One of the main components of my mash process is the Tri Clover RIMS tube which I purchased from Brewers Hardware. The RIMS tube contains an electric water heater element and temperature sensor.  Liquid wort will be circulated through the RIMS tube. The BCS 460 will turn the heating element on and off based on input from the temperature sensor.

I have now completed the mounting of the RIMS Tube on my new brewing stand. The RIMS tube is mounted vertically using two electrical pipe clamps. Removal of RIMS Tube for cleaning only requires turning two wing nuts.

The water heater element will be mounted at the bottom of the RIMS Tube.

I also completed the brackets for the Hot Liquor Tank gas valve. The burner and gas valve have their own individual brackets to support their weight. The gas valve is protected by a heat and liquid drip shield.

Stay tuned for the results of the gas line and component plumbing.

My newly added RIMS Tube for brewing beer makes provides another notch in my “gadgetry” belt. In fact, I think I enjoy gadgets just as much as I like the results (beer).

A few months back, I purchased the RIMS Tube for brewing beer from brewershardware.com. I’ve finally had a chance to brew a few batches of beer using this RIMS Tube.

The first challenge was finding a way to mount the rims tube to my current brew stand. I wanted easy access to the RIMS tube but didn’t want it to be in my way. It also needed to be out of the way of my propane burners and pumps. So, I created a horizontal bracket and mounted it just above the pumps. (See Picture)

The second challenge I had was determining what I was going to do for a power source. My home is newer but does not have a 220 volt circuit wired in the garage. My garage circuits are all 15 amps. I decided to use a 120v water heater element with the brewing Rims Tube.  This also forced me to purchase a heavier gauge extension cord. During my first test with water, I discovered that a 16 gauge cord didn’t handle the current very well. The extension cord was warm to the touch. I changed this out a 12 gauge cord and eliminated the issue.

Lastly, I had to create the BCS-460 connections. The connections were for the temperature probe and relay for the heater element. I purchased an additional relay and heatsink. Since I had already wired several other relays and probes to the system this was an easy process. I created a separate outlet box specifically for plugging in the water heater element (brewing RIMS Tube). It’s as simple as it gets.

The old – Prior to the RIMS Tube used for brewing, I recirculated during the entire mash process. My temperature probe was installed in the area nearest the “mash return” to the kettle. Temperature was regulated by means of a burner which received propane from a  Honeywell  brand gas valve.  My mash kettle has a false bottom and I don’t worry about scorching the grain. With this process, I am/was able to control the temperature of the mash +- 1 degree.

The new – Wort is drained from the mash tun under the false bottom into the pump. The pump pushes the wort into the RIMS Tube and past the temperature probe and heating element. Wort is passed back into the mash tun nearest the top of the kettle where it passes by another temperature probe.

After brewing several batches of beer using the RIMS Tube, I feel like I still need to tweak “something”. I am not sure exactly what “something”  is but the temperature stability is not as consistent as it was on my propane system. During my last batch of beer, I was wanting to maintain a temperature of 154 degrees during mash.  The BCS460 was set for +- 2 degrees of this setting but I saw swings as high as 158 degrees and as low as 150 degrees. It also took a bit longer to “Ramp” the temperature to 168 degrees for mash out. Perhaps this is being caused by my using a 120 volt water heater element instead of making this a 220 volt system. I will continue to work out my issues for precision temperature control.

Cleaning of the RIMS Tube after brewing beer is simple. I use a carboy brush on the main tube and a line cleaning brush on the ports. It is easy to rinse and disassemble. The water heater element usually is coated with proteins and such. A simple scrub or soak on the element and all seems to be well.

Overall, I am enjoying the RIMS Tube for brewing beer and will continue to tweak my system settings until it gives me the precision that I am after.

Like most brewers, I am interested on always finding a better way to do things. I own a Banjo burner along with several jet burners and have been tossing around my opinion of what really is a better burner. I have yet come to any conclussion. I have, however, reached an opinion on where the High Pressure Banjo burner might work better.

This test was done with the interest of boil in mind. I wanted to know how quick I could reach a boil after mash out.  I ran the test using a low pressure jet burner at .5 psi and a high pressure Banjo burner at 10 psi. Both propane burners were ran fully open and had their own propane source.

Two very similar stainless converted kegs (kettles) containing 6.5 gallons each were used.  I started this test at 166 on both kettles. Altitude for my testing location was around 980 feet.  I monitored the temperature of both kettles using a laptop, BCS460 , and two temperature probes.

When I made this video, I broke it into several  different segmants. Excuse the redundancy in advance!

Without spoiling the results from the video,  it is my opinion that the high pressure Banjo burner would make a great burner for your boil kettle or possibly your hot liquor tank. It is a little hot to be controlling your mash tun and takes adjusting if you want to reduce the heat.  After around twelve and a half minutes, the Banjo burner had the Jet burner by around seventeen degrees.