Benefits of a RIMS (Recirculating Infusion Mash System)- Advanced Brewing System
In all-grain brewing, there are a lot more factors in the brewers control. Many of these factors can make a significant difference in the quality of the beer being made. One of these that often go unnoticed by the beginning all-grain brewer is recirculating the mash.
Recirculating the mash is a simple step that can really make a big difference in the clarity and quality of your brew. Making the time or investment to perform this step correctly will help you to set up a proper filter bed in your mash, which will remove unwanted solids and proteins from your beer. When done right, the reduction in haze-inducing proteins alone will make a huge difference in the appearance of your beer.
The following are benefits of using a RIMS brewing system:
- When the wort is constantly recirculated through the grain bed, you end up with a much clearer wort than you would by simply performing a manual vorlauf. To most home brewers what a clearer wort going into the boil kettle is better than a cloudy one.
- The mash temperature can be controlled much more precisely with a RIMS than is possible when using a “cooler” for your Mash Tun.
- With better temperature control you are assured of getting the same wort you planned on when you designed the recipe you are brewing. With a cooler for your mash tun, there can be a three of four (or more) degree temperature drift and it is more difficult to control which enzymes are working on your beer.
- Your final beer may or may not end up as you had hoped when you designed the mash schedule.One would rather have precise temperature control over the mash so that if the beer ends up different than you had hoped, you can tweak the mash temp next time you brew and have confidence in your results.
- Repeatability is one of the main reasons most people use a RIMS system. At some point as you advance in the hobby of homebrewing, you will begin to design recipes or you will have quite a few that are favorites. Being able to tweak a recipe and get predictable results is a major reason for switching.
- Another is simply being able to attain consistent results, ie. being able to repeat last year’s Christmas beer that was such a big hit with the family. Repeatability is paramount.
- One can perform complex mash schedules. Single infusion mashes work well for most homebrewers, but there may be times when you want to perform a more complex mash schedule.
- Allows you to easily step through your temperature stops with little effort on your part. No more boiling water infusions, or decoction mash additions to raise your mash temperatures to the next stop.