Wort recirculation Vs not

[Darren Jeory]

yeah.....its quite new. only one vid so far .

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsfuXic6BylaqStMk_utvjw

Done!

 

[AdeDunn]

I have a Klarstein Brauheld Pro, a tip I will give you is to check reviews regarding the bottom plate in the grain basket when buying a machine. They're too large in the Brauheld Pro IMHO. I had to adapt to this by buying a grain mill and now I buy my malt uncrushed then crush it myself, as if I buy it crushed it's too small and I get too much getting sucked into the pump etc. On the flip side, lot of people will argue that crushing your own malt is better anyway... lol

As mentioned Klarstein aren't shipping to the UK directly right now, as their couriers won't ship here any more. I believe there are 3rd parties selling their machines. However there are plenty of similar machines on the market (but with internal pumps and controllers that are mounted in the bottom). A tip though, if you are planning to do full volume brews in one, and want 20/25 litres into the FV, 30 litres is probably going to be too small. If however you want to do fly sparging, you could go for the setup I now have and will be using going forward, 30 litre machine, 18 litre tea urn style water heater to heat sparge water. The Brauheld Pro for example really isn't designed for full volume brewing, tried a few times and sure you can wing it with it, but it's not what the machine is designed for.

Oh and just to note, the machines that recirculate the wort don't just do that, they also have built in programmable timers etc that will automatically switch the power, temperature etc etc for each stage, step mashing etc, rather than just been the same machine with a pump fitted.

 

[Craftman]

These pictures (from yesterday's European Lager brewday) show my Brewzilla at start and end of the mash

- the increase in clarity alone certainly has me sold on recirculation

 

[Darren Jeory]

I have a Klarstein Brauheld Pro, a tip I will give you is to check reviews regarding the bottom plate in the grain basket when buying a machine. They're too large in the Brauheld Pro IMHO. I had to adapt to this by buying a grain mill and now I buy my malt uncrushed then crush it myself, as if I buy it crushed it's too small and I get too much getting sucked into the pump etc. On the flip side, lot of people will argue that crushing your own malt is better anyway... lol

As mentioned Klarstein aren't shipping to the UK directly right now, as their couriers won't ship here any more. I believe there are 3rd parties selling their machines. However there are plenty of similar machines on the market (but with internal pumps and controllers that are mounted in the bottom). A tip though, if you are planning to do full volume brews in one, and want 20/25 litres into the FV, 30 litres is probably going to be too small. If however you want to do fly sparging, you could go for the setup I now have and will be using going forward, 30 litre machine, 18 litre tea urn style water heater to heat sparge water. The Brauheld Pro for example really isn't designed for full volume brewing, tried a few times and sure you can wing it with it, but it's not what the machine is designed for.

Oh and just to note, the machines that recirculate the wort don't just do that, they also have built in programmable timers etc that will automatically switch the power, temperature etc etc for each stage, step mashing etc, rather than just been the same machine with a pump fitted.

Ah...thanks for this

 

[Darren Jeory]

These pictures (from yesterday's European Lager brewday) show my Brewzilla at start and end of the mash View attachment 42099View attachment 42100
- the increase in clarity alone certainly has me sold on recirculation

What is actually happening during recirculation and can it be replicated manually?

 

[AdeDunn]

These pictures (from yesterday's European Lager brewday) show my Brewzilla at start and end of the mash View attachment 42099View attachment 42100
- the increase in clarity alone certainly has me sold on recirculation

Agreed, as it basically vorlaufs for you if you do it right. I mean, the top plate on my Brauheld Pro is infamously bad (I had to open it up more with a screwdriver) but still super clear wort into the boil and into the FV, even on a poorly designed machine.

What is actually happening during recirculation and can it be replicated manually?

You can stand with a jug, continuously taking wort from the bottom tap, putting it back in at the top, then taking more from the tap, for say 20 minutes.... This is pretty much what you do when you vorlauf, or you can do it with a pump. It uses gravity (or a pump) to pull the bits of grain out from under the bottom of the grain bed (the void), and puts them onto the top so they can be filtered out by the grain bed.

Recirculation also serves to create a more even temperature throughout the grainbed during mashing, you can try to do this by stirring every 20/30 minutes... Which stirs up those tiny particles and puts them back into suspension. Done it that way too, you just have to deal with it at the end of the mash.

