mdwilson
Active Member
I decided to bling-up my 2-vessel experiment https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f235/reverse-flow-2-tier-2-vessel-system-407244/ and replaced the plastic bucket and BIAB bag with a stainless steel kettle and stainless filters and copper fittings.
This is an almost fully automated system. It is designed to start unattended, heat strike water, mash-in, mash, and sparge (if doing full volume no-sparge) and then wait for me to hit OK and kick off the boil.
Here is the system ready for brewing. The wort flows from the electric brew kettle through the bottom of mash tun, up through the grains and returns back to the brew kettle through a center stand pipe.
Here is the bottom of the mash tun. The wort enters through the fitting on the right and returns through the center copper fitting.
A false bottom is added (this came with the turkey fryer that I'm using as the mash tun).
A filter screen made from a fry pan spatter screen is added. The false bottom is held in place with the copper stand pipe, which is screwed in place.
Here the grains are added. The stand pipe can be changed depending upon the size of the grain bill. My initial stand pipe is just long enough for the 13 lbs of grain in this Brewer's Best BIAB IPA kit.
Here the top filter plate is installed and pined in place with a homemade stainless steel safety pin.
Here is the start of the mash-in
Here the force of the flow was enough to break the silver soldered copper fitting at the center of the stainless filter. I was using a spatter screen beneath the top filter plate. At this point I removed it and decided it was not necessary. The safety pin held the filter in place throughout the rest of the
mash.
Here is a modified top filter with a silver brazed stainless steel washer reinforcement.
This is an almost fully automated system. It is designed to start unattended, heat strike water, mash-in, mash, and sparge (if doing full volume no-sparge) and then wait for me to hit OK and kick off the boil.
Here is the system ready for brewing. The wort flows from the electric brew kettle through the bottom of mash tun, up through the grains and returns back to the brew kettle through a center stand pipe.
Here is the bottom of the mash tun. The wort enters through the fitting on the right and returns through the center copper fitting.
A false bottom is added (this came with the turkey fryer that I'm using as the mash tun).
A filter screen made from a fry pan spatter screen is added. The false bottom is held in place with the copper stand pipe, which is screwed in place.
Here the grains are added. The stand pipe can be changed depending upon the size of the grain bill. My initial stand pipe is just long enough for the 13 lbs of grain in this Brewer's Best BIAB IPA kit.
Here the top filter plate is installed and pined in place with a homemade stainless steel safety pin.
Here is the start of the mash-in
Here the force of the flow was enough to break the silver soldered copper fitting at the center of the stainless filter. I was using a spatter screen beneath the top filter plate. At this point I removed it and decided it was not necessary. The safety pin held the filter in place throughout the rest of the
mash.
Here is a modified top filter with a silver brazed stainless steel washer reinforcement.