Low Rent (aka ghetto) Single Vessel brew rig

This rig is nothing special, but its simple. Maybe someone thinking about going all grain will benefit and improve on it's cheap design.

I do BIAB and recirculate the mash in a single vessel. I like the small foot print because I'm lazy, small foot print = less crap to get out. I don't have a dedicated brew space so I like to be able to break it down and store it.

I keep my pump in a toolbox like many have posted on the board. I don't usually recirculate the whole time while mashing. I'll definitely recirc while firing the burner during the mash and mash out. I might have to fire it a few times over a 1.5 hour mash. I don't do 10 gallon batches but I can do 8 gallons of a 1.050 brew no problem. Once the mash is complete I pull the grain and fire up to boil. I've found you can still recirculate with a single vessel and no pump. Just draw off a gallon at a time out of the ball valve a few times during the mash like a vorlauf. I got a pump for x-mas and I like that much better.

The other nice thing is that is relatively inexpensive. Only one vessel. I don't really need the site guage or temp probe fitting. I like the temp probe for cooling down though. When I mash I stick another temp probe as close to the the center of the mash as I can. I waterproofed a probe with some small silicone tubing ala Bobby_M style.

1st pic is the ball valve and T fitting that I use for temp probe and ghetto volume guage. The volume gauge is silicone tubing. I like the simple elegance of the sharpie on the guage.

2nd pic is the qd I use while reciculating. Outlet of the pump is connected here to recirculate through the grain bag while mashing. I like the clarity of the wort I get doing this.

3rd pic is the other side of the recirculating qd. I've ditched the silicone tube for 1/2" elbow and about 8" of tube with several small holes drilled in it to distribute the reciculating wort more evenly through the mash. Very similar to a sparge arm I've seen in cooler mash tuns.

I like the KISS approach, rock on! :rockin:

Lookin good... Now you just gotta shine that puppy up!

what is your sparge technique when doing this? Do you sparge at all? And if you don't sparge, how do you drain your grain bag? or do you just not worry about the wort in the grain bag when you pull it?

what is your sparge technique when doing this? Do you sparge at all? And if you don't sparge, how do you drain your grain bag? or do you just not worry about the wort in the grain bag when you pull it?

Click to expand...

I don't sprage. I use around 3 quarts of water per pound of grain. Its a very thin mash.

I just pull the "bag", which is not a bag it 2 yards of voille. I've tried various methods, but the easiest is to drop it in a bucket. I have a collander in the bottom that allows the wort to drain. I usually end up with about another .5-1 gallon.

He doesn't really have to sparge if he is recirculating the whole time and mashes with the full volume.

I like this system. It's very simple, economical, and straightforward. You don't have a ton of equipment to clean up, either, which is a huge bonus, IMO.

How do you chill your wort after the boil? Do you have a CFC you do you drop in an IC, or something else?

I think the recirc does help with extraction, and clears up the wort. Mashing out really thins the mash and I think helps the most with efficiency.

I chill with an IC and have a QD attached to a Jamil Z style whirlpool copper tube. I Disconnect the recir QD and connect to the copper tube I use to whirlpool.

Weirdboy Thanks for reminding me about the E-Z clean up. I'll usually spray out the grain bag while the boil is going. The only other things to clean is the keggle and hop bags really. I take apart my pump head after each session. It takes about 10 minutes at the kitchen sink. I usually sanitize my feremter in the dishwasher, so on brew day I don't really have anything that needs sanitizer. I pump from the kettle to the bucket. If I do an 8 gallon batch I have to mix some sanitizer for the second bucket.


Its come from many different setups I've seen on here. I was recirculating with a cooler MLT for a few batches and didn't like the inconsitent temps in my mash and if I had to fire the burner it was awkward to me to maintain a steady mash temp.

I was hooked on single vessel brewing the first time I tried it with a paint strainer bag and my 8 gallon turkey fryer. I wanted the ability to do larger batches so I got the keggle. If I had to do it again I'd buy an 20 gallon aluminum pot as opposed to the keggle.

I think the polished keggles look sharp, but I'm not going to spend the time on polishing it. Especially with the ghetto volume guage.

I do something similar. I use an electric element and a steamer pot that has a basket in it. I put my bag in the basket and recirculate the entire time, using a PID to control the temperature. I rigged up "gallows" that I use to hang the basket above my pot and let it drain.

I mostly do 10 gallon partial mash batches. I either use 3:1 water/grain and "top up" with extract for my own recipes, or just simply buy 2 5 gallon kits - one extract one all grain.

bakins yours is one of the rigs I stole ideas from. Where/how is your element mounted in you BK?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ghetto-converted-biab-rims-146019/

I even plagerized part of the post name "ghetto".

I'd really like to go electric and plan to do so. I'm thinking about a way to mount the element to use a single vessel like I am now without RIMS. Not in a hurry either.

This is a pic of the recirc arm I use. the second pic its attached to the kettle. The hole usually point down. I also included the toolbox pump I have for pump to make it portable. The mesh is what I use for a bag. Its not a bag with a closure but 2 yards of the voille (mesh like material).


Recirc Arm attched to kettle. Holes face down right on top of the water. I don't have a spinning device like some do with the sparge arm it just spreads the water out more evenly over the top of the grain.


Tube I used before I went to the recirc arm.


I have a coupler I can attach to the copper at the top of the kettle if the arm is too far off the bed. The length of copper generally is long enough for just about any batch I do.

Diggin' the setup. I like to do something similar to this to crank out a quick 5 gallon batch -- much easier and quicker than dragging out the whole 10 gallon setup!

Its been roughly 2 years of refining. I was going to go with a system like yours, but I really like the single vessel. I don't miss that mash tun at all.

I'll do double batches, but my double batches are only 8 gallons of 1.050. I'll split the batch between 2 5 gallon buckets. Its convinient to try different yeasts. Or bottle most of it and put a couple gallons in 2 liter bottles with the shrader valve caps and consume right away. I can do a 5 gallon batch of a high gravity beer.

Any issues with that recirc arm? A lot of folks say they cause HSA (pretty much ruled out on a homebrew level), and more importantly that they cause the temp to drop too rapidly. I have a shower head type diffuser (from a big coffee maker), but I don't want to nuke my mash just to maintain temp.....

I appreciate the attention this thread has been getting. 13 posts isn't anything special really, but I didn't think it would draw any interest really.

Its never really splashing. I try to have the arm just below the top of the water. The top part of the arm is exposed. I have some ability to adjust up and down. So the wort never really hits the air coming out of arm. Remember the holes point down. It works fine with just the tube stuck just below the wort also. I figure I might get a little better distribution with it though.

I haven't had problems with excessive temp drop. I do fire the burner a few times during the mash though. Like I said the wort never really hits the air. I did have problems like that when recirc'd in a cooler and didn't have the tube down in the wort.

BTW, the 3rd pic in the second set I posted my camera lense is fogging over. Its been in the mid-high 90's here in KC, MO and I had to wipe the lens about 6 times just to take those 2 pics because the humidity has been over 80% along with the high temps.

Joe,

I like the idea of the temp probe connection (pic #1, very first post). Could you show a pic or two of how you set this up, like how it doesn't leak?

There is a post on this board about it with pics.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/thermosight-twist-28815/

That is what I used to do mine. I stole ideas from various rigs I liked.

I have to tell you though. I don't use it as my main thermometer to mash. Its too close to the bottom. Its a good indicator I need to turn the flame off when I'm firing during the mash. My main temp probe is another one I have waterproofed with silicone tubing like Lil_Sparky had in the post above.