2 tier 2 vessel system - debating a new build

[Rivenin]

awesome, thanks for the idea on that! i figure if it's a beer above 1070 i probably will do that
the other thing i also considered was the following. kind of what i had mentioned earlier in this thread.
mash with my normal 1.33qt/pp
vourlouf.
heat up strike water.
put something in the mashtun so the water can pour on it and not disturb the mash.
fill up the full amount of strike water in the mash tun above the mash (clean clear water)
sparge until i reach the first runnings (like a gallon or gallon and a half or so)
then recirc with the "clean and clear" water for maybe 5-10 minutes then run the rest off
it seems like this would be the closest i could get to a 3 vessel system with 2 instead of constantly recirculating.
i'll prolly try that when i brew next to see what exactly my numbers are and see if it helps at all, couldn't hurt

 

[bullinachinashop]

Based on your last post, this hybrid sparge should yield you the best efficiency.
Quick question? Is your tun big enough to hold 6 or so gallons of sparge water on top of your mash? If so, after vorlaufing, you could add all the sparge water carefully, as not to disturb your mash and then you could slowly, over an hour, drain your tun into your BK until you reach your preboil volume. That would be closer to an actual fly sparge and you would finish with a full amount of water ratio as you started with. This would work better for the higher gravity beers to increase your efficiency.
Hope this make sense.
Bull

 

[geniz]

awesome, thanks for the idea on that! i figure if it's a beer above 1070 i probably will do that
the other thing i also considered was the following. kind of what i had mentioned earlier in this thread.
mash with my normal 1.33qt/pp
vourlouf.
heat up strike water.
put something in the mashtun so the water can pour on it and not disturb the mash.
fill up the full amount of strike water in the mash tun above the mash (clean clear water)
sparge until i reach the first runnings (like a gallon or gallon and a half or so)
then recirc with the "clean and clear" water for maybe 5-10 minutes then run the rest off
it seems like this would be the closest i could get to a 3 vessel system with 2 instead of constantly recirculating.
i'll prolly try that when i brew next to see what exactly my numbers are and see if it helps at all, couldn't hurt

If you're gonna do that, you'd probably be better off mashing at a "normal" ratio of 1.25 qt/lb, running this off into a fermenting bucket and then batch sparing.

But if you continue to get mid 70 efficiencies, I personally wouldn't change a thing.

My efficiencies are typically in the low 70s. I usually will adjust my recipe accordingly.

My problem with the system is varying efficiencies with varying gravities. Thought I'd switch back to a three vessel, but lately I've been doing two vessel and tweaking my technique

 

[Rivenin]

well now i have a few different things to try over the new few months! lol hell, experimentation is half the fun of this hobby.

this is how far i got tonight. ended up getting a piece of slag on my arm and got stuck, so i cooled it down, and by that point i felt how "good" my back was feeling lol.

top is almost fully welded, missing the front piece on the bottom.
tomorrow hopefully i will get the burners/pump/switch mounted.

i made it a bit higher then my other stand as well. so the lower level is sitting about 1' off the ground.

 

[Rivenin]

Oh, and yes, 6 gallons shouldn't be an issue at all, my cooler is 13 gallons and i'm going to get a false bottom for my 2nd keggle.

 

[Rivenin]

and plus if all else fails and i need to make a high grav OG beer, i can sit my cooler mash tun right ontop of the bk lol

 

[Rivenin]

almost all the way done, gonna brew a time or two to see if i need to switch anything, then grind, paint and call it done... i think i'm in love with this one more then the larger brother as well.

 

[Rivenin]

putting it through it's paces, FINALLY
however, i did pick up a false bottom, so the next brew day is going to be fun! and strictly 2 vessel.