true, last years cider gets better by the day.
I don't like brewing in any case just messing with bits.