Another reason for building a modular still

[NormandieStill]

One hidden advantage of building a modular still with triclamp fittings is that when you decide that the best way to get more consistent results from your mashes is to move from a "dump hot water in the mash tun and hope it works out" to a RIMS build, you don't need to invest in a lot of stuff. I had to buy the pump anyway and the entire RIMS heating tube required 3 triclamp barb fittings and was otherwise repurposed from my still head. The heating element is the element from the still. For the minute control is manual using my old element controller, but I have a Arduino-based PID controller which will probably end up in the new controller box that I'm building (unless I really think I'll ever be in a situation where I can still and mash in at the same time!).

[Dancing4dan]

Interesting idea.

That’s a very small closed boiler system. I’d be concerned about it actually boiling and making steam/ pressure inside the closed system. That would create potential for soft line heat/ pressure related failure.

Do you have another keg or a pot you can use/ add as an open vessel in this system? Add it into the circulation flow path. Wouldn’t actually need barbed ports. Could just use SS or flex copper over the lip of the pot or keg.

Did you attach this to a wort chiller in your mash tun?

[NormandieStill]

Interesting idea.

That’s a very small closed boiler system. I’d be concerned about it actually boiling and making steam/ pressure inside the closed system. That would create potential for soft line heat/ pressure related failure.

Do you have another keg or a pot you can use/ add as an open vessel in this system? Add it into the circulation flow path. Wouldn’t actually need barbed ports. Could just use SS or flex copper over the lip of the pot or keg.

Did you attach this to a wort chiller in your mash tun?

This is a RIMS system not a HERMS system so not closed loop. The wort is taken from the bottom of the mash tun (grains in a BIAB bag in my system) and pumped through the boiler tube and back into the mash tun. And the flow rate is pretty high with the valve fully open so it won't flash to steam. Manually monitoring the temperature is going to be a bit of a nuisance, but I want to run a test mash today and then I'll try and finish the PID controller during the week.

The really nice thing is that the system is self-amortising due to the pump position and I'm using the RIMS heater to heat the strike water in situ so I just fill up with the right amount of water and let it run.

Long term I'll put proper hose clips on the barbs, but the cable ties should work for the minute to keep the tubes on under the minimal pressure of the system.

[Yummyrum]

Cable ties on hose barbs have seved me well

[Ben]

I like cable ties too.

Mash temp precision ftmfw, good call and nice work.

[Dancing4dan]

Ok! I get it. Thanks for the explanation. I pictured a wort chiller or a coiled tube in there. I never made beer so that world is a stranger to me. Had to look this up.

Other than the SS Tee and a few fitting I have most of the parts to build one of these including a chigger pump and heavy silicone hoses.

Good quality zip ties make great hose clamps.

[jessespa]

I built something like that a few years ago.
I was going to try using it to sparge the grains thinking my false bottom would be good enough to hold any chunks back from the circulating system.
The pump didn't have any trouble pushing the fluid through but about 10mins in i found out my false bottom wasn't doing a very good job let way too many particles through and scorched my element.
I can see how BIAB would help with that. May have to revisit that idea sometime.
As of now I'm distilling on the grain with the thumper.

[NormandieStill]

So first run complete, wort currently boiling on the hob and I have a few notes for anyone who follows closely in my footsteps.

- I mounted the pump on a vertical surface and then turned the head case slightly to try and keep the output pointing up and not straight out from the base. Had I left it where it was, the entire system could be gravity drained.
- Manually controlling the temperature by adjusting a dial and monitoring a thermometer held into random locations in the wort is far from simple. I think I held a more consistent temperature than I've managed in the past, but it's hard to be certain. I have a 4.5kW 3 element heater (Like this) of which I use 1 element giving me 1.5kW. I would have been better with at least 2 or all 3 elements in use as the watt density would be significantly lower (for the same power in). I had a tiny bit of scorching ( can't taste anything in the wort... but it's an oatmeal stout so a little extra carbon might not be that noticeable).
- The BIAB bag tends to block the drain from the keg, so I ended up using my mash paddle to hold it up. BIAB + false bottom would be the way forward. I'm planning on building a mash pipe anyway and I will probably still include the bag in the short term to allow a finer grind.
- I do seem to have gotten a slight improvement in SG as a consequence although I won't know for sure until the wort is chilled and I have a measure of how much volume I got. Certainly I've hit the numbers from the recipe which I'm not sure I managed in the past.

