Recirculating mash

Hi all,

I've finished my brewing system - a 10-gallon HERMS with the HE coil in the HLT. My mash tun is plastic 15 gal with several ports, some at the bottom and one on the side near the top. I'm recirculating the mash pulling it out of one bottom port and pumping back into another bottom port.

Question is, should I pump the mash back into the top of the MLT and let it wash down through the grain or am I doing it right? If I brought it in the top, shouldn't I sprinkle it so as to not form channels in the grain?

Thanks,

Jeff

You do need to recirc back to the top. You don't need to sprinkle. It'll work but there are lots of ways to handle this. Sprinking increases the chance of the mythical Hot Side Aeration. You just need to make sure it isn't channeling. I use a hose and let the returning wort mix on top of the grain bed. This video has a better explanation than I can do. The explanation starts at about 8:30.

Thanks. I'm hoping this will solve my efficiency problem.