Filters in which equipment?

OK. So I am trying to figure out what fittings/dip tubes/etc go in which piece of equipment.

Basically I am going to have 2 coolers - one for holding hot water and one for mashing the grains. In the hot water one, do I need just the spigot or do I need some sort of pickup/dip tube there?

For the mashing cooler I just need some sort of filter like http://www.bargainfittings.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=171 right?

And for the kettle I need a "dip tube"?

 

What type of coolers are you using and what kind of kettle, Keggle or pot style?

 

I plan on getting a 10 gallon rectangle cooler to hold the hot water. The mash tun will be a 10 gallon igloo cooler. And my boil pot is a 15.5 gal snake keggle.

 

You don't NEED a diptube, but then you're either tipping the vessel, or leaving a few inches in the bottom (which you just account for in your volumes). I hear a braided tube works well enough, but I've only ever used a false bottom.

 

My cooler setup had braid/ bazooka screen in the boil kettle and a false bottom from northern brewer in the igloo style 10 gallon cooler. The hot liquor was also a cooler. All I had in that was the converted bulkhead with valve. The system worked pretty darned well once used to it and you get everything dialed in. Unless your siphoning from your boil kettle into the fermenter, I would highly suggest a screen of some sort. Good luck.

 

I'm still a little hazy with when to use just a dip tube, or when you need a screen. It makes sense for the hot water cooler to just need the coupler and ball valve because its just water and doesn't need any sort of filtering (I'd just need to tip the cooler to get all the water out).

Then the mash tun (I hope my terminology is correct) needs something besides just the coupler/ball valve. Do you not recommend just a dip tube in there? I'm looking for options that work well that aren't too expensive as I'm trying to convert to all-grain for $400 and things add up so quick!)

And the kettle will receive the wort, obviously, and shouldn't have any grains of any sort going into it, right? So perhaps a dip tube or something there just to pick up as much wort as possible? I didn't understand why a screen of some sort would be necessary there - please explain if you would.

 

No dip tube for the coolers. Steel braiding or a false bottom for your mash tun to keep the grains separate from the draining wort.

The dip tube is for the Sanke keg. It will generally extend from the interior wall of the keg toward the center, and then a 90 degree turn downward toward the bottom of the keg so that it siphons off as much wort as possible. In a boil kettle the downside to this can be that you will also drain of hot and cold break and hop sediment into your fermenter. This is where a false bottom or a screen come into play. Another option is the have the "dip tube"/pickup tube angled toward the side of the interior of the keggle, a whirlpool is then created either by recirculation with a pump, you're probably no interested in that expense right now, or through stirring. This will, over a short time, cause the sediments in the wort to pile up in the center and away from the side style pick up.

If you don't want to deal with a dip tube at all right now you could get a bazooka type screen and gently tip the keg to get as much out as you canjust like you're doing with the hot liquor tank after chilling.

 

This.

The reason for the diptube in a keggle is that the bottom is concave, as in it dips down in the middle instead of being flat like a regular pot. Without the diptube, u can have as much as 1/5-3 gallons of dead space or lost volume.

 

In my first post I referenced a kettle screen link. Would this work in the same place as a steel braid in my mash tun? Or is there a reason it has the word "kettle" with it.

 

Yup that would work fine ur your MLT. You just need to make sure u have the appropriate bulkhead in ur mashtun that is compatible with the nipple on the kettle screen.

 

What did you mean about draining off the hot and cold break by having a dip tube in the middle?

 

I don't use a diptube in the kettle. If I need more liquid out then I tip it.

Why would you put hot water into a 2nd cooler? Is this for fly-sparging? Coolers can warp if the water gets too hot.

 

The only reason to use a cooler for your sparge water is if you plan to fly sparge. If you fly sparge, you can't really get away with a simple screen tube or braid. If you stick to batch sparging, all you need is ONE cooler with the filter, a boil kettle and a couple buckets.

 

Yes my plan was to fly sparge as it seems to be a general consensus to get higher efficiency and better tasting beer this way. So now that I've said this do I need a screen with a dip tube or just a screen in my 10 gallon igloo MLT?

 

You'll only get higher efficiency with a fly sparge if you get it just right. You'll either need a perforated false bottom or a tubular manifold for that. A screen will only work well for batch sparging.

The "better tasting beer" rumor is nonsense. If anything, batch sparging is less likely to have pH issues that can lead to tannin extraction from oversparging. I highly recommend batch sparging to start with.