Single tier system build

[Joseph Rizzuto]

Hey guys I am building a single tier system and am looking for suggestion, warnings and an answer or two.
It will be propane fired at first with an upgrade to dual electric - propane possible in the future.

First question - - I have 3 kegs, 2 regular 1/2 kegs and a European 50 liter keg. Where should I use the smaller,13 gallon, keg? I was thinking the HLT.

 

[Chris Smith]

I would say the HLT

The mashtuns direct fire too? That's how my single tier is setup and I never need more than 5-10 gallons in my HLT (which does dual duty as a HERMS heater for me, too) because I can get the initial strike water got in my mashtun

 

[Joseph Rizzuto]

Thanks for the reply. I was planning on no direct heat on the mashtun. I was hoping to fill from HLT and use HLT as the HERMS heater.

 

[Chris Smith]

In that case you could do it, but your HLT might not be big enough to do 10 gallon batches without some reheating of cold water after filling your mash tun. That's fine but it means you won't be able to start your reticulation right away, which probably isn't a problem.

It'd still do the smallest container as the HLT, you can always heat more water but not having enough room for mash or boil can cause problems down the road.

 

[Chris Smith]

In that case you could do it, but your HLT might not be big enough to do 10 gallon batches without some reheating of cold water after filling your mash tun. That's fine but it means you won't be able to start your reticulation right away, which probably isn't a problem.

It'd still do the smallest container as the HLT, you can always heat more water but not having enough room for mash or boil can cause problems down the road.