Stupid question - Brew Tree

[kenpotf]

All,

I've been brewing for about 4 years, and I've always done it like this: Heat water in brew pot, pour water in mash tun, dump grain in water, mash for 30. While mashing, I would heat sparge water in a different pot. When time to sparge, drain wort from tun to original brew pot, sparge with sparge water to fill brew pot, move brew pot to flame, and brew...whew - lotta steps.

I've been looking at brew trees, and frankly I don't understand them. I've seen some that have 3 keggles beside each other, and I've seen some that look "stacked" (one at top, one in middle offset, and one at the bottom). How do these things work, and is one better than the other? From the description of the way that I brew now, is there a benefit for me to start thinking about building a brew stand or tree?

Thanks!!

 

[treacheroustexan]

So for the stacked ones, the very top one holds your strike/sparge water, the middle one is the mash tun and the bottom one is for the boil and it uses gravity. Drain the very top one into the middle tun to sparge and while spaging you drain it into the boil kettle and start your boil. The three keggles in the row next to eachother does the same thing except it uses pumps to move the water/wort instead of gravity.

 

[max384]

Basically, the stacked ones use gravity to transfer liquids, and the side-by-side ones require a pump (or picking up kettles by hand and dumping) to transfer liquids.

 

[Peruvian802]

The challenge of a brew tree is the fact you have 160-180 degree water high up (often overhead) and your mash tun may also be cumbersome to work with (stir, etc) because of the potential height. Otherwise, gravity works quite well and you don't have to wire or clean any pumps.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBp7pDHrFvM[/ame]

 

[GHBWNY]

All,

I've been brewing for about 4 years, and I've always done it like this: Heat water in brew pot, pour water in mash tun, dump grain in water, mash for 30. While mashing, I would heat sparge water in a different pot. When time to sparge, drain wort from tun to original brew pot, sparge with sparge water to fill brew pot, move brew pot to flame, and brew...whew - lotta steps.

I've been looking at brew trees, and frankly I don't understand them. I've seen some that have 3 keggles beside each other, and I've seen some that look "stacked" (one at top, one in middle offset, and one at the bottom). How do these things work, and is one better than the other? From the description of the way that I brew now, is there a benefit for me to start thinking about building a brew stand or tree?

Thanks!!

So, where is the "stupid" in this question? Can't find it.

 

[kenpotf]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I'm going to not worry about doing this for now I didn't realize pumps were used for the side-by-side stands.

 

[brick_haus]

So, where is the "stupid" in this question? Can't find it.

I think we might be the stupid ones for spending thousands of dollars on stuff we really don't need! No question about it...