 |
|
|
|
|
 |
- See Brad's Propane Assisted RIMS! |
Figure 1 shows the general configuration of a small scale homebrewing setup incorporating the Mashmate 1600 RIMS controller. You will see that a RIMS mashing system in essence simply involves using a food grade liquid pump to continuously recirculate sweet wort, drawn from the bottom of the mash tun, first through a temperature controlled heating element, and then back to the to the top of the mash. There is really nothing more to it than that. Any design you develop which accomplishes this task will surely work fine. We suggest, however, that simplicity is the key to success (KISS! - Keep It Simple Stoopid! J), and we recommend that you keep the following suggestions and comments in mind.
3.1 System Size:
The Mashmate
1600 is designed to aid in mashing and sparging the grains to be used in
brewing up to 15 gallon all-grain batches. To ensure the best operation,
please do not use the Mashmate 1600 in a larger capacity system.
3.2 Your Mash Tun:
In order
to ensure the quickest heating rates and finest temperature holding precision,
your mash tun and its lid need to be insulated very well. A picnic cooler
works great in most cases! As shown in
Figure 1,
however, you will have to bore a hole in the center of the mash tun lid
in order to insert your wort return manifold (which we will discussed a
bit later). Due to molded-in handles and hollow plastic designs, many picnic
cooler lids are not suitable for supporting the return manifold. Because
of this you may have to design your own lid. A simple lid fashioned from
3/4" plywood, painted or otherwise water sealed against moisture uptake,
will work just fine. If you do use your picnic cooler's lid and it is not
insulated, you can insulate it if you wish by using a small amount of spray
foam insulation. Be sure to use any spray foam insulation very sparingly,
however, as it expands well beyond its initial volume as it cures. If you
over do it, you can expand and possibly rupture your lid, thereby ruining
it. Be careful! On the other hand, if insulating your lid is something
you'd rather not bother with to start, no problem. It is something that
can wait. You might even skip this step altogether if you later determine
that the heat loss from your lid is not excessive, and that your heating
rates are acceptable. In all cases, though, you should be sure to cover
your mash tun with its lid when you are mashing and sparging. It need not
be tight, but should be centered and used to provide the maximum possible
insulation to your system.
3.3 The False Bottom Mash Screen:
A key component
in a successful RIMS homebrewery is its false bottom mash screen. It needs
to be rigid enough to support the weight of your grains, yet be porous
enough to allow for rapid and restriction free recirculation. We highly
recommend you fashion your false bottom from perforated stainless steel
sheet metal, with perforations 1/16" in diameter and an overall open area
of 40% or greater. (Please see the
Useful
Vendor Addresses section for a suggested supplier.) Certainly other
false bottom materials may be used, though we mention that we have had
very poor success with commercially available plastic false bottoms. Their
very small open areas are just not adequate for proper recirculation. However,
regardless of the material you use, you should fashion your mash screen
so that it fits snugly about 2" above the bottom of your mash tun, making
sure that there are no gaps between your mash tun and the mash screen along
the entire perimeter of the false bottom.
As for your mash
screen support, some modest creativity is called for here. We made our
simple, square mash screen support from 1/2" high temperature PVC tubing,
along with some elbows and T's. We gave it 2" legs and simply screwed
it to perforated stainless steel with some small brass screws. It took
just one lazy afternoon to build, but it works like a champ.
J
3.4 The Wort Return Manifold:
One of the most
critical components of a successful RIMS brewery is the wort return manifold.
As shown in Figure 1, this is the fixture through
which the recirculating wort is returned to the top of the mash, after
passing through the heater housing. The return manifold should be made
of all copper components and tubing (no PVC!), and during operation should
be situated so that the return manifold outlets are slightly below the
surface of the wort in the mash tun. As shown in
Figure
2, the manifold outlets should be pointed upward in order to avoid
"jetting" the recirculating wort back into the grain bed, thereby disturbing
it. On the other hand, you will need to be sure to keep the recirculation
rate low enough to avoid creating little wort fountains at the return manifold
outlets. By providing 4-6 outlets at the bottom of your return manifold
you will have no problems even when recirculating fairly rapidly. The whole
idea here is to avoid splashing and hot side areation (HSA) of your precious
wort. J
For three tier
gravity fed RIMS breweries, you can also add sparge water to the mash via
the return manifold as shown in Figures
1 and
2. When designing your return manifold, just
be sure to include a sparge water inlet (we use a 3/8" hose barb) in the
length of tubing below the inlet for the main recirculating wort. This
will prevent your pushing wort back up into the hot liquor tank, and will
actually create a mild "venturi" effect which will draw sparge water in
to the recirculation loop. See section 4.3 "Sparging Procedures," for further
details. For details on designing a two tier system, please refer to the
excellent web sites provided in section 8.0.
