ZAP PAP or cooler.

We have been using a Zap PAP lauter setup for the sparging benefits for the last couple of batches, but i am intrigued by the cooler setup. Which is better??

Are you batch or fly sparging?

If batch, the "other" would be a stainless braid in a cooler. It's nice to be able to mash and lauter in the same vesssel.

what is a Zap pap? Just when i think I got this brewin' thing figured out someone throws out a word like Zap Pap!

Here's another wildcard, as I use a 40 quart cooler with a Bazooka tube.


TL

IrregularPulse said:

what is a Zap pap? Just when i think I got this brewin' thing figured out someone throws out a word like Zap Pap!

Click to expand...

It's in the Papazian book. Two buckets, one inside the other. The 'inner' one has a whole bunch of teeny holes drilled in it.

Varying reviews on the PITA factor/efficiency.(at least on this site)

40 and 70 quart cooler with stainless braid.

I've done Zap Pap, cooler with a manifold and cooler with a braid. The last works great for batch sparging which I do almost exclusively now. Otherwise the manifold for fly sparging - but you need to design the manifold correctly for your cooler. The Zap Pap works but is a PITA, cheap though :rockin:

GT

I think I am going to try the braid inside of a 60 quart. This is a cool idea from what I can tell.

I've brewed with a Zap-Zap setup for my last 5 or 6 batches. (Note: I thought it was Zap-Zap but Zap-Pap makes MUCH more sense!) I've gotten decent efficiency with it (75-80%) but as Got Trub pointed out, it is a serious PITA! It sucks to clean (imagine rinsing out a bucket with a thousand holes in the bottom...) and after your sparge, you've gotta keep the two buckets together until you transport your grain to wherever you dump it (unless you want little droplets of wort all over the garage/kitchen/etc.). In my case I had a spare bucket lying around so it made the transition from extract to AG really easy, but I'm already looking into a cooler system. In other words, if you've got the spare equipment, play around and give it a shot. But if you're in the market for buying something new, don't waste your time.

Didn't realize how old this post was, my bad...