Mash Tun Advice (pics)

I'm working on a mash tun because I want to get into all grain brewing. I've sourced my parts and created a first draft. I am using 1/2" CPVC. Here's what the manifold looks like:




Here's the sparge rig I've made. I thought having the water drip perpendicular to the manifold tubes might help:



One problem I've found is the manifold sits 1/2" above the bottom of the cooler. I couldn't get the ball valve further down into the cooler due to the curve the sides have.

Obviously having the manifold off the bottom means I'm going to miss some of the liquid. Is this going to cause issues with my efficiency? Do I need to find a way to get the manifold to sit on the bottom?

Actually I just found out I can put the manifold all the way on the bottom and "T" out of the middle to the valve instead. Thanks!

your manifold looks good, but I think your sparge rig is way overkill. You prolly won't get water running through 25% of it. You want to sparge slowly, if you're fly sparging and if you're batch, you don't care.

I run a straight copper tube with small holes in it. The water doesn't come out the last few holes in that and I can't see the water coming out very far in that.

I simplified my sparge rig a bit, thanks.

I plan on cutting slits in the pipes crossing the middle of the cooler. Should I also slice up the pipes running perpendicular (towards the manifold outlet)?