Edcculus
Well-Known Member
I recently built a 5 gallon version of flyguy's converted cooler MLT. This thing is a dream for mashing, but sparging is an entire different beast.
When I first built it, I used the stainless steel braid idea. When sparging, it ran fine for about half to a full gallon, then slowed to a trickle. After tinkering for a while, I gave up and transfered to my ghetto Papazian/false bottomed bucket. I figured my braid got crushed.
I did some research to build a manifold out of CPCV. It looks somewhat like this. (Sorry for the bad drawing. I'm at work and don't have a picture. I'll get one later though). I thought the manifold would solve my issues, but the same thing ended up happening.
For reference, the two recipes consisted of:
9# Pale 2 row
1# Crystal 20L
1/4#Black Patent
1/4#Chocolate
and
8#Pale 2 Row
2# Vienna
1/2# Crystal 10L
1/4# Flaked Wheat
I've seen both setups get so much praise, I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to improve the system. Am I simply getting a stuck sparge? Am I creating too much suction by opening the valve all the way? I'd appreciate any help.
When I first built it, I used the stainless steel braid idea. When sparging, it ran fine for about half to a full gallon, then slowed to a trickle. After tinkering for a while, I gave up and transfered to my ghetto Papazian/false bottomed bucket. I figured my braid got crushed.
I did some research to build a manifold out of CPCV. It looks somewhat like this. (Sorry for the bad drawing. I'm at work and don't have a picture. I'll get one later though). I thought the manifold would solve my issues, but the same thing ended up happening.
For reference, the two recipes consisted of:
9# Pale 2 row
1# Crystal 20L
1/4#Black Patent
1/4#Chocolate
and
8#Pale 2 Row
2# Vienna
1/2# Crystal 10L
1/4# Flaked Wheat
I've seen both setups get so much praise, I was wondering if anyone had advice on how to improve the system. Am I simply getting a stuck sparge? Am I creating too much suction by opening the valve all the way? I'd appreciate any help.