My New HERMS System - Sparging

Hi,

I have just set up my new HERMS System heres what i have:

HLT with HERMS coil inside.
Mash Tun
Boiler

All with connections, outlets etc.

I have a couple of questions about my system that I need some clarification on.

1. Do I heat my Strike water through the HERMS Coil or do i just take water directly from the HLT?

2. Once Ive reached my Strike temperature I dough in. Do i immediately send the liquid from the mash tun through my herms coil (which is in water at my mash temp) to maintain the mash temp.

3. Do i keep this running the entire mashing time?

4. I fly sparge so at what point do i start to increase the heat in the HLT for this? Obviously if i do this whilst still mashing then the mash will heat up. If i do it after the mash then ill be waiting for the water to heat before sparging.

Could someone please shed some light. I think Ive explained that clearly. .

Thanks

1.  I use my HLT to heat strike water.

2. & 3.  I recirculate throughout the mash, pumping the wort through an immersion chiller in the HLT.

4.  If you raise the temp of the heat exchanger/HLT after the mash is complete, you can call it a mash-out. Consider abandoning the fly sparge and going to a batch sparge or no-sparge. If you want to continue to fly sparge, get a cooler to hold the sparge water, and replace the cooler valve with a ball valve.

Really depends on your system, but I fill my "MLT" with appropriate ratio of strike water, then I fill my "HLT" to cover top of herms coil. When my "MLT" is at the desired temp I will add my grains. You will lose some heat when grain is added but it will soon raise back up. I will start my mash timer when desired temp is reached, and will recirculate my mash for the entire mash schedule. I will then raise my HLT to 168 to mash out, and I wait till my "MLT" hits 168 before I start my mash out timer. Once mash out is complete I turn off heat source and do a 90 min fly sparge till I reach the desired "BK" volume.

I go this route so I don't have to top off the "HLT" after strike water is added, as it seems to take longer to heat the "HLT" back up to mash temp then it does "MLT".