Sparge coil build

So I've never seen this done, so I thought I would post my idea for a compromise between a sparge arm and batch sparging for those who want to try their hand at fly sparging. It's basically just some 3/8" copper tubing bent into a spiral with 70 3/32" holes drilled along the length (see picture below). I chose this design because a) I already had all the materials to do it this way, so no cost, and 2) it offers an adequate coverage of the grain bed with no moving parts. I still need to do a bit of tweaking, mostly just to get each ring of the spiral to sit even with each other, but it works well enough that I feel confident I can have it dialed in by brew day on Saturday. If anyone builds this, let me know how it works for you.

Here's the bottom:



And here it is all set up:

I doubt you will get sparge water all the way to the end of your coil. I use a straight piece about 18" long and I don't get water out more than 12" out of mine...

When you fly sparge, you want slow... And that means you won't use much of it. won't hurt nothin'...

It's nice, tho

Thanks. Yeah, I didn't wasn't able to get the water to flow all the way around, but I got it working better than it was yesterday, so I think it will be good enough. If this doesn't work, I also have a coffee filter in a strainer idea that I want to try.

I believe most people put the holes on the top side of the sparge coil so that it runs down the side of the piping and drips off. That will help the water distribute around the whole coil before it leaves the holes (depending on which sections are lower). Flip it over and give it another try.

Hmmm....never would have thought of that. I'll give it a shot and report how it goes. Thanks.

It works so much better with the holes facing up. It still doesn't go all the way around the spiral, but it goes a lot further than with holes facing down.

I obviously am very new and have never even done AG, but the length that you have and the amount of holes seems to be too much. Try plugging some of the holes, about a 1/3 or more of them. Too many holes and no matter which way you have it will never make it to the end unless there is some type of pump installed.

I've actually considered installing a pump, but it will probably be easier to just either plug some holes, like you said, or leave it as is and call it good enough. I'll probably leave it as is for my next brew and see how it does. If it doesn't work as well as expected, I'll try plugging holes.

I'd just leave it as is and call it good enough.



Does it drop the sparge water gently enough to create an inch or two of water on top? yes? You're good!

if you keep a 1" layer of water on top of the grain a simple hose is all you need. The layer of water is an insulator as well as the hose. That copper is going to drop your sparge water temperature rapidly.