New manifold

After I started using beersmith I found out I'm only getting 58% efficiency. I was a little disappointed so I decided to upgrade my setup starting with my MLT. I cut the pieces for the manifold but this being my first one I didn’t know if I should solider it together or not. If I don’t it’s easier to clean. If I do it’s easier to use. What’s the right thing to do?



I haven't cut the slits in yet.

You might want to reconsider your design: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Building the Manifold

popester said:

You might want to reconsider your design: How to Brew - By John Palmer - Building the Manifold

Click to expand...

I think I see what you mean. I'll have to think it through to see how I can fix it.

BaldAssCat said:

I think I see what you mean. I'll have to think it through to see how I can fix it.

Click to expand...

Since you have it built, why not give it a try? There are a lot of elements that define efficiency with the manifold being just one of them. I have read all that Palmer stuff and understand the ideas behind it, but I still believe that a poorly designed manifold vs a well-designed one won't produce a huge difference in efficiency.

Isn't Palmer referring to fly sparging in his designs? If you are batch sparging then it might not come into play as much. How is your grain crush?

JMSetzler said:

Since you have it built, why not give it a try? There are a lot of elements that define efficiency with the manifold being just one of them. I have read all that Palmer stuff and understand the ideas behind it, but I still believe that a poorly designed manifold vs a well-designed one won't produce a huge difference in efficiency.

Click to expand...

No kidding, especially if you are batch sparging.

I would try it out if you are batch sparging. Also, I woudl recommend NOT soldering it all together. Maybe just solder the Ts to the pipes going across, but leave some of the joints unsoldered.

My reasoning is that you may want to clean it out later, and/or make changes. A friction fit is probably plenty.

Also, I would consider using a plastic hose between the manifold and the spigot. This would allow you to lift the manifold up off the bottom to make rinsing and cleaning easier, without having to undo the joints. Works for me! Although you may have to rotate the fitting on the manifold to point towards the spigot and do a straight shot.

Essentially, you have the same design that I use, excepting for the plastic hose (white hose, not clear) and I have gotten over 80% efficiency, every time. Even when I forget to rinse twice.

Homercidal said:

I would try it out if you are batch sparging. Also, I woudl recommend NOT soldering it all together. Maybe just solder the Ts to the pipes going across, but leave some of the joints unsoldered.

My reasoning is that you may want to clean it out later, and/or make changes. A friction fit is probably plenty.

Also, I would consider using a plastic hose between the manifold and the spigot. This would allow you to lift the manifold up off the bottom to make rinsing and cleaning easier, without having to undo the joints. Works for me! Although you may have to rotate the fitting on the manifold to point towards the spigot and do a straight shot.

Essentially, you have the same design that I use, excepting for the plastic hose (white hose, not clear) and I have gotten over 80% efficiency, every time. Even when I forget to rinse twice.

Click to expand...

I like the idea of the flexable hose. I'll look into that one.

JMSetzler said:

Since you have it built, why not give it a try? There are a lot of elements that define efficiency with the manifold being just one of them. I have read all that Palmer stuff and understand the ideas behind it, but I still believe that a poorly designed manifold vs a well-designed one won't produce a huge difference in efficiency.

Click to expand...

I’m tempted to cut the slots in and try it. My concern is if I do then I can’t reuse the pipe for the next design. What do you folks think if this?



The drain on my cooler is pretty low so I can’t get any pipes under it. That’s why it’s split the way it is.

Blender said:

Isn't Palmer referring to fly sparging in his designs? If you are batch sparging then it might not come into play as much. How is your grain crush?

Click to expand...

Step 2 in this effort is fly sparging. I was going to drill through the top of the MLT and run a hose to a sparge arm or just one of the small upside down funnel sprayers, not sure what they’re called. I have another cooler to use for the sparge water. I’m just looking for a place to setup a gravity system. I have a house but I can only cook in the kitchen or outside right now and the kitchen isn’t that big.

I made a grain mill from a pasta mill as noted in here… https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/using-pasta-maker-mill-grain-75784/

I tried it out and I think I need to rough up the rollers some more to speed things up but it seems to crush ok. I get a lot of flour on lower settings or a lot of uncrushed grain if I open it up at all. I can’t seem to find the middle ground so went with the flour and taking it really slow when sparging. I want to buy a new mill but that won’t be at least until the fall.

Copper is cheap. I don't see a real problem with the design as it is. I'd cut the slots and go for it.

BaldAssCat said:

I’m tempted to cut the slots in and try it. My concern is if I do then I can’t reuse the pipe for the next design. What do you folks think if this?

View attachment 11841

Click to expand...

Go re-read the link I posted earlier: the spots at the top left and top right have a relatively long ways to go compared to the spots at the bottom left and bottom right. Your goal when designing this sucker should be to minimize the distance from any point to the exit.