Equipment upgrades

[sictransit701]

I have an all grain setup and I’m thinking of a few upgrades I would like. Any suggestions would be helpful.

It’s basic. I heat up my hot liquor tank(8 gallon pot). Pick it up and dump it in the cooler(10 gal igloo with bazooka screen) to mash. Single infusion. Batch sparge. Drain to my boil kettle 8 gal pot with ball valve). Boil. Chill with immersion chiller. Drain to carboy.

Some improvements I would like to make are:
1. Recirculate mash with pump. Would I need to do this in a brew kettle?

2. Not having to lift several gallons of hot water to mash. I can’t use my brew kettle with ball valve because it holds my first runnings. Would need a pump. Which pump is a good one?

3. Being able to chill wort to carboy without leaving the lid open using a plate chiller or counterflow. Which is better?

I can’t make all of these upgrades at once. Which one do you think I should go for first?

 

[bracconiere]

sounds like you just want a pump? ~$120 i think.....counter flow chiller dito....

https://www.morebeer.com/products/wort-chiller-copper-counterflow-38-barbs.html

https://www.morebeer.com/products/mkii-high-temp-magnetic-drive-pump.html

 

[RPh_Guy]

1. Recirculate mash with pump. Would I need to do this in a brew kettle?

If you recirculate you need a heat source to maintain temperature while recirculating, otherwise you'll lose a lot of heat.
You can use a heat exchanger in your HLT (a HERMS), or you can have an inline heating element (RIMS).
For example I use a RIMS and a 10 gal cooler mash tun with bazooka screen.

2. Not having to lift several gallons of hot water to mash. I can’t use my brew kettle with ball valve because it holds my first runnings. Would need a pump. Which pump is a good one?

The only times I have to lift liquor are my water jugs at the beginning and then moving the chilled wort in my fermenter to my fridge at the end.

I use a MKII pump with stainless steel head. It's a great pump and very cost effective.
This looks like the best deal:
https://woodyshomebrew.com/products/mkii-high-temp-magnetic-drive-pump-by-keg-king
https://woodyshomebrew.com/products/stainless-steel-pump-head-for-mkii-pump-by-keg-king

In my opinion the more expensive pumps don't have any better features to make them worthwhile.

3. Being able to chill wort to carboy without leaving the lid open using a plate chiller or counterflow. Which is better?

Between the two options: counterflow chiller 100%.
Plate chillers clog easily and are more difficult to clean.

I'm currently using the bargain basement CFC that @bracconiere linked above. It works fine, better than my cheap immersion chiller. You definitely need to use a pump with it.

However depending on your budget, it's hard to beat the extreme speed and efficiency of the advanced immersion chillers from CuSS and JaDeD. There will be a stainless steel option by the end of the year if that matters to you (more expensive).

I can’t make all of these upgrades at once. Which one do you think I should go for first?

I suppose that depends on your goals.

If you already have an immersion chiller, you could use that as the heat exchanger in you HLT to circulate your mash (HERMS), so you'd just need a pump.

Personally I would suggest you wait you get a new chiller until your budget allows you to get one from CuSS or JaDeD.

Cheers

 

[TandemTails]

I bought a Blichmann Riptide pump about a year and a half ago and love it: https://www.blichmannengineering.com/riptide-brewing-pump.html

I use it for vorlauf in the mash tun (recirculate in the last 5 minutes of the mash to set the grain bed and have clear wort to transfer to kettle), for transferring from mash tun to kettle, for keeping the wort recirculating in my kettle during chilling, for whirlpooling, for transferring into my carboy and for cleaning my kegerator lines.

In my opinion it was one of my best upgrades for brewing.

I was thinking about building a RIMS or HERMS system but it just seems like too much extra stuff for too little reward.

I use an immersion chiller but i think a counterflow chiller is the way to go if you want to chill on the way to the carboy.

 

[bracconiere]

If you recirculate you need a heat source to maintain temperature while recirculating, otherwise you'll lose a lot of heat.
You can use a heat exchanger in your HLT (a HERMS), or you can have an inline heating element (RIMS).

would something like this work?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HEATER-I...Bi3m3JhdZZ94Fs4pV4NnQjbRNpEcBn_4aAi7IEALw_wcB

 

[Jag75]

Rph are you heating in an igloo?

 

[kh54s10]

Pump or gravity for the HLT. Cheapest is to get it above the mash tun and add a valve to drain into the mash tun via gravity. I do this in combination with a sight glass so I know how much water is in the HLT.

The pipe going to the HLT has a valve and a charcoal filter. So just turn the valve and watch the sight glass to fill it. But I have moved since then and no longer have the pipe installed. I use a RV hose.

 

[kh54s10]

Rph are you heating in an igloo?

He is heating in the RIMS tube. On the left side of the mash tun. It is heated there and recirculated through the mash with a pump.

 

[RPh_Guy]

would something like this work?

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HEATER-I...Bi3m3JhdZZ94Fs4pV4NnQjbRNpEcBn_4aAi7IEALw_wcB

I'm not sure. 300W may or may not be able to hold temperature (definitely not increase temp). It may or may not cause scorching based on the watt density and where you position it. Also, normally you'd use a PID to control an electric element, which is no small expense.

 

[bracconiere]

Also, normally you'd use a PID to control an electric element, which is no small expense.

i use a cheapo fan speed controller for my 1500w hotplate.....

https://www.amazon.com/Gotham-Hydro...argid=aud-798931705416:pla-396868566683&psc=1

and i saw some 1500w immersion heaters for not much more money, and i know that will boil 6-7 gallons of water....

 

[RPh_Guy]

Good luck with that!

What benefits are you hoping to get out of it?

 

[bracconiere]

Good luck with that!

What benefits are you hoping to get out of it?

i got a 1500watt hot plate for my still, the controller gives me a constant heat, instead of a cycling heat....variable voltage control is cheaper....and produces less heat than resistance....


and i've distilled many batches with my kill-a-watt meter with it, i can dial in the temp and adjust by wattage displayed....

 

[RPh_Guy]

I won't try to stifle your creativity.

What I meant was: What benefits are you hoping you get from electric heat, with or without recirculation? What's the goal here?

 

[bracconiere]

I won't try to stifle your creativity.

What I meant was: What benefits are you hoping you get from electric heat, with or without recirculation? What's the goal here?

me personally? i don't like open flames around 92% alcohol....or 65% for that matter....so i use a 1500w hot plate that i wired always on, and the fan speed controller to get a constant heat from it...i just was thinking instead of an expensive PID? use a fan speed controller with the immersion element for the OP's situation....

went back re-read the first post, still seems to me he's going to need a pump to do any of what he wants to, so i'd go for the pump...

(now i'm thinking myself, something like this might help me do my step mash

https://www.amazon.com/1000W-110V-P...argid=aud-798931705416:pla-692991432957&psc=1

get good ideas all the time here! )