homebrewdad
Well-Known Member
As I look toward moving to all grain for the first time, I want to be sure that I have a reasonable idea of what I'm doing. Experienced brewers, if you would be so kind, please review my plans and let me know if you see me heading for any gotchas.
Here's the system I am envisioning:
Cooler with manifold for the mashtun.
Repurpose my existing 24 quart brewpot to be my HLT.
Use my new 40+ quart brewpot to catch it all and boil that delicious wort.
Process:
Mash in in at appropriate temp. Hold mash for an hour.
Use gravity to begin to drain wort into brewpot. Vorlauf until it runs clear.
Use pump to slowly move hot water from HTL to mashtun, making sure to maintain a couple of inches worth of water above the grain bed.
Maintain process until preboil volume is obtained.
???
What am I missing? Any suggestions?
Also - any recommendations for a pump to use?
Is it feasible to use a submersible style pump that I can drop nto the HLT (that pot is not drilled)?
I see that pretty much everyone does copper for manifolds. Is there any reason why a PVC manifold would be a bad thing?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Here's the system I am envisioning:
Cooler with manifold for the mashtun.
Repurpose my existing 24 quart brewpot to be my HLT.
Use my new 40+ quart brewpot to catch it all and boil that delicious wort.
Process:
Mash in in at appropriate temp. Hold mash for an hour.
Use gravity to begin to drain wort into brewpot. Vorlauf until it runs clear.
Use pump to slowly move hot water from HTL to mashtun, making sure to maintain a couple of inches worth of water above the grain bed.
Maintain process until preboil volume is obtained.
???
What am I missing? Any suggestions?
Also - any recommendations for a pump to use?
Is it feasible to use a submersible style pump that I can drop nto the HLT (that pot is not drilled)?
I see that pretty much everyone does copper for manifolds. Is there any reason why a PVC manifold would be a bad thing?
Thanks in advance for your input.