I agonized over putting this together. I spent last winter reading about RIMS and HERMS and was almost certain I'd build everything from scratch -- stand, keggles, etc. But then I saw Blichmann's TopTier -- and had a chance to talk at length to John Blichmann at length via email -- and I decided it was *far* cheaper to just get the stand, configure it the way I wanted it, and be done with it.
Yes, it's not as cool as welding your own. But if you have no welding skills -- and don't know anyone who can whip out a welder and spend a couple weekends building a sculpture -- it's a no brainer. I *did* contact some local welding shops but they were not all interested in any jobs less than $2K. So that was that.
I saw the control panel at HighGravityBrew.com and decided to go with it. It was 200-300 bucks and did what I wanted to do for a basic setup. Don't have the link now, but it's on their site. See 'EBC II'. Once I got the panel, I hired an electrician to install a 220V GFI outlet on the side of my house with the matching NEMA plug from the control panel.
In terms of pumps, yeah -- two pumps is super nice. I bought parts, too -- a spare impeller and a spare head -- and I'm glad I did because last week one of the my pumps stopped mid-sparge. I swapped out the impeller and all was well. I could do what I'm doing now with one pump -- especially since it's a gravity flow from MLT to BK -- but two pumps make it a bit easier. Plus, I've always got a spare in case something happens -- like last weekend -- where I don't have the parts to quickly fix it. (The impeller was coated with wort goo. I cleaned it, wiped it down, and it seems fine now -- so it's my backup.) Plus, I use the second pump to recirc the HLT. (While the other pump recircs the wort through the HEX). By recirc'ing the HLT water, I'm able to keep my HLT/MLT temps within 2 degrees of each other. So if I want to mash at 152, I set the HLT temp to 154 -- and that's it. It's *always* 2 degrees (so long as I'm recirc'ing the HLT water), and it's rock solid. That's the beauty of HERMS. I monitor at the HEX-out with an analog in-line fermometer-- and once I hit my mash temp at the HEX-out, I know I'm golden. It's nice. I recirc the whole 90 mins. No problems with stuck sparges or compacting grain beds either -- and my wort into the BK is crystal clear. I usually do 1.5 quarts per pound. I'm using 15 gallon Blichmann's for everything, although I may upgrade to a 20 gallon BK next season to do 10 gallon batches.
I drilled the heating element holes in the HLT and BK with a step bit. Not a big deal. I used duct-tape to mark the holes. Very easy to do for the 4500W element in the HLT and the 5500W element in the BK. Both heating elements were also from highgravbrewing.
In terms of my heat exchanger, I just used an old immersion chiller that I had from last year. Drilled some holes in the HLT lid, and it's been great. Also I drilled a hole in the lid of my MLT for my thermometer (analog) and my inlet. I'm using flexible tubing to direct the wort out of the HEX and down to the mash top.
I've got brass quick connects all around. No, brass is not the best, but I may switch to SS over the winter. The disconnects were expensive (from McMaster Carr) so I'm in no hurry to switch them.
I've done about 20 brews on the system, and the TopTier structure is superb. The indirect heating method of the HERMS (to me, at least) seems preferable to the direct RIMS -- but I know that's an ongoing debate.
I can't really think of anything I'd change at this point. For brewing, this is perfect. Now, the place where I think is even more important than all this is the fermentation. In hindsight, I probably should have waited to do all this until I had a temp controlled fermentation chamber -- maybe a chest freezer that can hold at least 3 fermenters with heating pads/brew belts. I've come to realize that the fermentation is really the critical part of the whole process -- not the wort making mechanics. It all falls apart if you can't keep a steady temp on the fermentation end.
I've come to figure out how to use igloo coolers and water bottles to keep my temps nice and steady. For the most part, I use only Safale-05 and have been fermenting at a *very* cool 58F. 05 at that temp gives off some interesting peach-y esters that have worked very well in all the brews I've done lately -- everything from a Rogue Dead Man clone to a nice, dry stout. I'm fermenting a strong ale now at an even cooler 56F, so I'm anxious to see how it turns out. Many folks have warned me not to ferment 05 that cool, but I've had very good luck.
I have learned that 05 needs a lot of O2 injected in order to avoid too much stress (and to make sure it attenuates fully) -- so I built an inline O2 injector last week and gave it a try with the strong ale -- injecting it right after it came out of my therminator. I also injected it with 60 seconds of O2 12 hours into the fermentation. I did a couple brews where I forgot to oxygenate after cooling (distracted) -- and they gave off a very strong, sweet taste that has not gone away even after several months in the bottle.
However, I'm definitely glad I moved away from propane. I never understood how folks say that they get 5 batches from a tank of propane. Maybe I was doing it wrong, but I could barely get *2* batches without having to run to Home Depot and swap out tanks. I ended up buying spares, but then I came to *hate* buying propane. I brew 4-5 times a month now, and I've seen barely a blip on my electric bill. Electricity, IMHO, is the way to go.
