And the winner is.....

HERMS!  After much debate, I have decided that this will be a HERMS set up.  What is HERMS?  Well, HERMS stands for Heat Exchange Recirculating Mash System.  And what does that mean?  The main premise is that during the mash, the wort will be pumped through some sort of heat exchange coil and recirculated back into the mash tun.  The heat exchange coil is submerged in the hot liquor tank where the water is kept at a specific temperature and as the wort flows through the coil, the water in the HLT keeps the mash at a very accurate temperature.

The other option was a RIMS set up.  RIMS stands for Recirculating Infusion Mash System.  In this system, the wort is pumped out of the mash tun and pumped over a heating element of some sort and then recirculated back into the MT.  There's two ways to accomplish this.  One: run a RIMS coil with a heating element inside of it; or two: use a propane burner under the MT and directly heat the wort and then pump it through a coil so as to keep an even temperature throughout the mash as well as avoid scorching in the MT.

The debate as to which system is better is long and I don't believe a clear winner will ever be declared.  Each basically does the same thing.  They both utilize some form of heat system to keep the wort at a constant temperature in the MT so that full conversion of sugars is accomplished.  They just do it in different ways.  I chose the HERMS set up for three reasons.

The HERMS system allows me to purchase less equipment (and save in cost).  I need one less burner as I won't need one under the mash tun.  I'll use two burners in the whole design, one under the hot liquor tank and one under the boil kettle.  Each burner  costs between $75-$100 after fittings and plumbing so this savings is significant.

The second reason is the energy and propane savings that come with the HERMS set up.  Since I'm heating the water in the HLT for use in the sparge step anyway, why not use this water to help keep the mash temperature accurate as well.  By only firing up one burner instead of two for the mash and sparge, the amount of propane I predict I'll save plays a significant role in my decision making. 

Lastly, I love that I don't have to build a RIMS coil.  I'll use the wort chiller that I already own as my heat exchanger which saves time and money in the build.  As I'm lacking in the technical knowledge area for parts of this build, I really like the idea of minimizing the custom parts in the design.  Since my wort chiller will be out of commission now, the system will most likely use a plate chiller (good thing I saved that $100 on the burners) but that is yet to be decided.

Well there you have it!  What I feel is the biggest decision going into this has been made.  From here it's all building the stand and the rest of the equipment.  I can't wait to fire this thing up when it's ready. Now if only my stand was here...