Brewed up Shiver me Bitters last, which is primarily MO and Vienna, and it caught me off guard with .15 gal/lb. For small batch brewers, that can be a big difference. I buy all my grain from the same LHBS and use the same mill so the crush isn't different.
More English beers on deck so it'll be interesting to see the absorption data...
Yeah, Shiver me Bitters was low on the efficiency by a few points here too, so it isn't just you.
I just did your method except for the no chill. Brewed up 10 gallon batch of Vienna Lager. Very clear wort and it was dead simple to maintain the pump level and runoff. A site glass make this very easy.
Now that I prototyped it with the gas burner I've got to get the electric set up and run with it.
Planning on brewing on the rig again Saturday which will be the 4th no-sparge. I am planning on adding an electric RIMS heater to the setup to maintain temps, a friend has a spare PID controller and thermocouple he isn't using so I just need to get the other parts scraped together for it. The heater will go between the pump and MLT otherwise the flow will remain unchanged.
Blichmann 20 is on order and should be here in a couple of weeks. I already got in the parts from McMaster for an all-stainless nipple-nipple connection through the lid, I just need to drill the lid with my step bit when it gets here and I'll be all set. The 10 gallon kettle will become my HLT and partigyle boil kettle. The longer sight glass and better insulating of the Blichmann should definitely improve on this setup.
I just order up the Parts to convert to this type of setup. Im tierd of lifting and dumping boiling water for infusion mash's and spilling on me or the ground. Plus I'm hoping to cut 45 mins to a 1 hour off my brew day.
I was looking at building a RIMS system but this fits the bill for me. Just what i need a compact system that i can tuck away in a corner some where. Ill i need to add is a march pump, hose and couplings, but I added a Blingman 10gal as a early xmas gift to myself.
About how much wort are you losing to dead space in the lines and pump are you getting Saccharomyces?
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Primary 1:#10 American Wheat
Primary 2:
Kegged Haus Ale, Oktoberfest
Got my pump and did a quick test to see how it works. Used an autosiphon to get it primed which wasn't working too well until I put a valve on the pump output (would autosiphon to fill the pump head, but before I could turn on the pump it would drain out...valve fixed that problem). I think in my actual brewing setup, the pump will be able to be gravity fed to get it primed, we'll see.
I think this pump is going to be a great addition to my brewing gear!
Planning on brewing on the rig again Saturday which will be the 4th no-sparge. I am planning on adding an electric RIMS heater to the setup to maintain temps, a friend has a spare PID controller and thermocouple he isn't using so I just need to get the other parts scraped together for it. The heater will go between the pump and MLT otherwise the flow will remain unchanged.
Bear with me, i'm a must see it to understand it guy. Any pics of this or a similar heater. Could the same thing be accomplished with an element in the hlt/bk, and if so could you still use the burner for boiling and heating strike water(way faster with propane).
And you must have dead loss in the hlt when you pump in the strike water, yet when you start re-circulating the water, it has to be back in the equation, correct?
I just got a pump and this is a method i certainly want to try, I like the idea of it still being portable and relatively simple.
One more question, can we see a pic of the inside of your cooler, is the return hose connected to a sparge type arm, or just loose.
Last edited by wildwest450; 11-04-2009 at 04:45 PM.
About how much wort are you losing to dead space in the lines and pump are you getting Saccharomyces?
Lines and pump combined, loss is about a pint.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Baron ken
Used an autosiphon to get it primed which wasn't working too well until I put a valve on the pump output (would autosiphon to fill the pump head, but before I could turn on the pump it would drain out...valve fixed that problem).
Yes that's the key. I can gravity prime mine if the toolbox sits above the ground, just hold the output hose down at ground level to drain into a bucket and shut the valve at the pump output. Then I can connect the output hose to the MLT and open the valve. The key with the March to not losing prime is to keep the pump running even if the valve is closed. Because it's magnetically coupled it does not cause a problem for the pump to run this way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wildwest450
Bear with me, i'm a must see it to understand it guy. Any pics of this or a similar heater. Could the same thing be accomplished with an element in the hlt/bk, and if so could you still use the burner for boiling and heating strike water(way faster with propane).
You could go with a setup like jkarp's where there is an electric heater in the kettle. The RIMS heater I'm thinking of building is this one, going off of lamarguy's parts list except for the (hopefully) thermocouple, PID controller, and SSR which a friend already has on hand.
Quote:
And you must have dead loss in the hlt when you pump in the strike water, yet when you start re-circulating the water, it has to be back in the equation, correct?
Yes, the dead loss ends up not mattering since it all gets recirculated/mixed and the MLT drains into the kettle pre-boil.
Quote:
One more question, can we see a pic of the inside of your cooler, is the return hose connected to a sparge type arm, or just loose.
Check post #83 for the pic, the hose is the sparge arm which gets attached to the nipple on the inside of the cooler during recirculation. It clogs up a bit with grain but doesn't cause a problem, the idea is just to prevent the return flow from stirring up the grain bed. The more adventuresome folks could build a proper sparge arm... I just didn't see the need.
Check post #83 for the pic, the hose is the sparge arm which gets attached to the nipple on the inside of the cooler during recirculation. It clogs up a bit with grain but doesn't cause a problem, the idea is just to prevent the return flow from stirring up the grain bed. The more adventuresome folks could build a proper sparge arm... I just didn't see the need.
Oops, I missed that pic, thanks for the info! I'm off to mcmaster carr to spend some loot on fittings.
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