I love no sparge brewing...

**Saccharomyces** · 10-10-2009, 10:36 PM

My usual brew days are 6 hours. My usual brewhouse efficiency is 75% (83% to kettle).

Today I tried out a new setup with my new pump. RIMS, no sparge, no chill.

Dumped all 8.25 gal of water into the kettle, added my salts per the water adjustment spreadsheet assuming 8.25 gal of mash volume, and loaded up 11# of grain into my mash tun. Goal is to have 7 gal pre-boil, assuming .125 gal per # of absorption. BeerSmith says with that much water to heat to 162*F so I heated to 161*F while setting up, measuring, and crushing grain. Once I hit my strike temp I pumped all the water into the cooler and then started recirculating.

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After stirring the mash in in the MLT and letting temp settle it ended up 1*F over my desired strike temp of 150*F at 151*F. Not bad for a RIMS n00b. It took a few adjustments to equalize the flow between the pump and the MLT but I found it tends to equalize on its own if you are patient and don't mess with it (a few inch rise or drop in the kettle will tend to offset the potential flow from the pump valve and the level will stay constant, as long as the valve setting between pump and MLT aren't off too far from each other).

Recirculated for 40 minutes for a total of 45 minutes to mash, then I started slowly heating until I hit 165*F for mashout. I had to run the burner for about 1 min every 10 min to keep the mash temp constant. After hitting mashout I turned off the pump and let the MLT drain into the kettle while heating for the boil, now at full throttle.

Here are a few more pics of the recirculating system between the BK and the MLT.

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I have created a spreadsheet I use to determine my expected gravity, efficiency to boiler and brewhouse efficiency (.xls format). NoSparge.zip

**Saccharomyces** · 10-10-2009, 10:45 PM

After the boil I recirculated for 5 minutes to sanitize the pump, lines, and valve, then pumped the boiling hot wort into my sanitized HDPE ale pail.

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While that was going I grabbed a sanitized cup and scooped 1 quart of hot wort into a sanitized flask to chill in the sink for my Real Wort Starter, The Pol style.

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After all the wort was transferred over I stuffed a paper towel soaked in Star San into the airlock hole of my lid and snapped it on. The wort will chill overnight in the garage and I'll pitch tomorrow whenever it gets down to 65*F.

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All told my brew day was 3 hours 45 minutes including cleanup. This new system will be a great way to get a quick brew into the fermenter! Today, I brewed and roasted a half pound batch of coffee before lunch! That's a new personal record.

Efficiency to kettle was 76% and brewhouse efficiency was 67% without sparging on a 1.053 brew. That translates to about 1.5# extra grain, and since I buy in bulk... let's see... that's about $1 worth of grain to shave 1.5 hours off of my brew day vs. a double batch sparge. I'll take it!

I can't take all the credit though. This is essentially the Aussie BIAB and no-chill setup, they invented it, I just worked it into my system.

chefmike · 10-10-2009, 11:28 PM

sounds like a win to me. thanks for the pics and stats.

If and when I get a pump... I lay money I do this some days.

Is there a pick up tube in the kettle on that spigot? and a pic of the manifold in the lid of the cooler, if you would.

I am intrigued.

**Saccharomyces** · 10-10-2009, 11:56 PM

The sparge manifold in the cooler is a 3' piece of silicone tubing with holes drilled every 1/2" and a plug in the end. It's connected to a nipple sandwich which comes through the lid just like the pot lid. I forgot to snap a photo of it I'll post one next time I have the rig out.

In the kettle I have a 10" braid connected to the spigot for the pickup. A 90* elbow screwed into the F-F of the weldless fitting kit would work just as well if you have the patience to whirlpool and let it settle before pumping out.

TUCK · 10-11-2009, 12:01 AM

Hmmmm, I really like this idea, thanks for posting. I think I may have to try this hot wort in a bucket and let it cool over night, I mean this will take off at least 30-45 min waitng to cool down.

**AZ_IPA** · 10-11-2009, 05:16 AM

Is that 3lbs of bacon under your MLT in the 1st pic?

**Yambor44** · 10-11-2009, 03:25 PM

I may have missed this but when do you add your hops?

**Edcculus** · 10-11-2009, 04:35 PM

nice setup! Something like this might work out great for my limited space apartment brewing setup.

Are you draining the MLT by gravity into the BK/heat exchanger, then pumping out and back up into the MLT?

**chrisrush** · 10-11-2009, 04:39 PM

I'm sure he added the hops after he reached his boil temp.

Looks good. I really like the simplicity of your setup. Did your temp get below 65 with the temps over night in Austin?

**Saccharomyces** · 10-11-2009, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisrush

Looks good. I really like the simplicity of your setup. Did your temp get below 65 with the temps over night in Austin?

Left the bucket in the garage overnight and it was ready to pitch this morning from the real wort starter.

I use The Pol's adjustment for my hop additions. 60 -> 45, 30 -> 15, flameout -> dry hop. If I had 15 minute those would have become FWH and bittering amount adjusted to offset the IBUs.

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