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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:23 am Post subject: 15 Gallon HLT (Will HERMS Coil Be Exposed) |
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So I ordered a Stout 15 Gallon HERMS Electric HLT. If I do 5 gallon batches and I transfer 5 gallons to the Mash Tun, would this leave the Coils out of the water, does that matter?
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Gameface
Joined: 07 Feb 2015 Posts: 120 Location: West Jordan, UT
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Link Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Whatever portion of the coils that are exposed will not act as a heat exchanger. It will lower the efficiency of your system a bit, depending on how much of it is exposed.
Obviously you could replace the 5g after transferring to the MT, or just add you strike water to the MT and fill your HLT to just above the coils and heat it all up that way.
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huaco
Joined: 05 Apr 2012 Posts: 1506 Location: Burleson Texas
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Link Posted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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Or, do what I do on my (3)15 gallon vessel brewery... heat strike water in the Boil Kettle and leave all the Hot Liquor in the HLT for mashing and sparging.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11116 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:17 am Post subject: |
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Gameface wrote: | Whatever portion of the coils that are exposed will not act as a heat exchanger. It will lower the efficiency of your system a bit, depending on how much of it is exposed.
Obviously you could replace the 5g after transferring to the MT, or just add you strike water to the MT and fill your HLT to just above the coils and heat it all up that way. |
+1 to both.
I have 20 gallon kettles. On some really high gravity beers where I want to make 10 gallons, I need to start with more than 20 gallons total because the grain absorbs too much water, so I fill the HLT and MLT separately at the start and heat the MLT water through HERMS.
Kal
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:36 am Post subject: |
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Thanks guys!
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 12:38 am Post subject: |
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I have 20 gallon kettles and brew 5 gallon batches all the time. I think it takes around 11 gallons to cover my HERMS coil so it's covered in the beginning but after I transfer water over to the mash tun they are only 1/2 covered. No big deal. I do recirculate the water in the HLT and it sprays on the coil when shooting back in. Put the lid on the HLT and don't worry about it. Make sure you turn the HLT element OFF when starting your sparge.
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Roadie wrote: | I have 20 gallon kettles and brew 5 gallon batches all the time. I think it takes around 11 gallons to cover my HERMS coil so it's covered in the beginning but after I transfer water over to the mash tun they are only 1/2 covered. No big deal. I do recirculate the water in the HLT and it sprays on the coil when shooting back in. Put the lid on the HLT and don't worry about it. Make sure you turn the HLT element OFF when starting your sparge. |
I hope I didn't undersize my kettles. I'm switching from a 15g sabco RIMS and I was able to brew 10 gallon batches. It looks like with the HERMS I'm going to be limited to 5.
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kal Forum Administrator
Joined: 12 Dec 2010 Posts: 11116 Location: Ottawa, Canada
Drinking: Pub Ale, Electric Creamsicle, Mild, Pliny the Younger, Belgian Dark Strong, Weizen, Russian Imperial Stout, Black Butte Porter
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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With the boil-off (1.9 gallon/hr), expansion (0.5 gallons on 13-14), and other losses (hops/trub/etc), I find 15g kettles too small to do 10g of packaged beer. I like to have 11.5-12 gallons post boil with 5.5-6 gallons per fermenter (I use two fermenters). After all loses I usually have exactly 5 gallons in two kegs, or just slightly more.
If I'm boiling for 90 mins, I start with 14.9 gallons in the boil kettle and there's more than .5 gallons extra due to thermal expansion. When I boil for 60 mins I start with 13.9 gallons.
So a 15 gallon boil kettle is definitely not big enough for how I like to brew.
I know a lot of brewers use 15.5 gallon kettles and "say" they make 10 gallon batches, but watching them brew I often see a non-vigorous boil, or only 4 gallons going into the 5 gallon kegs.
Kal
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 5:09 pm Post subject: |
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yeah I would say I ended up with about 9 gallons. It's rare for me to brew ten gallons so I guess I'll be okay. Btw I just order a 30amp panel the other day can't wait!! Going from a gas sabco to electric will be awesome.
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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Also depends on the gravity. You may get away with 10 gallons of a summer beer. A retail place in town with the same setup as I have brews 15 gallon batches of lower gravity beers in their 20 gallon kettles. I didn't go with 15 gallon kettles as I wanted to be able to brew 10 gallons of a big beer without issue if I wanted to. 99.9% of the time we only brew 5 gallon batches and if that's what you do as well then no big deal.
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 12:54 pm Post subject: |
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Roadie wrote: | Also depends on the gravity. You may get away with 10 gallons of a summer beer. A retail place in town with the same setup as I have brews 15 gallon batches of lower gravity beers in their 20 gallon kettles. I didn't go with 15 gallon kettles as I wanted to be able to brew 10 gallons of a big beer without issue if I wanted to. 99.9% of the time we only brew 5 gallon batches and if that's what you do as well then no big deal. |
Thanks Roadie! Does the boil kettle thermowell get exposed when you make 5 gallon batches?
