Recirculation with a SS braid mash tun

Hi folks

I'm in the planning stages of building an all grain system and am planning an electric RIMS setup with a chugger pump for recirculation.

I've seen several people say to make sure that you have a good flow of liquid from beneath the grain bed while running the pump otherwise you can compact the grain bed.

Does anyone have a RIMS setup successfully using a braid, or should I just invest up front and build a manifold or get a false bottom for a cooler mash tun?

I have used a ss braid in my HERMS system for about 8 years. Grain bed compaction can occur with any type of mash tun bottom. It depends on your crush (finer leads to issues with compaction), grain bed depth (deeper leads to issues with compaction) and how fast you try to run your pump. You want to turn on your pump and slowly open the exit valve to slowly ramp up flow thru your system.

I just brewed for the first time with a pump. It wasn't going through a heat exchanger, but I just recirculated it back into the mashtun onto a piece of foil with holes in it. Like stevehaun said, you will need to close the valve on the pump down most of the way once you get it primed.

You will also want to keep an eye on it so you can shut off the pump if you see that it is clogging.

I use a 1" braid in a 13 gallon rectangular cooler with a HERMS system. I condition the malt and crush with a 0.19" gap and have no trouble recirculating the mash.

I use a 1/2" ball valve with a 809 March pump and run the valve about 1/4 of the way open.