3.5 The Snorkle:
Imagine now that
you have your mash screen and splash guard in place and that you are recirculating
warm wort through several pounds of grain. If you have taken care to dough
in your grains slowly, as suggested below in the mashing procedures section,
under most circumstances you will have no trouble recirculating your wort
fairly rapidly, up to a few gallons per minute. However, if you rush in
adding your crushed grains to the mash, or if it is just one of those rare
days when you are brewing with a gremlin at your side, it is possible for
the false bottom to clog, causing a rapid reduction in the recirculation
rate. If your "snorkle" is not in place, this can cause a strong suction
to form below the mash screen, with the resultant effect of your grain
bed being compacted into something reminiscent of cement. This is bad!
J
To prevent grain
compaction on the rare occasions when the mash screen does become clogged,
we use what we have come to call a "snorkle." This is simply a length of
5/8" ID (or larger) PVC tubing which extends slightly above the top of
the mash tun and which, by using a 90( elbow, is inserted into the mash
tun below the false bottom. Should the mash screen clog with your snorkle
in place, the wort below the false bottom, and that residing in the snorkle,
will be drawn through the pump and heater housing, followed by an air and
wort mixture. The air entering the system via your snorkle will likely
make quite a racket, alerting you to the problem, but will cause no harm.
Now, when
you hear or otherwise notice that air is being drawn into your system,
quickly turn down the temperature control settings and reduce the recirculation
rate. It may be that you were simply trying to recirculate your wort too
rapidly. (Your recirculation rate should always be moderate, especially
for large grain bills.) If this does not help, as discussed in more detail
below, stir up your grain bed and continue recirculating for another minute
or so. The grains should then settle into a bed more agreeable to recirculation.
3.6 The Thermometer and Thermistor Temperature
Probe:
Obviously,
the thermometer is what communicates to you the temperature of your mash.
Similarly, the thermistor temperature probe is what communicates this information
to the Mashmate 1600. The thermometer and the temperature probe should
be situated relatively close to one another and both inserted BELOW the
mash screen. They are installed by simply inserting them in appropriately
sized pre-drilled holes. Of course, be sure to use seal up these
holes with some caulking or silicon water sealant to prevent any subsequent
leaking.
As for
thermometers, we suggest using a simple long stemmed "analog" dial thermometer
capable of registering temperatures from 0-220°F. They are cheep, accurate
and have relatively fast response times. (Please see the
Useful
Vendor Addresses section for a suggested supplier.) However, if you
prefer to use a digital thermometer, buy a good one with a remote temperature
probe, and be prepared to spend a hunk of cash. Trust us, cheep digital
thermometers are largely unreliable, often have slow response times and
can be the cause of more frustration than they are worth.
3.7 Flexible Tubing/Hose Suggestions:
In addition
to the water you need to mash your grains, an extra volume of water is
needed to flood your heater element housing, prime your pump, fill the
region of your mash tun below the false bottom (i.e., the underlet volume)
and fill all hoses in the recirculation loop. At some point after constructing
your RIMS system you should carefully measure and record this "extra" volume
of liquid as it will later figure into the total volume of wort you will
need to boil. Consequently, the best suggestion we have to offer here is
to keep all your hoses as short as reasonably possible.
Though
almost any style of flexible tubing will work, we suggest you use 5/8"
ID, 3/4" OD clear tubing. This size tubing will not restrict the flow of
the recirculating wort, and will be strong enough not to collapse on itself
as it warms and softens. In addition, clear tubing will let you observe
how the wort itself will clear during the mashing process. We also suggest
you include a plastic 5/8" "T" in the tubing between your mash tun and
pump. At Paragon Brewing, we then use a 5/8"-to-3/8" reducer at the base
of the "T", followed by a length of 5/16" ID, 7/16" OD tubing to divert
sweet wort to the boiling kettle when sparging our grains (see sparging
procedures below). We also use only a simple hose clamp to regulate the
flow.
