Hey everybody,
I have a HERMS system that uses a 10 gallon igloo cooler as a mash tun with a shower head-style sparge/recirculation arm made out of copper tubing built into the lid. Since building it, I have had significant problems with stuck sparges. I have tried everything, including switching out my false bottom, using rice hulls, blowing into the grain bed, etc. The only way I can avoid them is by throttling back on my pump between 65 and 70% during the entire mash and by giving the mash bed a stir rather often, which obviously restricts my rate of circulation and makes adjusting mash temperature a rather slow process. I originally thought about installing a mash paddle in order to keep the mash bed from compacting, but I thought that would be rather complicated. Instead, I had an idea of using what essentially amounts to a whirlpool arm built into my mash tun lid along with the sparge/recirculation arm that would extend almost to the bottom of the mash tun. My goal with this is to use the pressure from the wort escaping the whirlpool arm to constantly "stir" the grain bed, Then, during sparging, I would shut off the flow to the whirlpool arm and with a valve built into the lid and allow water to flow only through the sparge/recirculation arm. I am hoping that building this into the hood of the mash tun would have the advantage of reducing the risk of the grain bed compacting, thereby allowing me to recirculate my mash at a higher rate. Additionally, I hope that using this might have the added advantage of eliminating temperature pockets within the mash tun (which I seem to have even though I am recirculating). I have included a diagram of my idea below. I would love to get some feedback to see what you guys think. Is this an idea worth pursuing? Is there a better way to address my problem? Thanks!
I have a HERMS system that uses a 10 gallon igloo cooler as a mash tun with a shower head-style sparge/recirculation arm made out of copper tubing built into the lid. Since building it, I have had significant problems with stuck sparges. I have tried everything, including switching out my false bottom, using rice hulls, blowing into the grain bed, etc. The only way I can avoid them is by throttling back on my pump between 65 and 70% during the entire mash and by giving the mash bed a stir rather often, which obviously restricts my rate of circulation and makes adjusting mash temperature a rather slow process. I originally thought about installing a mash paddle in order to keep the mash bed from compacting, but I thought that would be rather complicated. Instead, I had an idea of using what essentially amounts to a whirlpool arm built into my mash tun lid along with the sparge/recirculation arm that would extend almost to the bottom of the mash tun. My goal with this is to use the pressure from the wort escaping the whirlpool arm to constantly "stir" the grain bed, Then, during sparging, I would shut off the flow to the whirlpool arm and with a valve built into the lid and allow water to flow only through the sparge/recirculation arm. I am hoping that building this into the hood of the mash tun would have the advantage of reducing the risk of the grain bed compacting, thereby allowing me to recirculate my mash at a higher rate. Additionally, I hope that using this might have the added advantage of eliminating temperature pockets within the mash tun (which I seem to have even though I am recirculating). I have included a diagram of my idea below. I would love to get some feedback to see what you guys think. Is this an idea worth pursuing? Is there a better way to address my problem? Thanks!
