pretender_2002
Member
So I finally took my single tier 20 gallon all grain brewing system for a spin last week (made a 10 gallon batch of pale ale) and it generally went pretty well but clean up was a more work than I anticipated.
My system includes a kettle with a dished bottom to whirlpool trub into (tank is from stout tanks) and two areas that I want to improve and that I think can be improved are (1) picking up lost wort in the dish and (2) being able to suck up all the leftovers at the end during cleaning. My system is mostly automated and I have valves bypassing my plate chiller so I dont have any issues with clogging during cleanup.
I looked into racking arms and pickup tubes but the issue I have is that the neck on the tri clamp for the tank is longer than most other tanks I think its maybe 2" long and I am not sure I can fit a pickup tube with any sort of angle to it through the neck and I would like to keep the ID of the tube >= 1/2" (in hindsight I should have opted for a 1.5" tri clamp port over the 1").
Most pickup tubes and racking arms appear to be welded to the tri-clamp (and I would need to fit it through the long port on my kettle) but it appears there are some push-in connections out there that looked interesting Spike makes a pickup tube for their non-sanitary pots (i like the look of their centered sanitary versions but it appears welded) and Ss brewtech has a racking arm with a push in connection for their fermenters but I dont think its customizable.
Two questions I have are (1) whether there is an issue with having a push in connection for the pickup tube on the kettle and (2) is it viable to use rotate the tube similar to typical racking arms so that I can pickup the wort above the trub and go all the way to the bottom of the dish for cleanup (I could see a lot of benefit to having this if I plan on brewing different beer types and batch sizes, i.e. rotate just enough based on amount of trub in the dish).
I have found a push in connection to a 3/4" valve that looks interesting (see photos) and I think I can customize the tube length to get into the middle of the pot. Anyways I wanted to get any thoughts/input on options for this.
My system includes a kettle with a dished bottom to whirlpool trub into (tank is from stout tanks) and two areas that I want to improve and that I think can be improved are (1) picking up lost wort in the dish and (2) being able to suck up all the leftovers at the end during cleaning. My system is mostly automated and I have valves bypassing my plate chiller so I dont have any issues with clogging during cleanup.
I looked into racking arms and pickup tubes but the issue I have is that the neck on the tri clamp for the tank is longer than most other tanks I think its maybe 2" long and I am not sure I can fit a pickup tube with any sort of angle to it through the neck and I would like to keep the ID of the tube >= 1/2" (in hindsight I should have opted for a 1.5" tri clamp port over the 1").
Most pickup tubes and racking arms appear to be welded to the tri-clamp (and I would need to fit it through the long port on my kettle) but it appears there are some push-in connections out there that looked interesting Spike makes a pickup tube for their non-sanitary pots (i like the look of their centered sanitary versions but it appears welded) and Ss brewtech has a racking arm with a push in connection for their fermenters but I dont think its customizable.
Two questions I have are (1) whether there is an issue with having a push in connection for the pickup tube on the kettle and (2) is it viable to use rotate the tube similar to typical racking arms so that I can pickup the wort above the trub and go all the way to the bottom of the dish for cleanup (I could see a lot of benefit to having this if I plan on brewing different beer types and batch sizes, i.e. rotate just enough based on amount of trub in the dish).
I have found a push in connection to a 3/4" valve that looks interesting (see photos) and I think I can customize the tube length to get into the middle of the pot. Anyways I wanted to get any thoughts/input on options for this.
