Experienced Brewer Looking for Some Advice on Recirculating.

[PBRS1844]

Hello Everyone,
I am a 10+ year experienced brewer who recently purchased a pump for the first time. I was absolutely sick of carrying kettles and my mash tun. I also want to increase my efficiency so I will try and recirculate. However this is where the question of what to upgrade comes in.
I am using a 84 quart rectangular cooler that fluctuates .2-.5 degrees in a 60 minute mash with a 74% constant efficiency. I love this thing but I am a tad confused on how to reticulate your mash when its not on constant heat. So my questions are:
1) How can I keep my temperatures stable if I don't have my cooler on constant heat? My only thought was to put the tubing through a kettle of hot water...
2) Can I make a manifold out of PVC instead of copper?

Also, My brew bucket is 10 years old..... Yea I'm that guy. I would love to go back to a plastic bucket but does anyone recommend anything else?
Thanks in advance!

 

[jangevaa]

Yes you'll get a good deal more temperature drop with recirculation. My suggestion would be to only use the pump for your vorlauf - for say 10 minutes, then the transfer to BK. At this point temperature won't matter much as conversion has already been completed. If you want to recirculate for the duration of the mash you're looking at some sort of heating system. Kettle RIMS is an option if you're looking to minimize additional equipment required.

 

[DVCNick]

I'm also just a basic cooler mashtun guy, so have only seen one side of it, but setting up for a recirculating mash has always seemed like a whole lot of expensive equipment setup, and cleaning for little return... if I'm already getting 76-84% efficiency depending on the exact recipe and other variables, what exactly is recirculating getting me? I can just throw an extra $1 worth of grain in the event that my lower end efficiency isn't getting the exact numbers I want.

 

[PBRS1844]

Yes you'll get a good deal more temperature drop with recirculation. My suggestion would be to only use the pump for your vorlauf - for say 10 minutes, then the transfer to BK. At this point temperature won't matter much as conversion has already been completed. If you want to recirculate for the duration of the mash you're looking at some sort of heating system. Kettle RIMS is an option if you're looking to minimize additional equipment required.

Thank You for the response. I feel that this hobby can be a chase for certain numbers when we can just brew with what we got. I think I'm going to follow your recommendations and just volauf with it. Again I appreciate the information!

 

[PBRS1844]

I'm also just a basic cooler mashtun guy, so have only seen one side of it, but setting up for a recirculating mash has always seemed like a whole lot of expensive equipment setup, and cleaning for little return... if I'm already getting 76-84% efficiency depending on the exact recipe and other variables, what exactly is recirculating getting me? I can just throw an extra $1 worth of grain in the event that my lower end efficiency isn't getting the exact numbers I want.

Totally agree! I appreciate the response!