A guestion of Wort Movement

[Frisp]

Mi Amigos
As you can gather I have been fantasisng about my new brewspace. I am trying to work out the most ergonomic way to cascade the liquid from a permanent HLT Into the MT and then the boiler and onto the FV all through the use of Gravity alone. The downside to this is that with 100L boiler and an 80 L thermobox MT this is one helluva tall Waterfall. and the thought of lifting an 80L thermobox full of wet grain makes my back creak

While pondering the use of a valentive arm I had a realisation that by using such a decice to Batch sparge . I may be able to reduce the height of the waterfall.

My thinking is this. If your grain bed is say 1 foot deep in the MT and you want the Valentine arm to maintain 1 inch of Sparge liquid above the level of the grain bed. you simply adjust the "neck" of the arm to that height.
As you run Liquor into the MT it washes through the grainbed and out into the valentine arm up the arm and over the neck to tumble into the Boiler taking the sugars etc with it as wort. That bit is fiarly std thinking.

My thinking is that this means the top of the boiler needs to be only a few inches below the neck of the Valentine arm. And if that is teh case the boiler needs only a few inches lower than the MT.

So By building a standard cascade I would have the Boiler 500mm ish below the MT. Using a valentine arm I should be able to reduce this step to say 150Mm. Making the whole thing that bit lower and easier to handle.

Can someone check my thinking please

 

[BrewStew]

you're thinking is sound, unless you decide to change the amount of grain you use :hmm:

 

[Frisp]

I have thought about the amount of grain I use. The smaller the Batch the higher the MT will have to be in relation to the boiler. And as the aim is to get the heavy lifting down at waist height Im thinking of building in an adjustable shelf for the MT, and an adjustable Valentine arm will fit in with that.
Im looking to set the HLT at the same height as if it were the full cascade but with the adjustable shelf the greater the grainbill the lower I can set the Height of the Mt.
AND IF SOME OTHE RBASTARD SETS OFF A FIREWORK I WILL SHOVE SPENT CASINGS INTO ALL THE BODY CAVITIES OF THEIR SPENT CARCASE.......
Sorry about the outburst but I have had a drink and I hate feckin fireworks..

What I ahve in mind to do this is like A heavy duty bookcase split up the middle.

On the left hand side The HLT will be at the top, on the right hand side the MT with the adjustable shelf willl be at a height lower than the HLT.
back to the Left will be the boiler. THere will be headroom above the boiler which will be tha gap where steam will go. On the roof of this void ( directly underneath the HLT) will be a cooker extractor venting the steam outside.
What do you think?

 

[BrewStew]

sounds like you'll be needing a bottle jack to raise and lower the MT cos it'll weigh a few kilos when full! :shock:

what's the concern about height? you can have the HLT above the MT as the HLT will never need moving if you've got a sight tube or something.. and put the MT on the counter underneath, then the boiler on a smaller table or something? if you're bothered about hot side aeration from the falls, you could just have a hose coming from the tap to the bottom of the next vessel.

i dunno about yours but with my DIY skills i'd be a bit concerned about having my MT on a shelf that's supposed to move and could topple over when full :shock: seems alot of bother to me when you could just use pumps and have all your vessels side by side if height is the issue

 

[Frisp]

Hear what you are saying Stew. The weight of the MT and doughing in at a reasonable height are my reason fro being a bit fixated on Height.
I want the drain on my boiler to be a couple of inches higher than the neck of my FV which will be about 600MM from the floor. This means that by using a V arm I could have my MT just a few inched higher than the drain on my MT.
However. If Im Doing a 10 gallon instead of a 15 gallon brewlength. The V arm will have to be more on the horizontal to drain the MT which will make the drain lower than the lip on the boiler.
Im looking at welding a steel frame together to hold this lot. and clad it in white conti board.
Thye adjustable bit will be a bit like one of those tray collecting racks which you find in large cafes. The adjustable shelf will slip in to steel runners on 3 sides and the height will be adjusted before I fill the MT.
I thnk I will do a rough drawing and post it somehow

 

[MEB]

How about a shelf that tips? Then your MT can be at a suitable level for all your grain bills. When you want to empty MT of spent grain you can pour it out into a wheelbarrow, barrow the spent grain outside. Then the 'tipped' MT will be easy to clean out with the wheelbarrow underneath to catch the waste. A tipping shelf can easily be locked off to prevent tipping. A bit more design will need to be inputed initially but after that you should be good.

 

[Frisp]

Hmmm Im not getting the Tipping concept. Got any drawings or Pics

 

[Vossy1]

MEB, can you e-mail Ross as his site appears to be down

 

[Kingfisher]

MEB, can you e-mail Ross as his site appears to be down

If this is Ross as in Craftbrewer V I've had the same problem at this time of night but Ross tells me there's nothing wrong at his end. It put me off ordering from him. No fault of his own I expect.

 

[Vossy1]

I've just tried your link and mine again MEB 22.59 UK time...and it's working now