Sparge Tubing idea

[Frenchy]

I'm tring to come up with an easy/cheap way of making a sparge ring for a round water cooler. I was thiking about using the clear high-temp tubing you can buy, and cutting a series of slits in it, bending into a ring, and connecting to a T connector. If I recall correctly, this tubing is stiff, and shouldn't collapse under a few pounds of grain. Currently i'm only planning partial mashes of around 2# of grain. Can anyone see any problems I might have with doing this. Also, what is the advantage of recirrculating the wort back into the mash tun to filter out any grain particles rather than running it through a mesh filter of some sorts.

 

[willynilly]

Sparge ring?

Or lauter device?

 

[Frenchy]

A sparge ring.

 

[willynilly]

Well, you can simply lay a hose on top of the grain bed for sparging... no need to construct a ring.

When you said under the grain, I thought you were referring to a lautering device, like a manifold or a false bottom.

 

[Frenchy]

Sorry, I misunderstood what you were asking. I'm referring to a lautering devise. Rather than construct a manifold of copper tubing, I was thinking of using flexible plastic tubing, and putting it on the bottom of the lauter ton.

 

[erik]

Just use Stainless mesh like you'd find around water supply hose. Make sure it is stainless, and not plastic. You just cut the ends and pull out the hose from the middle. One end is folded over and crimped, the other is attached to your outflow hose with a stainless hose clamp. Easy Peasy

 

[camiller]

Just use Stainless mesh like you'd find around water supply hose. Make sure it is stainless, and not plastic. You just cut the ends and pull out the hose from the middle. One end is folded over and crimped, the other is attached to your outflow hose with a stainless hose clamp. Easy Peasy

Or bend it in a circle and attach both ends to a "T". I have a square MLT and mine hasn't crushed under 35+ lbs.

 

[BargainFittings]

If you go with the pex tubing you will need a heat gun to help soften it enough to make the ring smaller.

 

[Mischief_Brewing]

Just go to lowes and piece together cpvc manifold. Very inexpensive and will never crush.

And the "recirculation" you refer to is called vourlafing.

 

[arturo7]

I tried the this, twice... The tubing doesn't want to stay put on the bottom of the tun.

On the first attempt it took quite a bit of manipulation with my mash paddle to get the thing in a reasonable position for sparging. The second time I placed a vegetable steamer on top of it before I dumped in the grains. This kept the tubing pinned to the bottom of the tun but I had to be careful not to knock it with the mash paddle.

 

[Almighty]

How are you connecting the manifold to the outlet?