Reverse mash re-circulation

[itivino]

I use RIMs but want to be able to easily recirculate the mash at more than 1gpm without using a ton of rice hulls. My MLT happens to have a port about 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom, which is roughly right in the middle of the grain for most brews.

It's a tri clamp port - would a sock screen gasket do the job to filter out the grain? 16mesh may not be fine enough, but curious if it would do the job of letting me pump out from the "top" and back into the bottom.

Sock screen gasket:
http://www.brewerygaskets.com/1-5-tri-clamp-sock-screen-gasket-red-silicone-16-mesh-6/

For reference, this pot (would use middle port):
http://www.brewershardware.com/15-G...lse-Bottom-and-Temperature-Port-POT15MLT.html

1 video I found in case you haven't heard of this "reverse recirculation" (I don't think many people do it, it adds some complication to the process and is a pain to prime if you are using a standard re-circulation tube to do the pulling like in this video).
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCz1X4tXklg[/ame]

 

[cannman]

Interesting...

Water is an excellent conductor of heat so top or bottom recirc, that aspect should be okay.

In my recirc, I've attached a hop bag before from @wilserbrewer to the output valve on top in a standard recirc and it does well to collect the bigger grains that shoot out, but eventually, the bed should become a filter for you...

I always appreciate the innovation brewers put into their brews. But this one doesn't to seem so effective. In fact, the pump sounded like it was static and not moving liquid (which is what I'd imagine would happen given the hydrostatic pressure)... *shrug*

Why exactly do you refrain from using rice hulls?

(oops, just realized OP wasn't the video maker)

 

[itivino]

Interesting...

Water is an excellent conductor of heat so top or bottom recirc, that aspect should be okay.

In my recirc, I've attached a hop bag before from @wilserbrewer to the output valve on top in a standard recirc and it does well to collect the bigger grains that shoot out, but eventually, the bed should become a filter for you...

I always appreciate the innovation brewers put into their brews. But this one doesn't to seem so effective. In fact, the pump sounded like it was static and not moving liquid (which is what I'd imagine would happen given the hydrostatic pressure)... *shrug*

Why exactly do you refrain from using rice hulls?

(oops, just realized OP wasn't the video maker)

The big difference between what I was thinking, probably sill-ily, was that instead of pulling from the top liquid level like in the video, I'd pull from the middle of the grain so the pump would stay primed, and hoping the hop sock would act as a grain filter.

Tried some experiments with spent grain last week and found even using 10% of the grain bill as rice hulls and 1.5 qt/water ratio, could only run the pump fully open for about 2-3 mins before a stuck sparge happened.

 

[cannman]

The big difference between what I was thinking, probably sill-ily, was that instead of pulling from the top liquid level like in the video, I'd pull from the middle of the grain so the pump would stay primed, and hoping the hop sock would act as a grain filter.



Tried some experiments with spent grain last week and found even using 10% of the grain bill as rice hulls and 1.5 qt/water ratio, could only run the pump fully open for about 2-3 mins before a stuck sparge happened.

Ah! Leme tell ya my similar experience: I tried to use my whirlpool valve to draw samples from the wort but I would only get a dribble because of all the grain blocking the valve, even though it was in a grain bag! But good luck and let us know how it goes.