functionality of the water cooler mash tun

eppo · Jun 18, 2010

i have my home depot mash tun set up nicely. i have a copper manifold that fits perfect at the bottom, laying flat. hooked to a street 45 which leads out to the ball valve.
i tried using some water to see exactly at what water level it stops flowing out of the ball valve. i noticed that it stops at the bottom of the ball valve itself.
so, what i was wondering was, what do you all do with that left over liquid? just leave it in there? tilt it forward to get that last bit of liquid out? or does it react differently when grain is in the cooler? or does it not really matter, because the sugar content of that last bit of water after the sparge isnt very high?
thanks for any input

malkore · Jun 18, 2010

i tilt mine.

jagg · Jun 18, 2010

eppo said:
i have my home depot mash tun set up nicely. i have a copper manifold that fits perfect at the bottom, laying flat. hooked to a street 45 which leads out to the ball valve.
i tried using some water to see exactly at what water level it stops flowing out of the ball valve. i noticed that it stops at the bottom of the ball valve itself.
so, what i was wondering was, what do you all do with that left over liquid? just leave it in there? tilt it forward to get that last bit of liquid out? or does it react differently when grain is in the cooler? or does it not really matter, because the sugar content of that last bit of water after the sparge isnt very high?
thanks for any input

Did you have a hose hooked to the outllet? You should get just about all the liquid out by way of the hose acting as a siphon, just keep the hose lower than the bottom of your cooler, good luck. :mug:

JakeTheHopDog · Jun 18, 2010

jagg said:
Did you have a hose hooked to the outlet? You should get just about all the liquid out by way of the hose acting as a siphon, just keep the hose lower than the bottom of your cooler, good luck.

I've got the HD 10 gal myself with a CPVC manifold. I use about 18" of hose on the barb fitting and only leave about a pint of liquid in the MLT. Like jagg said, must be the siphon action at work.

SamuraiSquirrel · Jun 20, 2010

HD 10 gallon here also. Check your connection where your manifold connects to your ball valve. If you have that water tight (or mostly water tight) you should be able to suck your tun dry for the most part. I have high temp tubing and a couple hose clamps to connect my manifold to my ball valve and it sucks it dry.

DeafSmith · Jun 20, 2010

You have to maintain a siphon until the liquid level drops down to uncover the slots in your manifold. So as others have said, you need to have a hose on the outlet - if you still have problems, make sure there are no leaks in your system where air can get in to break the siphon. In addition to having a hose on the outlet, leave the hose output under the surface of the liquid in your kettle to make sure that air doesn't get back up into the hose even if the flow rate is very low.