Vorlauf techniques

Hey guys, looking for your suggestions on how you add your wort back into your tun without disturbing the grain bed when batch sparging? Doing it real slow with over 2 quarts is pretty annoying. Any tips?

Float something on top like a large piece of foil, a dinner plate, foam, plastic lid, etc and dump on top of it

Drink a homebrew while vorlaufing & it won't seem so annoying.

bsdx said:

Float something on top like a large piece of foil, a dinner plate, foam, plastic lid, etc and dump on top of it

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+1, I use alum foil and pour onto that.

I just take my pitcher, run some off into it and pour it back in....*shrug* if you have several pounds of grain that has sat for an hour and absorbed water, it's really going to take a soup ladle dug in to disturb the bed. Pouring in a little bit of wort really isn't going to do any damage.

I'm a fly sparger so maybe I'm missing something here, but why would you care about a small bit of bed disturbance when batch sparging? Aren't the multiple rounds of sparging going to fix any sort of minor channeling you might create?

kanzimonson said:

I'm a fly sparger so maybe I'm missing something here, but why would you care about a small bit of bed disturbance when batch sparging? Aren't the multiple rounds of sparging going to fix any sort of minor channeling you might create?

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Exactly.

I guess maybe I am being over cautious. I am going to try the aluminum foil next time anyhow. Thanks a lot.

+1 to floating something on top. I used to use a piece of aluminum foil but stopped that in favor of a round tupperware lid. I like the lid better just because it's more rigid than foil.

If your grainbed is more than 3-4 inches deep, you won't disturb it by vorlaufing. I just use a pitcher and pour it on top. You should have several inches of liquid on top anyway, so the little bit of liquid you pour in when vorlaufing won't bother it anyway.

Awesome thanks guys.

Yeah, I just dump it on top without thinking too much about it. No foil or tupperware lids.

I use a pump to vorlauf/clear the first runnings to set the bed. I recirculate it slowly with about 10 mins left for mash. When it comes time to sparge, I use a cover from and old LME pail. Coffee can lids work great too.

Yooper said:

If your grainbed is more than 3-4 inches deep, you won't disturb it by vorlaufing. I just use a pitcher and pour it on top. You should have several inches of liquid on top anyway, so the little bit of liquid you pour in when vorlaufing won't bother it anyway.

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Yep, in a cooler your grainbed is pretty deep, and usually there is a couple inches of wort on top, you're just going to be barely "scratching the surface" of your mashtun when you voluff. In fact I've found with my braid, there's really not a lot of vorlauffing to be done. My runnings are pretty clear from the get go.

Revvy said:

Yep, in a cooler your grainbed is pretty deep, and usually there is a couple inches of wort on top, you're just going to be barely "scratching the surface" of your mashtun when you voluff. In fact I've found with my braid, there's really not a lot of vorlauffing to be done. My runnings are pretty clear from the get go.

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Cooler MLT with stainless braid? It takes me tons of vorlaufing to get even close to clear.

I always do 2 quarts for good measure but it is usually clear a bit earlier with a 10 gallon cooler and stainless braid.

BrewThruYou said:

Cooler MLT with stainless braid? It takes me tons of vorlaufing to get even close to clear.

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That's all I have...Check the tightness of your braid. It maybe because of the setup of mine though. I took that nylon tube that is inside of it, and I drilled holes in it like a machine gun barrell, and put it back into the braid, which keeps it from getting crushed. I also have it in a circle using a t-fitting like this;



I often even forget to vorlauf and don't get a lot coming through. Just having the braid free floating may cause the gaps in the mesh to be wider than mine- since the braid is in a sense like the chinese finger trap



on mine the gap between mesh can be adjusted. And mine is pretty tight, almost the original tightness as if I never tore it apart and got the core out and put it back in.

Recirculate for 10 minutes! (I do cause I can.....)

Thanks Revvy. I've been having tons of problems with my stainless braid (stuck sparges on non-wheats, etc.). I'm on my 3rd braid right now (all stainless...none of the crap). I know one problem is that I'm beating up the braid too much and causing some kinks and larger holes. I switched to a plastic mash paddle (from stainless) so that's much improved.

I might try to put in the vinyl tube (drilled a lot) and see what happens. If that still is bad, then I'll try the t-fitting.

BrewThruYou said:

Thanks Revvy. I've been having tons of problems with my stainless braid (stuck sparges on non-wheats, etc.). I'm on my 3rd braid right now (all stainless...none of the crap). I know one problem is that I'm beating up the braid too much and causing some kinks and larger holes. I switched to a plastic mash paddle (from stainless) so that's much improved.

I might try to put in the vinyl tube (drilled a lot) and see what happens. If that still is bad, then I'll try the t-fitting.

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The nice thing about my t-fitting is that it's removable, and at the furthest point from where it is connected to the ball valve it actually touches the bottom of the cooler, so there's also not a lot of deadspace in my cooler, only about 1/2 gallon or so.

Revvy said:

The nice thing about my t-fitting is that it's removable, and at the furthest point from where it is connected to the ball valve it actually touches the bottom of the cooler, so there's also not a lot of deadspace in my cooler, only about 1/2 gallon or so.

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Where did you get it and how is it removed? Hose clamp or just vinyl tube pushed over the end?

BrewThruYou said:

Thanks Revvy. I've been having tons of problems with my stainless braid (stuck sparges on non-wheats, etc.). I'm on my 3rd braid right now (all stainless...none of the crap). I know one problem is that I'm beating up the braid too much and causing some kinks and larger holes. I switched to a plastic mash paddle (from stainless) so that's much improved.

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I had those same problems after about 4 or 5 batches with the braid. Spent 8 bucks and 45 minutes and built a copper manifold and they all disappeared. For good.

BrewThruYou said:

Where did you get it and how is it removed? Hose clamp or just vinyl tube pushed over the end?

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The t thingy fits perfectly into the hose ends inside the braid, then I used zip ties (really tiny ones) to hold the braid in place. It's been perfect for like 5 years now.

I'm trying to upload some pics now.

I just coiled some copper wire into a spring form and inserted that into my braid. Haven't had a problem in 5 years.
I too just dump the wort on top without any disturbance in the clarity.

I can't seem to get into the remote site to upload from my phone, I'll keep trying. I figure it's prolly a good idea to have pics of my setup on here anyway, since every now and then folks ask me about it. When/if I get in, I'll post em.

Here ya go hope this works.

I pour my vorlauf liquid onto my mash paddle that I've rested the end onto the top of the grainbed? make sense?

Revvy said:

Here ya go hope this works.

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Worked. So you got the zip ties, the t-fitting and that little tube (from the T to the brass nipple) from hardware store?

Foil with a bunch of holes works for me.

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BrewThruYou said:

Worked. So you got the zip ties, the t-fitting and that little tube (from the T to the brass nipple) from hardware store?

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Yes, just at aco or anyplace.

So I am brewing a batch tonight and I just poured my wort back in the top and there was no issue. Worked great. Thanks guys.

Did you have a homebrew in hand?

I pour mine directly back onto the mash bed, but I make sure to keep it moving around so as not to pour in one spot and make a hole in the bed.

Soperbrew said:

Did you have a homebrew in hand?

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probably not.