Pipe Grant for HERMS Rig

[Tinga]

I was brewing on sunday on my HERMS rig and I may have started my recirculation too soon or my manifold just sucks because I wasn't getting as good a flow rate as I would have liked. And due to that I'm sure I compacted the grain bed more than I should have. I've made adjustments to my manifold but I was thinking of adding a pipe grant to my system so I can alleviate some of the pressure from the manifold. I've done several searches on HBT but also just the web and haven't found too much info.

I have seen lots of info on normal grants that are essentially just another vessel you drain off into but I would be worried about having to match flow rates to make sure that I don't drain more wort off than I need to. We have a pipe grant at the brewery I work at and it looks simple enough I may just try to build my own.

my concept is to have the hose running from my MLT to the pipe grant then to the pump. The pipe grant itself will resemble an external sight gauge that extends from a portion of pipe with a larger diameter than the hose. also it will be nice to see the level gauge so that I can see immediately the effect of changes in flow rate of my pump. since the sight gauge will be a smallish diameter changes would be much more apparent.

anyone have any input before I head out for materials?

 

[Tinga]

here's a picture of the pipe grant we have at the brewery and where I got the idea from. you can see the three manometers (tall skinny white things), the one on the right is part of the pipe grant. follow it to the bottom and you'll see it's sticking out of the pipe. that's the lauter tun run off pipe. and that bulge in there is the pipe grant.

well I finally went out got materials and did a proof of concept. here's a picture of the beast. super simple. you can probably guess how I put it all together. the pipe with all the rectangular holes is so I can see the level rise and fall of the liquid in the hose inside the pipe.

heres a video of me running it. you can see the water level rise and fall based on how I adjust the output from the pump. So I would say it works pretty well.https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152116810782139&l=5794007819738463304