3 tier or new blichmann pot

I'm looking to make the jump to all grain and curious what others think I should get. I currently have a 10 gallon Williams pot and want to either add in another nice pot or the deluxe all grain system from northern brewer (2 large coolers). Benefits and disadvantages to each?

 

anyone?

 

I would build your own mash tun and buy a new pot. I personally don't think it is worth the money to buy the NB deluxe all grain kit. It is 2 - 10 gal rubbermaid/igloo coolers, one a HLT and the other a mash tun. You could effectively do the same by using your current pot as a HLT and build your own mash tun from a round or rectanglar cooler.

 

+1 on the build-your-own cooler, and skip the new pot. My "system" is a 10-gallon cooler-turned-mash-tun and a 10-gallon pot doing double-duty as HLT and boil kettle. Run off into your fermenter or bottling bucket while the kettle is still doing HLT duty for your sparge water, and save your money for a nice burner or a chest freezer to turn into a fermentation chamber.

 

Just my opinion, but I don't care for cooler HLT's, unless of course they are electric w/ an element. Seems like to much transferring of the hot water, maybe if you have a pump? But to heat water in your kettle, then transfer to the cooler HLT, then put it up to the top tier. Plus NB gets a good price for "coolers"...just sayin.

 

I feel the same way. I never understood their deluxe all grain kit with the two coolers. If it works for those who have bought it, great, but it just seems crazy redundant to heat water up then pour it into a cooler, to only transfer it once again. For the money, I'd definitely build my own cooler MT and buy a new pot. Use the old one for the HLT.

 

I don't have their specific deluxe kit, but I use a similar setup. I have a round home depot style cooler that I use as my HLT, a large rectangular cooler for my mash tun, and a 15 gallon pot for my kettle. To the OP: Don't buy a cooler online. They are much cheaper in the stores, and go on sale quite often.

The two cooler system actually works pretty well, because I only have a single burner and a single pot. When you think about it, all your HLT really needs to do is hold hot water anyway. I don't think there has ever been a situation where I ever needed to heat an empty kettle and a HLT at the same time...

This is how my setup currently works:

Water into pot -> heat -> pour/pump into mash tun
Water into pot -> heat -> pour/pump into HLT
Wort from mash tun -> drain into pot
Water from HLT -> sparge into mash tun -> drain into pot
Boil.

 

If you build a tiered system I highly recommend getting a chugger/marsh pump and going with a 2 tier system. Gravity for the HLT and use the pump for the mash/keggle. Having everything lower is really nice. I built my 3 tier before getting a pump and I really wish I had built a 2 tier (1 pump) or a single tier (dual pump) setup.

 

So i found a 10 gallon industrial Igloo cooler on my doorstep today, I have the bulkhead and valve but am debating between a false bottom or a braid.
Any one like to explain the pros and cons of each?
Thanks.

 

Braid is cheaper. And works well for batch sparging...FB is more ideal for fly sparging. My preference is braid and batch sparge, if I am not doing BIAB

 

I looked at the NB system and had a hard time with the price so I built my own just like it. I have done a few brews through it now and REALLY like it. I also built a nice 3 Tier (ish) set up to hold everything. If you go to Home Depot or Lowes to get your parts you can do it much cheaper. Here is my set up.

 

thanks groundchuck. I guess my issue with doing the 3 tier is that is pouring the hot water into the HLT etc....do you find it a pain to heat the water pour it up top etc....?

I'm debating about just getting a 10 gallon cooler and turning it into mash tun. In a few years I can see myself wanting a big system with 3 burners and pumps etc.... I might just batch sparge for a year or so.

 

Ya I was initially worried about getting hot water "all the way to the top" but then I figured out that even when the HLT is full (hot water, cold water, whatever) it's very easy for two people to lift from the ground to the top tier. SO ..... all I do it heat my water on the stove in a couple five gallon pots. Then we pour the hot water into the HLT cooler while its on the ground (in the kitchen actually). Then my brother and I easily lift it up to the top (we normally brew together a 10 gallon batch and split it 5 each). However I am sure my wife could help lift it up if needed. If you look at the stand you'll see that I a made it as short as possible to keep the upper tier pretty low (and safe in my mind).

I also may move up in equipment set up (complexity) in the future but I see so many people use the gravity set ups that I figured if I ever wanted to I could always sell the coolers to others and just make small changes to my set up and slowly switch over. Also the stand that I built was pretty cheap too. At the end of the day most of the stuff would go pretty easily on Craigslist if/when I change my system around.

I put the dimensions for my stand in this thread .

 

I've completely switched over to batch sparging. I initially did it to save time in my brew day. Negligible difference in efficiency for me.

I drain, then add sparge water, mix, sit for 5 min, vorlof (sp?) then drain.

Personally I think it works best when your sparge water is greater than your mash water. Of course that also depends on how thick you mash is. n In order to make you sparge addition greater than you mash addition you need to mess with how many Litres/Kilo (lbs/gallon) your mash is set to in beersmith (or whatever you use).