Pol, Bobby, I have noted your posts and vids, and really appreciate what you guys have built.
I too, build things - the last being a corny converted to a steam generator, with a PID controlling the steam solenoid valve, and therefore the steam through a manifold in the mash - a steam powered recirculation system. I must get around to documenting it, at least with a few pics here.
BUT. I like to avail myself of the thinking available on this and the Australian forum, before making needless iterations of a build - especially as practical stuff is a self development activity for this desk jockey.
So I like to talk before action - a bit like foreplay
Here's my latest thought on how to get a better ramp rate, please do reply with your thoughts:
Assuming a big mother element that can put out enough heat needed - no bottle neck here in other words.
Assuming enough coil in the HEX to allow wort to take up the energy before exiting.
Then - use a wider than conventional tun, increase the area of pass-through with a larger false bottom.
Say, for a doubling of the area, there should be a doubling of the flow rate acheivable before compaction becomes a problem, right?
(Or is my geometry/hydrodynamics understanding out?)
So for a 30cm falsie, like the one I have in my insulated cylindrical cooler, I would need to go to a 43 cm for doubling and a 52 cm for tripling of flow rate - which looks like being a practical max for mash tun width.
The next design issue to attend to then is the design of the return manifold and the pick up manifold, to ensure that the wort can be distributed evenly through the bed. That should nail it.
Any thought on what such manifolds should look like for say a 52 cm tun?
