It’s a snow day here in Colorado so its time to start thinking about spring and warmer days where brewing beer will be a long sleeve shirt and jeans over a burner or 3. This got me thinking about making a brew sculpture. I have researched and looking for a long time on this. So I figured I would give my two cents on what I will build this spring; a single (one) tier, two pump, three keggle system.

The first question is RIMS or HERMS. They are both work by recirculating mash though a heat source. The heat exchanger or direct heat is the difference between the two systems. There is a lot on the ol’ interwebs about the benefits of both. Here are the basics of the two systems.

RIMS Brewing System (Recirculation Infusion Mash System)

The RIMS brewing system passes the mash over direct heat. Usually, this is an electric heating element in a tube located after the pump. I have seen a couple plans for direct fired RIMS brewing system but that is a whole different article (Brutus 10) they are amazing and complex. In the RIMS, brewing the pump will constantly run and the heating element will turn on or off to heat or cool the mash at desired temperature. You have two options; manual or automatic. Manual is a giant pain in the butt. The fun comes from building your own automatic temp control box for the RIMS brewing system.

Here are my top 3 favorite resources for building a RIMS Brewing System.



Brutus 10 from Ale Nuts

http://www.alenuts.com/Alenuts/brutus.html

 

Shiny, really shiny and engineered. Winning Homebrew’s RIMS

http://www.winning-homebrew.com/recirculating-infusion-mash-system.html

Winning Homebrew RIMS Brewing System

 

Lous Brews. Great bit of info.

Great parts list with costs, but it is a little outdated.

http://www.lousbrews.info/rimsparts.htm

Lous Brews RIMS Build

 

HERMS Brewing System (Heat Exchanged Recirculating Mash System)

The HERMS brewing system passes the mash through a heat exchanger. Usually, I have seen this suspended in hot liqueur tank which you bring up to temp simultaneously as your mash water. This is a great way to go if you are fly sparge since your temp will be where you need it to be at needed temperature. The hardware usually is a copper coil in the HLT with a temperature gauge on the exit of the coil. The control will turn on or off the flow of wort to the mash tun with your desired temperature.

Here are my top 3 favorite resources for building a HERMS Brewing System.

Simple Manual System http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?s=d1a3718d1e13ea3b987834cbdcd2d7a4&showtopic=93767&view=findpost&p=1123776

 

Phil’s HERMS Brewing System

http://www.philrobins.org.uk/

Phil's HERMS Brewery

Just Brew It's HERMS Brewing System

Let me know what you think works best for you and your needs.
I am leaning towards an automated RIMS brewing system right now but its a bit before the actual build, I am open for any suggestions.