I have a quick question (well not so quick as it turns out) that I'd like some feedback on from the community. I've been using a 28 qt, rectangular Igloo cooler with a bulkhead for my mash tun for a few AG 5-gallon, batch sparge brews. Rather than use a traditional manifold or false bottom, I've been using a large, mesh grain bag in the cooler, and a cpvc elbow on the bulkhead to drain my first runnings and batch sparges; this works extremely well as far as minimizing dead space and I get pretty clear wort. My concern, however, lies in whether or not such a configuration promotes channeling of the hot liquor to the point where my sparge is going to significantly adversely affected since the elbow is so close to the one end of the cooler. Is channeling a major concern with batch sparging, or since we are stirring the sugars into solution rather than continually rinsing the grains (fly sparging), is this not a huge concern? I have been getting poor extraction from my grains so I'm trying to rule out my mash and sparge procedures as issues if possible. I have more recently been researching into water chemistry--which I admittedly hadn't been doing a sufficiently good enough job with before--so I suspect this was my biggest problem since my tap water is pretty alkaline, but I realize that grain crush and other factors could certainly be contributing also. Any thoughts or advice would be welcomed and appreciated. Enoy your Memorial Day weekend ladies and gentlemen.
Cooler Mash Tun Design
- Thread starter mcar1919
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Channeling does not exist in batch sparging. Since you stir in the sparge water, it is homogeneous and channeling is impossible.
How is your crush?
How is your crush?
Crush is definitely a potential factor. I typically buy my grains at Northern Brewer and they don't want people messing with their mill so it is always set at the same gap AFAIK. I have read from many places that I could grind much finer than "normal" since the grain bag is going to catch any particulate that might otherwise have snuck through the grain bed's natural filter without any adverse side-effects like tannin extraction either. A grain mill is something definitely on my list of "things to purchase" when money allows so I can adjust the crush to suit my system and recipe since I like to use wheat as well. Thanks for the reply!
