Coleman Xtreme Mash Tun, How to do?

[funnycreature]

Sparging twice only makes sense. But make sure to keep that pH in check, particularly on the 2nd sparge, as most wort has been drained already, and depending on the alkalinity of the water, it can buffer out whatever acidity was left in no time. That's where a few ml of your new pint of phosphoric acid comes in, in diluted form that is.

After good stirring I let the sparge settle out for a few minutes. 1-2 max, we need to get brewing.

That's a really fancy set of gauges for a brewer. :rockin:
Make sure that drill is unplugged when gauging that gap. Is that a Monster Mill you have? running at around 150 rpm? A 0.035" gap should work fine, but try a bit finer and see what happens. The knurl also plays a role as does grain conditioning. I conditioned only once and it was not convincingly better. The smaller grains (wheat, rye, etc.) need a narrower gap or they'll drop through uncrushed. Take a look at your crush for fineness, the amount of powder and whole kernels. I'd take some powder over kernels in the mash, any day. Those BIAB guys do go mighty fine and their efficiency is highest, but they have a large safety net.

Dude, I don't need no stinkin' drill! I have built this contraption from a garage door opener:

I think it's running at about 150rpm

I actually use Bru N water for my water since I'm building it all from RO... I'll crank down that gap since I have plenty of rice hulls to fluff up the mash

 

[IslandLizard]

Dude, you sure that isn't a hamster cage?

Since you've got the new model Monster Mill without the thumb screws, there literally is no reason not to tinker with that excenter. If you end up needing rice hulls with 100% barley grist, you've taken the gap a bit too far and you're grinding the knurls.

 

[Zuljin]

This thread is relative to my interests.

I'm about to build a new mash tun. Included are expert drawings of:

A. What I have now. The holes are small; the size of the little drill bit that comes with a Dremel, and are drilled top and bottom. I get no debris and no stuck sparges. My efficiency is high 70s to low 80s. This works.

B. An easier build.

C. A really easy build.

Thoughts?

 

[Nagorg]

Just built this for my 70Qt Xtreme MLT today. (Yes I took the stickers off... )

 

[IslandLizard]

This thread is relative to my interests.

I'm about to build a new mash tun. Included are expert drawings of:

A. What I have now. The holes are small; the size of the little drill bit that comes with a Dremel, and are drilled top and bottom. I get no debris and no stuck sparges. My efficiency is high 70s to low 80s. This works.

B. An easier build.

C. A really easy build.

Thoughts?

For batch sparging pretty much anything works, a, b, or c are all fine. Sugars are being dissolved when stirring in the sparge water. Then you just want to drain it.

For fly sparging however, a manifold is needed and the design has to meet certain criteria to prevent channeling. Neither a, b, or c would work well.

Here's mine made out of cpvc in a 52qt Coleman Extreme. The manifold is shown upside down, of course.