Thanks to a DIY home-brewing engineer known as Sizz building a pretty cool electric all-grain brewing system and then deciding he wanted to play golf instead, our garage is now stuffed with a recirculating infusion mash system (RIMS)-based all-grain brew stand, a temperature controlled fermentation chamber, a kegerator with two taps, a nice grain mill, several carboys, and a cabinet full of related goodies.
The system works pretty well as is, but of course you knew this was coming, a couple of tweaks and a major equipment upgrade are in the works. The heaters for the RIMS unit and the boil kettle run off a 240v, 60 amp circuit, controlled by a BCS-460, three thermocouples, and a couple of PIDs. Two March brewing pumps, several valves, and a lot of silicon tubing move liquid through the system.
The biggest drawback to the system when I picked it up were the installation, orientation, and power connections for the two heating elements. The power terminals for the boil kettle were completely exposed, and the RIMS tube was installed vertically, with the terminals on the bottom. The RIMS terminals were covered by a silicon cap, but the many pieces of pipe and connector used to make the RIMS tube, even though sealed with some sort of resin on the thread joints, seeps water, which then drips down the tube, right past the power terminals, and on to the floor.
We’re covering the terminals on the boil kettle with a sleeve made from a silicon cupcake holder, connected to some plumbing pipe we added to as a hot wire conduit. The RIMS seeping we’re fixing with a major upgrade – we’re replacing the entire RIMS assembly with a stainless steel housing joined by Tri-Clover sanitary fittings. The tri-clamps will let us easily disassemble the entire RIMS for cleaning and inspection.