Some questions regarding fly sparging setup
 

This may have been answered before, but yeah.

I'm trying to start switching over to all grain brewing, and want to have everything set up to fly sparge when I start.

The processes that I have seen before (over at southern star) are full scale commercial electric brewing, so they have control over the temperature of the mash and everything.

If I were to build a mash tun out of an igloo cooler, what is the best way to control the heat while sparging?

Should I just get a SS tun? Are Stainless tuns that you buy online insulated/do they hold the heat well or do you have to constantly maintain the temperature?

It seems like having the mash in an igloo cooler would be a problem when it came to temperature control. Unless I was literally pumping out of the tun, into the kettle to bring it to temp and then back into the tun....


Just thinking, any advice welcome.

I just set up a makeshift 3 tier system. I throw my sparge water in my bottling bucket on a chair that's on a table. I put my mlt (converted cooler) on the table and then my kettle on the floor. I just run my tubing from my bucket and rest it on my grain bed. I use the valves on the bottling bucket and mlt to control flow. Temp stays fine for me.

so you're using hot liquor for the sparge, I guess to compensate for water loss in the mash?

I've never homebrewed with anyone who fly sparged, like I said only seen it in a commercial setting, and of course they literally are just circulating their mash at a higher temperature for the sparge.

do you lower your initial water levels to make up for the fact that you're adding hot liquor for the sparge, or does it all even out in the boil?

I might be missing your point, but igloo coolers will maintain temperature for a few hours, perfect for mashing at home.

Maybe you can clarify your question a bit...

I want to fly sparge using a pump, and if I am using an igloo cooler as a mash tun I can't just increase the temperature inside of the cooler like I would be able to if I was using a stainless kettle/tun that sits on the stove.

But stainless mash tuns are god awful expensive too.

All grain brewing requires two kettles, as you are draining wort out of your tun, hot liquor is being pumped through a sparge arm

this should help
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/wiki/index.php/Fly_Sparging

Well you sparge with clean water to extract as much sugar as possible.

Are you talking about step mashing?

My system is 2 round 5 gal coolers , one as a mash tun , the other as hlt(sparge). Set up in 3 tier fashion, gravity drains it to my kettle , which I fire up while sparging to speed things up. I have basically zero heat loss . I do preheat the coolers with hot water I should add.

I don't believe so.

I think I was explaining it incorrectly earlier.

I was under the impression that I would just be increasing the heat on my mash tun, and then pumping the wort through the grain bed to sparge at the higher temp, not adding anything from a hot liquor tank.

Is that doable? I don't see why it wouldn't work, but I also am not too familiar with all grain brewing, so yeah.

What you are describing is not sparging