In both home brewing setups and even small scale professional setups a critical part of achieving perfect beer is controlling mash temperatures. Both hitting precise temperatures and maintaining those temperatures. Crafting great tasting beer is an unequal mix of art and science. Temperature, time and PH are three of the essential variables to control in a mash. Here is a little background info o the two main types. There is also the direct heated method using either direct fire or steam jacketed systems that basically use the RIMS type setup to recirculate the runoff back into the mash.
Recirculating mash systems generally
No matter what acronym is used to describe them, all recirculating mash systems work in essentially the same way. A portion of the wort is forced out of the mash tun using a pump, heated, and then returned to the mash tun.
a typical HERMS system
These systems have three main benefits:
* The constant recirculation gives a much cleaner wort during lautering than a manual vorlauf
* The temperature can be held more constant than using other heating methods
* The process as a whole results in a more consistently repeatable mash
Types and components of recirculating mash systems
RIMS
RIMS stands for Recirculation Infusion Mash System. This refers to a recirculating mash system in which the recirculated wort is passed directly over a heating element. In many such systems, the pump operates constantly during the mash, and the heating element is cycled off and on to maintain the desired mash temperature. Common heating elements used in home-built RIMS systems are home hot water heater elements encased in a copper pipe with an inlet and outlet.
HERMS
HERMS stands for Heat Exchanged Recirculating Mash System. In a HERMS system, the wort is passed through the a heat exchanger, usually a copper manifold, that is suspended in hot liquid. Usually the hot liquor tank is used. Because the rate of heat exchange cannot be adjusted, the temperature is controlled by cycling the pump itself on and off.
For Brew Revolution we are focused on making the best beers possible. We also want to conserve energy, water and resources to reduce our environmental footprint as much as possible. So we are implementing a computer controlled HERMS system. It uses less energy to accomplish the same result, is a bit less harsh on the wort as no direct heat is applied and easily scales in volume. There are many ways to brew Cerveza Artesanal and as long as the beer is tasty then we love them all!
