DIY Rotating Fly Sparge Arm. Build and pics.

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Anubis

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I originally posted this in my5 Gallon MLT W/Copper Manifold thread but thought I would give it it's own spot for easy searching. I found a design that used non standard pipe sizes and converted it to copper. I have found a lot of people looking for plans for one so I thought I would share.

This design was meant for a cooler style MLT so you may have to adjust size of arms and how you would mount it.

Sparge Arm Parts list:

1) Can o' Foam
1) 1/4" Copper T
2) 1/4" Copper End Caps
2) 1/4" x 4 1/4" Soft Copper
1) 1/4" x 3 1/2" Soft Copper
1) 3/8" x 2 1/2" Soft Copper
1) 1/2" x 6" Copper
3) Super Small Supper Skinny O-rings
SANY0428.jpg


Process:

First take the 1/4 x 3 1/2 piece of soft copper, straighten it and flare one side. Usually you can ask someone in a plumbing store do do it for you. I do it for people all the time.

Next, slide the 3/8 x 2 1/2 over the the flared piece. You may have to ream out the 3/8 piece to create a smooth action between it and the flare.

Now attach the 1/4 T and sweat it on. Also if you can't do this there might be someone you can ask.
You should en up with something like this.
SANY0426.jpg
SANY0424.jpg


Next take the O-rings and put them onto the 3/8 piece and slide that into the 1/2 x 6 piece.
SANY0429.jpg


Now take the 2) 1/4 x 4 1/4 pieces and, using a nail, tap starting points to drill holes in. Drill holes.

Sweat on the 1/4 caps to your newly drilled arms. It might be nice not to use the caps at all and just pinch them shut. It would be one less place to clean flux from. Then sweat those into your 1/4 T with the holes facing one or opposite directions (depending on your perspective) to push the arms.
SANY0433.jpg


Test your sparge arm, it should spin off of a basic gravity feed.


Attaching to MLT:

This is the part I'm working on still so these are still in the works. I'll edit this with the final plan once I'm done..... so, theoretically....

Now you have to drill a 1/2 hole through the center of the lid. This is a good time to spay foam into the empty space in your lid. QUICKLY slide your sparge arm through the lid before it can really expand. Clean off the excess.

Now slide a Washer with a 1/2 ID over the top of the 1/2 copper sticking out. Then put on a thick O-Ring the copper to hold it from falling through the lid.
After that you'll have to adjust to fit to your HLT. You can sweat a 1/2 Male Adapter or barb, etc. That part is up to you.
 
Is there an update yet? How did the mounting through the foam work out?
 
I have to say that is a very nice design and nicely built. My question is why a sparge arm when a piece of silicone tubing would work just as well if not better?
 
I have to say that is a very nice design and nicely built. My question is why a sparge arm when a piece of silicone tubing would work just as well if not better?

+1 and additionally, we have not yet seen the above rotating sparge arm actually in operation. Why is that?
 
I have to say that is a very nice design and nicely built. My question is why a sparge arm when a piece of silicone tubing would work just as well if not better?

I have not heard of or seen this silicone tubing idea before, and I tried searching for it. Could you direct me to it please?
 
I have not heard of or seen this silicone tubing idea before, and I tried searching for it. Could you direct me to it please?

I did a forum search on "Fly Sparge with Silicone Tubing" using the google forum search.

www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/fly-sparge-arm-vs-sabco-tube-method-210927/

www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/fly-sparging-53488/index2.html

www.homebrewtalk.com/.../sparging-brewmagic-kettle-system-w-march-pump-156445/

There are alot more threads referencing this.
 
My question is why a sparge arm when a piece of silicone tubing would work just as well if not better?

Come on Sawdust, are you kidding. A chance to DIY and spend more money is certainly not to be missed!
 

Thanks. Oh, that's what you were talking about: laying the tubing on the mash. That seems less efficient to me compared to uniformly distributing the sparge water over the surface of the grain like a sprinkler system. What do you think?

I'm thinking about doing something like one of these (probably the second one because it's cheaper):
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/hey-everybody-look-my-new-sparge-arm-79824/
http://onebeer.net/recirc_howto.shtml
 
That seems less efficient to me compared to uniformly distributing the sparge water over the surface of the grain like a sprinkler system. What do you think?

Why do you have to uniformly distribute the sparge water? When you fly sparge you have 1 to 2 inches of sparge water above the grain bed. Do you realize you are uniformly distributing water over water?
 
That's awesome! Now I won't waste my time with some rotating crap. Do you fly sparge, Guy? If so, do you just lay the silicone tube on top of the grain?

I know a lot of people that do the tube on the grain bed thing, but for me the output would cause a ditch to form and channeling. I fixed this by pushing a short piece of 1/2" cpvc with a 90 on the end into my sparge hose. It rests at the side of the keggle, but I can rotate it so that it's aimed slightly up from the grain and in toward the center of the grain bed. On the first batch I did with this setup I went from about 70% eff to over 90%. It's still just a hose on the grain bed, but that 90 on the end made a world of difference.

