Cooler MashTun Tips

[Dutto]

Only about 10 minutes or so. Because I use a filter bag there's no husks to worry about. I do find that when drained the fine particles and flour in the malt are on top of the grain bed.

Thanks for that. I may give it a try today because it's genuine Brass Monkey weather out there so anything that speeds up the process will be welcome! :lol: :lol:

Back to the fray! :thumb: :thumb:

 

[Piperbrew]

Cheer guys...

 

[AlanHarper]

I'm just a newbie at all this but have read many, many entries on the Sparging process on here and elsewhere and as a result my very simple system, for me anyway, is to put the heated sparge water (80+C) into a pressure barrel, screw on the top and lift that onto the higher level so I can gravity feed the sparge down onto the grain bed. As I say I'm just new to all this but it seems to work ok though I have yet to build, concoct, buy some form of spray system to distribute the water over the bed. Currently I direct the flow over the bed by hand, directing the outflow hose from the barrel - it works but is boring work and I have a tendency to rush it.

 

[AlanHarper]

I'm just a newbie at all this but have read many, many entries on the Sparging process on here and elsewhere and as a result my very simple system, for me anyway, is to put the heated sparge water (80+C) into a pressure barrel, screw on the top and lift that onto the higher level so I can gravity feed the sparge down onto the grain bed. As I say I'm just new to all this but it seems to work ok though I have yet to build, concoct, buy some form of spray system to distribute the water over the bed. Currently I direct the flow over the bed by hand, directing the outflow hose from the barrel - it works but is boring work and I have a tendency to rush it.

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Update on that - I now have constructed a Sparging Arm to help me easily do the sparging from the PB.

The arm is a selection of copper parts bought at B&Q that are soldered together to form a long tailed T with right angled bends and flexible copper pipe work capped at the ends. The flexible arms have been bent into an S shape such that the arms fit within the mash tun I use - (see pictures).

The bottom face of the T and the bent arms have been drilled every inch or so on either side of the pipework to form a Spray Head of sorts. The top end of the T arm has a 10mm reducer soldered on to the end to accept the tubing from the Pressure Barrel Sparge source. The main vertical arm of the Sparging Arm is trapped in position by a self tapping screw held in the 22mm T joint at the end of a scrap piece of 22mm pipe which in turn is loosly held above the mash tun by holes drilled into the wooden frame of my brewing stand.

The whole contraption is adjusted to the correct height above the mash - when it is in the tun, the pictures show the whole thing in test. By using this arm I can let the sparge water spray down onto the grain and leave it for about half an hour. The flow rate is controlled by the tap on the Pressure Barrell.

The idea was to spray the sparge water over the whole grain bed so as not to disturb it. By using hotter than normal water in the PB I can allow for heat loss due to the copper pipe and air cooling the spray. The water in the PB will stay hot enough over the period required to sparge the grain.