Decently price Flow-meter?

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Smellyglove

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I need a flowmeter, pref 1/2" threads. I've looked at the K24 from china/ebay but its specs says minimum 10L/min. I need something which can measure up to about 3L/min for my herms-loop.

The K24 would be great since it's powered by batteries and is small.
 
A rotameter is very robust, but not super accurate. If you are looking for a relative estimate of flow through your system, a rotameter would be perfect.
 
I've been doing some more research and I've concluded that I'm after a rotameter, or a turbinemeter. But I can't find any in an acceptable price range. I'm looking for either polysulfone or 304/316 (The SS ones are way expensive). Which can (with some accuracy) measure about 0.5-0.8 gallons/min (I'm recircing at 2.8L/min. And the dial/display needs to be mounted on the unit itself, and it must handle mashout temperatures.

I've looked and looked but no luck, but I'm pretty desperate for one. I guess my price range is about $100 for the unit itself. That sum will about double after shipping and import taxes to Norway.
 
Ok, I'll be the one to ask: why do you need a flow meter on a herms loop?
Curiosity?

Cheers!

So I can have maximum flow without compacting the grain bed. Maximum flow is for temp-ramps. Now I'm using a graded jar and a timer on my phone, it takes me about 3-4 tries to get where I want to be. It's a first world country-hassle. If I overshoot hell will break loose, stuck mash or best case dirty wort into kettle. If I undershoot my ramps will be slow.
 
So I can have maximum flow without compacting the grain bed.

You are kidding yourself. While flowrate does ultimately cause the force that can compact the bed, you are actually better off measuring a more accurate and easier to measure parameter. That would be the head pressure at the bottom of the grain bed. I've found that limiting the head pressure at the base to the level of the base is sufficient to keep beds from compacting. A simple manometer plumbed into the bottom of the bed tells you what the head level is.
 
You are kidding yourself. While flowrate does ultimately cause the force that can compact the bed, you are actually better off measuring a more accurate and easier to measure parameter. That would be the head pressure at the bottom of the grain bed. I've found that limiting the head pressure at the base to the level of the base is sufficient to keep beds from compacting. A simple manometer plumbed into the bottom of the bed tells you what the head level is.

Nice! Didn't think about that. That's directly the thing I really want to measure, I see now that measuring flowrate is just a proxy for measuring compacting.

But.. I feel pretty safe measuring flowrate. After I've started doing it the results have been way better than just wetting my finger and stick it in the air. You say plumbing a manometer at the base.. What exactly does that mean? I really don't want to punch any holes into my Boilermaker since I eventually will sell it, even though selling a BM with a manometer won't hurt..maybe.
 
It can be as simple as putting a Tee in your suction line and putting a vertical standpipe on the tee. My manometer is plumbed into the bottom of my tun, but I could also have done the Tee. One problem with the tee in the suction line is that you have to be more cognizant of the amount of flow and suction you are applying with your pump. You can suck air if you pull too hard. I will pull air into the bottom of my grain bed if I allow the flow rate to get too high.
 
If one uses the (fabulous) Blichmann FB in one of their kettles there's really no practical way to get directly under it from the outside as it sits so low (a good thing) and the sidewall below the supporting ledge is steeply angled inwards.

Teeing off the drain can be problematic as noted - there was a thread just this week started by someone whose rig was sucking air through a teed sight gauge as the preferential path to fully draining his boil kettle. Not having any experience with such a setup I wonder if it'd be more aggravation than added value.

fwiw, I set my recirculation rate to what looks like I've always done and give the rig a good leaving alone for the duration. I'd guess that's around a gallon a minute in a 20g MLT...

Cheers!
 
I think I'm sticking to the flowmeter. But thanks about the tip about pressure.
 
If its sucking air, the flow rate is too high. When the mash bed permeability is high enough, the flow rate will be high.

