Manual Sparge/Vorlauf diffuser ideas?

[DeanRIowa]

I will be using a Mash & Boil electric system for the first time.

I would like to know what I can use to diffuse the Sparge water and Vorlauf wort water, when adding those waters back on top of the grain bed as I do not want to make channels in the grain bed. No pump so I will be doing this manually.

I was thinking of pouring the waters onto a dinner plate slowly. Anyone other ideas?

thank you,
Dean

 

[Sammy86]

I will be using a Mash & Boil electric system for the first time.

I would like to know what I can use to diffuse the Sparge water and Vorlauf wort water, when adding those waters back on top of the grain bed as I do not want to make channels in the grain bed. No pump so I will be doing this manually.

I was thinking of pouring the waters onto a dinner plate slowly. Anyone other ideas?

thank you,
Dean

You have a few options...easiest and cheapest IMO is a colander on top and springle the water in.

I've seen people get creative and take a cheap pizza pan drill holes in it and drain water over that.

 

[Deadalus]

Years ago I used a food grade bucket with holes I drilled. I slowly rotated the bucket in a circle while pouring with the other hand. Works fine.

I recently tried to make a ring out of a SS tee and some silicone tubing. I was not successful. Initially the holes were too small plus I tried to use a regular drill bit. No go, the holes would seal up. Then I tried the punch a hole in the tubing with a sharpened tube trick. Too small. I eventually scored a Brewtech manifold used and I like that except the time I think I had my folding mash tun false bottom upside down. (I think it collapsed at the hinge, not the manifold's problem.)

 

[Coastalbrew]

I will be using a Mash & Boil electric system for the first time.

I would like to know what I can use to diffuse the Sparge water and Vorlauf wort water, when adding those waters back on top of the grain bed as I do not want to make channels in the grain bed. No pump so I will be doing this manually.

I was thinking of pouring the waters onto a dinner plate slowly. Anyone other ideas?

thank you,
Dean

I slowly pour the wort/water out of a pyrex measuring cup and simply move it around over the grain bed as I pour. I've never noticed any issues with channeling.

 

[capt82]

I will be using a Mash & Boil electric system for the first time.

I would like to know what I can use to diffuse the Sparge water and Vorlauf wort water, when adding those waters back on top of the grain bed as I do not want to make channels in the grain bed. No pump so I will be doing this manually.

I was thinking of pouring the waters onto a dinner plate slowly. Anyone other ideas?

thank you,
Dean

I currently use a hose from my HLT to the top of my mash tun where I have a 1/2" pvc pipe that goes through the lid of the mash tun. The pipe then tee's to several horizontal pipes with drilled holes in it. I control the flow from the HLT and it seems to drip evenly over the gain bed.

I saw this on Amazon and it seems to be an easy sparge diffuser.

 

[tracer bullet]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MG8B8IM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is what I use. Cut the handle off. Lay it on my grains and go. Along with moving the measuring cup around that it's pouring out of much like @Coastalbrew mentioned (I have 2, so one is pouring while one is collecting).

This is for my propane / garage setup. I have an Anvil Foundry and for that I use the pump.

 

[KeizerBrewr]

I use this:

It works great for transferring from the kettle into the fermenter to aerate the wort. I can't imagine it wouldn't work swimmingly for sparging and recirculating wort.

 

[Konadog]

I use this one from NorCal Brewing Solutions: Sparge Diffusion Plate just choose your connection.

 

[Golddiggie]

I used this one yesterday:

It's using a 3" TC cap on a section of 1/2" OD stainless tubing. I bent the tubing and brought the parts to my friend that's a welder (to get it TIG welded). Here it is in use yesterday:

Grain bed set nicely with the setup, without any additional work from me. Nice clear wort went into the BK as well. It also helped to get the temperature even through the grain bed, which was a problem with what I was using before.

I'm thinking about bending another section of tubing for a 4" TC cap, with only one piece of stainless connecting between the tubing and cap.

I'm using the HERMS coil quick connect from Spike to use this. Since I have the Spike kettles, with the external TC connections, I needed something like that for the mating. I was able to get a pair of those early from Spike (not listed on their site, but you can get them anyway after an email). I also used this setup to fly sparge into the BK.

To be clear, I DO have pumps with my setup. Two are mounted to the brew stand, with manifolds for flow control between the source and target paths. The manifold has made the brew day far easier (wasn't cheap by any stretch). Almost all my connections are TC native as well. I'm working to replace the final item that's not TC native in the next month or so. IME, pumps makes things MUCH easier on the brewer.

 

[faithie999]

I cut a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil to fit the inside diameter of my sparge vessel, then poked lots of holes in it with a fork. it works fine. it's sturdy enough that I can rinse it off an reuse it next brew day.

 

[PCABrewing]

I use this:
View attachment 752150
It works great for transferring from the kettle into the fermenter to aerate the wort. I can't imagine it wouldn't work swimmingly for sparging and recirculating wort.

That's what I use to sparge.
It distributes the liquid in a nice "fanned-out" manner. I do use a pump but gravity would probably work as well since I choke the pump output quite a bit.
Northern Brewer sells them too. They're cheap!

 

[madscientist451]

I would like to know what I can use to diffuse the Sparge water and Vorlauf wort water, when adding those waters back on top of the grain bed as I do not want to make channels in the grain bed. No pump so I will be doing this manually.

I used to manually re-circulate by slowly pouring the wort on my mash paddle. But these days I skip all that extra work and BIAB with a dunk sparge in a small side pot.

 

[Gusso]

I used to manually re-circulate by slowly pouring the wort on my mash paddle. But these days I skip all that extra work and BIAB with a dunk sparge in a small side pot.

I used to sparge but since I got back into brewing a couple of years ago, I now go no sparge in a mash BIAB. I crush the shite out of my grain and get way better efficiency.

 

[DeanRIowa]

I cut a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil to fit the inside diameter of my sparge vessel, then poked lots of holes in it with a fork. it works fine. it's sturdy enough that I can rinse it off an reuse it next brew day.

I do like some of the other ideas, but out of the gate I think I will use the foil.

thank you all.

Dean

 

[Konadog]

Good choice since it's your first time using your system. Think about all your options during your first brew, and if they will work for what you want.

 

[rhorwitz]

I use a $4 plastic banjo style garden sprinkler RTV'd to the lid of my 12 gallon igloo. I use it for recirculation and sparging. Works like a charm. Coupled with my fine grain crush, rice hulls and elbow grease I get at least an 84% BH efficiency. My grains are so spent that the deer wont eat them.

 

[bwible]

You have a few options...easiest and cheapest IMO is a colander on top and springle the water in.

I've seen people get creative and take a cheap pizza pan drill holes in it and drain water over that.

Kind of what the Anvil Foundry uses. A round metal plate with holes in it that sits at the top of the mash basket.