OK, what do I need??

[don.fief@comcast.net]

The 2000 Watt element was actually shorter than the 3800 Watt 240 volt unit. The 2000 Watt 120 Volt element is about 6 inches from the temp sensor. It worked really well until I had a stuck mash. I found that I needed to restrice the flow from the output of the RIMS tube where it went back into the mash tun with a ball valve. Without the restriction too much water flowed across the element, and it didn't get hot. After installing the ball valve, it ramped right up to temp, and went through the first two steps, and then stuck. After the 3rd stuck mash, I shut down the RIMS tube, and went old school with the mash, on the burner. I have dones some research, and found that some people use rice hulls to keep thier mash from sticking. What is the word on that?

I also had the heater controlled from the temp in the RIMS tube, but found that the temp in the mash tun was about 5 degrees lower that that in the tube. The tube temp was at 148 while the mash tun was only at 143. I switched the heater control to the mash tun temp probe and it seemed to work better, althouth the RIMS temp got a bit warmer. When I cleaned the RIMS unit, I noticed that the element was covered with black burnt wort. Do you think that happened when the mash stuck and the wort stopped flowing, or just happened as it tried to warm the mash tun. It didn't show any big spikes on the RIMS temp sensor, but then, maybe it didn't have to be real big...

Thanks,

Don

[gbrewer]

Don,

I use one pound of rice hulls with my beers when I use the RIMS tube. I haven't had any issues with a stuck mash. They are an inexpensive piece of mind. It sounds like you bought the silver colored 120 volt element from home depot. It will be coated black after every beer you brew. You can remove the black by soaking with PBW if you want. I've cleaned it off a few times and brewed with it on during others. I didn't notice any burnt flavors nor performance issues with the element.

You are spot on by restricting the flow of the mash as it flows through the mash tun. Just maintain a steady flow.

[don.fief@comcast.net]

Thank you for the response. Lesson learned! Do you have the temp in the RIMS tube controlling the heater with the BCS, or a probe in the tun doing the controlling?

Oops. Just say your reply in the other topic. Thanks!

Don

[gbrewer]

I will answer here in case someone else stumbles across this thread. It is my experience that a temperature reading in the mash tun itself will provide you inaccurate results. The mash tun is subject to "heat or cool pockets" caused by the grains. I would not use the temperature probe from the mash tun itself for temperature control of the heating element.

[ksl177]

Three things:

1. When doing RIMS or HERMS disregard the 1.25-1.5 qt/lb water ratios and adjust closer to 2.0. Go 2.5 if you're doing a wheat heavy beer.

2. 1lb of rice hulls for regular beers and 2lb for wheat beers (in 10-20lb brews) will both prevent stuck mashes as well as raise your efficiency significantly. Everytime I've had >90% efficiency in my brews I've been able to trace it back to the fact that I screwed up and left the Rice Hulls out.

3. Monitor the temp at the output of the RIMS/HERMS setup. That's the *hottest* temp anything in the system *can* be.

[clearwaterbrewer]

You can also measure the wort prior to the RIMS tube, if it is taking in 153.5 and putting out 154, but your independant mash probe says 150, you have an obvious problem with achieving a proper flowing mash...