It would be interesting to see different flow and valve setups. Elco has his posted in Github.
Here’s how I’ve had mine setup for the last year. I only have my valves setup on manual switches, but hopefully that changes soon. The valves are setup such that all the motorized valves and most of the manual valves are all connected.
For my brew day I usually break it down to the following:
Water Fill - All motorized valves open, all manual valves open or partially closed to control flow. The HERMS coil is not hooked up at this time. The HERMS inlet is just placed into the HLT. My goal is to not only fill my BK and HLT with water, but to prime the pumps as well by back flowing.
Heat Up - Valve 1, valve 3, valve 6 closed. HLT goes to controlled temp. BK is controlled by manual off/on due to limitations in my current controller. I generally aim for 165 degF to 170 degF.
Strike - Valve 4 outlet hose put into MT. Fill MT from BK by turning on pump 2 and opening BK outlet valve. Note: Post strike remaining water is taken to boiling then gravity fed to chillers.
Mash - Pump 2 inlet switched to MT. HERMS hooked up. HLT/MT outlet valves open, both pumps on. Slightly back off on HERMS inlet flow.
Sparge - Valve 2, valve 5 closed, valve 3 opened. Manual valves set to bypass chillers. Control flow with manual valves.
Boil/Chill - Valve 5 closed, valve 6 open. Pump 2 inlet switched to BK. Recirc last 15 minutes. Chill by returning to BK until return temp is acceptable.
apologies for the bump but I thought i’d share my planned setup as well
I want to go for fully automated brewing… controller everything through BrewPi (i have great faith in the Herms progress!) and having a single (touch) control panel in which i can start, stop and time every phase. even includes automated cleaning
Reviving this thread because Elco posted a photo of what looks like an updated rig and valve. I might have missed an update on github, but I went ahead and tried to reverse engineer his valve layout from the picture he posted.
@Elco, any info you can provide confirming the hoses represented by a dotted line in red, or updates on what promoted the changes from your old layout would be much appreciated:
It looks like you moved to butterfly valves was cleaning an issue?
The valves are below the kettles now so how do you get the system to fully drain?
It looks like you don’t capture the exhausted chilling water (heated from cooling wort) in the HLT or MT. Did you consider that approach?
I think your old schematic has been really useful to lots of folks. I’ve very slowly been planning an automated rig and drawing on your old plans. Any updates you can offer would be much appreciated.
