Sparge Arm/Recirculation for Spike Brewing System Mash Tun

[couchsending]

Forgive me if this has been addressed, maybe I didn't look hard enough.

About to pull the trigger on a 20g Spike Brewing Electric system. One question I have is the sparge/recirculation setup. To me it look like the Push To Connect fitting that comes with it could result in some serious channeling as it just spits the water out down the wall of the mash tun. Wouldn't you want to try to disperse the water more evenly/gently over the top of the grain bed? Has anyone used the SS Brewing sparge arm or recirc manifold instead? Or any other suggestions?

Thanks

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Wanted to chime in quick regarding this. Although the 'sprinkler' style looks fancier our testing has shown no benefit in efficiencies. Our engineer's testing showed that when you have ~1" of water above your grain bed the sparge water is equally distributed the same no matter if the 'sprinkler' is used or if the side pickup is used. The side pickup is easier to install and clean and thus is why that design was chosen for the final design.

Our false bottom seals against the bottom step so wort can not leak past the side walls. Our false bottom also uses a center pickup which promotes flow through the center of the grain bed. All this translates to 85%+ efficiencies.

 

[jekeane]

I just use a silicone hose that lays on top of the grain bed. Used to use a arm assembly and got rid of it as it made no difference.

 

[Nmnbrewer]

I just use a silicone hose that lays on top of the grain bed. Used to use a arm assembly and got rid of it as it made no difference.

Same here. I chose the hose route so that I could maximize the size of my mash basket. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1501719628.526090.jpg

 

[Drumminguy81]

I use both of the ss brew tech sparge arm and vorlauf attachment.. the sparge arm for fly sparge and the vorlauf attachment for vorlauf/lauter. Both work great. I have attached them with tri clamps for easy removal. If I were to do it again I would just use 2 of the vorlauf attachments.. the sparge arm is small tubing that restricts the flow and it hangs down low making high gravity brews tough.

View attachment 1501815045376.jpg

 

[Barfield]

Wanted to chime in quick regarding this. Although the 'sprinkler' style looks fancier our testing has shown no benefit in efficiencies. Our engineer's testing showed that when you have ~1" of water above your grain bed the sparge water is equally distributed the same no matter if the 'sprinkler' is used or if the side pickup is used. The side pickup is easier to install and clean and thus is why that design was chosen for the final design.

Our false bottom seals against the bottom step so wort can not leak past the side walls. Our false bottom also uses a center pickup which promotes flow through the center of the grain bed. All this translates to 85%+ efficiencies.

Hey, Spike guys...

I'm the recent purchaser of a Spike 15 gallon (love it) system with a few batches behind me. The 85%+ efficiencies... have you found this fairly consistent, no matter the grain bill?

 

[SpikeBrewing]

Hey, Spike guys...

I'm the recent purchaser of a Spike 15 gallon (love it) system with a few batches behind me. The 85%+ efficiencies... have you found this fairly consistent, no matter the grain bill?

Grain bill, batch size, etc can affect efficiencies. If you're doing a half batch that'll lower it a bit. Below is a quote from Jeff of Deschuttes who uses our 20g Spike System for polioting.

The system, especially as we have it set up, is really efficient. I'm getting about 84% efficiency with my smaller beers (4.5%-6%) and 75-80% on the higher gravity beers.

I think the biggest reason for this is the fact that the mash is constantly recirculating/vorlaufing. It allows the brewer to stir the whole mash more often as well as keeping a constant flow through the grain bed helping the enzymes break down starches more effectively.

 

[Barfield]

Grain bill, batch size, etc can affect efficiencies. If you're doing a half batch that'll lower it a bit. Below is a quote from Jeff of Deschuttes who uses our 20g Spike System for polioting.

Thanks for the rapid response. Just the range of figures I was looking for!

 

[Drumminguy81]

For future readers looking for a sparge arm I wanted to update that I have done away with the ssbrewtech sparge arm do to it hanging too low for higher gravity grain bills. As you can see in the picture I posted. I ended up going with a glacier tanks triclamp sparge arm that was actually really well priced and works amazing even if I slow the flow down to a trickle. It allows me to fill my mash tun completely full as well.

 

[augiedoggy]

For future readers looking for a sparge arm I wanted to update that I have done away with the ssbrewtech sparge arm do to it hanging too low for higher gravity grain bills. As you can see in the picture I posted. I ended up going with a glacier tanks triclamp sparge arm that was actually really well priced and works amazing even if I slow the flow down to a trickle. It allows me to fill my mash tun completely full as well. View attachment 587591

I have this stout style sparge pipe in the 3 bbl system I just built but am wondering now with all the lodo stuff Ive been reading if these do more harm than good since they essentially load up the sparge water with oxygen while sparging.(lodo procedure has you preboil all sparge water to drive off said oxygen). Has anyone seen any data to show that lodo is effective in producing better beer with a longer shelf life?

 

[day_trippr]

Yeah, you can forget LoDO on the hot side with anything even close to that "arm".
I use a hunk of silicone tubing resting in the wort...

Cheers!

 

[Wabi_Sabi]

Wanted to chime in quick regarding this. Although the 'sprinkler' style looks fancier our testing has shown no benefit in efficiencies. Our engineer's testing showed that when you have ~1" of water above your grain bed the sparge water is equally distributed the same no matter if the 'sprinkler' is used or if the side pickup is used. The side pickup is easier to install and clean and thus is why that design was chosen for the final design.

Our false bottom seals against the bottom step so wort can not leak past the side walls. Our false bottom also uses a center pickup which promotes flow through the center of the grain bed. All this translates to 85%+ efficiencies.

Great info Spike! There’s nothing better than actually running tests.