[Ben]

You can skip the bag if your false bottom is has enough surface area (although if your grain bill isn't too heavy the bag probably makes cleanup a snap!). Use rice hulls if you are working sticky stuff, in fact if you are planning on running constant recirculation best bet is just to use rice hulls with every run.

[NormandieStill]

You can skip the bag if your false bottom is has enough surface area (although if your grain bill isn't too heavy the bag probably makes cleanup a snap!). Use rice hulls if you are working sticky stuff, in fact if you are planning on running constant recirculation best bet is just to use rice hulls with every run.

They're bulky to store, but I can see myself maintaining a good stock of rice hulls in the future. I really need to get myself another keg to run as a copper as my current stockpot limits me to ~13L batches which is good for experiments, but the stout is proving popular and I don't have that many brewdays!

There's some tweaking to be done, but I'm happy with the direction that I'm heading in for beer brewing. The idea is to use the RIMS for my single grain series, but I need to me more comfortable with it before I try mashing in 5kg of rye malt!

[kmmuellr]

I flipped my tun-keg, so the sankey opening is my drain from the bottom. Heating element, temp probe above that. False bottom above that, and then wilserbag above that. The only time I've had any issues was with a super high percentage wheat beer that I milled to basically flour. Normal milling and I can recirculate at full flow rate of my 1/25hp (if I remember correctly) pump. Not a RIMS, but 5500W ULD element is right in the wort.

Good thinking using what you have!!

K

[Ben]

Free running mash is not usually an issue with brewers malts. When you start getting into corn and rye is when the challenges begin.

[tommysb]

Great stuff Normandie!

My experience, from both a semi-pro and home brew perspective -

Sometimes running 'full speed' can suck down on the grain bed, and end up with the RIMS equivalent of a stuck sparge. SO a slow circulation can be better (depending on your setup).

A simple inkbird temp controller can also hold the temp damn near where to want it - if there's a lot of thermal mass in the system. I remember having long debates with my father about the best place to put the temperature probe in this situation, and I seem to recall that we settled on the outlet to the mash tun, before the RIMS tube being the best spot for it. This was about 8 or 9 years ago so I don't remember too well. Or maybe it was the outlet side of the rims tube before the mash tun... hmmm. Anyway, it was about compensating for the lag time of the relatively smaller thermal mass of the RIMS tube and the larger thermal mass of the mash tun.

[NormandieStill]

Great stuff Normandie!

My experience, from both a semi-pro and home brew perspective -

Sometimes running 'full speed' can suck down on the grain bed, and end up with the RIMS equivalent of a stuck sparge. SO a slow circulation can be better (depending on your setup).

A simple inkbird temp controller can also hold the temp damn near where to want it - if there's a lot of thermal mass in the system. I remember having long debates with my father about the best place to put the temperature probe in this situation, and I seem to recall that we settled on the outlet to the mash tun, before the RIMS tube being the best spot for it. This was about 8 or 9 years ago so I don't remember too well. Or maybe it was the outlet side of the rims tube before the mash tun... hmmm. Anyway, it was about compensating for the lag time of the relatively smaller thermal mass of the RIMS tube and the larger thermal mass of the mash tun.

Interesting notes. Thanks. I did wonder about the flow speed. If I add the full set of sensors to the PID I can monitor flow rate but I'm not sure if my geeky desire for more information will outweigh my penny-pinching.

I did wonder about thermometer placement. Mine will be (by default) inside the RIMS tube just before the exit. My thinking is that I can adjust the set point if necessary to increase the temperature inside the mash tun, but that at least some of the enzymes will be travelling through the RIMS tube and it would be good if they were at the perfect temperature as they leave. A lot will depend on how well I manage to insulate the whole set-up. For my first run I batch sparged twice. For the next test I think I'll mash-in with either the full volume of water, or at least the strike + 1st sparge in order to gain thermal mass and more easily keep my grains submerged.

I ran the tube from the RIMS tube directly into the BIAB (mine are too small for the keg so I close the drawstring around the tube). At one point I had almost no liquid in the keg as it was all in the bag. I had to massage the bag to get enough liquid out to ensure that the pump didn't run dry.