MLT with no bottom drain valve?

[iain]

I have at my disposal what could be the perfect MLT: a milk pasteurizer. It can hold up to 22 gallons of liquid at whatever temperature I want for any period of time. The only problem is that it has no bottom drain valve. Being new to all-grain brewing, I'm not sure if I can work around this.

I do have a pump and was thinking I could use braided tubing at the bottom for a filter and pump the wort out rather than drain out the bottom. Would this work? What would be the drawbacks?

You can see the pasteurizer and pump here: http://microdairydesigns.com/2301/2322.html

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Pumping could result in a stuck sparge if the grain bed gets too compacted.

 

[joelmole]

In How to Brew in the section about building mash/lauter tuns the suggestion for alternatives to building a bulkhead/ball valve assembly is to siphon the wort out.

The picture in this link shows how that would be accomplished. Don't have any advice on the use of a pump because I don't have any experience in that regard. The only thing I would mention is that you would need to be able to regulate the flow of the pump to some degree in order to set the grain bed properly while vorlaufing. (Edit: What BBL Brewer said)

Can you drill a hole through the bottom and weld in a stainless nipple? Is there something inherent to the design of the pasteurizer that would make this impossible?

 

[joelmole]

Also, what is the diameter? It might be difficult / impossible to do regular 5 gallon batches with this.

 

[iain]

Well - I guess I should give it a try and see what happens. I can control the flow rate fairly easily (it's a nice pump!) so hopefully I won't have grain bed issues.

The pasteurizer is essentially a water-jacketed pot. Drilling through the water jacket into the interior pot would be incredibly complicated. Not to mention the fact that I'd be left with a non-regulation milk pasteurizer (it's main purpose).

 

[iain]

Would a manifold be a better option than a stainless braided tube? I'm planning on batch sparging.

 

[wyzazz]

Use it like BIAB, put a large Swiss-Voile bag in the pasteurizer and drop your grains in that. When you are finished mashing, pull the grains out and siphon/scoop/ladle/pump the wort in to your brew kettle.

 

[iain]

Also, what is the diameter? It might be difficult / impossible to do regular 5 gallon batches with this.

There is an insert for up to 10 gallons - and another for up to 22. The inside diameter of the 10 gallon insert is 18 inches.

 

[iain]

Use it like BIAB, put a large Swiss-Voile bag in the pasteurizer and drop your grains in that. When you are finished mashing, pull the grains out and siphon/scoop/ladle/pump the wort in to your brew kettle.

I don't know about BIAB. Will read up on it, thanks!