I'm trying to figure out what type of brew stand I should build... 1 tier or 3 tier.
Here is how I brew currently:
I heat my strike and sparge water in a 9 gallon pot that has a valve.
Once it gets to temp I pick it up and set it on top of a short coke machine in my garage and gravity drain the strike water into a rectangular cooler/mash tun. I batch sparge. The cooler is sitting on top of a chest freezer next to the coke machine.
When the mash is finished I drain/sparge into an 11 gallon pot (with valve) that is sitting on the floor.
Then I pick that pot up and sit it on a turkey fryer burner and proceed with my boil.
I use an immersion chiller and a march pump (for whirl-pooling) to cool the wort.
I then drain from the boil kettle into a fermenter that sits on the floor. The burner stand isn't quite high enough to gravity drain completely, so I either have to pick the pot up to help the last bit drain or use my pump (which worked pretty well last time).
So, I like the process I use (mostly gravity), I just don't like all the picking up and moving of pots.
I was thinking of building a 3 or 4 tier stand, with the strike water pot and burner on the left, then a place for the cooler to the right of that, then the boil kettle and burner, then a place for the fermenter a few inches from the floor or on the floor.
The problem I see with that setup is that I will pretty much have to be on a ladder dealing with the strike water pot. Not a huge deal since I basically just fill it up and drain it, but it might be annoying. Each tier has to be about 20 inches below the previous tier in order for gravity draining to work, so that setup would be pretty tall.
The other option I can think of is a 1 tier setup, but I'm not crazy about pumping everything around (though I could be talked into it). Seems like most people use two pumps on a 1 tier system, so that's another pump to have to clean and take care of. Also, I don't understand how draining and sparging work with a pump since you don't want to do that at a high flow rate. Do people just throttle the heck out of the pumps for that? Also, why are two pumps usually used?
Anyway, any input would be appreciated. Especially a good description of the brewing process on a 1 tier system and the pros/cons of each. Pics are also great!
Here is how I brew currently:
I heat my strike and sparge water in a 9 gallon pot that has a valve.
Once it gets to temp I pick it up and set it on top of a short coke machine in my garage and gravity drain the strike water into a rectangular cooler/mash tun. I batch sparge. The cooler is sitting on top of a chest freezer next to the coke machine.
When the mash is finished I drain/sparge into an 11 gallon pot (with valve) that is sitting on the floor.
Then I pick that pot up and sit it on a turkey fryer burner and proceed with my boil.
I use an immersion chiller and a march pump (for whirl-pooling) to cool the wort.
I then drain from the boil kettle into a fermenter that sits on the floor. The burner stand isn't quite high enough to gravity drain completely, so I either have to pick the pot up to help the last bit drain or use my pump (which worked pretty well last time).
So, I like the process I use (mostly gravity), I just don't like all the picking up and moving of pots.
I was thinking of building a 3 or 4 tier stand, with the strike water pot and burner on the left, then a place for the cooler to the right of that, then the boil kettle and burner, then a place for the fermenter a few inches from the floor or on the floor.
The problem I see with that setup is that I will pretty much have to be on a ladder dealing with the strike water pot. Not a huge deal since I basically just fill it up and drain it, but it might be annoying. Each tier has to be about 20 inches below the previous tier in order for gravity draining to work, so that setup would be pretty tall.
The other option I can think of is a 1 tier setup, but I'm not crazy about pumping everything around (though I could be talked into it). Seems like most people use two pumps on a 1 tier system, so that's another pump to have to clean and take care of. Also, I don't understand how draining and sparging work with a pump since you don't want to do that at a high flow rate. Do people just throttle the heck out of the pumps for that? Also, why are two pumps usually used?
Anyway, any input would be appreciated. Especially a good description of the brewing process on a 1 tier system and the pros/cons of each. Pics are also great!