Elec Mash Tun Questions.

[bad coffee]

I'm planning my electric brewery, and I'm looking at the mash tun.

I have an extra 12v gearmotor sitting here. Would I gain anything by adding a stirrer if I'm going to recirculate the mash? All I would need to buy is a coupler and a SS316 stir bar. (Just more stuff for the McMaster order!)

Also, would it be useful to have a false bottom if I do add a stirrer? I'm batch sparging right now, so I use a braid. I don't want the stirrer to get caught up in the braid. I also have a LOT of dead space in my MT currently, which I'd like to get rid of with a better dip tube.

I've looked at a lot of designs and picked up a metric F-ton of info, but there's still a bunch of questions.

Cheers,
B

 

[Walker]

You could stir the MLT, but I think you would lose one of the main benefits of recirculation, which is constant filtering of your wort through a settled grainbed.

When I brew, the wort in the MLT becomes crystal clear after 5 or 10 minutes of recirculation. If I was to stir it constantly while circulating, I don't think it would get clear like that.

But... I guess you could stir for most of the mash and then turn the stirrer off for the last 10 or 15 minutes to let the grain bed settle and clear up the wort before you run it to the kettle.

 

[bad coffee]

Would I gain anything by stirring? Or should I just recirc (with temp control) and call it good?

At this point I might just sell my Igloo 10G tun and get a square 7gal cooler. I'm only building a 8gal e-brewpot, so the 10g tun seems overkill. Plus, I can save some shelf space in my man cave.

Too many options!

B

 

[Walker]

Would I gain anything by stirring? Or should I just recirc (with temp control) and call it good?

You might have more even temps with stiring.

I've brewed 5 times (I think) on my HERMS and I have been using and checking multiple thermometers to make sure everything is copacetic with my mash.

I have the PID probe at the MLT return (output of HERMS coil), then I have a digital probe in a thermowell poking into the middle of the MLT, and then I stuck a floating thermometer into the grainbed until it touched the false bottom. The thinking is that this lets me see the temp gradient from the top to the bottom of my mash.

I have seen a max of 2*F difference between the PID probe and the floating thermometer that is poked down to the bottom of the MLT.

If you stirred it, that might all balance out better and give you a consistent temp through the whole mash.

Having said that, I don't know if it's really worth it. I am not concerned about 2*F difference. Plus, it's only been as high as 2*F one time. The rest of the time it's been within 1*F.

 

[bad coffee]

for 2*, I'm not going to go through the trouble. I'm not that kind of brewer.

What do you think of false bottom over braid? Or should I just go with a false bottom and pickup tube?

B

 

[Walker]

I have never used a braid, so I can't really comment, but I can say that I have a false bottom in a 10 gallon round cooler and there is very little dead space under it (just barely over 1 pint).

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

Does stirring help with conversion and dough balls?

I'm designing my keg MLT and am considering adding a stirrer.

 

[Walker]

Does stirring help with conversion and dough balls?

I'm designing my keg MLT and am considering adding a stirrer.

It might help with dough balls. I try to be very careful about mashing up dough balls right away by gently stirring the mash and lifting the spoon as I do it to try and bring dough balls to the surface so I can see them.

Then I smash them against the side of the MLT with my big spoon to break them up. I don't know if stirring alone would break them up.