Edit: I also got an MM-3 for christmas, and set the gap to 0.039", which probably had a huge effect on my efficiency too, so really I can't have that elbow taking all the credit. Either way, apparently the hose on top of the grain is good enough for 90%+ efficiency.
 
I know a lot of people that do the tube on the grain bed thing, but for me the output would cause a ditch to form and channeling. I fixed this by pushing a short piece of 1/2" cpvc with a 90 on the end into my sparge hose. It rests at the side of the keggle, but I can rotate it so that it's aimed slightly up from the grain and in toward the center of the grain bed. On the first batch I did with this setup I went from about 70% eff to over 90%. It's still just a hose on the grain bed, but that 90 on the end made a world of difference.

Edit: I also got an MM-3 for christmas, and set the gap to 0.039", which probably had a huge effect on my efficiency too, so really I can't have that elbow taking all the credit. Either way, apparently the hose on top of the grain is good enough for 90%+ efficiency.

Nice! Thanks for the tip.

Adding a 90 on the end of a silicone tube will be a lot easier than building a rotating sparge arm.

The mill definitely had a lot to do with it. I hope to get at least close to 90% someday.
 
I know a lot of people that do the tube on the grain bed thing, but for me the output would cause a ditch to form and channeling. I fixed this by pushing a short piece of 1/2" cpvc with a 90 on the end into my sparge hose. It rests at the side of the keggle, but I can rotate it so that it's aimed slightly up from the grain and in toward the center of the grain bed. On the first batch I did with this setup I went from about 70% eff to over 90%. It's still just a hose on the grain bed, but that 90 on the end made a world of difference.

Edit: I also got an MM-3 for christmas, and set the gap to 0.039", which probably had a huge effect on my efficiency too, so really I can't have that elbow taking all the credit. Either way, apparently the hose on top of the grain is good enough for 90%+ efficiency.

That will work but not really necessary. Like BK said a couple of posts back "Keep at least an inch of water above all points on the grain bed. Then, there is equal hydrostatic pressure across the grain bed, and the lautering will be even." In other words laying the silicone tubing on the grain bed will not cause channeling or a ditch.

Earthbound, yes I have been Fly Sparging for a very long time.
 
That will work but not really necessary. Like BK said a couple of posts back "Keep at least an inch of water above all points on the grain bed. Then, there is equal hydrostatic pressure across the grain bed, and the lautering will be even." In other words laying the silicone tubing on the grain bed will not cause channeling or a ditch.

Earthbound, yes I have been Fly Sparging for a very long time.

I agree, and I keep the fluid level about 3" above the op of my grain bed. I just noticed that the flow out of the hose created a eddy current below the hose that would dig a hole about and inch or two deep into the grain bed over the course of a mash in my system. When it came time to empty the grains on my first few batches I found that there was significantly colored and sweet wort draining from the grains scooped out of the side opposite the hose end. That's when I added the 90. Pointing it up slightly eliminated the hole that was being dug and my efficiency was great.
 
Wow. So to answer some of the comments.

MOUNTING THROUGH FOAM?
I instead went with a crossbar that has a clamp to hold it rather than put it permenently in my MLT lid.

WHY NO ACTION SHOTS?
I am really lazy when it comes to posting things like that. Too much smokin' I suppose.

WHY ROTATING?
Because I wanted to see if I could come up with a working design or at least build one on my own. That and after seeing it so many times I had to have one. And who doesn't love a DIY afternoon.

WHY SPEND THE MONEY?
I work in plumbing and electrical and the pieces cost me nothing as they were scraps I had on hand. Also copper goes by industry standard so if someone wanted to build it they would have easy access to parts.

WHY NOT SILICONE TUBE?
I never really considered it. I had seen plenty of stationary sparge setups and all seemed good but it just wasn't my style.

I don't know if one method is better than the other but I do what works best for me. To be honest for the most part I do a split batch sparge but if I am really taking my time I'll fly. Honestly I get the same eff either way.

I was not trying to persuade anyone to use this method, I just thought I would share my build because I hadn't really seen one for a rotating arm.

Thanks for the interest though. :D
 
Dudes. Chill. Soon. *cough*

But seriously I just hate taking the time to create some account on youtube and upload and blah blah blah. Sometimes I wonder how I get anything done. Except for brewing of course.

Give me a day.
 
For those that have a return manifold (copper tubing, silicone hose, the ultimate sparge arm, etc) why not just run your sparge water through that? I realize the rotating sparge arm was the OPs question, so don't crucify me. My reasoning is that half of the designs for a mash recirculating return will get in the way of a rotating sparge arm.
 
I could see why one would have a port for a sparge arm and another for recirculation, because if you're going to have the former with its typically tiny holes, you likely won't be able to vorlauf through it without packing it tight with detritus.

I use silicone hose with a couple of SS float balls, it works well enough, never gets plugged during vorlauf, and is easy to clean up. My extract efficiency ranges from mid-70s to mid-80s depending on the grain bill and I'm ok with that...

Cheers!
 
Ive used a rotating sparge arm before. It's cool and fun, but it was one more thing trying to fit into my mash tun. The return manifold I have ports the fluid back up, so sparge water and recirculating wort don't disturb the grain bed.
 
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