Wort Hog EBC-SV to HERMS conversion

[Brewer #334545]

Hey everyone, I have a wort hog BIAB system and am thinking about converting it to a HERMS system on the cheap. I have a few questions on the PID temperature reading location.
First of all I am being super cheap on this and am cutting some corners here that will probably ruffle some feathers but I don’t want to up my gfci breaker from 30 to 50 amps and buy another heating element.
System overview:
MLT - 15 gal sanke keg converted
HLT - BIAB wort hog 15 gal bayou pot with boil coil and decent Immersion chiller or coil that can removed during brew day.
BK - I plan on using HLT as the boil kettle, using a third keg as a temporary storage tank to pump out MLT and sparge into. When sparge is done I will dump excess water, remove the HERMS coil and pump all wort into HLT.

My question is with the EBC-SV temp probe.

should I just set the temp probe location in the HLT and just have a gauge in the MLT to make adjustments against?
or is best to read from the MLT directly during mash. I am thinking the temp delay likely lead to over heating of of HLT water and then overshooting temp target.
If anyone has experience here and would like to chime in that be great.

thanks.

 

[Minbari]

I do mine this way, and it will be even cheaper.

the MLT and boil pot are the same kettle.
the HLT has the HERMs coil in it.
boil pot has 4.5kW of heat, the HLT has 1.5kW of heat. (avoid using both at the same time, 4.5kW of heat will work with a 30 amp service)

my process consists of mashing in a BIAB in the boil pot (preheat the both pots) once the mash has started only use the heat in the HLT and the HERMs coil to maintain heat or you will scorch the wort or burn the bag. pump circulates wort during the entire mash time.

temp probe is in the boil/MLT pot, that is the area you want to regulate. you can control overshooting temp by pump flow, you dont need it wide open, not even close. the HERMs coil is mounted in the HLT permanently and also doubles as a cooling coil, just replace the hot water with ice water in the HLT.

You wont need to sparge at all with a HERMs system, since you are continously recircing, sparging is done constantly.