Recent content by aledawg

I'm very curious how your beer turned out. Was there enough rosemary / orange, and how did it blend with the American Wheat yeast?

When doing "dry runs" without the grains, there's no more than 1-2 cups left of fluid. In a real world situation, the grains will hold on to lots of fluid which is more slowly "released", so more liquid will be left in the cooler. But, in a batch sparge scenario, your first runnings will...

Very nice! I have the same results for left-over fluid, so it's very efficient. One thing that bothered me for the first few runs: I had a "significant" temperature drop in the mash (5-6 degrees over an hour), so I put some insulation foam inside the lid. This helped a bit, so I now have about...

Hi again, For the fly sparge manifold, I made a rectangle and added one "center tube". The holes were drilled with a small drill bit. I glued the rectangle together, since this one (unlike the bottom manifold) doesn't have to be taken apart for cleaning. I then drilled a hole in the lid, and...

Here you go! Overview of mash tun http://ge.tt/4ZNBmEK1/v/1?c The mashing manifold upside down, showing the slits which were cut with a hacksaw and "polished" with sandpaper http://ge.tt/4ZNBmEK1/v/0?c Showing the "neck" of the mashing manifold...

Here you go! Overview of mash tun The mashing manifold upside down, showing the slits which were cut with a hacksaw and "polished" with sandpaper Showing the "neck" of the mashing manifold This is the fly sparging manifold which is mounted under the lid of the mash tun Inside the...

I just used a mixture of rubber and steel washers until it was nice and tight and stopped dripping. 4+ years in with the same cooler, it still is dry as a bone. Will put up pictures of this as well (but I'm not going to dismantle it for fear of irritating the gods... :)

Hey Wreck99, I'd be happy to, but I'm far away from my home at the moment. I'll try to get a photo done this weekend inbetween travels and post it for you. Basically, though, it's just a combination of CPVC tubes and connectors. You create an outside "rectangle" that fits not too tightly...

Yep, what foos-n-brew said. I have a very similar setup and it works great. Never a stuck mash and predictable efficiency and the vorlaufing is quick and good - hardly any particles at all. If I do wheat or oats or rye of any significant amount, I always add rice hulls, and so far (4-5...

Fantastic diagrams and explanations - will use this to modify my system to a 2-tier, single-pump HERMS with 2 keggles, 2 burners, and a cooler mash-tun

Would it be possible for you to post the specs on the 3kW heating element? I'm considering one for my own setup.

I have a pretty consistent temp drop of 1-3 degrees, whether I do a small or big batch. I used the hacksaw and have no complaints on the results - never a stuck mash!

I used a 1/2" x 2" nipple, and it worked ok. On the inside I used a 1/2"-to-"flat" CPVC fitting and then a 90degree CPVC elbow to connect to the manifold on the bottom. -e

Hey Tennessee! I started with this setup and was terribly disappointed at first, with 50% efficiency. Granted, it was my first batch, but I thought I'd read enough about it to really get it right the first time. Then came batch 2, 3, and 4, and I managed about 60-65%, and I was still very...

I've mashed around 33lbs successfully, but it got a little messy at times...