One thing that most brewers don't know: The permeability of the mash bed changes during the course of the mash. It will be lower during the early part of the mash, but gets higher as the mash progresses and the extractable content is pulled from the grain. Having a manometer plumbed into the bottom of my tun helped me find that out when I started RIMS brewing. You can't DEMAND a high flow rate through your bed, you have to take what the mash will give you. I never run my mashing system with the valve wide open. That is guaranteed to cause a stuck mash.
 
I ordered a McMaster 4400K63 and I've been really happy with it for the price. It's about $100 but it's well constructed. I looked for a year to find something more budget friendly but ultimately i'm very pleased with my choice.

I threaded QDs onto both ends so it can put put inline anywhere vertical in my system, but i only use it on the RIMS loop. It makes it super easy to dial in a flow rate for control loop consistency, but also if it starts dropping on you even a little bit it tells you the grain bed is compacting.


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1483814916.520333.jpg
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1483814950.001748.jpg
 
This might be a stupid question. But could I just fit a manometer in a tee on the output on the mashtun? At the valve?
 
Does anybody have a flow meter that measures something more like 0.5-5 LPM? I'd like to use one to set and monitor lautering rate and the flow meter I have runs 1-11 LPM. To get a 60 minute lauter collecting 14 gallons I am still under 1 LPM even to collect 14 gallons.

I do like the range for monitoring recirculation rate as I use direct fire recirculation and don't want to risk too low of a flow rate when the burner is running.
 
I've found that limiting the head pressure at the base to the level of the base is sufficient to keep beds from compacting. A simple manometer plumbed into the bottom of the bed tells you what the head level is.

Would you please expand on that a bit? I'm unclear on what you're doing.

Are you saying you first note the head level pressure when fully mashed in but not with pump running, and then make sure when recirculating you don't let the pump flow exceed that pressure?

Isn't a wort grant used for such a purpose (prevent stuck mash by prevent too great pressure on grain bed)? Like when vorlaufing and lautering, and I assume using RIMs recirculation?
 
This might be a stupid question. But could I just fit a manometer in a tee on the output on the mashtun? At the valve?

I think that's what was suggested as an option in page 1:
mabrungard said:
It can be as simple as putting a Tee in your suction line and putting a vertical standpipe on the tee. My manometer is plumbed into the bottom of my tun, but I could also have done the Tee. One problem with the tee in the suction line is that you have to be more cognizant of the amount of flow and suction you are applying with your pump. You can suck air if you pull too hard. I will pull air into the bottom of my grain bed if I allow the flow rate to get too high.
 
Why don't you insert a grant between the pump and the tun?

This is what I have on my setup and you can't physically compact the grain bed. Ok the pump can run dry but all that takes is a bit of vigillence.
 
It can be as simple as putting a Tee in your suction line and putting a vertical standpipe on the tee. My manometer is plumbed into the bottom of my tun, but I could also have done the Tee. One problem with the tee in the suction line is that you have to be more cognizant of the amount of flow and suction you are applying with your pump. You can suck air if you pull too hard. I will pull air into the bottom of my grain bed if I allow the flow rate to get too high.

I realize this response is a little late, but wouldn't the venturi effect from flow thru the tee cause the level in the stand pipe to be lower than if the manometer was plumbed directly to the kettle? You don't have to suck hard enough to pull in air for the error in level to be significant.

Brew on :mug:
 
I realize this response is a little late, but wouldn't the venturi effect from flow thru the tee cause the level in the stand pipe to be lower than if the manometer was plumbed directly to the kettle?


YES.... this is a big no-no for mush tun manometers and is a well documented.
 
I realize this response is a little late, but wouldn't the venturi effect from flow thru the tee cause the level in the stand pipe to be lower than if the manometer was plumbed directly to the kettle?

Its not really a venturi effect, but you are correct that porting a manometer into the wort drain line is hardly the best configuration. As mentioned, my manometer is ported directly into the tun and not the drain line.
 
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