3.8 GFCI's:
Make sure
you always plug your Mashmate 1600 into a 20 Amp or larger GFCI (Ground
Fault Circuit Interrupter) when in use. If you haven't already, please
read the safety warnings above.
3.9 The Pump:
For this,
you will need a small magnetic drive pump with a non-reactive "food grade"
heat resistant housing. Appropriate models are often sold as "chemical
solution pumps." (Please see the
Useful
Vendor Addresses section for a suggested supplier.) Our pump develops
1/25 HP at 3500 rpm, and is capable of producing a maximum 6.7 gpm flow
at a one foot head, though we typically recirculate wort at ~3 gpm during
any given mash rest, increasing this flow rate slightly when raising the
wort temperature between rests. Also, if your pump does not come
with one already in place, be sure to attach a three prong grounding-type
plug to the end of its power cord, and check to make sure that the pump
housing is indeed properly grounded.
As for operating your pump, first read and follow all instructions and safety guidelines provided by the manufacturer. Among other things, the manufacturer will probably suggest that you not run your pump dry, and recommend that you prime it if necessary before operation. For this reason we suggest you design your RIMS system so that the pump is between the mash tun and the heater housing, positioned so that it sits on the same platform as the mash tun. Under most circumstances then, the weight of the water in your mash tun will properly prime the pump with no effort on your part. However, if you disconnect the mash tun from the recirculation loop (e.g., for "kitchen sink" cleaning), be sure to prime your pump using a funnel, if necessary, before use.
3.10 The Heater Element & its Housing:
The general design
of an adequate heater element housing, similar to that used at Paragon
Brewing, is shown in
Figure 3. Feel free to
design you own if ours does not suit your needs. However, we strongly suggest
you locate a dedicated plumbing supply dealer before putting together your
heater housing. Most often, your local general hardware store will simply
not have the array of specialty fittings you will need to construct your
heater housing quickly and easily. We also suggest keeping the following
considerations in mind:
1) The Mashmate 1600 is designed to power and control only one 5500 W water heater element. Though these elements are designed for 220 V service, yours will be operated at 115 V, thereby developing approximately 1500 W heating capacity. Be sure to use a nickel alloy, folded loop style, low heat density element. High heat density elements, often made from tin plated copper, must be avoided.
2) The main cavity of your heater element housing should be made of 2" copper tubing, and all fittings should be assembled using only lead free solder. You may find it helpful to use two torches and have a friend help when soldering together the larger components of your heater element housing. Under no circumstances, though, should you construct your heater element housing from PVC. You should also make the overall length of your heater element housing only slightly longer than that of the heating element itself. This will help keep the volume of your heater element housing as small as possible.
3) Use only three conductor grounded electrical cord, rated for at least 15 A, to connect your heater element to the Mashmate 1600. Take special care to make sure that your copper heater housing is properly grounded before using. This is EXTREMELY important! Should the heater element fail or come into contact with the heater housing, a deadly serious electrical shock hazard will exist if the heater housing is not properly grounded.
4) While in use, the heater element housing and the pump will become extremely hot. Don't touch them while in use! We strongly suggest that you enclose your pump and the heater element housing in an electrically insulated and well ventilated fixture to help prevent electric shock and burn injuries. This will also help make your RIMS system more portable.
5) Make sure that you slightly flare the ends of all copper fittings to which you will be attaching flexible tubing, and later fasten your tubing to the heater element housing with strong hose clamps. Then, each time before using your RIMS homebrewery, make sure that all your hose clamps are tight. While in use warm plastic tubing will soften. If you have not secured your tubing properly, the low internal hose pressure created by the recirculating pump may cause your hoses to come loose. If this happens, at best you will watch most of your precious wort pour out onto the floor. At worst you may accidentally flood or splash your Mashmate 1600 and create an electrical shock hazard. Be very careful here.
6) To avoid burning out your heater
element, never turn the Mashmate 1600 unit on unless the heater element
housing is flooded and the pump is primed and plugged in. Also, if the
grain bed should ever compact so that air is drawn into the system via
the snorkel, be sure to turn down the temperature setting until proper
recirculation is reestablished.
© Paragon Brewing, Inc.
