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**Sea** · 08-19-2007, 01:40 AM

Does anyone have a suggestion on how best to pour the vorlauf back onto a very thin (4") grain bed? seems no matter how many times I recirculate and how slow I pour, I still manage to stir up the grain bed! I'm almost ready to go AG, that's why my mash tun is so oversized. I guess that being said, it's not going to be a problem for long.

Thanks, your wisdom is appreciated greatly.

todd_k · 08-19-2007, 01:50 AM

maybe a ladel or pyrex measuring glass? I dunno, that's kinds of tough.

skou · 08-19-2007, 01:52 AM

Put a plate or saucer on the top of the grain-bed, and slowly pour onto that.

steve

**Sea** · 08-19-2007, 01:54 AM

Nice steve, now if I hadn't just sparged......

So I'm home alon brewing, and I realize it's dinner time with nothing to eat. Well, i go out to the garage to grab something, and a hispanic woman pulls up to m house and asks if I want Tamales. So now I'm eating dank pork tamale goodnes, still hot from the steamer, smothered in Hot sauce! What a night!

PseudoChef · 08-19-2007, 03:35 AM

frisbee with holes.

woosterhoot · 08-20-2007, 10:26 PM

Rather than vorlauf I attach a piece of cheesecloth on the end of the hose from the mlt with a rubber band. No husks or anything in my pot. But i do use a spoon and measuring cup to pour water as easy as possible

david_42 · 08-21-2007, 01:18 PM

Get a cheap aluminum pie pan, poke a bunch of small holes in it & place that on top of the bed.

**RichBrewer** · 08-21-2007, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sea

Does anyone have a suggestion on how best to pour the vorlauf back onto a very thin (4") grain bed? seems no matter how many times I recirculate and how slow I pour, I still manage to stir up the grain bed! I'm almost ready to go AG, that's why my mash tun is so oversized. I guess that being said, it's not going to be a problem for long.

Thanks, your wisdom is appreciated greatly.

This is why I suggested in the "Mini Mash System for Extract Brewers" thread that folks who want to do PM brewing should use a smaller cooler (23 gallon). It makes the grain bed deeper and sets a better filter bed.
In the words of John Palmer:

Quote:

Chapter 17 - Getting the Wort Out (Lautering)
17.2 Getting the Most From the Grainbed
The grainbed can be a few inches to a couple feet deep, but the optimum depth depends on the overall tun geometry as well as the total amount of grain being mashed. A good rule of thumb is: "The depth of the grainbed should be no less than one half the shortest dimension of the floor area, nor greater than twice the longest." In other words, the grainbed aspect ratio can vary between 1:2 and 2:1. If the grainbed gets too shallow, i.e., from lautering too little grain in too large a tun, then an adequate filter bed won't form, the wort will not clear, and you will probably get hazy beer. A minimum useful depth is probably about 4 inches but a depth of between 8-18 inches is preferable. In general, deeper is better, but if it is too deep, then the grainbed is more easily compacted and may not let any wort through, making lautering nearly impossible.

If you have everything needed, you might as well convert to AG. The larger cooler will work much better for you.

**Sea** · 08-21-2007, 02:12 PM

Thanks all,

Rich, I'm dying to convert to AG, just can't seem to get that keggle converted, and I don't have another pot big enough to do full boils. It will happen by the next batch or two.

I had a much smaller cooler MLT, but once I started investing the dough in AG equip, SWMBO "reclaimed" it.