HLT/Boiler in one

[alsch890]

Just trying to piece together the kit I'll need for my first AG brew. I am wondering if anyone thought it possible to use the same vessel for HLT and boiling? I mean use the boiler to heat the strike water, empty it to the mash tun and then sparge into the boiler? I guess the issue is where to heat and store the sparge water? Could you heat the sparge water in the boiler, transfer that to the FV to sparge from into the now empty boiler?

Basically I want to do this on as low a budget as possible to start with until I've got the hang of it. Also, I don't really know how the wife would feel about me firing up a gas stove in the cellar so was looking for an alternative way to heat water. :-)

 

[blawford]

Yeah, you could do it how you described. When I first started I was thinking the same thing to minimise cost and equipment but I decided against it in the end and it does make life easier having both a HLT and Boiler.

I did everything pretty DIY'ish to keep the cost down and I am happy with how things turned out. I have been updating a thread with everything I ended up making here and would be happy to help with questions if you end up going in the same direction.

 

[alsch890]

Brilliant, thanks a lot, already scouring through that thread, lots of answers to my questions there!

 

[bigbud78]

Im going to use my boiler for my strike water but then use my cheapo wilko 12L for the batch sparge when the runnings hit my boiler:)

 

[simon12]

I always sparged in to bucket or fermenter then pour it back into the boiler/HLT after. If you are brewing on a large scale using pumps it would make more sense to move the hot sparge water to the fermenter instead.

 

[peebee]

HLTs are a relatively new piece of kit to aging brewers like me. I had a fairly sophisticated setup - a "floating mash tun" - but there was plenty of other accepted single boiler arrangements.

Water was heated in a big (9 gallon) old Burco wash boiler (£5 from a second-hand shop). The mash was mixed in a bucket with a perforated base that sat in another bucket with a tap at the bottom. When mixed the whole "bucket-in-bucket" contraption was put in the boiler to keep the temperature steady. Then at the end the bucket was lifted to above the boiler, the contents of boiler heated to 80C and this water then transferred to another bucket (no pumps) and lifted above the mashtun so sparging could start, collecting the wort in the now empty boiler.

Like I said, my system was sophisticated compared to some single boiler setups. Did me for close on 40 years. I don't miss that setup.