Mash recirculation

[beerisyummy]

Greetings zymurgists,
I’m a BIABer thinking about mash recirculation. I have a Blichmann whirlpool thingie on my mash/brew pot and I use a Blichmann RipTide pump to move wort through my CFC. (Blichmann, you’re welcome for the advertising.) Any reason I couldn’t use this equipment for mash recirculation? Specifically, I think I’d want the option to throttle down the recirc by closing the whirlpool valve halfway, and I’d want to be sure this would not hurt the pump.
Thoughts?

 

[day_trippr]

"whirlpool thingie"?
Do you mean an "autosparge valve"?

Cheers!

 

[doug293cz]

As long as you throttle flow on the output side of the pump, it should not cause any problems. Throttling on the input side can lead to cavitation in the pump chamber, which can severely damage the impeller and chamber walls.

Brew on

 

[mabrungard]

As brewers, we're working with a mixture of solids and liquid that we'd like to be fairly homogenous. Since your grist is in a bag, stirring the grist is not really a feasible option. Moving the liquid is the option that's left to us for homogenizing the mixture and having a uniform wort composition and temperature. So yes, recirculating the wort is a good idea. The only issues are making sure that the wort passes relatively uniformly through the bagged grist and avoiding atmospheric contact with the wort during recirculation. I recommend creating some sort of mash cap structure so that all your wort flow is under that cap and separated from air contact. It will make a real difference in wort oxidation and I find that its worth it.

 

[beerisyummy]

"whirlpool thingie"?
Do you mean an "autosparge valve"?

Cheers!

This https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=b...4376516930464347,pvt:hg,pvo:3&oshop=apv&pvs=0

 

[Yooper]

This https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=blichmann whirlpool kit&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#piu=ps:19&oshopproduct=gid:14480423579658196358,oid:9157196253240894858,iid:8854376516930464347,pvt:hg,pvo:3&oshop=apv&pvs=0

Sure you can recirculate with that. However, the photos that links to shows a Brewzilla whirlpool arm most clearly which circulates to the bottom, not near where you're going to want to recirculate. Can you give us a photo of what you actually have to ensure we give the best advice?

 

[beerisyummy]

As brewers, we're working with a mixture of solids and liquid that we'd like to be fairly homogenous. Since your grist is in a bag, stirring the grist is not really a feasible option. Moving the liquid is the option that's left to us for homogenizing the mixture and having a uniform wort composition and temperature. So yes, recirculating the wort is a good idea. The only issues are making sure that the wort passes relatively uniformly through the bagged grist and avoiding atmospheric contact with the wort during recirculation. I recommend creating some sort of mash cap structure so that all your wort flow is under that cap and separated from air contact. It will make a real difference in wort oxidation and I find that its worth it.

Thanks for this. I do keep my bag open at the top for stirring. I know I’m supposed to worry about oxygen but so far I have enough other things to worry about, I’m not there yet
I use a false bottom for BIAB by brewhardware.com so that I can do step mashes without melting the bag. But the temperature steps can be hard to manage because the liquid under the fb sometimes gets superheated relative to the mass of grain & liquid above it, and by the time the latter catches up, I’ve overshot the mark. So, I’m looking for a “kinder, gentler” way of stepping up the temp. What I can see is recirculating the warmer liquid from under the fb up to the top of the mash - or maybe to the middle, by attaching a short tube to the whirlpool outlet. If I do that with the kettle lid on, does that approximate the “mash cap structure” you’re thinking of? If successful then I only have to open it to take temperature readings with my long-probe digital thermometer (from ThermoWorks, another gadget that I love!) and maybe I don’t have to stir the bejeebers out of it to tame the crazy hot spots I get - thus also reducing the oxygen exposure. Does that make sense?

 

[beerisyummy]

As requested by Cooper, thank you - interior views without & with false bottom, and exterior view

 

[day_trippr]

I had never seen that Blichmann device before. Looks like it should work just like a ball-valved WP arm

Cheers!