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2015 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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NervousDad wrote: | Roadie wrote: | Also depends on the gravity. You may get away with 10 gallons of a summer beer. A retail place in town with the same setup as I have brews 15 gallon batches of lower gravity beers in their 20 gallon kettles. I didn't go with 15 gallon kettles as I wanted to be able to brew 10 gallons of a big beer without issue if I wanted to. 99.9% of the time we only brew 5 gallon batches and if that's what you do as well then no big deal. |
Thanks Roadie! Does the boil kettle thermowell get exposed when you make 5 gallon batches? |
Only if I use 1.5 quarts of liquor per pound of grain or more so I usually use 1.5.
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2015 6:22 pm Post subject: |
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I decided to upgrade to the 20 gallon tanks. Too bad Stout sold out of the 20 gallon HLT this morning So I have to wait until August.
The Stout tanks the are the same diameter, but taller so the boil off should be the same. The thermowells also appear to be the same height so a 5/10 gallon batch wouldn't make a difference. Plus, I can fill all 20 gallons of the HLT for my session which will keep the HERMS coil submerged.
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2015 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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NervousDad wrote: | I decided to upgrade to the 20 gallon tanks. Too bad Stout sold out of the 20 gallon HLT this morning So I have to wait until August.
The thermowells also appear to be the same height so a 5/10 gallon batch wouldn't make a difference. |
20 gallon tanks are the most versatile for the size batches most home brewers brew. The waiting game does suck.
Don't forget almost everything in the design can be changed. That's one of the things I liked best about Stout tanks. I deleted the front thermowell/thermometer as you won't use it with Kal's control panel and it will never be as correct as the probes that connect to the panel. You can also move the location of the thermowells if it fits your setup better. On my MLT I wish the temperature thermowell was an inch lower but I didn't know where the mash would hit it when brewing 5 gallon batches.
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Gameface
Joined: 07 Feb 2015 Posts: 120 Location: West Jordan, UT
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Link Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 12:52 am Post subject: |
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NervousDad wrote: | Roadie wrote: | Also depends on the gravity. You may get away with 10 gallons of a summer beer. A retail place in town with the same setup as I have brews 15 gallon batches of lower gravity beers in their 20 gallon kettles. I didn't go with 15 gallon kettles as I wanted to be able to brew 10 gallons of a big beer without issue if I wanted to. 99.9% of the time we only brew 5 gallon batches and if that's what you do as well then no big deal. |
Thanks Roadie! Does the boil kettle thermowell get exposed when you make 5 gallon batches? |
I realized today that I have almost never even looked at the dial thermometers on my kettles since going electric. Then, when I did start looking at them I realized they didn't agree with my PID readings, but my PIDs agree with my thermapen and I have a very high degree of confidence in the accuracy of my thermapen.
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2015 7:55 pm Post subject: |
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Gameface wrote: | NervousDad wrote: | Roadie wrote: | Also depends on the gravity. You may get away with 10 gallons of a summer beer. A retail place in town with the same setup as I have brews 15 gallon batches of lower gravity beers in their 20 gallon kettles. I didn't go with 15 gallon kettles as I wanted to be able to brew 10 gallons of a big beer without issue if I wanted to. 99.9% of the time we only brew 5 gallon batches and if that's what you do as well then no big deal. |
Thanks Roadie! Does the boil kettle thermowell get exposed when you make 5 gallon batches? |
I realized today that I have almost never even looked at the dial thermometers on my kettles since going electric. Then, when I did start looking at them I realized they didn't agree with my PID readings, but my PIDs agree with my thermapen and I have a very high degree of confidence in the accuracy of my thermapen. |
Boil kettle is no issue only the MLT.
Since I was never going to look at them I didn't want them getting in the way so had Stout delete that thermowell and thermometer as it just made sense to do it.
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NervousDad
Joined: 21 Jun 2015 Posts: 24
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Link Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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They no longer modify orders I would prefer for them to remove them, now I'll have to get thermometers for them. For the boil kettle I like the thermometer to watch the whirlpool and chilling temps.
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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Link Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2015 10:18 pm Post subject: |
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NervousDad wrote: | They no longer modify orders |
Wow, that sucks. I really liked being able to get the kettles the way I wanted them.
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foomench
Joined: 21 Feb 2012 Posts: 704 Location: Longmont, CO
Drinking: Pinot barrel aged quad
Working on: Flanders oude bruin in barrel, Flanders red fermenting to refill the barrel
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Link Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:43 am Post subject: |
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NervousDad wrote: | They no longer modify orders I would prefer for them to remove them, now I'll have to get thermometers for them. |
Or a plug fitting.
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Roadie
Joined: 13 Oct 2013 Posts: 127 Location: Charleston, SC
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