 

[umfana]

Not necessarily a response to your statement . . . . but fits in nicely.

I am finding after 3 Brewzilla brews (with recirculation) that my wort is coming out clearer, thus backing up OBD's point above.

However, there are some All-In-One users that advocate stirring the wort at (say) 20 and 40 mins to improve extraction. Surely that is going to release all the particles that have been captured in the grain bed. No?

Yes. Stirring makes the wort all cloudy, but it only take another 5 mins of recirc to be crystal clear again.
But for what it's worth this doesn't me as I tend to squeeze the living daylights out of my grain bag - thus making much cloudiness.

I stir half way to ensure that there is not any tunnelling from the recirc.

 

[Darren Jeory]

yeah.....its quite new. only one vid so far .

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsfuXic6BylaqStMk_utvjw

When you say you assembled one for about £50 how did you manage it...the cheapest pump I can find is about £80. I'm thinking of getting the klaestein mash tun and retrofitting with a pump....I'm not bothered about programming as I'm a hands on brewer anyway

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

When you say you assembled one for about £50 how did you manage it...the cheapest pump I can find is about £80. I'm thinking of getting the klaestein mash tun and retrofitting with a pump....I'm not bothered about programming as I'm a hands on brewer anyway

I bought a small brew pump from ebay. You don't need 100s of liters a minute for such a small machine. On full pump I get a steady stream. Like faucet on little under half.

 

[Darren Jeory]

I bought a small brew pump from ebay. You don't need 100s of liters a minute for such a small machine. On full pump I get a steady stream. Like faucet on little under half.

What did that cost?

 

[Darren Jeory]

Like this

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

Like this

Yeah like that.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/DC12V-18W-...sh=item48e7777c00:g:8~oAAOSwXuRe7XeM&LH_BIN=1Not the exact one but. It does the job.

 

[martin1256]

Here are some old picks, ive since then shortened the pump tubing. I'm making a show and how to on my new youtube channel soon. Go and subscribe and you'll be notified when its out

SmallSpacesBrewing

What’s the link to subscribe please?

 

[SmallSpacesBrewing]

What’s the link to subscribe please?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsfuXic6BylaqStMk_utvjw

 

[private4587]

I'm a recirculater. My mash tun is a cool box so I recirculate the wort through a water heated hear exchange. Better temperature control. I also recirculate my strike water during heating to ensure uniform temperature.

Keith interested in your cool box recirculation you have any instructions for build?

 

[AdeDunn]

When you say you assembled one for about £50 how did you manage it...the cheapest pump I can find is about £80. I'm thinking of getting the klaestein mash tun and retrofitting with a pump....I'm not bothered about programming as I'm a hands on brewer anyway

I don't know if others do it differently, but I find that even with a programmable machine that it's still hands on. The only difference is that now my machine handles the timings and alarms, rather than Beersmith on my phone (I often do both to be honest though... lol), oh and the ease of doing a step mash is nice too. It doesn't do everything for you, just changes power level, temperature setting etc, you still have to do your own stirring, lifting etc. I mean, if you go for something like a Braumeister then yeah, it does more for you, but at the low end you still do your own brewing...

 

[Buffers brewery]

Keith interested in your cool box recirculation you have any instructions for build?

Ha ha! As you might expect my recirculation approach (for some) might seem “complicated”
So start with mash tun - refer to A simple false bottom for coolbox mash tun
Then you need a heat exchanger, a.k.a. modified waste bin...

The wort is pumped from the mash tun tap through the coil in the heat exchanger and back to the sparge machine.

The sparge machine is a home made contraption..

and you can see it in action here...

 

[BeerCat]

When you say you assembled one for about £50 how did you manage it...the cheapest pump I can find is about £80. I'm thinking of getting the klaestein mash tun and retrofitting with a pump....I'm not bothered about programming as I'm a hands on brewer anyway

I presume you mean one of these? these? If you can wait you can save some money by ordering from China. The cheaper pumps i went through all blocked. You will need to add a tap on the output to control flow.

 

[BeerCat]

@Buffers brewery Love it, looks like a repurposed Xerox photocopier!

 

[Darren Jeory]

If we were to colonise mars we need people who can make a brewery out of stuff lying around