Explain to me how 2 Vessel Systems work...

[FuzzeWuzze]

So i getting a new house hopefully in the next few months so ill have a lot more room to set up an electric setup but im confused about how a 2 vessel system works.

So you have a Boil vessel and a mashing vessel.

You get your mash water to 165 or whatever in your mash tun, mash in and let it go. Meanwhile you...heat sparge water in your Boil kettle? This is where things get confusing, where do you pump your mash when its done if your boil kettle has your sparge water?

I cant figure out how you do it without a dedicated HLT.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

So i getting a new house hopefully in the next few months so ill have a lot more room to set up an electric setup but im confused about how a 2 vessel system works.

So you have a Boil vessel and a mashing vessel.

You get your mash water to 165 or whatever in your mash tun, mash in and let it go. Meanwhile you...heat sparge water in your Boil kettle? This is where things get confusing, where do you pump your mash when its done if your boil kettle has your sparge water?

I cant figure out how you do it without a dedicated HLT.

1 step Batch sparge.

 

[srice]

So i getting a new house hopefully in the next few months so ill have a lot more room to set up an electric setup but im confused about how a 2 vessel system works.

So you have a Boil vessel and a mashing vessel.

You get your mash water to 165 or whatever in your mash tun, mash in and let it go. Meanwhile you...heat sparge water in your Boil kettle? This is where things get confusing, where do you pump your mash when its done if your boil kettle has your sparge water?

I cant figure out how you do it without a dedicated HLT.

I batch sparge and use a couple of 5 gallon buckets to temporarily hold sparge water or wort.

 

[rabeb25]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28kYMdQsqjQ[/ame]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO8r5TocIc[/ame]

These are videos from when I put together my 2 vessel system.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

1 step Batch sparge.

So you add your sparge water before you drain your mash tun?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

So you add your sparge water before you drain your mash tun?

Yep.

 

[iijakii]

Most people with two-vessel systems do not sparge at all. They do a full-volume mash and get high-60s to low 70s efficiency. You can hold a gallon or two out and do a psuedo sparge and bump it up to high 70s to low 80s. Some do a standard thicker mash and then just recirculate and mix all of the liquid together at mash-out, and basically have the same results.

Or you can drain your first runnings into a bucket as mentioned and do a single batch sparge, but that's basically a ghetto 3-vessel system instead.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Alright makes sense, didnt realize sparging like that was even an option after all these years brewing

 

[aangel]

Most people with two-vessel systems do not sparge at all. They do a full-volume mash and get high-60s to low 70s efficiency. You can hold a gallon or two out and do a psuedo sparge and bump it up to high 70s to low 80s. Some do a standard thicker mash and then just recirculate and mix all of the liquid together at mash-out, and basically have the same results.

Or you can drain your first runnings into a bucket as mentioned and do a single batch sparge, but that's basically a ghetto 3-vessel system instead.

Yup that's what I do - HLT pot, MLT pot, and 7 gal bucket for my wort, gravity fed. With painstakingly attended fly sparging.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Alright makes sense, didnt realize sparging like that was even an option after all these years brewing

BIAB will blow your mind then.

 

[Paps]

Use the boil kettle to heat strike water.
Add it to mash tun.
Batch sparge.
Drain 1rst runnings into a pot/bucket that is only used to hold the 1rst runnings for a few minutes while you heat your sparge water in the BK.
Once sparge water is in MT and the BK is empty, pour the 1rst runnings into it from the temporary pot.
Slowly heat BK to save time,add 2nd runnings.
Boil,add hops,ect,ect.
It makes for a long brew day and yes you could call it a `ghetto 3 kettle system` if you want. Sinse i use the insulated cooler for a MT and a turkey fryer as my heat source i call it a `caveman brewery`

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Use the boil kettle to heat strike water.
Add it to mash tun.
Batch sparge.
Drain 1rst runnings into a pot/bucket that is only used to hold the 1rst runnings for a few minutes while you heat your sparge water in the BK.
Once sparge water is in MT and the BK is empty, pour the 1rst runnings into it from the temporary pot.
Slowly heat BK to save time,add 2nd runnings.
Boil,add hops,ect,ect.
It makes for a long brew day and yes you could call it a `ghetto 3 kettle system` if you want. Sinse i use the insulated cooler for a MT and a turkey fryer as my heat source i call it a `caveman brewery`

That makes sense to me, but thats basically a 3 vessel system without a pump for your 3rd vessel...just a manual 3 vessel system so i was confused how people were doing it. I assumed if you sparged with the strike water still in the mash it would hurt efficiency...guess not by much as long as you recirc for awhile...

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

That makes sense to me, but thats basically a 3 vessel system without a pump for your 3rd vessel...just a manual 3 vessel system so i was confused how people were doing it. I assumed if you sparged with the strike water still in the mash it would hurt efficiency...guess not by much as long as you recirc for awhile...

Batch sparge does hurt efficiency, just not significantly enough to break the bank. Extra grain makes up the difference.

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Batch sparge does hurt efficiency, just not significantly enough to break the bank. Extra grain makes up the difference.

I batch sparge now with my Rubbermaid cooler, but i was under the impression you had to drain first to call it batch sparge I guess in the igloo coolers its more a matter of volume...

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28kYMdQsqjQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO8r5TocIc

These are videos from when I put together my 2 vessel system.

Thanks, thats also the most ridiculously awesome thing ive seen.

 

[Lynchy217]

Right now I do a single vessel BIAB system. Eventually, I plan to upgrade to a 2-vessel HERMS system. My plan for when I do that is to use the Kettle/HLT to heat mash and then temporarily move the Water from the HLT to a fermenting bucket or a Bottling bucket then use that hot water to sparge by lifting the grain bed out of the vessel a bit and sparging while I move my wort to the kettle. Then during boil, I want to fill my Mash tun with Ice water and use my HERMS coil as a wort chiller. I guess technically it uses 3 vessels if you include the fermentation bucket as temporary storage, but the hot water is helpful as it helps to sterilize a bit and then can be reused for sparge. Obviously, I haven't built this yet, but I think the only tricky part will be how to raise the grain bed effectively, but that's a problem for future me.

Edit: I was just thinking about it, and if I can lift the grain bed, I guess there is no reason I can't sparge just using the water in the HLT directly then drain whatever I don't use before moving the wort.. Once again.. Future me's problem..

 

[The_Bishop]

I use a two vessel system, 10 gallon cooler and boil kettle. I mash in the cooler. After heating the total volume of water to strike temps in the kettle, I pump the mash water into the cooler. Towards the end of the mash, I heat the remaining water in the kettle to mashout temp, then recirculate from the kettle to the mash tun, which drains into the kettle. I'll recirculate like this, heating slowly, until the mash is at mashout temps, then give it another 10 minutes. After that I'll shut down with pump, and drain the mash tun into the kettle. I'm usually in the 72-75% brewhouse range with my setup.

 

[rabeb25]

Thanks, thats also the most ridiculously awesome thing ive seen.

Thanks, its in its next itteration now, since it moved to its new location, but had brewed many a good beers. I average ~70% eff.

https://www.facebook.com/thebeerery

Cheers

 

[Rivenin]

or like the breweasy from blichmann - just constant recirc

i used to do it like this and got 70-75% everytime

 

[augiedoggy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28kYMdQsqjQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqO8r5TocIc

These are videos from when I put together my 2 vessel system.

Thats a pretty slick setup... Very nice.
I agree recirculating has a huge positive impact on many things such as clarity and efficiency.. I have had efficiencies over 90% with my setup and average about 75%... I keep tinkering and changing things which to me is as much for as making the beers.