Changing set up - need advice

[DJBigPhil]

I am looking to upgrade my set up but am a little bit lost and need a bit of advice from all you experienced homebrewers out there.

My current set up is pretty Heath Robinson but has been working really well for me. I only want to upgrade to simplify my brew day and reduce the kit I need to make things easier.

Currently, I have a 15l tea urn that I'm using as a HLT. I also have a 30L mash turn that I made myself from a picnic cooler. It works great but the issue that I have is that to faff around refilling the HLT and the mash tun, whilst effect, is a little crude.

I am looking to upgrade to a Klarstein boiler mash kettle. What I want is a single vessel that will heat water and act as mash tun. What I am completely confused about is how this would change the spraging process. Today, I am generally mashing with 16L of strike water. I then do a 2 stage batch sparge, each with about 8L so I end up with a boil volume of approximately 28L.

If I were to invest in something like the Klarstein boiler mash kettle, what happens with sparging? Do I fill it up with 30L of water and from there, mash at the usual temperature then raise temp and conduct essentially single batch sparge?

If anyone has any tips using this type of set up, it would be much appreciated.

 

[Litmus]

HI DJ,

I moved from a similar setup (boiler and coolbox). I moved to the 50L all in one (BIAB) BrewDevil. I'm into my 3rd brew, and so far I only have good things to say. It a shorter brew day and easier cleanup. There are still a few mods you can do on this system like site glass kits etc. It has around a 1' wander when mashing, which is not that far off my last system. However the full programmable controller means it goes mash to mash out without me having to do a thing, it reminds you when to make your additions. You can run it in manual if you're around and watching it. I have done batch sizes of as little at 6L and as much as 50L. I used my old boiler as an HLT, which is great for sparging. I have also done full volume mashing and it only loses 2% off of its respectable 74%. I have recorded some of my ramblings; you can find them at http://coldpassion.co.uk