The top screen can be used while recirculating the mash to prevent the water that is pumped on top of the grain bed from channeling. It helps make sure the water flows through the grain bed evenly and could help improve extraction efficiency.
I would think it shouldn't matter much so long as you keep a little water level over the top of the grain bed. If there's channeling it will happen regardless of whether or not there's a screen on top - where there's a clearer flow more of the wort will pass through that channel and the rest of the grain bed will still pass wort but at a slower pace. What difference does having a screen on top make if you're keeping the flow at a rate where there's a half inch or so of top layer wort?
Rev.
I'm not familiar with the sparging method on the robobrew but the screen is not needed if the liquid level is above the top of the grain bed (in fact many brewers will tell you the exit at the top of the pipe should be under the wort level in an ideal situation)..Because you don’t have anything to diffuse the flow so it’ll just eventually bore a hole through your grain bed. The top screen is definitely worth it. The silicon gasket? Meh.
sort of like how I use to batch sparge when I first started brewing, onto a piece of foil with holes in it, laid above the grainbed
I guess this is a common QC issue with Robobrews. Received my V3 a couple weeks ago and also noticed the gasket missing. I sent an email to Austin Homebrew and they said they'd contact KegLand. Since I didn't want to wait weeks, I purchased one from MoreBeer ($2). What ended up happening was the gasket from KegLand arrived in 3 days from the distributor, not manufacturer or retailer. The MoreBeer one arrived a day after that. I'm planning my first brew this Monday and as mentioned above, the top screen is to prevent channeling sort of like how I use to batch sparge when I first started brewing, onto a piece of foil with holes in it, laid above the grainbed. Just curious, does anyone have an equipment profile for the V3?
That is effectively fly sparging. Batch sparging is when you dump the water in, stir, let sit (optional), then vorlauf and runoff.
Anyhoo, my Robobrew came with two gaskets but I'm not going to use them. Everyone seems to agree, even the company that there's no need. The company states they're not including them anymore as they're not needed.
Rev.
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